Despite earlier conflicting and incorrect reports regarding his status, the family of Tom Petty has officially confirmed the legendary musician has today passed away at the age of 66.
Petty’s longtime manager Tony Dimitriades issued a statement on behalf of Petty’s family and bandmates confirming the singer passed away at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles at around 8:40pm local time.
On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty.
He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40 p.m. PT surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends.
The LAPD had previously tweeted out erroneous information regarding Petty’s health and condition, leading to widespread premature media coverage of the Heartbreakers’ frontman’s death, prompting emotional backlash and outrage from his daughter, Kimberly Violette.
A rocker. A Heartbreaker. A Travelling Wilbury. A true pioneer of American music.
Tom Petty, rest in peace.
