“It was like I’d been sent the person I needed,” Petty tells Zanes. And, no big deal - his close friend was just the guitar player from the Beatles. Upon meeting Harrison via Jeff Lynne, Petty finally had someone with whom he could strum guitars all night and discuss the real-world adult stuff, like his troubled marriage. Tom Petty had bandmates who he’d known as far back as high school, but he didn’t really have any close friends until George Harrison appeared in his life in 1987. The twin sister of Petty’s father, Pearl Petty seems like something from a lost verse of “Rebels.” As her nephew puts it, “Pearl was a right pain in the ass.” She once threw a notebook at Petty in his hotel room and instructed him to “sign until you can’t sign anymore.” Pearl also demanded autographs at Earl Petty’s funeral, then chased her nephew’s car out of the funeral home parking lot when that request went unfulfilled. Some of that “companionship,” the family suspected, came in the form of the in-home nurses Earl Petty was hiring to care for his dying wife. God knows how much pussy he got out of it,” Petty says. But when he did, who do you think played the “Tom Petty’s Father” card to the hilt around Gainesville? “He developed an identity from it. “A hard man” is how Tom Petty describes his dad, Earl, an abusive father (one beating Petty received from his father at age 5 is recalled in horrific detail) who never believed his son would amount to anything. She’s helped Petty calm the fuck down a bit, and find the light after an especially dark period in his life. She hung in there and the couple were married - by Little Richard - in 2001. When Dana York began dating Tom Petty in the late ’90s, there was a whole mess of baggage to contend with, including Petty’s heroin addiction, the stalker-ish behavior of Petty’ ex-wife and the fact that many in Petty’s inner circle were suspicious of the new lady in his life. At the suggestion of Petty’s first wife - who bonded with Nicks and served as an inspiration for “Edge of Seventeen” - Nicks joined the band on a 1986 Australian tour with Bob Dylan to “keep an eye on Tommy.” She also tried to guide the freshly-divorced Petty through the early stages of his relationship with second wife Dana York, offering sage advice like “Don’t sleep with her!” Zanes illustrates how deep the relationship goes. He served those songs beautifully, with heart, soul and a swinging feel.įor decades, Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks have been intimates without sharing that kind of intimacy. And he gives fantastic quote: “Stevie Nicks? Don’t even get me started.” If you’re wondering how a guy can pull some of the shit Lynch pulled and remain in the band for 20 years, just listen to the tunes.

In “Petty” he openly cops to some bad behavior, while acknowledging he could have handled certain situations with a cooler head. Lynch has granted few interviews since getting fired in 1994. He’s a central figure for much of the book - a self-professed “viking” on the road a dissenter in the ranks the guy wearing the bullseye when a track wasn’t happening in the studio. It’s a wonder the Heartbreakers’ original drummer didn’t get shit-listed alongside Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo in “Jammin’ Me,” because it seems like the brash and opinionated Stan Lynch was forever jammin’ Petty. Meet the 10 best supporting characters from “Petty.” But the hustlers and disgruntled band members hometown haters and kinfolk wives and ex-wives famous friends and fiercely loyal employees Zanes introduces us to all play a significant role in the story of the man responsible for some of the most enduring music of our time. Petty is the star of this book, obviously. Like “American Girl,” “Spike,” “Rebels,” “Into the Great Wide Open” and so many great Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers songs, Warren Zanes’ exceptional rock-bio “Petty” is loaded with compelling characters.

Tom petty stevie nicks