from Rolling StoneTom Petty, frontman who led the band the Heartbreakers, was found unconscious, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest at his Malibu home Sunday night and rushed to the hospital and placed on life support.
EMTs were able to find a pulse when they found him, but the hospital found no brain activity when he arrived. He died on Monday at 66 years old.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers recently completed a summer tour last Monday with three nights at the Hollywood Bowl.
The trek marked the band's 40th anniversary and found him playing rarely played deep cuts like their first album's opener, "Rockin' Around (With You)," and a selection of Wildflowers cuts. It was intended to be his "last trip around the country." He told Rolling Stone, though, that it wasn't his intention to quit playing. "I need something to do, or I tend to be a nuisance around the house," he said.
Songs like "The Waiting," "You Got Lucky," "I Won't Back Down," "Learning to Fly" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance" all dominated Billboard's rock chart, and the majority of Petty's albums have been certified either gold or platinum.
Petty, who also recorded as a solo artist and as a member of the Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
His most recent release, Hypnotic Eye, debuted at Number One in 2014.
Read more:
Tom Petty's final interview: There was supposed to have been so much more
Tom Petty's daughter: Sent heartbreaking Instagram dispatches as the rock star clung to life
