"[citation needed], "I played guitar and piano, and I always thought I was going to be a guitar player," said Lynch. Lynch has this down pat in bushels full. They walked back out there and carried on playing., With Pettys death, three of the five Wilburys are gone (Orbison died in 1988), and the Heartbreakers have lost their voice and leader. He asked me to call some people, Dimitriades says, and see if they would come on the road and perform it with him. Stanley Joseph "Stan" Lynch (born May 21, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. But we had a quiet moment at the rehearsals. A series of writing projects followed, which lead to Petty asking Zanes to write the biography. Lynch contributed to the bands first eight albums, and he served as the bands original drummer for two decades until he decided to leave in 1994. Any book about the fifty-two-year-old Lynch would surely be an entertaining, fairly hilarious read. Six days later, on the evening of October 1st, Petty suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu, and was rushed to UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica. It was Get in here, do your shit, get out of here. I dont think he even knew when it happened. At one point, Dimitriades told Petty, You cant tour like that. The singer responded, Why not? Theyre good to go. Longtime Petty manager Tony Dimitriades fired Lynch on the phone shortly after the show, and the drummer didnt say a word to Petty until the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. We hit a really sweet harmony, says Campbell. He sang harmony. In 1961, an uncle working on the local set of an Elvis Presley movie, Follow That Dream, arranged for Petty and some family members to watch the filming and meet the star. Original Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch surprised himself when he agreed to the reunion with Mike Campbell that began earlier this year. However, they subsequently decided to end the litigation and join forces into . She said, Elvis, this is my nephew and my niece. He said, Hi, how are you? Then he went to his trailer. In that moment, Petty claimed, Presley made my life. Aside from a few odd jobs in his youth in a Gainesville musical-instrument store, as a groundskeeper at the University of Florida, short stints in a barbecue restaurant and a funeral home Petty only played, wrote and recorded music for a living, until his death. "You belong among the wildflowers / You belong on a boat out at . He was a powerhouse onstage. I've heard talk about taking the best of the 1997 Fillmore . Among his more pointed criticisms concern the song "Stop Draggin' My Heart . There are things I could have handled better, specifically with Mike. Wasnt this already the day from hell? It was the greatest thrill of my life, Zanes said. He reminded me sort of [like] Keith Moon in a way. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Ringo Starr on 'Good Friend' Tom Petty's Death: 'It Was a Shock'. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994. As the jaunty acoustic guitar in his hands filled the room with a capoed, sonorous chime, he opened his mouth and started to sing. Ad Choices. Juicy Details About Jane Benyo, Why She Divorced Tom Petty and Where We both started smiling at one point and went, We got something here. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. " Even though he was still in the band in 1989, Lynch did not perform on any songs on Petty's solo album Full Moon Fever, even though Campbell, Tench and Epstein did. (I also remember Rick Rubin, who was with him on what must have been a work break from recording Wildflowers, giving me a very fishy look when we emerged.). Im just so sad, Campbell says now, to think that Im not going to play those songs again., I havent seen this outpouring since my dad passed, says Dhani Harrison, a few days after Pettys death. U2 played bits of Free Fall-in and Learning to Fly during Beautiful Day., I thought the world of Tom, said Bob Dylan, who hired Petty and the Heartbreakers as his road band in 1986, then became Pettys bandmate with Harrison, early rock & roll legend Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra in a supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys. (The Del Fuegos lasted for one more album before disbanding; Dan Zanes went on to be a fixture on the childrens-music scene.) I got the phone call and told the folks in my house, Bruce Springsteen says, recalling the sudden, shocking impact of that news. The Real Reason Behind Tom Petty Firing Stan Lynch Hi! The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time All rights reserved. Id rather hear the old songs with the real singer.. In Pettys interviews with Zanes, he was as forthright and honest as he is in his songs, talking about his abusive father, his failed marriage, and his heroin use. Lynch reflecting on his time in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: There were many things that were not said that should have been said. I know your leg has been killing you. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Wikipedia Mary Austin Will Auction Off Freddie Mercurys, Yes Release Brand New Spanking Song All, Watch The Trailer For The New Syd Barret Film, Why These 12 Rock Hits Were Hated By Fans, Michael Anthony Shares The Plans To Explore Van Halen, Wild Man Of Rock n Roll Wee Willie Harris Passed. Thats how, in a very roundabout way, Warren Zanes, a deputy professor at New York University, came to write Petty: The Biography, a new book about one of rocks most enigmatic figures, and his band, the Heartbreakers. It's what people like to think of as "swing". Tom Petty's Heartbreaker Bandmates and Daughters Discuss His - Variety They also broke out the blues and covers: Smokestack Lightning, Kansas City, Fleetwood Macs Black Magic Woman. The band sounds amazing, Petty exulted. Hed met my aunt before, Petty recalled. But once in LA the producers decided they were not keen on the rest of the band, so it broke up, leaving Petty basically a solo act something he was not happy about. His last gig with the Heartbreakers was on October 2, 1994, at the Bridge School Benefit Concert in Mountain View, California. 2 weeks later they brought him back because they couldn't find a better drummer that could play with the Heartbreakers. "When I listen to our first couple of albums, I think that I sound stiff." I had to remind myself that I was full-grown man. The eleven-year-old who first heard Breakdown was always close. "We have the same musical pulse we always had," says Campbell of hitting the road with his old Tom Petty bandmate after . He began playing music as a small child. Some news reports you just don't want to believe, so you stay off the internet for a few minutes. Formed in 1976,[1] the band originally comprised Tom Petty (lead singer, guitar), Mike Campbell (lead guitarist), Ron Blair (bass guitar), Stan Lynch (drums), and Benmont Tench (keyboards). Once they left the stage, it became clear that Lynch had to be fired. Anything I did was accented on the drums. If its just one or two of us, thats one thing. When we got back together for the Bridge School Benefit it was just misery. Then I heard him at a gig talking to a guy in another band. Id hear that he was auditioning for another group. It's hard to even imagine that album without Stan. Im not going back out there. Instruments. / Youtube. His parents made him take lessons before they bought him a kit, and he recalls with a laugh, "as soon as I got my first set they took up tennisthey just split, and I don't blame them. By the end of the evening, Lynch and the rest walked out as Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. The album that first alienated Lynch was Southern Accents. Dhani recounts a story that Petty once told him about the Heartbreakers tour with Dylan a story that says everything about the way Tom interacted with people: honest but cheeky. Onstage one night, Dylan kept complaining that the stage lights were too bright and threatened to leave if they were not turned down. It wasnt the best period in my life, Petty confessed in 2006. He became stronger., No one could understand the pace Im running at, Petty said in our radio interview. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Saturday Night Live Wiki Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - with Blair and original drummer Stan Lynch, both from Gainesville - released their self-titled debut album in November 1976, then hit the road in earnest. Id drive up; gate opens. But, Tench says, I never want this guy to be thought of as OK, weve put him in the file, thats done. Because he resonates. I think I have some Tom nuances in my voice. I didnt need to be that way. In a 2008 interview with Modern Drummer , Lynch described how he felt after . Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any suggestions. At one point, he said, Warren, Im going to have to answer questions about this for the rest of my life. And I said, I know.. But Toms attitude and personality gave it a modern edge., Tench believes that as a writer, Petty walked in this strange penumbra between the shadow and the light. Free Fallin, Pettys Top 10 single from Full Moon Fever, has a catchy chorus, Tench says. I said, How do you digest two albums worth of material? They went, Thats Wednesday for me. Bissonette was going, You chart them out. Petty later got a solo deal with Shelter but turned to Campbell and Tench again to form a band with Pettys name up front, playing his songs. Since her father's death, Violette has been sharing both her family's pride over the "American Girl" singer's . That he most certainly was. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers The musician revealed that he wishes he had handled the situation in the band in a more proper way regarding his departure. And I thought, Okay well, youre being paid like its main gig. I had a feeling that the dough was the only reason he hadnt walked off yet.. I have a memory or running into him in the upper reaches of the House of Blues before a Willie Nelson show, and retreating into a shuttered, empty dining room to smoke one. You think of those nearest to him, because you have had your foot in that door and seen his co-workers and lovers and fellow artists inside there. Flip and entertaining as he could be, the essential Petty to me was the darker-hued poet of Even the Losers, The Waiting, Deliver Me, and Southern Accents as they spilled out over the next decade. And yet when band mates fell by the wayside, as happened to the evocatively swampy but roguish drummer Stan Lynch and the late bassist/harmonizer Howie Epstein (who died by overdose in2003), theywere not remote figures in the rear view, but psychic landmarks, sometime friends whose loss Petty would discuss with empathy and obvious regrets. The influences were obvious the Byrds, a lot of the Merseybeat stuff, Wolf says of Petty and the Heartbreakers 1977 sets opening for the J. Geils Band. The 1993 edition of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers included, left to right: Mike Campbell, Tom Petty, Stan Lynch, Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein. There was nothing there but truth. But, he admitted, that was my mindset: I will survive. Lynchs portion of the tour was slated to kick off April 23 in Boulder, Colorado, so he had plenty of time to prepare. I was ashamed. Earlier this year, Stan Lynch reunited with his former bandmate, Mike Campbell, when Campbell asked him to join him on the road with the Dirty Knobs. Another epiphany came in 1965 when Petty then a member of a local combo called the Sundowners went to Jacksonville for his first concert, headlined by the Beach Boys and featuring two British Invasion bands, the Zombies and the Searchers, who became crucial influences on Pettys lashing-jangle charge and pocket-grenade songwriting with the Heartbreakers. When he ventured into solo work,he knocked out two paeans to his own north Floridaworking class indomitability, Free Fallin and I Wont Back Down.Both became iconic crowd pleasers. There will be a time and place to talk about the music as I was doing with a longtime colleague from Rolling Stone days for a long stretch of a Sunday hike on what I could not have known was the last full day of Tom Pettys life but each Petty fan has their personal stash. What people dont know is that Lynch and Pettys conflict started way back at the time of their legendary singles. What could be cooler in the entire world than for your target demographic to be Tom Petty?, Petty characterized his roots and ambition this way, in the title song of his 1985 album, Southern Accents: I got my own way of talkin/But everything gets done, with a Southern accent. He was born Thomas Earl Petty on October 20th, 1950, in Gainesville, Florida; a brother, Bruce, arrived in 1958. Zaness visits to Pettys compound inMalibu began in 2012. (Caroline Greyshock / Los Angeles Times) When original Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch was let go from the group in 1995 or excommunicated, to use his own term he started a new chapter of his life in Florida as a producer-songwriter and rarely looked back. He was found unconscious at his home in the early morning and was taken to hospital in . He was otherwise in vintage road-warrior form, according to J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf, who saw the real deal when Petty and the Heartbreakers opened shows for the Geils Band in 1977. But there is a story and sorrow that is brilliantly laid out.. 2023 Billboard Media, LLC. I figured Id get a call in a month or two: Tom wants to get together and jam some shit out., Related He got the balance he wanted, Campbell says of the 40th Anniversary shows, and the story he wanted to tell., Very few people beyond the Heartbreakers immediate circle knew that Petty was suffering, at each gig, from a hairline fracture in his left hip, which he planned to deal with after the tour. I was just that kind of guy, he said. August 12, 2014. Stan Lynch, the bands longtime drummer, who eventually quit in 1994, is unsurprisingly the most critical of Petty. Propelled by Stan Lynch's rollicking drumming and the band's now-signature soaring guitars, this high-octane rave was a close-up of Petty's vocal prowess and persona: sweet then sour . The Fleetwood Mac singer attributes his uncanny ability to write for and about women the scrappy fighters in that song and 1978s Listen to Her Heart; the restless dreamer in American Girl; the romantic ideal in Wildflowers to the really strong women around Petty: his first wife, Jane; their two daughters, Adria and AnnaKim; and his second wife, Dana, whom he married in 2001. But Tom would close the show by doing Shout. Its a challenging song to do, once youve heard the Isley Brothers version. Howard Norman Epstein (July 21, 1955 - February 23, 2003) was an American musician best known as a bassist with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox, A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry. That was one of the great things about him. They were laughing their asses off, says Lynch. While Petty and George Harrison were kind of stone-y, mellow dudes, they had that toughness. Wilco, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Fleet Foxes and the War on Drugs were among the bands that covered Pettys songs onstage. Tom was a great classicist, Springsteen says, and the Heartbreakers were a real guitar band. I would try to write in the same fashion. Editor's note: Simone Biles Owens reveals $120 wedding dress and possible minimoon spot and shuts down her hair haters. Everybody was so happy, especially Tom full of glory and hope. The guitarist was particularly pleased when Petty threw Breakdown a nugget from the first album, only played twice before on the tour into the closing-night set with striking high harmonies by backing vocalists Charley and Hattie Webb. Were not going to do any more long tours like this, but we have a lot of stuff were gonna do, because this is the best the band has ever been., When he walked past me, Campbell continues, I put my arm out, I pulled him close to me and said, Im so proud of you. Lynch stated he would be open to playing with the other three original members of The Heartbreakers in the future. And then, with awful suddenness and scant days after a triumphant home stand in his adoptive Los Angeles for a 40th anniversary concert, he was gone. How Stevie Nicks Finally Won Over Tom Petty: Exclusive Interview "As a kid I had very little opportunity. The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History It made a big difference for me, and I believe my participation made a huge difference for them., Lynch has stayed on good terms with Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench during the past 30 years, and the drummer is very open to the idea of one day playing with all the surviving members of the group in some capacity. And when I lived in California, I got to know him quite well. But those hooks and titles are so memorable.. "[I'd] gotten looser, more pliable over the years," he commented. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994. I have regrets. It was, she says, the last time I saw him.. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. Jimmy Iovine is known to have obsessed over the drum sound in Pettys 1979 album Damn the Torpedos, which Iovine produced, and Lynch became the object of his frustration. On that last night at the Bowl, in his adopted hometown, the Florida-born Petty covered every mile of his journey with determined, jubilant force: his creative odyssey as a songwriter; the commercial success that continually followed him; the record-business trials that came along with it; his eternal garage-band bond with the Heartbreakers lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboard player Benmont Tench, bassist Ron Blair, multi-instrumentalist Scott Thurston and drummer Steve Ferrone. His replacement, Howie Epstein, stayed with the band . We want to hear it. I dont believe the good times are all overI dont believe the thrill is all goneReal love is a mans salvationThe weak grow strongThe strong carry on. Original Tom Petty Drummer Nearly Refused Mike Campbell Reunion I didnt know whether to say, Thank you or Fuck you. I only knew I was grateful to have had the experience of having all those men in my life. I'm Bihter. A lot of the times Id just be focused on what I was doing, but then Id turn around and be like, My God, its Lynch and hes fuckin smoking it! Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday. On September 25th, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed the final concert of a three-night run at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Drums, guitar, piano, vocals. And heres the thing: He didnt have an ego. It also fucks with the legacy. And he would just talk me down., At MusiCares, Cage the Elephant delivered a potent unplugged twist on Pettys 1993 hit Mary Janes Last Dance, a deceptively jaunty folk-blues about holding on to a fleeting passion. The more experience he had, the more it enhanced his ability. Tom Petty fired Stan Lynch It's safe to say Lynch's dismissal from the Heartbreakers wasn't a mutual decision. Tom Petty was a heroin addict in the '90s. Here's why he's finally The Heartbreakers were all fingers on the same hand.. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. I wouldnt want to let anyone down, says Lynch. I was a marginal student. And in five minutes or so, Tom Petty comes out. He was a real cat. When Petty sang a song by Jimmie Rodgers, Merle Haggard or the Searchers, Tench insists, he wasnt a dilettante, trying something on. And of course, it wasnt good, no good at all, because not long after they confirmed he was lost. From the heart: The 12 best Tom Petty songs - Yahoo We had great eye communication where I could turn around and look at him, and he knew just exactly what I wanted to do. The drummer realized after some point that he didnt want to be in the band anymore due to the personal and musical differences he had with Tom Petty. In 1981, Blair, weary of the touring lifestyle, departed the band. He didnt settle for just being OK., Petty entered the last year of his life with confidence and pride. Later on, Stan Lynch worked with many other prominent names like the Eagles, Eddie Money, Toto, and Ringo Starr. And I think among American rock-and-roll bands, theyre the very best. They would go to the Formula One races together., George really felt at ease with Tom, Dhani says, because it was like having another you next to you. As you may recall, the lead singer and guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty sadly passed away on October 2, 2017, at the age of 66. You see a friends tweet first, and he closes with Ugh. Yes, thats the noise you make when you get a gut punch. ", Lynch was always involved in fights at school so his friends reasoned that the high-strung youth might be able to rip the aggression with drums. You see a . Tom Petty's daughter shares pictures from private funeral - Today And then we got together when we were old fucks and we played some clubs. I would have never bet on that.. And he had a good heart. The guitarist recalls a point several tours ago when he was having some real personal problems. ', When he heard about Pettys death in 2017, Lynch says he was shocked, but not completely surprised. "The coolest thing about this is that I get to put a bookend on a really, really long book of life," says Stan Lynch, second from left, of reuniting with Mike Campbell, third from left. The song went to No. We have the same musical pulse we always had, says Campbell. Its sad that hes gone, Springsteen says of Petty, but it was nice to be alive in his lifetime. And the work remains. ', But when he went to speak, he found himself tentatively agreeing to the plan. He formed the band known as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1976 along with Stan Lynch (drummer), Benmont Tech (keyboardist), Mike Campbell, . Stevie Nicks on the Last Time She Saw Tom Petty Some news reports you just dont want to believe, so you stay off the internet for a few minutes. You remember dozens of moments, including an interview for Billboardwhen he was 64 and you were sitting with him in a glassed-in studio booth while distracting activity swirled all around, and he took a beat and he could take a beat as well as any showman who has walked the stage with a six-string slung around his neck and smiled one of his complicated and almost furtive smiles and said, Were professionals, right?. 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Sometimes I would hear stuff and it was just so sad. The two finally met in Gainesville, where Campbell was supposed to go to college but instead ended up playing with Petty in Mudcrutch. Among the acts that Tom Petty took with him on the tour for his 1987 album, Let Me Up (Ive Had Enough), was the Del Fuegos, a Boston-based roots-rock band with ties to the New York hardcore scene. The Wild One, Forever, a mostly acoustic lament celebrating and mourning an impossible but unforgettable young love (it would have a close cousin in Magnolia two years later) was followed by the pounding Chuck Berry stompof Anything Thats Rock and Roll.The entire album was by turns an artistic declaration and a hollering yawp that in sum seemed to insist that only lovers would be left alive in some brave new rock world where the iconic American Girl ruled the turf. The session also included Jacksonville native Mike Campbell. Lynchs current shows with Campbell will end in June. Answer: Stanley Joseph Lynch (born May 21, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Occupation (s) Songwriter, Record producer, Musician. But when he gets to the hook, slam, its there. It was magical, it was spiritual, Campbell affirms. He put the record on in his studio, put his head in his hands and listened to the whole thing from start to finish, Dhani recalls. "We all kind of thought Howie would get the job," says original Heartbreakers' drummer Stan Lynch. Heres the definitive guide to Tom Pettys best songs. When original Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch was let go from the group in 1995 or "excommunicated," to use his own term he started a new chapter of his life in Florida as a producer-songwriter and rarely looked back. He never wanted to be the bands lead singer. Otherwise, I listened to what I already had.. I was always amazed how they did it their own way. ', Editors picks I park and go to the lounge outside his studio. Tom Petty died of an accidental overdose on October 2, 2017, only a couple of weeks before his 67th birthday. There were shrieks of horror. My parents didn't have money. Im sure thinking about that in the future will make me lose it. For Zanes, the tour should have been heaven on earth. He may have fallen, leaving us to try to grow strong without him. Tom made a lot of great music, Springsteen points out, enough to carry people forward.. I never sought these people out, Petty claimed when I asked him in 2009 about why he got along so well with legends. Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Coping With the Gut Punch of Tom Petty's Death at 66 - Billboard [citation needed] "The drums were sort of a happy accident. Lets do this tour first., In a 2014 conversation with Rolling Stone, Petty recalled the unique genesis of Wildflowers, pointing to a day when his co-producer, Rick Rubin, played him the Beatles demos for their 1968 double LP, The Beatles. Benmont called Tom Petty, also from Gainesville, to ask for some help with some vocals. Obviously, they liked something we did. I had been backstage in various rooms the road managers would open to journos and posers when the band played say, Fillmore East in the 70s or various rococo rock halls in other towns from Chicago to New Orleans. Another intense moment in the show is Southern Accents. Midway through the tour, Campbell changed the lyrics from Theres a dream I keep having where my mama comes to me/And kneels over by the window and says a prayer for me to Theres a dream I keep having where my brother comes to me Its a change of just one word, but its had a profound impact on the crowd. Former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch recalled working with Stevie Nicks in a July 2021 interview. It is a song of pure love agape, Hillman says, using the ancient Greek word. Stan Lynch, the band's longtime drummer, who eventually quit in 1994, is unsurprisingly the most critical of Petty. So not really the best environment for me, personally.. Mike is a pivotal player in a previous life of mine. So it was no small surprise in late 2021 when Lynch picked up his phone one day and heard Campbells voice on the other end. All Rights Reserved. That was 30 years ago. I didnt even speak to him at the Hall of Fame, says Lynch. Petty spent much of his stardom in ready, grateful service to his rock & roll elders. Tom Petty Drummer Reveals The Heartbreaking Truth Behind Tom's Death Having Stan [Lynch] play on that is very cool. Tom Petty's Daughter Wanted to Cut The Heartbreakers Out of Greatest via Lynchs run ends after a June 26 show in Aspen, Colorado. 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. I think Stan didn't like Iovine (not sure any of the band except for maybe Petty appreciated him), but he was OK at that point because TP supported Lynch's playing style.