Warren Zanes' Biography: An In-Depth Look at the Life and Music of Tom Petty

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India on Nov 12, 2023

CFish: If you like Tom Petty you will love this book. A biography that I couldn’t put down. Just an extremely compelling person fleshed out, darkness and all.

United States on Oct 05, 2023

Karen Reid: Having enjoyed The Heartbreakers and having seen Petty live in the late 90's at The Fillmore, I had No idea his story would be as melancholy as it is. I'm grateful for the insight,

United States on Aug 28, 2023

Alexandra: Nach dem Lesen bedaure ich um so mehr dass er viel zu früh gestorben ist.

Germany on Jul 28, 2022

Marnie: Very happy! It came the day after I ordered and is exactly what I wanted

Canada on Mar 31, 2022

Simsalabim: Ich habe zweimal angefangen, dieses Buch zu lesen. Beim ersten Mal habe ich es erstmal wieder beiseite gelegt, weil es, auch wenn man recht gut Englisch kann, anfangs etwas schwierig zu lesen ist.
Da ich aber ein großer Tom Petty-Fan bin und es nunmal keine Autobiographie gibt, habe ich es mir nocheinmal vorgenommen und es gerade zu Ende gelesen.
Und ich muss sagen, nachdem man sich eingelesen hat, ist das Buch wirklich toll. Viel informativer ist eine AUTO-Biographie auch nicht. Es ist, wie wenn man sich mit einem guten Freund Tom Petty`s und der Band unterhält. Die Zeit damals war einfach eine Aufbruchszeit für solche Bands, sehr romantisch, leider vorbei.
Es ist eines der Bücher, bei denen man traurig ist, wenn sie rum sind. Es ist, als erlebe man die Karriere Petty`s und seiner Band in der Zeit damals mit, als sei man dabei.
...und dann ist das Buch zuende - und Tom Petty`s Leben ebenfalls...

Das einzige, was ich zu bemängeln habe: egal, wie vorsichtig man das Buch behandelt, irgendwann fallen die Seiten mit den Fotos in der Mitte heraus und kommen einem entgegen.
Aber sonst sehr gutes Buch!

Germany on Feb 20, 2022

D. Dough: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In twenty years as a Petty fan I never got around to reading a biography until now. Probably because I figured... it might not be AS interesting of a story. Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, these were messed up souls with lots of drama to read about. Tom Petty is a pillar of strength, a Tom Bombadil of the rock world. And it’s true, though an abundance of drugs were at hand, there’s few sordid tales in this book. They didn’t stuff a shark into any groupie’s hooha like Led Zeppelin. There’s no descent into a dark psyche, no profound insight into some bleakness that turned Tom into a star. But what you do get is a thorough, intimately-informed telling of Petty’s history, and the same for those who surround him. The author takes care to learn a thing or two about each new figure in Tom’s life, I appreciate that mindfulness.

I was reading three books when I read this one, and Petty: The Biography instantly placed itself as my favorite of the bunch. I was reading two or three chapters of this for every one of the others. The kismet of the story moved me, and it’s effortless to read.

If you’re a hardcore fan, the best thing a...

United States on May 01, 2021

Iain: The book is very well-written. That's not always the case with biographies of musicians. The author backs up his assessments with interviews and the views of the people who were there at the time, and the guiding voice of Petty somewhere in the background.

The story itself was for me absolutely riveting. English fans at the time loved this band when they broke into the Whistle Test and stole it. They added something fresh and foreign to the rock 'n' roll format. A bit like the dynamic impact when Police released their first singles. Except with Southern accents. I lost track of what was happening to them over the years. The book provided a new insight for me into the life of a band on and off the road, the highs and lows, and the one thing that kept it all together.

I was reading this when Tom Petty died. It seemed to me that another epic episode of my lifetime had gone. Like many other key musicians this guy and his band provided colours and nuances in the soundtrack of my life and I am grateful for that. Great book.

United Kingdom on Sep 06, 2018

Gerry: The first time I saw Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers live was at the US Festival in Southern California, Labor Day Weekend of 1982. The sponsors of this festival were none other than Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple Computers. There was only casual reference in one or two sentences of this event they created in the book by Walter Isaacson “Jobs.” I was a Tom Petty and Heartbreaker fan before the US Festival – a previous concert earlier that year scheduled for San Diego with Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks was canceled; I can still remember vividly the “heartbreak” I had when I had to turn my concert ticket in for a refund. In many ways, the music of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (and that of the Traveling Wilbury’s) represented my own existence – not living quite the Jack Kerouac life style I was gone from home, far away, and simply doing what I believed was my duty for my country. My existence was impacted by and mirrored what the Traveling Willbury or Heartbreaker songs represented. I recall how as the Bar NCO at the Marine House in Cairo Egypt I would play many of the Tom Petty and Heartbreakers albums along with other music during the Thursday evening...

United States on Jan 02, 2018