20 Oct 2020
Today marks what would have been Tom Petty's 70th birthday. His sad passing in 2017, a week after the Heartbreakers' 40th Anniversary Tour, left his fans and fellow musicians shocked and bereft. One of the world's finest songwriters, Petty penned many beautiful and iconic songs including, "American Girl" (1977), "I Won't Back Down" (1989), "Free Fallin'" (1989), and "Wildflowers" (1994) amongst many others.
As lead vocalist and guitarist of Mudcrutch and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, as a solo artist, and as a member of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, he sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
As a wonderful and timely reminder of his musical talent, a reissue, or rather a reworking, of his 1998 album Wildflowers has been released, called Wildflowers & All The Rest. This time it includes all 25 tracks that Petty had recorded for the album, including an extra 10 tantalising tracks that have been sitting in the archives since then.
At Genesis, we were lucky to have his contribution to three of our books; Mr Fantasy, Concert for George and of course The Traveling Wilburys. We join Genesis subscribers in looking back with great respect, admiration and warmth on the life of 'Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr.'
Since 1974 Genesis has created signed limited edition books on behalf of authors and artists ranging from the Beatles to Buckingham Palace.
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