Earlier update:
After reports on Monday, Oct. 2 that Tom Petty died, the Los Angeles Police Department wrote that it cannot confirm his death.
“The LAPD has no information about the passing of singer Tom Petty. Initial information was inadvertently provided to some inadvertently,” it tweeted. “However, the LAPD has no investigative role in this matter. We apologize for any inconvenience in this reporting.”
TMZ first reported that he was on life-support after he was found unconscious. In an update, TMZ said that there was a “decision to pull life support.”
“Sources tell us at 10:30 Monday morning a chaplain was called to Tom’s hospital room. We’re told the family has a do not resuscitate order on Tom. The singer is not expected to live throughout the day, but he’s still clinging to life. A report that the LAPD confirmed the singer’s death is inaccurate -- the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. handled the emergency,” according to TMZ.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers rose to fame in the 1970’s, putting out massive hits, including “American Girl,” “Stop Draggin‘ My Heart Around,” “Breakdown,” “Listen to Her Heart,” and many more. He also went solo, releasing “Freefallin’.”
Petty told Rolling Stone in December that he thought his final tour, which he concluded last month, would be the group’s last tour together.
He said, “It’s very likely we‘ll keep playing, but will we take on 50 shows in one tour? I don’t think so. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was thinking this might be the last big one. We’re all on the backside of our sixties. I have a granddaughter now I'd like to see as much as I can. I don’t want to spend my life on the road. This tour will take me away for four months. With a little kid, that’s a lot of time.”
Petty was born in Gainesville, Florida, on Oct. 20, 1950.
Petty told media outlets in that past that he wanted to become a musician when he was 13 after seeing The Beatles play on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”