This Day in 1999: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Get a Star
20 years ago today, Tom Petty started letting people walk all over him. Not because he’d suddenly become a soft touch, but because he and the Heartbreakers were given their very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On April 28, 1999, Los Angeles officially deemed it to be Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Day within the city limits, a honor which accompanied the aforementioned star. During the unveiling ceremony, which took place only a week after the release of his and the Heartbreakers’ album, Echo, Petty was humble about the accolade, describing it as “pretty unbelievable” and admitting to the assembled crowd, “We used to walk up and down this street and look at the stars and never dreamed we would ever have one.”
At the time, Petty told Robin Leach, “The band sounds great, the songs are coming, records are coming and we're having a great time. We're not about to hang it up yet." He was right: he and the Heartbreakers were playing ‘til a week before Petty’s death, which wouldn’t happen for another 17 years.
