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Mike Campbell

Mike Campbell - Guitarist

Hometown - Panama City, Florida

D.O.B - 2/1/1950

Noted mostly for his longtime work as Tom Petty's lead guitarist, Campbell was also a successful producer and songwriter on his own. One of the quieter legends of rock, he was an excellent guitarist and perfect companion songwriter to Tom Petty's 'meat and potatoes' rock & roll style.
Campbell graduated Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Florida in 1968 and quickly moved to pursue a career in music. At 16, he bought his first guitar, a cheap Harmony model, from a pawnshop. His first electric guitar was a $60 Goya. Like Tom, Mike drew his strongest influences from The Byrds and Bob Dylan, with additional inspiration coming from the following guitarists: Scotty Moore, Luther Perkins, George Harrison, Carl Wilson, Jerry Garcia, Roger McGuinn, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Jimmy Page, Mick Taylor, "and on and on," Mike noted. The first song he learned to play was "Baby Let Me Follow You Down," a song which appeared on Bob Dylan's eponymous debut album.
He formed a band named Dead or Alive which quickly disbanded. He first met Tom Petty through Mudcrutch keyboardist Benmont Tench who suggested that Mudcrutch needed a 2nd guitarist.
Campbell's autograph on a 1975 "Mudcrutch" 45.Mudcrutch moved to L.A. and signed a record deal with Shelter Records, recording an album in 1974 that ended up being shelved. Campbell then joined Tom Petty to found the original Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1975 along with Tench, Ron Blair (bass guitar) and Stan Lynch (drums).
Mike's personality exhibits a strange contradiction: He appears quiet and unassuming onstage, but is capable of tearing into solos, especially featuring this on slide, with the abandon of a man possessed, a true Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Slide. Like the other players in the Heartbreakers, Mike scorns the virtuoso approach to playing, preferring to have his work serve the needs of each song. He belongs to an elite group of musicians. Guitar World magazine noted "there are only a handful of guitarists who can claim to have never wasted a note. Mike Campbell is certainly one of them". He is a highly melodic player, often using two or three-strings-at-a-time leads instead of the more conventional one-at-a-time approach. "People have told me that my playing sounds like bagpipes," he muses. "I'm not exactly sure what that means." His estimation of his own style is typically modest: "I don't think people can really top Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton as far as lead guitar goes. I like my playing to bring out the songs." Like Tench, he is heavily involved in constructing the arrangements for the Heartbreakers' tunes. And also like Tench, he prefers rawness to polish in the studio and onstage.

Benmont Tench

Benmont Tench - Keyboardist / Pianist

Hometown - Gainesville, Florida

D.O.B - 9/7/1953

Best known as the longtime pianist and keyboard player for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Benmont Tench is one of rock's most respected instrumentalists, as he's guested on countless recordings other artists. Born on September 7, 1953, in Gainesville, FL, Tench took up piano at an early age, playing recitals at the age of six. But shortly after discovering the Beatles, Tench turned his back on lessons and focused on '60s rock & roll. As a teenager, Tench met another up-and-coming rocker, Tom Petty, at a local music store. Several years later (while on break from college), Tench caught Petty's band, Mudcrutch (which also included future Hearbreaker Mike Campbell on guitar), in concert, and after sitting in with the band on several different occasions, went back to school. Petty asked Tench shortly thereafter to quit school and join Mudcrutch full-time, which after some deliberation, he agreed to.

After a demo tape featuring the new lineup was recorded, the quartet landed a recording contract with Shelter Records. But before they could record an album, the band split up. Tench contemplated launching his own band (which he would double in as lead vocalist), before Petty convinced Campbell and Tench to come back. Recruiting additional members Stan Lynch (drums) and Ron Blair (bass), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers was officially formed in 1976, resulting in a deal with MCA, and by the '80s (on the strength of such hit albums as Damn the Torpedoes, Hard Promises, Southern Accents, etc.), the Heartbreakers had become one of the top rock bands in the world. Beginning in the middle of decade, Tench became a much sought-after session player, lending his talents to recordings by such varied artists as Jackson Browne, Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, the Cult, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Brian Eno, Hall & Oates, Green Day, Don Henley, Indigo Girls, Ziggy Marley, Alanis Morissette, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, Remy Zero, the Rolling Stones, U2, Robin Zander, Ryan Adams, Travis Tritt, and Ringo Starr, among many others. But despite it all, Tench has never let the session work get in the way with his main band, playing on 13 albums with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, plus countless tours. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide

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Ron Blair

Ron Blair - Bassist

Hometown - San Diego, California

D.O.B -  September 16, 1948

Original bassist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He was the band's bass guitarist from 1976 to 1981. In 2002 he returned to the group after a 21-year hiatus, replacing his own replacement, Howie Epstein.

His father was a  Navy man so the family relocated every few years throughout the U.S. as well as within Japan and Hong Kong. But it was the music scene in Macon, Georgia and Gainseville, Florida where Blair felt most at home. Before playing with Tom Petty, Blair was part of a band called RGF that was in major competition with another outfit, Mudcrutch, in Gainesville.

After Mudcrutch broke up, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench teamed up with Blair and Stan Lynch, whom they had known from the Gainesville music scene and started recording some demos together in Los Angeles when Petty asked if they would like to assume his recording contract with Shelter Records and start a band. (Denny Cordell, President of Shelter, had kept Petty under contract, seeing major potential in him). Blair went on to play on the bands first four albums, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, You're Gonna Get It!, Damn The Torpedoes, and Hard Promises and a few tracks of Long After Dark before his departure in 1982.

He then re-joined them on March 18, 2002 to perform at the bands Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The reunion led to Blairs return to the group for their 2002 summer tour and helped finish up The Last DJ album, and has been present for all subsequent tours.

Aside from the Heartbreakers, Blair has designed albums for Barbara Morrison and Carlos Zialcita. He has also played on albums by Kirstin Candy, Stevie Nicks, Del Shannon, Slobberbone, and The Tremblers. Blair was also part of the original lineup of The Dirty Knobs,mike Campbell's side-project band.

Tom Petty had the following to say about Blair: "It s great having him [back] in the band. It reminds me of the old days just seeing him around...We hung out. We knew each other. And he was always the best bass player in town." ( Orange County Register , August 26, 2002)

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Scott Thurston

Scott Thurston -Keyboardist, Harmonica, Guitarist, Harmony Vocals

Hometown -Medford, Oregon

D.O.B - January 10, 1952

American guitarist, keyboardist, and songwriter, best known as a session musician.

Raised in Medford, Oregon, Scott started out exclusively as a session musician and has played with Jackson Browne (1985 to 1992), The Cult, Melissa Etheridge, Glenn Frey, Hokus Pokus, Iggy Pop and the Stooges (from 1973 to mid 1979), Jump, Mary Karlzen, Nils Lofgren, The Motels, New Order,Bonnie Raitt ,Kimm Rogers and John Trudell, to name a few. Scott later became an accomplished songwriter, penning tunes for (and sometimes with) Jackson Browne, Iggy Pop, and The Motels.

Former guitarist James Williamson of iggy Pop and the Stooges had the following to say about Scott: “I was over at Capitol Records and as I was going out, I was watching this guy recording, and it was Scott Thurston with this other band. He was cool, I could hear that he was a great piano player, so I got his contact info and I said, 'You wanna play with us?' When we put the band Iggy and the Stooges back together, I asked him if he wanted to play with us, and he said, 'Sure,' and the rest is history." James went on to say that he didnt even play much on Iggy Pops New Values album: "Actually, I only played guitar on a couple of things. Scott played almost all the guitar. He s a very talented guy. He s a very good guitar player and a very good keyboard guy. He s just a very good musician."

 Tom Petty also noticed Scotts abilities, so much so that he asked Scott to join the band for their Touring The Great Wide Open tour in 1991, which turned into a permanent spot for Scott in the band s lineup. He has been a vital part of the band ever since then. A multi-instrumentalist, he plays: guitar” acoustic, 6-string electric and bass; lap steel guitar ; ukulele ; harmonica ; keyboards; and since Howie Epsteins departure, he exclusively sings harmony vocals.

Tom Petty had the following to say about Scott: "I was trying to get him out of the corner over there, because he always saw himself as a sideman—'I m a Sidebreaker'—and he tried to stay over to the side. But we love him, he sings great with me, and we want him out there with us. Hes a good buffer between the rest of us. When we re fighting or have some cliqueishness, he s good at getting in there and saying, 'Let s look at it this way,' because Duckhead, as we call him, is neutral. He doesn t come from Florida, wasnt there when this or that happened. ( Rolling Stone , July 8-22, 1999)

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Steve Ferrone

Steve Ferrone - Drummer

Hometown - Brighton, England

D.O.B - April 25, 1950

He was educated in France and heavily influenced by the Motown sound. He also drew inspiration from the following drummers: Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Tony Meehan, Bernard Purdie, Grady Tate, Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Art Blakey, John Bonham,Clyde Stubblefield, Al Jackson Jr., Bobby Mason, and Jack Dejohnette, his favorite drummer. He also came from a musical family: "My grandmother played piano, [and] my father was a dancer for the Sierra Leone folk dancing troupe, but my grandmother was really the one who encouraged me to do something in show business. She spotted my reaction to music early. She actually led me to start with the drums with girls. I saw some girls at a dance react to Manfred Mann's band and decided that rock music was for me! I had figured out how to play the drums from appearing in a summer show…in England and watching the pit drummer every night. I took to the drums like a duck to water."

His first claim to fame happened when he opened for the not-yet-famous band The Who at Uncle Bunnie's Chinese Jazz Club, as part of a small local band in the early 1960s-- Ferrone was just twelve years old at the time.

It wasn't long before Steve was very active in the music scene in Italy and France in addition to his studies at one of Europes most prestigious music schools,The Nice Conservatory. At this time, Steve was playing in such bands as Bloodstone and Brian Augers Oblivion Express.

Ferrone served as drummer for the Average White Band (replacing drug casualty Robbie McIntosh) from 1974 until they broke up in 1982, then was in the house band on Saturday Night Live in 1985. He intermittently served as sessions and tour drummer for Duran Duran from 1986 to 1988, and toured and recorded with Eric Clapton from 1986 to 1992.

He has also appeared on recordings by The Bee Gee's, Brian May, Anita Baker, George Benson, Eric Clapton, Duran Duran,Climie Fisher, Peter Frampton, Jeff Golub, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Freddie King,Pat Metheny, Marcus Miller, Morrissey - Mullen, Jeffrey Osbourne, Paul Simon, Bernie Worrell and jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius, among others.

He began drumming for tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1992, and as of 2005 is a full-fledged member of the band. His first contact with the band was when he met Mike Campbell that year while the two played a show with George Harrison as part of his Hara and the Hijack band at Royal Albert Hall. Steve started recording with the band that year for the Wildflowers album, with his first Heartbreakers gig coming three years later on February 28, 1995 in Louiscille, Kentucky. Steve has thoroughly enjoyed his time with the Heartbreakers so far: "Everyone should have an experience like 'The Heartbreakers' in their musical life; creativity, passion, honesty, integrity, and a lot of fun," Steve commented. A man with the true heart of a musician, Steve claims "to continue playing music ‘til I drop."

He released a live solo album entitled It Up: Steve Ferrone and Friends Live at La Ve Lee in 2003. Tom Petty had the following to say about Steve: "He never plays anything that doesn't feel great. That's what I liked about him immediately. Every time, every take, feels good. Somebody might make a mistake, or you might want to change the arrangement or this or that, but it doesn't take really long to get a track because he's so rock solid with his feel. And he's a really bright musician. He actually can read and write music, which I can't do. I see him in the sessions just making little notes, sometimes writing on his floor tom. And so he gets the arrangement down really quick. Yeah, he's terrific. I just had him over here the other day doing some stuff with me. And I still am in awe of him." (tompetty.com interview with Paul Zollo—March 31, 2004)