October 03, 2017
New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen is sending off a touching tribute to Tom Petty in the wake of his unexpected death.
Springsteen said he was "devastated" to hear of Petty's passing and that he's "always felt a deep kinship with his music." Petty died at the age of 66 on Monday after suffering from cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu, California.
"A great songwriter and performer, whenever we saw each other, it was like running into a long lost brother," Springsteen wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday. "Our world will be a sadder place without him."
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, known for hits like "Free Fallin" and "American Girl," had just finished a 40th-anniversary tour. The group stopped at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center in July.
Tony Dimitriades, Petty's manager, confirmed his death on Monday night.
"On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty," he said in a statement. "He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40 PT surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends."
