Name	Savely Govorkov
first	''His Nickname Is 'Beast''' (1989)
last	''Return of the Furious'' (2005)
Nickname	30th
alias	Beast, Rex, Furious
title	Sergeant
portrayer	Igor Livanov (1992 film)Dmitry Pevtsov (1989 film)
creator	Victor Dotsenko }}

Sergeant Savely Govorkov (nicknamed Furious, also called Sergei (Rex) Govorkov in films) is a fictional character featuring in novels by Victor Dotsenko and others in the Soviet Union. A breakout character, Govorkov was created by Victor Dotsenko in the 1980s and by 1995 had featured in a number of novels by Dotsenko, making Dotsenko the most published and highest paid Russian writer. He appeared in more than twenty novels, all of them became a bestsellers. Other writers who have prominently featured the character in their works include Yuri Nikitin, Anton Pervushin, Valery Roschin, Kirill Vorobyev.

In the films portraying the character, his name was changed from the unusual Russian name "Savely" to the more common and catchy "Sergie". In the 1992 Soviet action/adventure film ''Terminate the Thirtieth!'', based on the book by the same name, the character is played by Igor Livanov.

Short description

Savely Govorkov is a fictional character who squares off against the mafia, criminals, corrupt politicians, Chechen terrorists, and foreign enemies, saving President Yeltsin and receiving a Purple Heart from US authorities. A veteran of the Afghan war, he is almost superheroic in his approach, often compared to Rambo.

Further reading

''Eliot Borenstein'' "Overkill: sex and violence in contemporary Russian popular culture". Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2008 - 265 p. ISBN 0801474035, 9780801474033

''Michael L. Bressler'' "Understanding contemporary Russia". Boulder : Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2009 - 423 p. ISBN 1588265862, 9781588265869 (Page 371)

''Anna Brodsky, Mark Naumovich Lipovetskiĭ, Marina Kanevskaya, Sven Spieker'' "The imprints of terror: the rhetoric of violence and the violence of rhetoric in modern Russian culture". Gesellschaft zur Förderung slawistischer Studien, 2006 - 290 p. ISBN 3876909791, 9783876909790 (Page 121)

''Anthony Olcott'' "Russian pulp: the detektiv and the Russian way of crime". Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, 2001 - 207 p. ISBN 0742511405, 9780742511408 (Pages 33,145,191,202)

"Russian studies in literature", vol. 36. Periodical. Armonk, NY : M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2000. ISSN: 1061-1975

"The Soviet and post-Soviet review", vol. 29. Periodical. Salt Lake City, UT : College of Humanities, University of Utah, 2002. ISSN: 1075-1262

References

Category:Fictional sergeants Category:Fictional Spetsnaz personnel Category:Fictional war veterans Category:Fictional mercenaries Category:Fictional private military members Category:Characters in Russian novels of the 20th century Category:Russian characters in written fiction

ru:Тридцатый

name	Neil Peart
landscape	Yes
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Neil Ellwood Peart
birth date	September 12, 1952
birth place	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
instrument	Drums, percussion, tubular bells
genre	Hard rock, progressive rock, heavy metal, jazz, swing,
occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer, author
years active	1973–present
label	Mercury, Anthem, Atlantic
associated acts	Rush, Buddy Rich Big Band
website
notable instruments	Sabian ''Paragon'' Signature cymbals, designed by Peart }}

Neil Ellwood Peart (; born September 12, 1952), OC, is a Canadian musician and author. He is the drummer for the rock band Rush.

Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario (now part of St. Catharines). During adolescence, he floated from regional band to regional band in pursuit of a career as a full-time drummer. After a discouraging stint in England to concentrate on his music, Peart returned home, where he joined a local Toronto band, Rush, in the summer of 1974.

Early in his career, Peart's performance style was deeply rooted in hard rock. He drew most of his inspiration from drummers such as Keith Moon and John Bonham, players who were at the forefront of the British hard rock scene. As time passed, however, he began to emulate jazz and big band musicians Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. In 1994, Peart became a friend and pupil of jazz instructor Freddie Gruber. It was during this time that Peart decided to revamp his playing style by incorporating jazz and swing components. Gruber was also responsible for introducing him to the products of Drum Workshop, the company whose products Peart currently endorses.

Peart has received numerous awards for his musical performances, and is known for his technical proficiency and stamina.

In addition to being a musician, Peart is also a prolific writer, having published several memoirs about his travels. Peart is also Rush's primary lyricist. In writing lyrics for Rush, Peart addresses universal themes and diverse subject matter including science fiction, fantasy, and philosophy, as well as secular, humanitarian and libertarian themes. All four of his books are travel-based non-fiction, though they diverge into his life and these subjects as well.

Peart currently resides in Santa Monica, California with his wife, photographer Carrie Nuttall, and daughter, Olivia Louise. He also has a home in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, and spends time in Toronto for recording purposes.

Life and career

Early childhood

Peart was born in a Hamilton hospital and lived his early years on his family's farm in Hagersville, on the outskirts of Hamilton. The first child of four, his brother Danny and sisters Judy and Nancy were born after the family moved to St. Catharines when Peart was two. At this time, his father became parts manager for Dalziel Equipment, an International Harvester farm machinery dealer. In 1956 the family moved to the Port Dalhousie area of the town. Peart attended Gracefield School and later Lakeport Secondary School, and describes his childhood as happy and says he experienced a warm family life. By early adolescence he became interested in music and acquired a transistor radio, which he would use to tune into pop music stations broadcasting from Toronto, Hamilton and Welland, Ontario and Buffalo, USA.

His first exposure to musical training came in the form of piano lessons, which he later said in his instructional video ''A Work in Progress'' did not have much impact on him. He had a penchant for drumming on various objects around the house with a pair of chopsticks, so for his 13th birthday, his parents bought him a pair of drum sticks, a practice pad and some lessons, with the promise that if he stuck with it for a year, they would buy him a kit.

His parents bought him a drum kit for his 14th birthday and he began taking lessons from Don George at the Peninsula Conservatory of Music. His stage debut took place that year at the school's Christmas pageant in St. Johns Anglican Church Hall in Port Dalhousie. His next appearance was at Lakeport High School with his first group, The Eternal Triangle. This performance contained an original number entitled "LSD Forever". At this show he performed his first solo.

Peart got a job in Lakeside Park, in Port Dalhousie on the shores of Lake Ontario, which later inspired a song of the same name on the Rush album ''Caress of Steel''. He worked on the Bubble Game and Ball Toss, but his tendency to take it easy when business was slack resulted in his termination. By his late teens, Peart had played in local bands such as Mumblin’ Sumpthin’, the Majority, and JR Flood. These bands practised in basement recreation rooms and garages and played church halls, high schools and roller rinks in towns across Southern Ontario such as Mitchell, Seaforth, and Elmira. They also played in the northern Ontario city of Timmins. Tuesday nights were filled with jam sessions at the Niagara Theatre Centre.

Career before joining Rush

At eighteen years of age, after struggling to achieve success as a drummer in Canada, Peart travelled to London, England hoping to further his career as a professional musician. Despite playing in several bands and picking up occasional session work, he was forced to support himself by selling trinkets to tourists in a souvenir shop called The Great Frog on Carnaby Street.

While in London he came across the writings of novelist and objectivist Ayn Rand. Rand's writings became a significant philosophical influence on Peart, as he found many of her treatizes to individualism and Objectivism inspiring. References to Rand's philosophy can be found in his lyrics, most notably "Anthem" from 1975's ''Fly by Night'' and "2112" from 1976's ''2112''.

After eighteen months of dead-end musical gigs, and disillusioned by his lack of progress in the music business, Peart placed his aspiration of becoming a professional musician on hold and returned to Canada. Upon returning to St. Catharines, he worked for his father selling tractor parts at Dalziel Equipment.

Joining Rush

After returning to Canada, Peart was recruited to play drums for the St. Catharines band Hush, who played on the South Ontario bar circuit. Soon after, a mutual acquaintance convinced Peart to audition for the Toronto-based band Rush, which needed a replacement for its original drummer John Rutsey. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson oversaw the audition. His future band mates describe his arrival that day as somewhat humorous, as he arrived in shorts, driving a battered old car with his drums stored in trashcans. Peart felt the entire audition was a complete disaster. While Lee and Peart hit it off on a personal level (both sharing similar tastes in books and music), Lifeson had a less favourable impression of Peart. After some discussion, Lee and Lifeson accepted Peart's maniacal British style of drumming, reminiscent of The Who's Keith Moon.

Peart officially joined the band on July 29, 1974, two weeks before the group's first US tour. Peart procured a silver Slingerland kit which he played at his first gig with the band, opening for Uriah Heep and Manfred Mann in front of over 11,000 people at the Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 14, 1974.

Early career with Rush

Peart soon settled into his new position, also becoming the band's primary lyricist. Before joining Rush, he had written few songs, but, with the other members largely uninterested in writing lyrics, Peart's previously underutilized writing became as noticed as his musicianship. The band was still finding its feet as a recording act, and Peart, along with the rest of the band, now had to learn to live from a suitcase.

His first recording with the band, 1975's ''Fly by Night,'' was fairly successful, winning the Juno Award for most promising new act, but, the follow-up, ''Caress of Steel,'' for which the band had high hopes, was greeted with hostility by both fans and critics. In response to this negative reception, most of which was aimed at the B side-spanning epic "The Fountain of Lamneth", Peart responded by penning "2112" on their next album of the same name in 1976. The album, despite record company indifference, became their breakthrough and gained a following in the United States. The supporting tour culminated in a three-night stand at Massey Hall in Toronto, a venue Peart had dreamed of playing in his days on the Southern Ontario bar circuit and where he was now introduced as "The Professor on the drum kit" by Lee.

Peart returned to England for Rush's Northern European Tour and the band stayed in the United Kingdom to record the next album, 1977's ''A Farewell to Kings'' in Rockfield Studios in Wales. They returned to Rockfield to record the follow-up, ''Hemispheres'', in 1978, which they wrote entirely in the studio. The recording of five studio albums in four years, coupled with as many as 300 gigs a year, convinced the band to take a different approach thereafter. Peart has described his time in the band up to this point as "a dark tunnel."

From this point on, Peart's career was near exclusively with Rush:

Playing style reinvention

In 1992, Peart was invited by Buddy Rich's daughter, Cathy Rich, to play at the Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship Concert in New York City. Though initially intimidated by the request, Peart accepted the offer and performed for the first time with the Buddy Rich Big Band. Peart remarked that he had little time to rehearse, and noted that he was embarrassed to find the band played a different arrangement of the song than the one he learned. Feeling that his performance left much to be desired, Peart decided to produce and play on two Buddy Rich tribute albums titled ''Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich'' in 1994 and 1997 in order to regain his aplomb.

While producing the first Buddy Rich tribute album, Peart was struck by the tremendous improvement in ex-Journey drummer Steve Smith's playing, and asked him his "secret." Smith responded he had been studying with drum teacher Freddie Gruber. As a result, Peart would put Rush-related activities on hold while he regularly met with Gruber.

In early 2007, Peart and Cathy Rich again began discussing yet another Buddy tribute concert. At the recommendation of bassist Jeff Berlin, Peart decided to once again augment his swing style with formal drum lessons, this time under the tutelage of another pupil of Freddie Gruber, Peter Erskine, himself an instructor of drummer Steve Gadd. On October 18, 2008, Peart once again performed at the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. The concert has since been released on DVD.

Family tragedy and recovery

Soon after the culmination of Rush's Test For Echo Tour on July 4, 1997, Peart's first daughter and then-only child, 19-year-old Selena Taylor, was killed in a single-car accident on Highway 401 near the town of Brighton, Ontario, on August 10, 1997. His common-law wife of 22 years, Jacqueline Taylor, succumbed to cancer only 10 months later on June 20, 1998. Peart, however, maintains that her death was the result of a "broken heart" and called it "a slow suicide by apathy. She just didn't care."

In his book ''Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road'', Peart writes of how he had told his bandmates at Selena's funeral, "consider me retired." Peart took a long sabbatical to mourn and reflect, during which time he travelled extensively throughout North and Central America on his BMW motorcycle, covering 88,000 km (55,000 miles). After his journey ended, Peart decided to return to the band. Peart wrote ''Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road'' as a chronicle of his geographical and emotional journey.

While Peart was visiting long-time Rush photographer Andrew MacNaughtan in Los Angeles, MacNaughtan introduced Peart to his future wife, photographer Carrie Nuttall. They married on September 9, 2000. In early 2001, Peart announced to his bandmates that he was ready to return to recording and performing. The product of the band's return was the 2002 album ''Vapor Trails''. At the start of the ensuing tour in support of the album, it was decided amongst the band members that Peart would not take part in the daily grind of press interviews and "Meet and Greet" sessions upon their arrival in a new city that typically monopolize a touring band's daily schedule. While Peart has always shied away from these types of in-person encounters, it was decided that having to needlessly expose him to an endless stream of questions about the tragic events of his life was quite unnecessary.

Since the release of ''Vapor Trails'' and reuniting with his fellow band mates, Peart has returned to work as a full-time musician. Rush has since released a cover EP, ''Feedback'' in June 2004 and their 18th studio album ''Snakes & Arrows'' in May 2007, which were supported by three additional tours in 2004, 2007, and 2008.

In the June 2009 edition of Peart's ''News, Weather, and Sports'', entitled "Under the Marine Layer", he announced that he and Nuttall were expecting their first child. Peart and Nuttall's first child, Olivia Louise Peart, was born on August 12, 2009.

Peart and the rest of the band recently toured North America, South America and Europe on the Time Machine Tour, which finished July 2, 2011, in George, Washington.

Musicianship

Style and influences

Peart is consistently ranked as one of the greatest rock drummers by fans, fellow musicians, and magazines. His influences are eclectic, ranging from Jon Thomas, John Bonham, Michael Giles, Ginger Baker, Phil Collins, Steve Gadd, and Keith Moon, to fusion and jazz drummers Billy Cobham, Buddy Rich, Bill Bruford and Gene Krupa. The Who was the first group that inspired him to write songs and play the drums. Peart is distinguished for playing "butt-end out", reversing stick orientation for greater impact and increased rimshot capacity. "When I was starting out", Peart later said, "if I broke the tips off my sticks I couldn't afford to buy new ones, so I would just turn them around and use the other end. I got used to it, and continue to use the heavy end of lighter sticks – it gives me a solid impact, but with less 'dead weight' to sling around."

Peart had long played just matched grip; however, he decided to shift to traditional as part of his style reinvention in the mid-1990s under the tutelage of jazz coach Freddie Gruber. Shortly after the filming of his first instructional DVD ''A Work in Progress'', Peart went back to using primarily matched, though he does switch back to traditional when playing songs from ''Test for Echo'' and during moments when he feels traditional grip is more appropriate, such as the rudimentary snare drum section of his drum solo. He discusses the details of these switches in the DVD ''Anatomy of a Drum Solo''.

Equipment

With Rush, Peart has played Slingerland, Tama, Ludwig, and Drum Workshop drums, in that order.

Historically he has played Zildjian A-series cymbals along with Wuhan china cymbals. In the early 2000s, Peart moved away from Zildjian and Wuhan and began exclusively using Paragon, a line created for him by Sabian. In concert, Peart uses an elaborate 360-degree drum kit, with a large acoustic set in front and electronic drums to the rear.

During the late 1970s, Peart augmented his acoustic setup with diverse percussion instruments including orchestra bells, tubular bells, wind chimes, crotales, timbales, timpani, gong, temple blocks, bell tree, triangle, and melodic cowbells. Since the mid-1980s, Peart has replaced several of these pieces with MIDI trigger pads. This was done in order to trigger sounds sampled from various pieces of acoustic percussion that would otherwise consume far too much stage area. Some purely electronic non-instrumental sounds are also used. One classic MIDI pad used is the Malletkat Express which is a two-octave electronic MIDI device that resembles a xylophone or piano. The Malletkat Express is composed of rubber pads for the "keys" so that any stick can be used. Beginning with 1984's ''Grace Under Pressure'', he used Simmons electronic drums in conjunction with Akai digital samplers. Peart has performed several songs primarily using the electronic portion of his drum kit. (e.g. "Red Sector A", "Closer to the Heart" on ''A Show of Hands (video)'' and "Mystic Rhythms" on ''R30''.) Peart's drum solos also feature sections performed primarily on the electronic portion of his kit.

Shortly after making the choice to include electronic drums and triggers, Peart added what has become another trademark of his kit: his rotating drum riser. During live Rush shows, the automated rotating riser allows Peart to swap dynamically the prominent portions of the kit (traditional acoustic in front, electronic in back) and still face front as he plays. A staple of Peart's live drum solos has been the in-performance rotation-and-swap of the front and back kits as part of the solo itself. This special effect simultaneously provides a symbolic transition of drum styles within the solo and provides a visual treat for the audience.

In the early 2000s, Peart began taking full advantage of the advances in electronic drum technology; primarily incorporating Roland V-Drums and continued use of samplers with his existing set of acoustic percussion. Peart's digitally sampled library of both traditional and exotic sounds has grown over the years with his music.

In April 2006, Neil took delivery of his third DW set, configured similarly to the R30 set, in a Tobacco Sunburst finish over curly maple exterior ply, with chrome hardware. He refers to this set as the "West Coast kit", as he uses it when in Los Angeles. Besides using it on recent recordings with Vertical Horizon, he played it while composing parts for Rush's latest studio album, ''Snakes & Arrows''. It features a custom 23" bass drum; all other sizes remain the same as the R30 kit.

On March 20, 2007 Peart revealed that Drum Workshop prepared a new set of red-painted DW maple shells with black hardware and gold "Snakes & Arrows" logos for Neil to play on the Snakes & Arrows Tour.

Peart has also designed his own signature series drumstick with Pro-Mark. The Promark PW747W, Neil Peart Signature drumsticks, are made of Japanese White Oak, which adds more weight than a standard hickory stick. They have the thickness of a standard 5A (0.551", 1.4 cm) but are longer (16.25", 41.3 cm) with a thicker taper and larger olive shaped wooden tip. When Rush held their Time Machine Tour, Pro-Mark released three limited edition sticks, each with one of the three designs selected from Peart's "Steam Punk" tour kit printed with Copper ink. Some other artists who use the Neil Peart Signature series include Ben Johnston (Scottish musician) of Biffy Clyro, Richie Hayward of Little Feat and Paul Garred of The Kooks.

During the 2010 Time Machine Tour Peart used a new DW kit which was outfitted with brass hardware and time machine designs to match the tour's Steampunk theming. Matching Paragon cymbals with clock imagery were also used.

Solos

Peart is often regarded as one of the finest practitioners of the in-concert drum solo. He is known for extensive, intricate drum solos containing odd time signatures, complex arrangements (sometimes total separation between upper and lower limb patterns: e.g. an ostinato dubbed "The Waltz"), and exotic percussion instruments. These solos have been featured on every live album released by the band. On the early live albums (''All the World's a Stage'' & ''Exit...Stage Left''), the drum solo was included as part of a song. On all subsequent live albums, the drum solo has been included on a separate track. His most recent instructional DVD, ''Anatomy of a Drum Solo'', is an in-depth examination of how he constructs a solo. He uses his solo from the 2004 R30 30th anniversary tour as the basis for examination, along with other lectures and demonstrations on how to construct a drum solo that is musical instead of indulgent.

Lyrics

Peart is also the main lyricist for Rush. Literature has always heavily influenced his writings and, as such, he has tackled a wide range of subjects. In his early days with Rush, much of his lyrical output was influenced by fantasy, science fiction, mythology and philosophy. However, nearly as much would deal with real world or personal issues such as life on the road and parts of his adolescence.

The song "2112" focuses on the struggle of an individual against the collectivist forces of a totalitarian state. This became the band's breakthrough release, but also brought unexpected criticism, mainly because of the credit of inspiration Peart gave to Ayn Rand in the liner notes. "There was a remarkable backlash, especially from the English press, this being the late seventies, when collectivism was still in style, especially among journalists," Peart said. "They were calling us 'Junior fascists' and 'Hitler lovers.' It was a total shock to me".

Weary of accusations of fascism or ideological fealty to Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, Peart has sought to remind listeners of his eclecticism and independence in interviews. He did not, however, try to argue in defence of Rand's views: "For a start, the extent of my influence by the writings of Ayn Rand should not be overstated. I am no one's disciple."

The 1980 album ''Permanent Waves'' saw Peart cease to use fantasy literature or ancient mythology in his writing. 1981's ''Moving Pictures'' showed that Peart was still interested in heroic, mythological figures, but would now place them firmly in a modern and reality-based context. The song "Limelight" from the same album is an autobiographical account of Peart's reservations regarding his own popularity and the pressures with fame. From ''Permanent Waves'' onward, most of Peart's lyrics began to revolve around social, emotional, and humanitarian issues, usually from an objective standpoint and employing the use of metaphors and symbolic representation.

1984's ''Grace Under Pressure'' strings together such despondent topics as the Holocaust ("Red Sector A") and the death of close friends ("Afterimage"). Starting with 1987's ''Hold Your Fire'' and including 1989's ''Presto'', 1991's ''Roll the Bones'', and 1993's ''Counterparts'', Peart would continue to explore diverse lyrical motifs, even addressing the topic of love and relationships ("Open Secrets", "Ghost of a Chance", "Speed of Love", "Cold Fire", "Alien Shore") a subject which he purposefully eschewed in the past because of what he perceived as an inherent hackneyed stereotype. However, 2002's ''Vapor Trails'' was heavily devoted to speaking about Peart's personal issues, combined with other humanitarian topics such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks ("Peaceable Kingdom"). The band's most recent album ''Snakes & Arrows'' deals primarily and vociferously with Peart's opinions regarding faith and religion. The lyrics of one of the songs on that album, "Faithless", exhibit Peart's life stance, which is most closely identified with secular humanism.

Opinions of Peart's lyrics have always been divided. While fans have lauded them as thoughtful and intelligent, some critics have called them over-wrought and bombastic. In 2007, he was voted No.2 on ''Blender'' magazine's list of "worst lyricists in rock". However, Allmusic has called Peart "one of rock's most accomplished lyricists."

Political views

Peart has never publicly identified with any political party or organization in Canada or the United States. Even so, his political and philosophical views have often been analysed through his work with Rush and through other sources. Peart is often categorized as an Objectivist and an admirer of Ayn Rand. Most of this is based on his work with Rush in the 1970s, particularly the song "Anthem" and the album ''2112'', the latter specifically credited to "the genius of Ayn Rand." However, in a 1994 interview, while contending the "individual is paramount in matters of justice and liberty," Peart specifically distanced himself from a strictly Objectivist line, stating he was "no one's disciple." Although Peart is sometimes regarded as a "conservative" and "Republican" rock star, he, in 2005, described himself as a "left-learning libertarian", and is often cited as a libertarian celebrity.

Books

Peart is the author of five non-fiction books, the latest released in May 2011. His growth as an author predates the published work by several years (not including his work as Rush's primary lyricist), through private letters and short travelogues sent out to a small circle of friends and family.

Peart's first book, titled ''The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa'', was written in 1996 about a month-long bicycling tour through Cameroon in November 1988. The book details Peart's travels through towns and villages with four fellow riders. The original had a limited print run, but after the critical and commercial success of Peart's second book, ''Masked Rider'' was re-issued and remains in print as of 2006.

After losing his wife and only (at the time) daughter, Peart embarked on a lengthy motorcycle road trip spanning North America. His experiences were penned in ''Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road''. Peart and the rest of the band were always able to keep his private life at a distance from his public image in Rush. However, ''Ghost Rider'' is a first-person narrative of Peart on the road, on a BMW R1100GS motorcycle, in an effort to put his life back together as he embarked on an extensive journey across North America.

Years later, after his marriage to Nuttall, Peart took another road trip, this time by car. In his third book, "Traveling Music: The Soundtrack of my Life and Times," He reflects on his life, his career, his family and music. It shows Peart still carrying emotional scars, but building a new life. As with his previous two books, it is a first person narrative.

Thirty years after Peart joined Rush, the band found itself on its 30th anniversary tour. Released in September 2006, ''Roadshow: Landscape With Drums, A Concert Tour By Motorcycle'' details the tour both from behind Neil's drumkit and on his BMW R1150GS and R1200GS motorcycles.

Peart's most recent book, ''Far and Away: A Prize Every Time'', was published by ECW Press in May 2011. This book, which he worked on for two years, is based around his travelling in North and South America. It tells how he found in a Brazilian town a unique combination of West African and Brazilian music.

Non-Rush music projects

''Vertical Horizon's 2009 album "Burning the Days" - drums on 3 songs including "Save Me from Myself," "Welcome to the Bottom," and "Even Now."

''Vertical Horizon's 2009 album "Burning the Days" - "Even Now" - co-written by Matt Scannell and Neil Peart.

''Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich'' ASIN: B001208NUQ

''Burning For Buddy: A Tribute To The Music Of Buddy Rich, Vol. 2'' ASIN: B000002JD4

DVDs

Apart from Rush's video releases as a band, Peart has released three DVDs:

''A Work in Progress''. Miami, Florida: Warner Bros. Publications. 2002. ISBN 0757990290 Originally released on VHS in 1996 and re-released on DVD in 2002.

''Anatomy of A Drum Solo'' S.l.: Hudson Music: Distributed by Hal Leonard. 2005. ISBN 1423407008

''The Making Of Burning For Buddy (A Tribute To The Music Of Buddy Rich)'' ASIN: 0739045059

Awards and honours

Peart has received the following awards in the ''Modern Drummer'' magazine reader's poll:

Hall of Fame: 1983

Best Rock Drummer*: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 2006, 2008

Best Multi-Percussionist*: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986

Best Percussion Instrumentalist: 1982

Most Promising New Drummer: 1980

Best All Around: 1986

1986 Honor Roll: Rock Drummer, Multi-Percussion

:(* – As a member of the Honor Roll in these categories, he is no longer eligible for votes in the above categories.)

Best Instructional Video: 2006, for ''Anatomy of A Drum Solo''

Best Drum Recording of the 1980s, 2007, for "YYZ" from ''Exit...Stage Left''

Best Recorded Performance:

* 1980: ''Permanent Waves''

* 1981: ''Moving Pictures''

* 1982: ''Exit...Stage Left''

* 1983: ''Signals''

* 1985: ''Grace Under Pressure''

* 1986: ''Power Windows''

* 1988: ''Hold Your Fire''

* 1989: ''A Show of Hands''

* 1990: ''Presto''

* 1992: ''Roll the Bones''

* 1993: ''Counterparts''

* 1997: ''Test for Echo''

* 1999: ''Different Stages''

* 2002: ''Vapor Trails''

* 2004: ''R30''

* 2007: ''Snakes & Arrows''

Peart has received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2007:

Drummer of the Year

Best Progressive Rock Drummer

Best Live Performer

Best DVD (''Anatomy Of A Drum Solo'')

Best Drumming Album (''Snakes & Arrows'')

Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2008:

Drummer of the Year

Best Progressive Rock Drummer (Runner-Up)

Best Mainstream Pop Drummer (Runner-Up)

Best Live Drumming Performer

Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2009:

Drummer Of The Year

Best Progressive Rock Drummer

Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2010:

Drummer of the Year

Best Live Performer (Runner-Up)

Best Progressive Rock Drummer (Runner-Up)

Along with his bandmates Lee and Lifeson, Peart was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 9, 1996. The trio was the first rock band to be so honoured, as a group. Peart was inducted into the Canadian Songwriter Hall of Fame along with bandmates Lifeson and Lee

See also

List of notable drummers

21st-century travel literature

References

External links

Neil Peart in ATHFCMFT

The Official Neil Peart website

Official Rush Web site

Power Windows tour drumkit assembly

Order of Canada citation

Category:1952 births Category:Canadian agnostics Category:Canadian libertarians Category:Canadian rock drummers Category:Canadian songwriters Category:Living people Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from St. Catharines Category:Progressive rock musicians Category:Rush (band) members Category:Musicians from Toronto Category:Canadian memoirists Category:Left-libertarians Category:Long distance motorcycle riding Category:Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States Category:Anthem Records Category:Canadian travel writers Category:Science fiction fans

ca:Neil Peart cs:Neil Peart de:Neil Peart es:Neil Peart fr:Neil Peart it:Neil Peart hu:Neil Peart nl:Neil Peart ja:ニール・パート no:Neil Peart pl:Neil Peart pt:Neil Peart ro:Neil Peart ru:Пирт, Нил simple:Neil Peart sk:Neil Peart fi:Neil Peart sv:Neil Peart zh:尼爾·佩爾特

alt	A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Joseph Jackson
alias	Michael Joe Jackson, MJ, King of Pop
birth date	August 29, 1958
birth place	Gary, Indiana, U.S.
death date	June 25, 2009
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals
genre	R&B;, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist
years active	1964–2009
label	Motown, Epic, Legacy
associated acts	The Jackson 5
relatives	Janet Jackson (sister)
website	}}

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B;, pop and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album ''Thriller'' is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including ''Off the Wall'' (1979), ''Bad'' (1987), ''Dangerous'' (1991), and ''HIStory'' (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Life and career

Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B; band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy. A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe.

The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.

Move to Epic and ''Off the Wall'' (1975–81)

In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B; Album, Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B; Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B; Album and Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt ''Off the Wall'' should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.

''Thriller'' and ''Motown 25'' (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. The album topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." ''Thriller'' was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Thanks to the ''Bad'' album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989. ''HIStory'' received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. However, the sales for ''Invincible'' were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general. Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. With ''Thriller'', Christopher Connelly of ''Rolling Stone'' commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to ''West Side Story'', and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona. ;Bibliography

George, Nelson (2004). ''Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection'' booklet. Sony BMG.

Further reading

External links

Michael Jackson Live: Best Pics – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Michael Jackson at MTV

FBI file on Michael Jackson

Category:1958 births Category:2009 deaths Category:African American dancers Category:African American male singers Category:African American record producers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American beatboxers Category:American businesspeople Category:American child singers Category:American choreographers Category:American dance musicians Category:American dancers Category:American disco musicians Category:American male singers Category:American boogie musicians Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:American soul singers Category:American tenors Category:American vegetarians Category:Boy sopranos Category:Brit Award winners Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:Child pop musicians Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:English-language singers Category:Epic Records artists Category:Expatriates in Bahrain Category:Former Jehovah's Witnesses Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Legend Award Michael Jackson Category:Manslaughter victims Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:People acquitted of sex crimes Category:People from Gary, Indiana Category:People from Santa Barbara County, California Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters from Indiana Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jackson Category:World Music Awards winners Category:Young Artist Award winners

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birth name	Thomas Jeffrey Hanks
birth date	July 09, 1956
birth place	Concord, California, U.S.
years active	1979–present
occupation	Actor, producer, director, voice over artist, writer, speaker
spouse	Samantha Lewes(m. 1978–1987; divorced)Rita Wilson (m. 1988–present)
children	Colin, Elizabeth, Chester, Truman }}

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's ''Big'', before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in ''Philadelphia'', the title role in ''Forrest Gump'', Commander Jim Lovell in ''Apollo 13'', Captain John H. Miller in ''Saving Private Ryan'', Joe Fox in ''You've Got Mail'', Chuck Noland in ''Cast Away'', and voicing the character Woody in the ''Toy Story series''. Hanks won consecutive Best Actor Academy Awards, in 1993 for ''Philadelphia'' and in 1994 for ''Forrest Gump''. U.S. domestic box office totals for his films exceed US$4.0 billion. He is the father of actor Colin Hanks.

Early life

Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks (born in Glenn County, California, on March 9, 1924 – died in Alameda, California, on January 31, 1992), an itinerant cook, was a distant relative of President Abraham Lincoln (through Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks). His mother, Janet Marylyn (née Frager; born in Alameda County, California, on January 18, 1932), was a hospital worker. Hanks' mother is of Portuguese ancestry, while two of his paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Britain. Hanks's parents divorced in 1960. The family's three oldest children, Sandra (now Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer), Larry (now Lawrence M. Hanks, PhD, an entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained with his mother in Red Bluff, California. Afterwards, both parents remarried. Hanks's first stepmother came to the marriage with five children of her own. Hanks once told ''Rolling Stone'': "Everybody in my family likes each other. But there were always about 50 people at the house. I didn't exactly feel like an outsider, but I was sort of outside it." That marriage ended in divorce after two years.

In addition to having a family history of Catholicism and Mormonism, Hanks was a "Bible-toting evangelical teenager" for several years. In school, Hanks was unpopular with students and teachers alike, later telling ''Rolling Stone'' magazine: "I was a geek, a spaz. I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who'd yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn't get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible." In 1965, Amos Hanks married Frances Wong, a San Francisco native of Chinese descent. Frances had three children, two of whom lived with Tom during his high school years. Hanks acted in school plays, including ''South Pacific'', while attending Skyline High School in Oakland, California.

Hanks studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California, and after two years, transferred to California State University, Sacramento. Hanks told ''The New York Times'': "Acting classes looked like the best place for a guy who liked to make a lot of noise and be rather flamboyant. I spent a lot of time going to plays. I wouldn't take dates with me. I'd just drive to a theater, buy myself a ticket, sit in the seat, and read the program, and then get into the play completely. I spent a lot of time like that, seeing Bertolt Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Henrik Ibsen, and all that, and now look at me, acting is my job. I wouldn't have it any other way."

During his years studying theater, Hanks met Vincent Dowling, head of the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. At Dowling's suggestion, Hanks became an intern at the Festival. His internship stretched into a three-year experience that covered most aspects of theater production, including lighting, set design, and stage management, all of which caused Hanks to drop out of college. During the same time, Hanks won the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his 1978 performance as Proteus in Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'', one of the few times he played a villain.

Career

Early career

In 1979, Hanks moved to New York City, where he made his film debut in the low-budget slasher film ''He Knows You're Alone'' (1980) and got a part in the television movie ''Mazes and Monsters''. Early in 1979, Hanks was cast in the lead role of Callimaco in the Riverside Shakespeare Company's production of Niccolò Machiavelli's ''The Mandrake'', directed by Daniel Southern. This remains Hanks's only New York stage performance to date; as a high profile Off Off Broadway showcase, the production helped Tom land an agent, Joe Ohla with the J. Michael Bloom Agency. The next year, Hanks landed a lead role on the ABC television pilot of ''Bosom Buddies'', playing the role of Kip Wilson. Hanks moved to Los Angeles, where he and Peter Scolari played a pair of young advertising men forced to dress as women so they could live in an inexpensive all-female hotel. Hanks had previously partnered with Scolari in the 1970s game show ''Make Me Laugh''. ''Bosom Buddies'' ran for two seasons, and, although the ratings were never strong, television critics gave the program high marks. "The first day I saw him on the set," co-producer Ian Praiser told ''Rolling Stone'', "I thought, 'Too bad he won't be in television for long.' I knew he'd be a movie star in two years." But if Praiser knew it, he was not able to convince Hanks. "The television show had come out of nowhere," best friend Tom Lizzio told ''Rolling Stone''. "Then out of nowhere it got canceled. He figured he'd be back to pulling ropes and hanging lights in a theater."

''Bosom Buddies'' and a guest appearance on a 1982 episode of ''Happy Days'' ("A Case of Revenge," where he played a disgruntled former classmate of The Fonz) prompted director Ron Howard to contact Hanks. Howard was working on ''Splash'' (1984), a romantic comedy fantasy about a mermaid who falls in love with a human. At first, Howard considered Hanks for the role of the main character's wisecracking brother, a role that eventually went to John Candy. Instead, Hanks got the lead role and a career boost from ''Splash'', which went on to become a box office hit, grossing more than US$69 million. He also had a sizable hit with the sex comedy ''Bachelor Party'', also in 1984.

In 1983–84, Hanks made three guest appearances on ''Family Ties'' as Elyse Keaton's alcoholic brother, Ned Donnelly.

Period of successes and failures

With ''Nothing in Common'' (1986) – about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by Jackie Gleason – Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies," Hanks told ''Rolling Stone''. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, ''The Money Pit'', where the story is really about a guy and his house."

After a few more flops and a moderate success with ''Dragnet'', Hanks succeeded with the film ''Big'' (1988), both at the box office and within the industry. The film established Hanks as a major Hollywood talent. It was followed later that year by ''Punchline'', in which he and Sally Field co-starred as struggling comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex. Hanks' portrayal of Gold offered a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures: ''The 'Burbs'' (1989), ''Joe Versus the Volcano'' (1990), and ''The Bonfire of the Vanities'' (1990), as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie ''Turner & Hooch'' brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of ''Disney Adventures'', Hanks said, "I saw ''Turner & Hooch'' the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."

Progression into dramatic roles

Hanks climbed back to the top again with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball star turned manager in ''A League of Their Own'' (1992). Hanks has admitted that his acting in earlier roles was not great and that he has improved. In an interview with ''Vanity Fair'', Hanks noted his ''"modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less pretentiously fake and over the top"''. This "modern era" began in 1993 for Hanks, first with ''Sleepless in Seattle'' and then with ''Philadelphia''. The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love over the airwaves. Richard Schickel of ''TIME'' called his performance "charming," and most critics agreed that Hanks' portrayal ensured him a place among the premier romantic-comedy stars of his generation.

In ''Philadelphia'', he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for ''People'', Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for ''Philadelphia'''s success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in ''Philadelphia''. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay.

Hanks followed ''Philadelphia'' with the 1994 summer hit ''Forrest Gump''. Of the film, Hanks has remarked: "When I read the script for ''Gump'', I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in ''Forrest Gump'', becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)

Hanks' next role—astronaut and commander Jim Lovell, in the 1995 movie ''Apollo 13''--reunited him with Ron Howard. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster ''Toy Story'' as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.

1996 – present: Directing, producing and acting

Hanks turned to directing with his 1996 film ''That Thing You Do!'' about a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer. Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create Playtone, a record and film production company named for the record company in the film.

Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama ''From the Earth to the Moon''. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television.

Hanks's next project was no less expensive. For ''Saving Private Ryan'' he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about a search through war-torn France after D-Day to bring back a soldier. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public. It was labeled one of the finest war films ever made and earned Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction, and Hanks another Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his ''Sleepless in Seattle'' co-star Meg Ryan for ''You've Got Mail'', a remake of 1940's ''The Shop Around the Corner''.

In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel ''The Green Mile''. He also returned as the voice of Woody in ''Toy Story 2.'' The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's ''Cast Away''. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series ''Band of Brothers''. He also appeared in the September 11 television special ''America: A Tribute to Heroes'' and the documentary ''Rescued From the Closet''.

Next he teamed up with ''American Beauty'' director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel ''Road to Perdition'', in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy ''Catch Me if You Can'', based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding''. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie. At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.

In 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' ''The Ladykillers'', another Spielberg film, ''The Terminal'', and ''The Polar Express'', a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a ''USA Weekend'' interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: "[Since] ''A League of Their Own'', it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film ''The Da Vinci Code'', based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. He followed the film with Ken Burns's 2007 documentary ''The War''. For the documentary, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by ''Forbes'' magazine. Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in ''The Simpsons Movie'', in which he appeared in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also made an appearance in the credits, expressing a desire to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film ''Starter for Ten'', a comedy based on working class students attempting to win ''University Challenge''.

In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols's film ''Charlie Wilson's War'' (written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007, and Hanks received a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2008's ''The Great Buck Howard'', Hanks played the on-screen father of a young man (Hanks' real-life son, Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich). Tom Hanks's character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.

Hanks's next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of ''Angels & Demons'', based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown. Its April 11, 2007, announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor. The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'', impersonating himself for the ''Celebrity Jeopardy'' sketch.

Hanks is producer of the Spike Jonze film ''Where The Wild Things Are'', based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.

In 2010, Hanks reprised his role as Sheriff Woody in the third film in the Toy Story franchise, ''Toy Story 3'', after he, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger were invited to a movie theater to see a complete story reel of the movie.

In 2011, he directed and starred opposite Julia Roberts in the title role in the romantic comedy ''Larry Crowne''. The movie has received generally bad reviews with only 35% of the 175 Rotten Tomatoes reviews giving it high ratings.

Hanks is ranked the highest all time box office star with over $3.639 billion total box office gross, an average of $107 million per film. He has been involved with seventeen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office, the highest grossing of which was 2010's ''Toy Story 3''.

Personal life

Hanks was married to American actress Samantha Lewes (née Susan Jane Dillingham) from 1978 to 1987. The couple had two children, son Colin Hanks (also an actor) and daughter Elizabeth Ann.

In 1988, Hanks married actress Rita Wilson. The two first met on the set of Hanks's television show ''Bosom Buddies'' but later developed a romantic interest while working on the film ''Volunteers''. They have two sons: Chester, or "Chet" (who has a small part as a student in ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' and released a rap single in 2011), and Truman.

Hanks became a grandfather when his son Colin and daughter-in-law Samantha gave birth to granddaughter Olivia Jane Hanks on February 1, 2011.

Regarding his religious views, Hanks has said, "I must say that when I go to church – and I do go to church – I ponder the mystery. I meditate on the 'why?' of 'Why people are as they are' and 'Why bad things happen to good people,' and 'Why good things happen to bad people'... The mystery is what I think it is, almost, the grand unifying theory of mankind."

Politics

Hanks has made donations to many Democratic politicians and has been open about his support for same-sex marriage, environmental causes and alternative fuels. Hanks made public his presidential candidate choice in the 2008 election when he uploaded a video to his MySpace account in which he announced his endorsement of Barack Obama.

A proponent of environmentalism, Hanks is an investor in electric vehicles and owns both a Toyota RAV4 EV and the first production AC Propulsion eBox. Hanks was a lessee of an EV1 before it was recalled, as chronicled in the documentary ''Who Killed the Electric Car?'' He is on the waiting list for an Aptera 2 Series.

Hanks was extremely outspoken about his opposition to Proposition 8, an amendment to the California constitution that defined marriage as a union only between a man and a woman. Hanks and others who were in opposition to the proposition raised over US$44 million in contrast to the supporters' $39 million, but Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.

While premiering a TV series in January 2009, Hanks called supporters of Proposition 8 "un-American" and attacked the LDS (Mormon) church members, who were major proponents of the bill, for their views on marriage and their role in supporting the bill. About a week later, Hanks apologized for the remark, saying that nothing is more American than voting one's conscience.

Other activities

A supporter of NASA's manned space program, Hanks has said that he originally wanted to be an astronaut but "didn't have the math." Hanks is a member of the National Space Society, serving on the Board of Governors of the nonprofit educational space advocacy organization founded by Dr. Wernher Von Braun. He also produced the HBO miniseries ''From the Earth to the Moon'' about the Apollo program to send astronauts to the moon. In addition, Hanks co-wrote and co-produced ''Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D'', an IMAX film about the moon landings. Hanks also provided the voice over for the premiere of the show ''Passport to the Universe'' at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

In 2006, the Space Foundation awarded Hanks the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award. The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.

In June 2006 Hanks was inducted as an honorary member of the United States Army Rangers Hall of Fame for his accurate portrayal of a Captain in the movie ''Saving Private Ryan''; Hanks, who was unable to attend the induction ceremony, was the first actor to receive such an honor. In addition to his role in ''Saving Private Ryan'', Hanks was cited for serving as the national spokesperson for the World War II Memorial Campaign, for being the honorary chairperson of the D-Day Museum Capital Campaign, and for his role in writing and helping to produce the Emmy Award-winning miniseries, ''Band of Brothers''.

Hanks is one of several celebrities who frequently participates in planned comedy bits on Conan O'Brien's talk shows, including ''Late Night'', ''The Tonight Show'', and ''Conan'' while a guest. On one visit, Hanks asked Conan to join his run for president on the "Bad Haircut Party" ticket, with confetti and balloons and a hand held sign with the slogan "You'd be stupid to vote for us". On another episode, O'Brien, noting that Hanks was missing Christmas on his promotional tour, brought the season to him, including a gift (the skeleton of Hooch), and a mass of snow burying them both. On yet another episode, Conan gave Hanks a painting he had commissioned reflecting two of his interests: Astronauts landing on the beach at Normandy. On March 10, 2008, Hanks was on hand at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to induct sixties band The Dave Clark Five. Asteroid 12818 Tomhanks is named for him.

Filmography

+ List of film credits
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1980	''He Knows You're Alone''	Elliot
1982	''Mazes and Monsters''	Robbie Wheeling	Made for television
1984		Allen Bauer
1984		Rick Gassko
1985	''''	Richard Harlan Drew
1985		Lawrence Whatley Bourne III
1986	''''	Walter Fielding, Jr.
1986	''Nothing in Common''	David Basner
1986		David Bradley
1987		Pep Streebeck
1988	''Big''	Adult Josh Baskin
1988		Steven Gold
1989	''Turner & Hooch''	Detective Scott Turner
1989	''''	Ray Peterson
1990	''Joe Versus the Volcano''	Joe Banks
1990	''''	Sherman McCoy
1992	''''	Jimmy Dugan
1992		Older Mike	(uncredited)
1993	''Sleepless in Seattle''	Sam Baldwin
1993		Andrew Beckett
1994
1995		Jim Lovell
1995	''Toy Story''		(voice)
1996	''That Thing You Do!''	Mr. White	(writer and director)
1998	''Saving Private Ryan''	Captain John H. Miller
1998	''You've Got Mail''	Joe Fox
1999	''Toy Story 2''	Woody	(voice)
1999	''''	Paul Edgecomb
2000	''Cast Away''	Chuck Noland
2002	''Road to Perdition''	Michael Sullivan, Sr.
2002	''Catch Me If You Can''	FBI Agent Carl Hanratty
2004	''''	Viktor Navorski
2004	''''	Professor G.H. Dorr
2004		Mailbox Elvis	(cameo)
2004	''''
2006	''''
2006		Woody Car	(voice)
2007	''''	Himself	(voice)
2007	''Charlie Wilson's War''		Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2008	''''	Mr. Gable
2008			(producer)
2009		Professor Robert Langdon
2009	''''	Various historical figures	(voice)
2009			(producer)
2010	''Toy Story 3''	Woody	|Nominated—IGN Movie Award for Best Ensemble Cast|Nominated—Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie|Nominated— Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor}}
2011	''Larry Crowne''	Larry Crowne	(director, producer, writer)
2011	''Hawaiian Vacation''	Woody	(voice)
2011		Thomas Schell Jr.
2012		Dr. Henry Goose	filming

+ List of television credits
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1980	''''	Rick Martin	TV series, episode: "Friends and Lovers/Sergeant Bull/Miss Mother"
1980–1982	''Bosom Buddies''	Kip Wilson
1982		Gordon
1982	''Mazes and Monsters''	Robbie Wheeling
1982	''Happy Days''	Dr. Dwayne Twitchell	TV series, episode: "A Case of Revenge"
1983	''Family Ties''	Ned	Elyse Keaton's brother
1994	''Vault of Horror I''	Director
1998		Narrator (also executive producer/director/writer)	Miniseries
2001		Producer, director, writer	Miniseries
2002	''''	Interviewee
2006–2011	''Big Love''	Executive producer	TV series
2008		Executive producer	Miniseries
2010	''''	Executive producer/Narrator	Miniseries
2011	''Saturday Night Live''	Guest cast member

Other accolades

+ List of accolades and awards won
! Organization	! Year	! Award
Hollywood Women's Press Club	1988	Golden Apple Award
Hasty Pudding Theatricals	1995
American Film Institute	2002	AFI Life Achievement Award
Hollywood Film Festival	2002	Actor of the Year
	2004	Britannia Award for Excellence in Film
	2004	Bambi for Film – International
Film Society of Lincoln Center	2009	Gala Tribute

References

Further reading

Gardner, David, ''Tom Hanks: The Unauthorized Biography'', London, England 1999

Gardner, David, ''Tom Hanks: Enigma'' 2007

Pfeiffer, Lee, ''The Films of Tom Hanks'', Secaucus, New Jersey, 1996

Salamon, Julie, ''The Devil's Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood'', Boston, 1991

Trakin, Roy, ''Tom Hanks: Journey to Stardom'', 1987; rev. ed.1995

Wallner, Rosemary, ''Tom Hanks: Academy Award-Winning Actor'', Edina, Minnesota, 1994

External links

Tom Hanks' Facebook Page

Tom Hanks's thoughts on Earth Day 2006

Interview from 1989 issue of ''Film Comment''

Tom Hanks's films of the 1980s

Category:1956 births Category:Actors from California Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Actor Empire Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:California Democrats Category:California State University, Sacramento alumni Category:Living people Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Concord, California Category:People from Oakland, California Category:Saturn Award winners Category:Space advocacy

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background	solo_singer
birth name	Thomas Earl Petty
alias	Charlie T. Wilbury, JrMuddy Wilbury
birth date	October 20, 1950
origin	Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
instrument	Guitar, vocals, harmonica, piano, percussion, bass, organ, harpsichord, drums
genre	Rock and roll, roots rock, heartland rock, Southern rock, blues-rock, country
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	1976–present
label	Shelter, Backstreet, MCA, Warner Bros., American, Reprise Records
associated acts	Mudcrutch, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Traveling Wilburys, Stevie Nicks, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Grateful Dead
website
notable instruments	Rickenbacker 660/12Vox Mark IIIGibson DoveFender Stratocaster }}

Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty (born October 20, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. and Muddy Wilbury.

He has recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, many of which remain heavily played on adult contemporary and classic rock radio. His music, notably his hits, has become popular among younger generations as he continues to host sold-out shows. Throughout his career, Petty and his collaborators have sold 60 million albums.

Childhood and early life

Tom Petty was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida, and attended Gainesville High School. His interest in rock and roll music began at age 10 when he met Elvis Presley. In the summer of 1961, his uncle was working on the set of Presley's film ''Follow That Dream'' in nearby Ocala, Florida and invited Petty to come down and watch the shoot. He instantly became an Elvis Presley fan and soon traded his Wham-O slingshot for a box of Elvis 45s. In a 2006 interview on the National Public Radio program ''Fresh Air'', Petty said that he knew he wanted to be in a band the moment he saw The Beatles on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. One of his first guitar teachers was Don Felder, a fellow Gainesville resident, who would later join the Eagles. As a young man, Petty worked briefly on the grounds crew for the University of Florida, but never attended as a student. An Ogeechee lime tree that he planted while employed at the University is now called the Tom Petty tree.

Petty also overcame a difficult relationship with his father, who found it hard to accept that his son was "a mild-mannered kid who was interested in the arts" and subjected him to verbal and physical abuse on a regular basis. Petty was extremely close to his mother, and remains close to his brother Bruce.

Recording career

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976–Present)

Shortly after forming his musical aspirations, Petty started a band known as the Epics, later to evolve into Mudcrutch. Although the band, which featured future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, were popular in Gainesville, their recordings went unnoticed by a mainstream audience, although their only single, "Depot Street", remains popular amongst fans. The original Mudcrutch included guitarist Danny Roberts who was later replaced by bass guitarist Charlie Souza.

After Mudcrutch split up, Petty reluctantly agreed to pursue a solo career. Tench decided to form his own group, whose sound Petty appreciated. Eventually, Petty and Campbell collaborated with Tench and fellow members Ron Blair and Stan Lynch, resulting in the first line-up of the Heartbreakers. Their first album, simply titled ''Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers'', gained minute popularity amongst American audiences, achieving more success in Britain. The single "Breakdown" was re-released in 1977 and peaked at #40 in early 1978 after the band toured in the United Kingdom in support of Nils Lofgren. The debut album was released by Shelter Records, which at that time was distributed by ABC Records.

Their second album, ''You're Gonna Get It!'', marked the band's first Top 40 album and featured the singles "I Need to Know" and "Listen To Her Heart". Their third album, ''Damn the Torpedoes'', quickly went platinum, selling nearly two million copies; it includes their breakthrough singles "Don't Do Me Like That", "Here Comes My Girl" and "Refugee".

In September 1979, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed at a Musicians United for Safe Energy concert at Madison Square Garden in New York. Their rendition of "Cry To Me" was featured on the resulting No Nukes album.

1981's ''Hard Promises'' became a top-ten hit, going platinum and spawning the hit single "The Waiting". The album also featured Petty's first duet, "Insider" with Stevie Nicks.

Bass player Ron Blair quit the group, and was replaced on the fifth album (1982's ''Long After Dark'') by Howie Epstein; the resulting line-up would last until 1994. In 1985, the band participated in Live Aid, playing four songs at Philadelphia's John F. Kennedy Stadium. ''Southern Accents'' was also released in 1985. This album included the hit single "Don't Come Around Here No More", which was produced by Dave Stewart. The song's video featured Petty dressed as the Mad Hatter, mocking and chasing Alice from the book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', then cutting and eating her as if she were a cake. The ensuing tour led to the live album ''Pack Up the Plantation: Live!'' and to an invitation from Bob Dylan; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers joined him on his True Confessions tour and also played some dates with the Grateful Dead in 1986 and 1987. Also in 1987, the group released ''Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)'' which includes "Jammin' Me" which Petty wrote with Dylan.

Traveling Wilburys, solo career, and "return" to the Heartbreakers (1988–1991)

In 1988, Petty became a founding member of the Traveling Wilburys, along with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. The band's first song, "Handle With Care", was intended as a B-side of one of Harrison's singles, but was judged too good for that purpose and the group decided to record a full album, ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1''. A second Wilburys album, incongruously titled ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3'' and recorded without the recently deceased Orbison, followed in 1990. The album was named Vol. 3 as a response to a series of bootlegged studio sessions being sold as Travelling Wilburys Vol. 2. In recent years, Petty has begun to incorporate Travelling Wilburys songs into his live shows, consistently playing "Handle With Care" in shows from 2003–2006, and for his 2008 tour making "End of the Line" a staple of the setlist.

In 1989, Petty released ''Full Moon Fever'', which featured hits "I Won't Back Down", "Free Fallin'" and "Runnin' Down a Dream". It was nominally his first solo album, although several Heartbreakers and other well-known musicians participated: Mike Campbell co-produced the album with Petty and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, and backing musicians included Campbell, Lynne, and fellow Wilburys Roy Orbison and George Harrison (Ringo Starr appears on drums in the video for "I Won't Back Down", but they were actually performed by Phil Jones). Since all the original Traveling Wilburys except Bob Dylan participated on the album, it is sometimes considered the unofficial Traveling Wilbury's "Volume Two".

Petty & the Heartbreakers reformed in 1991 and released ''Into the Great Wide Open'', which was co-produced by Lynne and included the hit singles "Learning To Fly" and "Into The Great Wide Open", the latter featuring Johnny Depp, Gabrielle Anwar, Faye Dunaway, and Matt LeBlanc in the video.

Before leaving MCA Records, Tom and the Heartbreakers got together to record, live in the studio, two new songs for a "Greatest Hits" package. "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air". This was Stan Lynch's last recorded performance with The Heartbreakers. Tom commented "He left right after the session without really saying goodbye." The package went on to sell over ten million copies, therefore receiving diamond certification by the RIAA.

Move to Warner Bros. Records (1991–present)

In 1989, while still under contract to MCA, Petty secretly signed a lucrative deal with Warner Bros. Records, to which the Traveling Wilburys had been signed. His first album on his new label, 1994's ''Wildflowers'' (Petty's 2nd of 3 solo albums), included the singles "You Don't Know How It Feels", "You Wreck Me," "It's Good to Be King" and "A Higher Place". The album, produced by Rick Rubin, sold over three million copies in the U.S.

In 1996, Petty, with the Heartbreakers, released a soundtrack to the movie ''She's the One'', starring Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston (see ''Songs and Music from "She's the One"''). The album's singles were "Walls (Circus)" (featuring Lindsey Buckingham), "Climb that Hill" and a song written by Lucinda Williams, "Change the Locks." The album also included a cover of "Asshole," a song by Beck. The same year, the band accompanied Johnny Cash on ''Unchained'', for which Cash would win a Grammy for Best Country Album (Cash would later cover Petty's "I Won't Back Down" on ''American III: Solitary Man'').

thumb|left|Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performing live in Indianapolis, June 23, 2006.In 1999, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers released their last album with Rubin at the helm, ''Echo''. Two songs were released as singles in the U.S., "Room at the Top" and "Free Girl Now". The album reached number 10 in the U.S. album charts.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers played "I Won't Back Down" at the America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit concert for victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The following year, they played "Taxman", "I Need You", and "Handle With Care" (joined for the last by Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison, and Jim Keltner) at the ''Concert for George'' in honor of Petty's friend and former bandmate George Harrison.

2002's ''The Last DJ'' included several attacks on the music industry, criticizing it for greed, watering down music, and releasing pop music made by scantily-clad young women and reached number 9 on the U.S. charts. Tom has commented though that he didn't like being called "bitter" by the media and that ''The Last DJ'' is full of hope, if you look for it.

In 2005, Petty began hosting his own show "Buried Treasure" on XM Radio, on which he shares selections from his personal record collection.

In February 2006, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers agreed to be the headline act at the fifth annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Following that announcement came the itinerary for Tom & the Heartbreakers' "30th Anniversary Tour". Special guests included Stevie Nicks, Pearl Jam, The Allman Brothers, Trey Anastasio, The Derek Trucks Band, and The Black Crowes (who also opened for Petty on their 2005 Summer Tour). Stevie Nicks would join Tom and the Heartbreakers on stage for renditions of "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" and "Insider," and "I Need to Know" where Nicks took the lead vocal spot. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam also joined Tom and the Heartbreakers on stage at some shows where Vedder sang the lead on "The Waiting" (which is available on the ''Runnin' Down a Dream'' package: bonus features) and a verse in the concert-closer "American Girl".

In July 2006, Petty released a new solo album titled ''Highway Companion'', which included the hit "Saving Grace". It debuted at number 4 on the ''Billboard 200'', becoming Petty's highest chart position since the introduction of the Nielsen SoundScan system for tracking album sales in 1991. ''Highway Companion'' was briefly promoted on the "30th Anniversary Tour" with the Heartbreakers in 2006 with performances of "Saving Grace", "Square One", "Down South," and "Flirting with Time".

In 2006, the American Broadcasting Company hired Petty to do the music for its National Basketball Association playoffs coverage.

During the summer of 2007, Petty reunited with his old bandmates Tom Leadon and Randall Marsh along with Heartbreakers Benmont Tench & Mike Campbell to reform his pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch. The band originally formed in 1967 in Gainesville, Florida before relocating to California where they released one single in 1974 before breaking up. The quintet recorded this self titled new album of fourteen songs that was released on April 29, 2008 (on iTunes, an additional song "Special Place" was available if the album was pre-ordered). The band supported the album with a brief tour of California in the spring of 2008.

In 2007, artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Lenny Kravitz and Paul McCartney paid tribute to Fats Domino on the double-CD covers set ''Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino''. The album's sales helped buy instruments for students in New Orleans public schools and they contributed to the building of a community center in the city’s Hurricane Katrina-damaged Ninth Ward. Tom and the Heartbreakers’ contributed a critically acclaimed cover of “I'm Walkin'" to the package.

In January 2008, it was announced that the band would be embarking on a North American Tour which was set to start on May 30 following the appearance at Super Bowl XLII. Steve Winwood served as the opening act, who joined Petty and the Heartbreakers on stage at select shows, starting on June 6, 2008 in Philadelphia, PA. Winwood's Spencer Davis Group hit "Gimme Some Loving" was performed and occasionally his Blind Faith hit "Can't Find My Way Home" was performed before it.

On February 3, 2008, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers performed during the halftime-show of Super Bowl XLII at the University of Phoenix Stadium. During the halftime-show they played "American Girl", "I Won't Back Down", "Free Fallin'", and "Runnin' Down a Dream", in that order. 'I Won't Back Down' was used in the closing credits of the coverage on BBC2.

''The Live Anthology'' is the most-recently announced project of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Its announcement comes nearly a year after Petty's last record, ''Extended Play Live'', by Mudcrutch.

In November 2009, Petty told ''Rolling Stone'' that he is working on a new album with the Heartbreakers, saying "It's blues-based. Some of the tunes are longer, more jam-y kind of music. A couple of tracks really sound like the Allman Brothers — not the songs but the atmosphere of the band." In February 2010, Petty announced a new Heartbreakers Album, ''Mojo'' to be released on June 15, 2010. This will be followed by a North American Summer Tour beginning on June 1, 2010. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers also appeared as musical guests on the season finale of Saturday Night Live on May 15, 2010.

Petty and his band the Heartbreakers celebrated their 30th anniversary with a tour in 2006, though Petty has occasionally released solo work, such as 2006's ''Highway Companion'', on which he performed most of the backing instrumentation. Members of the Heartbreakers have played on each of his solo albums and the band has always backed him when touring in support of those albums. He has also toured with Mudcrutch in order to promote their debut album.

Petty has been managed by Tony Dimitriades since 1976. On February 3, 2008, Petty and the Heartbreakers performed at the Super Bowl XLII Halftime show.

Acting

Petty's first appearance in film took place in 1978, when he had a cameo in ''FM''. He later had a small part in 1987's ''Made in Heaven'', and appeared in several episodes of ''It's Garry Shandling's Show'' between 1987 and 1990, playing himself as one of Garry Shandling's neighbors. Petty was also featured in Shandling's other show, ''The Larry Sanders Show'', as one of the show-within-the-show's final guests. In the episode, Petty gets bumped from the show and nearly comes to blows with Greg Kinnear.

Petty appeared in the 1997 movie ''The Postman'', directed by and starring Kevin Costner, as The Bridge City Mayor (from the dialogue it is implied that he is playing a future version of himself).

In 2002, he appeared on ''The Simpsons'' in the episode "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation". In it, he spoofed himself as a "tutor" to Homer Simpson on the art of lyric writing, composing a brief song about a drunk girl driving down the road while concerned with the state of public schools. Later in the episode, he loses a toe during a riot.

Petty had a recurring role as the voice of Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt in the animated show ''King of the Hill''.

In 2008, Petty made a guest appearance as himself in the Comedy Central show Lil Bush's season 2 finale. He is asked to write a song for Bush and his cronies. At the end, he is shown riding off into the sunset in a flying car alongside Iggy Pop, who is a regular voice actor on the series. Petty thus joined various musical guest stars on the show, including Iggy, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, and Anthony Kiedis and Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Awards and accolades

In 1994, ''You Got Lucky'', a Tom Petty tribute album featuring such bands as Everclear and Silkworm was released.

In April 1996, Petty received the UCLA's George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement. The next month, Petty won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' Golden Note Award.

In 1999 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their contribution to the recording industry.

In 2002, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On December 6, 2005, Petty received the Billboard Century Award for his lifetime achievements. The same year, ''Conversations with Tom Petty'', an oral history/biography composed of interviews conducted in 2004 and 2005 with Petty by music journalist Paul Zollo, was published (ISBN 1-84449-815-8).

On September 21, 2006, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers received the keys to the city of Gainesville, Florida, where he and his bandmates either lived or grew up. From July 2006 until 2007 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio featured an exhibit of Tom Petty items. Much of the content was donated by Petty himself during a visit to his home by some of the Hall's curatorial staff.

Peter Bogdanovich's documentary film on Petty's career entitled ''Runnin' Down A Dream'' premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 14, 2007.

Views on artistic control

Petty is known as a staunch guardian of his creative control and artistic freedom. In 1979, he was dragged into a legal dispute when ABC Records was sold to MCA Records. He refused to be transferred to another record label without his consent. In May 1979, he filed for bankruptcy and was signed to the new MCA subsidiary Backstreet Records.

In early 1981, the upcoming Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album, which would become ''Hard Promises'', was slated to be the next MCA release with the new list price of $9.98, following Steely Dan's ''Gaucho'' and the Olivia Newton-John/Electric Light Orchestra ''Xanadu'' soundtrack. This so-called "superstar pricing" was $1.00 more than the usual list price of $8.98. Petty voiced his objections to the price hike in the press and the issue became a popular cause among music fans. Non-delivery of the album and naming it ''Eight Ninety-Eight'' were considered, but eventually MCA decided against the price increase.

In 1987, Petty sued tire company B.F. Goodrich for $1 million for using a song very similar to his song "Mary's New Car" in a TV commercial. The ad agency that produced the commercial had previously sought permission to use Petty's song but was refused. A judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting further use of the ad and the suit was later settled out of court.

Some have claimed that the Red Hot Chili Peppers single "Dani California", released in May 2006, is very similar to Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance". Petty told Rolling Stone, "I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock 'n' roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry. The Strokes took 'American Girl' [for their song 'Last Nite'], and I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, 'OK, good for you' ... If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe [I'd sue]. But I don't believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs."

Personal life

His first marriage, to Jane Benyo, lasted 22 years from March 26, 1974 to September 9, 1996. He spent most of those years working, on the road or in the studio. They have two daughters. Adria is a film director and AnnaKim Violette an artist. Since June 3, 2001 he has been married to Dana York, whom he first met years earlier when she came to one of his concerts. Petty has a stepson from York's first marriage named Dylan.

On May 17, 1987, an arsonist set fire to Petty's house in Encino, California. The fire caused $1 million in damage but firefighters were able to salvage the basement recording studio and the original tapes stored there, as well as his Gibson Dove acoustic guitar. His signature gray top hat, however, was destroyed. Petty later rebuilt the house with fireproof materials.

Musical equipment

Petty owns and has used a number of guitars over the years. From 1976-1982, his main instrument was a sunburst 1964 Fender Stratocaster. He has also used a number of Rickenbacker guitars from 1979 onward, notably a 1965 Rose Morris 1993 and 1987 reissue of the Rose Morris 1997, a 1967 360/12 and 1989 660/12TP. The Rickenbacker 660/12TP was designed by Petty (specifically the neck) and featured his signature from 1991 to 1997. Other electrics currently used on tour include a Gretsch Tennessean, two 1960s Fender Telecasters and a Gibson Firebird.

For acoustic guitars, Petty has had a signature C.F. Martin HD-40, and has written virtually all of his songs on a Gibson Dove acoustic saved from his 1987 house fire. He currently uses a Gibson J-200 in a natural finish and a late '70s Guild D25 12-string acoustic.

Petty's current amplifer setup features 2 Fender Vibro-King 60 watt combos.

Heartbreakers lineup

! 1976–1982		* Tom Petty - singing	Mike Campbell - lead guitar	Ron Blair - bass guitar, backing vocalist>backing vocals	* Benmont Tench - piano, keyboards, backing vocals	* Stan Lynch - drum kit
! 1982–1991		* Tom Petty - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, backing vocals	, mandolin, Hammered dulcimer>dulcimer	* Howie Epstein - bass guitar, backing vocals, lap steel guitar, rhythm guitar, mandolin	* Benmont Tench - piano, keyboards, backing vocals	* Stan Lynch - drums, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals
! 1991–1994		* Tom Petty - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, harmonica, backing vocals	* Mike Campbell - lead guitar, lap steel guitar, mandolin	* Scott Thurston - rhythm guitar, harmonica, keyboards, backing vocals	* Howie Epstein - bass guitar, backing vocals, lap steel guitar, rhythm guitar, mandolin	* Benmont Tench - piano, keyboards, backing vocals	* Stan Lynch - drums, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals
! 1994–2002		* Tom Petty - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals	* Mike Campbell - lead guitar, mandolin, Marxophone, lead vocals	* Scott Thurston - rhythm guitar, harmonica, backing vocals, lead vocals	* Howie Epstein - bass guitar, backing vocals, lap steel guitar	* Benmont Tench - piano, keyboards, backing vocals	* Steve Ferrone - drums, percussion
! 2002–present		* Tom Petty - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, percussion, backing vocals	* Mike Campbell - lead guitar, mandolin, Marxophone	* Scott Thurston - rhythm guitar, harmonica, lap steel guitar, ukelele, backing vocals, lead vocals	* Ron Blair - bass guitar, backing vocals	* Benmont Tench - piano, keyboards, backing vocals	* Steve Ferrone - drums, percussion

Discography

See also

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart

List of best-selling music artists

References

External links

Official Fan Club

Tom Petty at Myspace

Tom Petty at YouTube

Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers members Category:Traveling Wilburys members Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rhythm guitarists Category:Musicians from Florida Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musical groups from Gainesville, Florida

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