- published: 07 Dec 2013
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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, and notably his hits, have 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.
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.
Mohan Babu (born Manchu Bakthavatsalam Naidu) is an actor and producer in Telugu Cinema. He is also an educationist and a former Member of Parliament – Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh. He received the Padma Shri in 2007.
Mohan was born on 19 March 1952 at Modhugulapalem village near the banks of the river Swarnamukhi, and sandwiched between two famous pilgrim centers, Tirupati (abode of Lord Venkateshwara) and Srikalahasti (abode of Lord Vayulingeswara) in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. He has three younger brothers – Ranganath Chowdary, Ramachandra Chowdary and Krishna – and a sister Vijaya. He had his schooling at Yerpedu village and Tirupati. He took his degree in Physical Education in Chennai. He worked as a physical education instructor for a brief while, before making his debut as an actor in the Telugu film industry. Mohan Babu also worked in the film direction department for about half a decade in the early 1970s. He was a class mate of Rajinikanth while they studied at the Madras Film Institute.