Tom Petty Gets Personal in New Biography
Warren Zanes wrote the singer's biography.
— -- Warren Zanes spent much of the '80s in the band The Del Fuegos along with his brother Dan. When the band broke up, Dan Zanes went off to make a string of successful children’s records and Warren went back to school while releasing his own records along the way. A celebrated author and music historian, Warren also teaches at New York University.
As a teen, Warren was exposed to Tom Petty’s music and it had a great effect on him. He got to know Petty over the years and the Del Fuegos even once toured as the Heartbreakers’ opening act.
Petty approached Warren about possibly writing a biography and he jumped at the chance. The book, “Petty: The Biography” is out this week; the audio version will be released on Dec. 15 and is currently available for pre-order on Audible.com. It is an often, raw, frank and sometimes painful look at Petty’s life from his childhood onward, with many amazing revelations. The most shocking of which might be that unbeknownst to the public, in the wake of his divorce in the late nineties, Petty found himself depressed, living in a “chicken shack” and fighting an addiction to heroin.
Warren spoke to ABC News' Allan Raible about how the book came to be, Petty's legacy and so much more.
First of all, thank you for doing this and thank you for writing this book.
Absolutely!
What made this book come about? What made you want to write about Petty?
Well, I was already writing about Petty before this started. I went back to school after playing in a rock and roll band [the Del Fuegos] and we had opened up for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers but then I left the music business and went and got my PhD. As I was getting my PhD, I wrote a book for the “33 1/3” series called “Dusty In Memphis” and Tom had written a song that he said was inspired by it for his “Highway Companion” record.
That album is so under-rated.
Under-rated. Under-recognized. But that put us back in touch, so I put together a companion volume for the Peter Bogdanovich movie [“Runnin’ Down A Dream”] and wrote notes to “The Live Anthology.” But in the course of all that, Tom approached me about writing a biography and that’s where it started.
What I find amazing is how open he is with the history of everything and it obviously speaks to the connection that you two have apparently developed over the years. That definitely strikes me when I’m reading this.
There’s a connection between us, but I can’t say I fully understand its character because it is a professional relationship, but as you say, he really opened up in this. I mean frankly, what I hope comes of this book is maybe there are a few people who will follow Tom Petty’s lead and open up in the same way because I don’t think this makes people think less of their heroes. I think it humanizes their heroes. But the biggest takeaway for me is that if you’ve already fallen in love with the songs, you get a better understanding of the guy who wrote them.
And yes, opening up about the dark, “chicken shack” period, I think that can only help people.
Life breaks down and more people come up against that than don’t, yet it is a thing we often keep as private information. The truth is, when you share your story, there’s somebody out there, going through something similar who needs to know they are not alone. So, I think it has a wider effect that is ultimately healing.
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