Rocker Tom Petty died from massive drug OD - report

  • 20/01/2018

American rock legend Tom Petty died from a massive accidental drug overdose after taking a lethal concoction of medications, according to the LA County Coroner.

His autopsy report says several of Petty's organs failed due to "mixed drug toxicity".

Petty went into a cardiac arrest in October 2017 before he was rushed to hospital from his Malibu home.

Paramedics managed to revive him using CPR, but he went into cardiac arrest again in hospital, where he died.

Petty was on several pain medications, including fentanyl, oxycodone, temazepam, Xanax, Celexa, acetyl fentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl. He was prescribed these medications for several health problems, including emphysema and a fractured hip.

His death came just a week after he completed a large-scale 40th anniversary tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

It is believed the tour worsened his hip problems, which caused him a large amount of pain and might have led to the fatal consumption of a large number of pain medications.

He'd stated publicly the tour would probably be his last big one, telling Rolling Stone: "I have a granddaughter now I'd like to see as much as I can. I don't want to spend my life on the road."

Petty is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, selling more than 80 million albums throughout his career.

He dropped out of school at the age of 17 to pursue his dream of becoming a musician, joining the band Mudcrutch. As a young boy, he was inspired by the music of Elvis Presley and The Beatles.

Petty was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and his career was filled with Billboard chart-topping hits, including 'Free Fallin', 'The Waiting', 'I Won't Back Down', 'Learning to Fly' and 'You Got Lucky'.

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