Tom Petty
Portsmouth Daily Times - July 17, 1989

NEW YORK (AP) -- Guitarist-singer Tom Petty was 7 years old when he laid eyes on Elvis Presley and was smitten with rock 'n' roll.

"Elvis didn't look like the people I'd known. He had a real glow around him, like a full-body halo. He looked like a god to me," Petty, now 35, said in an interview in August's Spin magazine.

Petty, along with several thousand others, watched Presley being filmed for a scene in the film "Follow That Dream," which was shot 30 miles away from Petty's home in Gainesville, Fla.

"After I saw Elvis that one time, I became obsessed," said Petty.

Petty's latest record is "Full Moon Fever," He's earned six platinum and two gold records, has head the group the Heartbreakers for 13 years, and was one of the Traveling Wilburys, which included Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and the late Roy Orbison.