Tom Petty was born, raised in Gainesville, Florida, USA and attended Gainesville High School. His interest in rock and roll music began at age 11 when he met Elvis Presley In the summer of 1961, his uncle was working on the set of Presley's film Follow That Dream and invited Petty to come down and watch the shoot. He instantly became an Elvis Presleyfan 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.

After working with his early bands -The Sundowners, The Epics and Mudcrutch, he began his recording career with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, the band's 1976 debut album, which was initially unpopular in the United States. 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 AbcRecords.

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" and "Refugee."

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 released Southern Accents, which 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. It was criticized by feminist groups.

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 since the death of George Harrison, Petty has begun to incorporate Travelling Wilburys songs into his live shows, consistently playing "Handle Me With Care" in shows from 2003-2006.

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. Since all the original Traveling Wilburys except Bob Dylan participated on the album, it is sometimes considered the unofficial second Wilbury record.

Petty rejoined with the Heartbreakers for his next album, Into the Great Wide Open, in 1991. It 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.

In 1989, while still under contract to MCA, Petty secretly signed a lucrative deal with Warner Bros. Records. His first album on his new label, 1994's Wildflowers, 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 acclaimed producer Rick Rubin, was a huge success and sold over 3 million copies in the U.S.

In 1996, Petty reunited with the Heartbreakers and released a soundtrack to the movie She's the One, starring Cameron Diazand Jennifer Aniston 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'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 also appeared as The Bridge City Mayor in the 1997 movie, The Postman, directed by and starring Kevin Costner

Petty has been honored with 18 Grammy Award nominations since 1982. In that year he received his first nomination for "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" in the category of Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. As a member of the Traveling Wilburys, he earned a Grammy Award in 1989 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for Traveling Wilburys Volume One. In 1995 he received another Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "You Don't Know How It Feels".