Meet Tom Petty Biographer Warren Zanes at Watchung Booksellers Nov. 19th

Come meet rock 'n' roll biographer and musician Warren Zanes as he unveils his new biography of Tom Petty, Petty: The Biography, at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair. 

Zanes, a Montclair resident and Parents Who Rocker, will be at the favorite Montclair bookseller Thursday, November 19th at 7 p.m. 

In the new book, Zanes illuminates the richness and darkness, the unlikely success and little-known personal troubles, of rock icon Petty.

In the mid-eighties, already a rock icon, Petty invited 22-year-old Warren Zanes and his band the Del Fuegos to open for him and the Heartbreakers on a three-month summer tour. At the time, Zanes would’ve never guessed that 30 years later he would pen Petty’s biography with the artist’s full cooperation and unguarded honesty.

For the first time, Petty speaks candidly about his struggle with heroin addiction and depression, his troubled first marriage, and drama within the Heartbreakers. The biography includes extensive interviews with Petty, his daughter, former Heartbreaker Stan Lynch, famous producer Jimmy Iovine, Stevie Nicks, and more.

Petty has all the richness and darkness of a great American story, but this one comes with a soundtrack. Like Petty’s music, this book is intimate, resonant, with recognizable characters, tragedy, loss, hope and success. Zanes’s transporting, evocative prose gives us the dramatic and inspiring ballad of Tom Petty’s life and rise to stardom.

 Warren Zanes holds a PhD in visual and cultural studies from the University of Rochester. He was a member of the Del Fuegos, and continues to record music. His work has appeared in The Oxford American, and he has served as a V.P. at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is currently the Executive Director of Steven Van Zandt's Rock and Roll Forever Foundation.

Watchung Booksellers is located at 54 Fairfield St., Montclair.