Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty (born October 20, 1950) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but is also known as a member and co-founder of the late 1980ssupergroup the Traveling Wilburys (under the pseudonyms of Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. and Muddy Wilbury) and Mudcrutch.