Oct. 20, 1950: Tom Petty is born in Gainesville.

Feb. 9, 1964: The Beatles play their first performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” which Petty watched from his Gainesville home.

“That was when I went, 'All right, I've got to have an electric guitar,'” Petty had said in a phone interview with The Gainesville Sun. “I loved music; I was into rock 'n' roll. But I had never thought of playing it or performing it. That seemed like an impossible goal, like something that couldn't be done.”

Petty learned to play guitar from Don Felder, guitarist with the Eagles, according to a 2010 Gibson interview with Felder. “He wanted to learn guitar so he could play guitar instead of just bass in the band,” Felder told Gibson.

1970: Petty’s band, the Epics, turns into Mudcrutch, which became known for throwing its own music festivals on Mudcrutch Farm and played four hours a night, six hours a week at the bar Dub’s.

1974: Mudcrutch leaves Gainesville for Los Angeles.

1975: Mudcrutch releases its single, “Depot Street.” The song doesn’t make charts, and the band breaks up.

1976: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is formed, including Benmont Tench, Mike Campbell, Ron Blair and Stan Lynch, all from Gainesville.

1978: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers release “You’re Gonna Get It!” which is the band’s first album to reach the top 40.

1979: The band releases “Damn the Torpedoes,” which went platinum.

1985: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers perform at Live Aid.

1988: Petty joins The Beatles’ George Harrison, Bob Dylan and the Traveling Wilburys.

1989: Petty releases his first solo album, “Full Moon Fever.”

Nov. 4, 1993: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers perform at the O’Connell Center.

2002: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Tom Petty, at podium, speaks as members of his band the Heart Breakers look on after being inducted at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on March 18, 2002, at New York's Waldorf Astoria. [AP Photo/Kathy Willens]

2005: Petty receives the Billboard Century Award.

Sept. 21, 2006: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers perform at the O’Connell Center to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band’s debut. The band receives the keys to Gainesville.

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Pegeen Hanrahan, then mayor of Gainesville, tells an anecdote while addressing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at a press conference in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on September 21, 2006. [Gainesville Sun file]

2008: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers perform during the Super Bowl’s halftime show Feb. 3.

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Tom Petty performs during halftime of the Super Bowl XLII football game on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008, in Glendale, Ariz. [AP Photo/David J. Phillip]

Also in 2008, Petty reforms Mudcrutch, and the group records a self-titled studio album.

"I made a commitment at the beginning of this project that I wanted this to be Mudcrutch — done as it was back in the day — I really wanted it to be that band," Petty had said in a statement to The Sun.

2010: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers release their last studio album “Mojo.”

2017: Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers come to Tampa on May 6 during their 40th anniversary national tour.

This timeline, compiled by Deborah Strange, was previously published on Gainesville.com on Oct. 3, 2017.