INGLEWOOD, CA – OCTOBER 10: Tom Petty of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers performs onstage at The Forum on October 10, 2014 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Getty Images)

(Via TMZ)

Tom Petty was rushed to the hospital Sunday night after he was found unconscious, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest … law enforcement sources tell TMZ.

EMTs rushed to his Malibu home and were able to get a pulse. He was rushed to the UCLA Santa Monica Hospital and our sources say he was put on life support.

Sources tell us at 10:30 Monday morning a chaplain was called to Tom’s hospital room. We’re told the family has a do not resuscitate order on Tom.

We’re told after Petty got to the hospital he had no brain activity and a decision was made to pull life support.

In tribute to Tom Petty, BlackLight Radio is airing an hour of his 80s hits at 4pm central time.

Petty was born in Gainesville, FL, on Oct. 20, 1950. Despite his easy-going, affable persona, Petty endured a rough childhood, living in poverty with an alcoholic, abusive father and a mother who was in fear of her husband. But a childhood handshake with Elvis Presley in the ’50s piqued his interest in rock n’ roll, and at the age of 17, inspired by the Beatles and the Byrds, Petty dropped out of high school to play rock with his band, Mudcrutch. After that band broke up, Petty and several of its members formed Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which catapulted him to the forefront of rock music for the next 40 years.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ self-titled album dropped in 1976, and although it would eventually go Gold and produce two classic rock radio staples with the singles “Breakdown” and “American Girl,” the album (and those singles) weren’t big hits upon initial release (“Breakdown” would later peak at No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 after being re-released). 1978’s You’re Gonna Get It! fared slightly better commercially, but it was the band’s third album, 1979’s Damn the Torpedoes!, that found Petty break through to massive success. That No. 2-peaking, triple Platinum album produced two top 20 hits with “Refugee” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.”

While new wave and synth-pop took hold in the ’80s, Petty stuck to his no-frills heartland rock style while still appealing to a young fan base. Platinum albums, massive tours and hit singles (including the No. 3-peaking duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with Stevie Nicks) followed, and he began to branch out creatively from the Hearbreakers as the decade came to a close.

After joining George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne in the supergroup-to-end-all-supergroups Traveling Wilburys – whose 1988 debut hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 – Petty continued to work with Lynne on his solo debut, 1989’s Full Moon Fever. It would prove to be his most blockbuster release since Damn the Torpedoes! a decade earlier, going five-times Platinum, hitting No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and producing arguable his best-known song, the inescapable “Free Fallin’,” a No. 7 Hot 100 hit. Within the space of two years, Petty followed his runaway hit solo LP with another Traveling Wilburys album as well as a new Heartbreakers album. Barely slowing his pace throughout the next three decades, Petty continued releasing albums, whether with the Heartbreakers, solo or Mudcrutch.

“We ain’t no punk band, we ain’t folk rock, jazz rock, or any of that bull… Just rock, and we don’t put no other name on it than that. We’d be stupid if we did,” he told Rolling Stone in the ’70s of his style, which — despite his knack for inventive songcraft — would stay largely the same throughout his career.

A staunch advocate for artists controlling their careers, Petty wasn’t afraid to speak out against the music industry, even if he was far more forgiving when it came to other creators. “I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there,” Petty told Rolling Stone in 2006 when asked about perceived similarities between a Red Hot Chili Peppers song and his hit “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” “And a lot of rock n’ roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry…. I don’t believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs.”

Petty just wrapped a huge tour, ending at the Hollywood Bowl late last Monday.

For those unaware, Phil Collins (“Against All Odds (Take A Look at Me Now),” “Sussudio,” “Another Day in Paradise”) launched his “Not Dead Yet Tour” (named after his autobiography) on June 2nd in England.

If you missed that, you may have also missed that on June 7th he fell in his hotel room after getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

In the fall, he hit a chair and ended up requiring stitches for a gash on his head close to his eye.

He was held at the hospital for 24 hours for observation.

The good (amazing?) news is that he was able to resume his tour Sunday, just four days later!

Despite his ordeal, the singer looked in good spirits as he returned to the stage.

Collins sported a white bandage on his forehead for the performance in Cologne, Germany, covering a mass of stitches above his left eye.

Phil sat for the night’s performance, while his 16 yr old son Nic Collins backed him up on drums.

He sang many of his hits, both solo and with Genesis: “Against All Odds,” “One More Night,” “In The Air Tonight,” “I Missed Again,” “Sussudio,” “Follow You, Follow Me,” “If You Love,” and “Take Me Home.”

His performance earned him a standing ovation from the sold out crowd at Lanxess Arena, where he has a five-date residency.

“Last night was number two of five sell-out shows in the 16,000 seat arena and for the second night all of the audience was on its feet for the whole second half of the show,” Collins’ rep told the New York Post.

“Phil had a huge grin on his face, he is feeling better and better and although tired is very happy.”

He will also be performing in Paris and returns to London for a June 30 show in Hyde Park.

Collins’ canceled concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London for last Thursday and Friday were rescheduled for November.

His “Not Dead Yet Tour” marks Phil Collins’ first tour in nearly 10 years.

As for more concerts around the world, Collins tells WROR in Boston that he’ll evaluate after this month’s European run is over:

“I’m back a bit.”

“I mean, we’re doing these three cities… and we’re basically taking it as it goes.”

“I certainly don’t want to go back on tour again, but I think, y’know, two or three weeks of shows, then a month off, the two or three weeks of shows, that kind of thing might work.”

“So I’m hedging my bets here.”

“I’m just taking baby steps… But it’s exciting, and the dates are sold out so that’s more exciting ’cause it adds a bit of an edge to it.”

Phil Collins has released 8 studio albums, 1 live album, 3 compilation albums, 45 singles, 16 video albums, 38 music videos, 2 soundtrack albums, 2 box sets, and 1 remix album.

A Grammy and Academy Award-winning solo artist, Collins has sold more than 33 million albums in the United States, and 100 million records worldwide.

Yesterday’s shooting of congressmen practicing baseball got me to thinking about attacks on politicians in the 1980s.

For most of us, if there’s an attack on a politician in the 80s that leaps to mind, it’s likely the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan on March 30th, 1981.

Reagan was shot in the left lung but survived; three others were wounded in the attack.

There were, however, others that you may have forgotten about or may not have even heard about.

---

Russell G. Lloyd, Sr. served as the Republican mayor of Evansville, Indiana from 1972 to 1980 and was an alternate delegate from Indiana to the 1972 Republican National Convention.

On March 19, 1980, a mentally ill assassin (I refuse to name the killers in this article) arrived at his home.

They shot Lloyd four times with a handgun, in the head, neck, and shoulders, in a fit of anger after a brief argument.

Lloyd was taken to the hospital, where a brain scan indicated brain death.

Doctors announced “there is no hope” shortly before turning off Lloyd’s medical ventilator.

His killer died in the Indiana Prison’s medical ward in 2014.

---

Allard K. Lowenstein was an American Democratic politician, including a U.S. Representative of the 5th Congressional District in Nassau County, New York for one term in 1969 to 1971.

Lowenstein was murdered in his Manhattan office on March 14, 1980, at age 51 by a mentally ill gunman who was convinced that Lowenstein had been plotting against him since their acquaintance at Stanford University.

The gunman then calmly waited for the police to arrive and arrest them.

On June 30, 2000, a judge found that the killer was no longer a danger to society and granted him a conditional release from all levels of custody.

A veteran of the United States Army, Representative Lowenstein is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

---

Ed King was the Mayor of Mount Pleasant, Iowa from 1975 until his murder on December 11th, 1986.

He was killed during a city council meeting by an assailant had been in dispute with municipality over a clogged sewer line.

The killer first shot council member Ron Dupree, waved the small-caliber pistol at other Council members, and then approached Mayor Edward M. King, and shot him in the forehead.

As the 12 to 15 spectators scrambled in terror from the tiny City Hall, the assassin turned and shot Joann Elizabeth Sankey, another Council member, who was sitting next to the Mayor.

She fell to the floor with wounds in the head and abdomen.

They then walked back, shot the 53-year-old Mayor again in the head and then fired another bullet into Councilman Dupree.

Then the killer calmly sat down in the front row to await his arrest.

They were sentenced to life in prison and died in 1999 in Fort Madison.

---

I’ll be praying for a quick and complete recovery for Steve Scalise, Matt Mika, Zachary Barth, Krystal Griner and David Bailey.

I hope you will, too.