10 Amazing Musicians Everyone Forgets About In Legendary Bands

It's easy to just chalk up the Heartbreakers as just Tom Petty's side band and leave it at that. When Tom was originally making his first big records like American Girl though, it took the rest of the band to actually turn it into a classic, from the big piano sounds of Benmont Tench to the Byrds like lead work of Mike Campbell. They seemed to be lost in the woods once bassist Ron Blair left though, until Tom found some help from his friend Del Shannon.

When producing for the rock legend, Tom found a replacement in Howie Epstein, who became one of the essential members of the band virtually overnight. While no one really listens to a Heartbreakers record for just the bass, the secret weapon of Epstein has always been his voice, giving the band a high harmony that blended with Tom's voice perfectly whenever they linked up on a section of a song.

Even if Tom wrote the majority of the song, it would take someone like Howie to provide the most memorable sections, like their later hit Swingin being carried by the chorus harmonies that Epstein plays in the background. The band was able to continue without Howie after his death by bringing Ron Blair back into the fold, but from the minute that he left the studio, the Heartbreakers felt like a much different outfit.