Tom Petty won’t back down. A member of various bands since he was 14, this 55-year-old rocker is still playing, still performing and still producing records. Petty was honoured with the 2005 Century Award at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas last month, and in true rock ’n roll fashion, Petty continues to do what he has always loved.

In an interview with Melinda Newman of Billboard, Petty explained that it was after a brief encounter with Elvis Presley when he was 11 that he decided being a rock star looked like a great job.

Petty formed his first band, the Sundowners, at 14, and landed his first record deal in the early 1970s.

In 1976 the Petty we know entered the scene with the release of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ self-titled debut album. They were just boys Petty said in the interview of their beginnings. “It was just too much fun.”

Both Solo and with the Heartbreakers, Petty has sold more than 50 million albums, played as part of the “Traveling Wilbury’s” with his heroes George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison and still tours, playing to sold-out concerts.

Of his inspiration while writing music Petty said, “I’ve really been blessed. I can write these things and it makes me happy, and it makes millions of people happy. It’s an obligation; it’s bigger than you. It’s the only true magic I know. It’s not pulling a rabbit out of a hat; it’s real. It’s your soul floating out to theirs.”

Petty’s next solo album, Highway Companion comes out this year, making a 30-year run for a man pleased to be on the music scene and who doesn’t intend to quit.

Still into free falling? Petty hosts “Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure,” a 60-minute show that airs weekly on XM Satellite Radio. His newly-published career biography, Conversations with Tom Petty, by Paul Zollo is also available.

The complete interview can be found at www.billboard.com.