Getty Adria Petty in 2009.
Adria Petty is Tom Petty’s eldest daughter. She followed her father into the entertainment business, deciding to be a filmmaker. She’s worked with Beyonce, Regina Spektor, Kings of Leon and her father. The 42-year-old Adria also has a daughter, Everly.
Adria’s mother is Petty’s first wife, Jane Benyo. They were married from 1974 to 1996. They are also parents to Annakim Violette Petty, who is also an artist.
You can follow Adria on Twitter here. However, she hasn’t used the page since May 2015.
Here’s what you need to know about Adria Petty.
1. She Named Her Daughter Everly After 1 of Her Father’s Guitars
Adria Petty with Paris Hilton in 2008.
In a 2015 interview with Models.com, Adria said she named her daughter Everly after one of her father’s guitars. While pregnant with Everly, Adria filmed a series of personal autobiographical films called Relentless.
Adria is based on New York. She told Models.com in 2015 that she feels “very connected” to the city and was excited to share it with her daughter.
“I just look forward to sharing it with her at every stage of her development because I love New York so much and I love my friends here so much that I just am excited for her to have that cultural impact and the kind of joy that I get from my friends who are my family here,” Adria said.
“Everly” could be a reference to the Gibson J-180 Everly Brothers Signature guitar Petty was seen using.
2. She Directed 2 Beyonce Videos – ‘Countdown’ & ‘Sweet Dreams’
Adria directed two music videos for Beyonce Knowles. The first worked together on “Sweet Dreams” in 2009, then again on “Countdown” in 2011.
In a 2011 interview with GQ about the making of “Countdown,” Adria said Beyonce worked closely with her during the making of the project.
“I think whenever you work with Beyoncé it’s a collaboration. She has a lot of input. And then you have the time constraints that come with working with her that push you into different directions,” Adria said.
3. Adria Directed the Paris Hilton Documentary ‘Paris, Not France’ & Another Film About Regina Spektor
Adria is also known for directing a pair of documentaries. She made the infamous 2008 documentary Paris, Not France, which followed Paris Hilton at the height of the reality star’s fame.
Adria also directed and edited Regina Spektor: Live in London (2010).
Her other music video credits include “Princess of China” with Coldplay & Rihanna, Kings of Leon’s “On Call” and her father’s “I Should Have Known It.” She also worked on the 2009 music video for “Yomp,” a single by Thenewno2, a band featuring George Harrison’s son Dhani.
“I’ve pretty much worked with most of my heroes,” Adria told Rolling Stone in 2012, when she was nominated for MTV VMAs for her work on “Princess of China” and Regina Spektor’s “All The Rowboats.”
4. She Always Wanted to be a Musician & Took Voice Training Lessons
GettyRegina Spektor, Tom Petty’s wife Dana York, Petty and Adria at the 2012 MTV Music Video Awards.
Adria told Interview Magazine in 2012 that she always wanted to be a musician herself.
“I always wanted to be a musician, 100 percent, my whole life. I went to school, I did music theory, I did voice training and piano lessons, and while I was a decent musician, it didn’t seem like enough for me,” Adria said. “I felt like I wanted to make more than just music.”
She decided to go into making music videos instead. Surprisingly though, she was never on the set when her father worked on a music video.
“Someone asked me recently, ‘Did your dad turn you on to a lot of visual art when you were growing up?’ And I said no, absolutely not,” Adria told Interview Magazine. “We lived in Encino, and we didn’t have a lot of stimulus that was cultural or artistic visually; musically, we were very inspired. But I think most of that came from going to art school and film school and being exposed to so much art in Manhattan as a young person.”
5. She’s Also Directed TV Commercials for Volkswagen, Target & Hershey
In addition to all the work she does as a music video director, Adira has also directed several TV commercials. In 2015, she joined Wondros, a Los Angeles-based strategic consultancy and media production company.
Adria is a graduate of the Sarah Lawrence College in New York and also attended graduate classes at the Tisch School of Arts. She worked with the late Jonathan Demme in New York.
“Joining Wondros is like a homecoming; I know I will have the support behind me to help tell unique narratives in the traditional and digital forms of integrated content and story telling,” Adria said in 2015.
Adria is also a photographer, having worked for Nylon Magazine. She also helped create visuals for one of The Who’s tours and art directed album covers.