Petty holds no grudges against Smith over song similarity

US musician Tom Petty said he has no hard feelings towards singer Sam Smith and called the similarities between Smith’s Grammy-nominated hit Stay With Me and Petty’s 1989 song I Won’t Back Down a musical accident.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said in a statement posted to his website that “all my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen. Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by”.