With immense respect can sometimes come brutal honesty, and the friendship between Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty is certainly no exception. Both rock stars held the other in incredibly high esteem, which meant that neither was willing to string the other along or lie to protect their feelings. They were straight shooters with one another, even when it was uncomfortable.
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The musicians began collaborating in the early 1980s when Nicks was branching out from Fleetwood Mac to pursue a solo career. While they had plenty of positive collaborations, there were also attempts that fell flat, either out of disinterest from one party or an unexpected switch-up from another.
It takes a special kind of friendship to survive that level of disconcerting authenticity and creative commitment, and Nicks and Petty had it.
Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks Had A Unique, Genuine Bond
Stevie Nicks had just joined the British (now British-American, thanks to her and Lindsey Buckingham) band Fleetwood Mac when she first heard Tom Petty’s eponymous 1976 debut. “I became a fan right then,” Nicks wrote for Rolling Stone in 2010. “I loved the way Tom’s Florida swamp-dog voice sounded in cahoots with Mike Campbell’s guitar and Benmont Tench’s keyboards. Tom had the same influences we had—the Byrds, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, and Nash—but he dropped in lots of serious old blues.”
When Nicks began pursuing a solo career in 1981, she wanted to recreate that infectious sound by working with Petty’s producer, Jimmy Iovine. While working on her solo debut, Bella Donna, Iovine let Nicks take a stab at a track Petty had thrown away, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” Nicks ended up turning it into a duet with Petty’s demo vocal, unbeknownst to him, which rubbed him the wrong way at first. But eventually, Petty knew Nicks had to keep the track. “Both Tom and Jimmy said to me, in a brutally honest way, ‘You don’t have a single on this record. Here’s a single for you.’ Tom is a great and loyal friend, but he’s also honest like that,” Nicks wrote.
She recalled another time when she had asked Petty for songwriting help following her early 1990s stint in rehab. When Nicks asked Petty if he would co-write a song or two with her, he bluntly replied, “No, I won’t. You are one of the premier songwriters in this business. Go home, and turn off the radio. Don’t be influenced by anything. Just write some great songs. That’s what you do.” Nicks said, “He reinforced that I was still Stevie Nicks. I wrote a song about him I’ve never recorded, but I will someday. It goes, ‘Sometimes he’s my best friend, even when he’s not around.’”
A Cherished Piece Of Jewelry Harkens Back to a 1980s Rejection
Stevie Nicks wasn’t just a distant fan of Tom Petty’s music. She wanted in on the action. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she tried to put feelers out on whether Petty would let her join Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Petty refused, saying that the Heartbreakers didn’t have any women in the band. In hindsight, Petty likely made the right choice. Both musicians continued to have tremendously successful careers, even if Nicks didn’t get her wish. Years later, Petty referenced this pivotal moment in a piece of jewelry.
“In 2006, I did 27 shows with him,” Nicks wrote for Rolling Stone. “Tom made me a little platinum sheriff’s badge that had 24-karat gold and diamonds across the top and said, ‘To Our Honorary Heartbreaker, Stevie Nicks.’ On the back, it says, ‘To the Only Girl in Our Band.’ I keep it on my black velvet top hat. It goes with me everywhere. It’s probably the most beautiful piece of jewelry a man has ever given me, ever.”
Photo by Chris McKay/WireImage
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