Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks recently appeared in an interview with Apple Music 1 and opened up about her close relationship with the vocalist-guitarist Tom Petty, recalling some memories.
The long friendship between Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty started with an interesting meeting story. Nicks had just started her career with Fleetwood Mac when she first heard Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers playing on the radio. She was highly impressed by their work and tirelessly began to look for ways to connect with Petty.
Petty and his band attracted her attention so much that she even considered leaving Fleetwood if she got an offer from him. The singer tried every way and ultimately started working with the band’s producer Jimmy Iovine when she could not reach the members. Nicks wanted Iovine to turn her into a female version of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to attract his attention.
The singer’s efforts paid off, and she finally met Petty. Although the guitarist took a cold stance toward her at first, things started positively changing after a while. Later on, Stevie even included Petty’s song ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ in her debut album, and this is how their long-term close relationship started.
In a recent interview, Stevie Nicks opened up more about her relationship with Tom Petty, saying he was one of her best friends. She said they did not know each other when he initially gave her ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ but they still sang it together. As she mentioned, they remained friends until his passing.
Nicks also revealed that she puts her favorite songs ‘Free Fallin’ and ‘Learning to Fly’ by Petty at the end of her setlist to commemorate him. The singer indicated that she sometimes feels pain while thinking about her loss and tries to remember her friend smiling and recalls the old times. She said that Petty was full of musical talent and had various personalities. Nicks also indicated that she felt happy when the guitarist’s ex-wife said that she was Tom’s best friend in this life.
Stevie Nicks said the following about her relationship with Tom Petty:
“Tom was one of my best friends in the world. I met him at 1979 the end of 1979. He gave me ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ and had already recorded it and sang it with me. And I didn’t even know him. So he and I were really, really dear friends until he passed away. I’m also doing ‘Free Fallin’ at the end of the show. We also did that in Fleetwood Mac three years ago at the end of our show. And it’s just one of my favorite TP songs. And then when we come off, we play ‘Learning to Fly.’
It’s like I don’t know; I think I just want to keep him with me. I just want to keep him here as long as I can. Sometimes I’m in tears; sometimes, I can smile with a little bit of remembrance of the hysterical person he was. And he was a real music connoisseur, and there are so many different sides to Tom. I mean, it’s like this really sweet Tom and the Tom that would just say, ‘You better do that again and do it right.’
He had so many different personalities. But I mean, his ex-wife, Jane Petty, said, ‘Besides me, Stevie, I think that you’re the best friend that Tom ever had.’ And I thought that was the nicest thing that anybody in Tom’s world ever said about me because I think so. I agree. I was a really close friend of his. It’s hard for me every day and probably always will be.“
The Fleetwood Mac icon took the stage at British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park on July 2017 to support Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Then she performed ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ with him again, which unfortunately became the pair’s last show as Tom Petty passed away on October 2, 2017.
