Stevie Nicks is one of the few great artists who achieved massive success both with her long tenure in the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. Besides her impressive singing skills, Nicks is also an accomplished songwriter. She first stepped into her professional music career as the duo Buckingham Nicks that she formed with Lindsey Buckingham. Later on, the two joined Fleetwood Mac, which highly contributed to the band’s popularity.
The talented musician embarked on her solo career with her debut album, ‘Bella Donna,’ released in 1981. Nicks was interested in music from a very young age, and naturally, she had many influences that encouraged her to become an artist. Stevie Nicks was at the beginning of her career with Fleetwood Mac when she first heard Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on the radio. She didn’t know that this first encounter marked the beginning of a long friendship.
How Did Stevie Nicks Become Friends With Tom Petty?
You may think that Stevie Nicks just met Tom Petty somewhere, and then they had good chemistry, but on the contrary, their relationship had an unusual start. When Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were just formed and debuted with their self-titled album. When she first heard their music on the radio, Stevie Nicks was struck by the band’s unique sound.
The singer was telling the people around her that she was in love with the band’s music, and if Tom Petty offered her to leave Fleetwood Mac and join their band, she wouldn’t think about it twice, even though she hadn’t even met Petty yet. Then, Nicks felt that she had to find a way to meet Tom Petty and the rest of the band, which would turn into an obsession-like desire for her. Stevie first tried to reach his management but didn’t get a response. It led her to find a different way of approaching the band.
She decided to make a solo record that would exactly sound like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. As the rock biographer Stephen Davis stated in a conversation with Interview, Stevie Nicks started to work with Tom Petty’s producer, Jimmy Iovine, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ members. She would even use the song, ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,’ written by Tom Petty in her debut solo album later on.
However, Stevie Nick wasn’t warmly welcomed by Tom Petty, although she wanted to become friends with him a lot. As time went by, Petty started to behave in a warmer way to Nicks and even wrote a song named ‘Insider’ for her to use in her solo album. It’s not entirely clear what happened next, but either Petty gave up on giving the song, or Nicks returned the track. Nicks couldn’t use the song in any of her records at the end of the day.
It wasn’t the end of their professional collaboration as Tom Petty decided to give her another song, ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.’ They recorded the song together, and it was the only song of her solo debut album that Stevie Nicks hadn’t written. Over the years, their relationship developed into a close friendship, and they continued to inspire each other on a professional level. Their friendship started in a highly unusual way, but luckily, they could turn it into a special bond that would last for years.
