Musicians Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty were close friends until Petty’s death in 2017. The two frequently worked on music together and supported each other’s careers. However, Petty once refused to write songs for Nicks after she got out of rehab.
n 1993, Nicks was admitted into rehab. Her album Street Angel was released in May 1994, with some of its production occurring while Nicks was in rehab.
After she left rehab, Nicks had asked Petty to help her work on music, as she was doubtful about returning to music.
When she asked Petty, he refused to help her. However, Petty’s reasoning came from a place of encouragement.
Petty was also responsible for giving Nicks the best advice she ever received, which she divulged after his death in 2017, “I asked Tom if he would help me write a song. And he said, ‘No. You are one of the premier songwriters of all time. You don’t need me to write a song for you.’ He said, ‘Just go to your piano and write a good song. You can do that.'”
Once Nicks established herself as a solo artist, she joined Petty and Bob Dylan for a short Australian tour in 1986, billed as the True Confessions Tour. In addition to playing shows in major Australian cities, they had plenty of fun while on the road, even if one night was ruined by a comment Petty made about Fleetwood Mac.
“She got really mad at me one night in Australia,” Petty said in the book Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis. In his mind, Fleetwood Mac were a “soft rock” band and not an authentic rock ‘n’ roll outfit like The Heartbreakers. According to Petty, she responded by angrily quipping, “How dare you say that to me?”
The singer-songwriter continued: “And this long debate ensued about how you get those credentials. And I love that band, have the greatest respect for Lindsey [Buckingham] and Mick [Fleetwood], but I didn’t see them as a rock & roll band. I thought her journey was different than mine. I didn’t always agree with her musical taste, and she didn’t always agree with mine. My frustration with her was, ‘You need somebody to remind you what you’re capable of. You get too easily distracted by bullshitters that want to make a hit. I don’t know why you’re doing all this synthesiser rock.'”
In 1981, Nicks released her debut solo album, Bella Donna. While Petty did not work as the main producer of the album, he and Mike Campbell gave Nicks a song to include on the album.
“Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” is a song by Nicks with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Nicks revealed that Petty gave her the song to help her album have a single.
“There’s not a fake bone in his body,” Nicks said according to Music Spotlight Magazine. “Both Tom and Jimmy [lovine] said to me, in a brutally honest way, ‘You don’t have a single on this record. And here’s a single for you.’ Tom is a great and loyal friend, but he’s also honest like that.”
