Nicks has truly seen it all, whether with Fleetwood Mac or during her acclaimed solo career. As a result of her achievements, such as becoming the first woman in history to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on two occasions, she doesn’t have many regrets. Rather than losing sleep over the mistakes she made many decades ago, Nicks typically spends her time celebrating her past victories.
While Nicks and Prince shared a strong mutual artistic respect, they never performed together, which the Fleetwood Mac singer labelled a mistake upon his passing in 2016.
The two had share many similarities and a deep connection.
Whilst Nicks and Prince shared a bond, crystallised by him giving her one of the highlights of her solo career, in a 2016 interview with Billboard, the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman revealed that she is “brokenhearted” that the pair never performed together when Prince was alive.
“Had I ever in a million years thought that we would lose him, I would have made sure that that would have happened,” she expressed. “And it didn’t. So that’s just one of those things in your life where you so say, ‘I really missed out.’ Because he should have. That should have happened.”
One of Prince’s most popular singles ‘Little Red Corvette’ was released in 1982, the track’s infectious melody inspired ‘Stand Back’ from Nicks’ album The Wild Heart.
She once recalled how the song came on the radio when Stevie and her husband, Kim Anderson, were driving to Santa Barbara for their honeymoon.
“All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I’m singing along, going, ‘Stand back!’” she said. “I’m like, ’Kim, pull over! We need to buy a tape recorder because I need to record this.’ And so we do – we careen off the freeway to find a radio, record shop or something, and we go in and we buy a little tape recorder.”
Instead of celebrating their nuptials, the couple stayed up “all night long” working on what would become “Stand Back.” Nicks said, “We get the song, and I’m basically using Prince’s instrumental melody. What I’m singing along is very, very different from what he’s singing. I’m singing in and out of all of the holes.”
When she returned to work, she laid down a proper studio recording, then called Prince and told him, “I know that 50 percent of it is yours – and, what are you doing later? Because we’re here at Sunset Sound. ... Do you have any interest in coming down and hearing it?” She admitted she was “never in a million years thinking that he would say ‘Yes.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be right down,’ and he came down.”
On hearing the track, Prince went over to a keyboard and began playing new parts, to Nicks’ astonishment. “That was the coolest thing we’ve ever heard,” she remembered thinking. She added, “Takes him an hour; he gives me a little ‘I don’t really know you’ hug, and, uh, he’s gone. Like a little spirit.” The results appeared on her second solo album, The Wild Heart.
Within half an hour, Prince was outside. According to Nicks, he walked over to the synthesisers and “was absolutely brilliant for about 25 minutes and then left. He spoiled me for every band I’ve ever had because nobody can exactly recreate – not even with two piano players – what Prince did all by his little self.” (Faroutmag)
Stevie Nicks was close friends with both Tom Petty and Prince, and she recently spoke about their deaths. Here’s what the Fleetwood Mac singer previously said about her relationships with the iconic musicians and her recent words about trying to move on after they died. (Showbiz.com)
In an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the singer recalled Prince sending her a 10-minute instrumental version of Purple Rain, asking her to write lyrics for it. After hearing his demo, she described it as "overwhelming". “I listened to it and I just got scared," she said.
In 2014, the Toronto Sun asked Petty to summarize his relationship with the Fleetwood Mac star. “Have you got a couple of hours?” the “Free Fallin’” singer responded. “She’s a good friend. I’ve known her since 1978 and she’s insisted on being in my life. Some of my best musical memories of her are sitting on the couch and just playing the guitar while she sings.”
