Stevie Nicks recalls long-time friendship with Tom Petty
- Nikki Shears
- Oct 16, 2017
- 2 min read
photo is not mine. credit where credit is due.
Following the sudden death of Tom Petty from Cardiac Arrest at age 66, self-professed "superfan" and close friend Stevie Nicks took some time out with Rolling Stone to reflect on Tom's advice and songwriting help over the years.
In the Rolling Stone interview, Nicks recalls opening for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers in London's Hyde Park back in July. During the show, she performed her song "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" with co-writers Petty and guitarist for The Heartbreakers, Mike Campbell. She has had the pleasure of performing the song, off her 1981 debut solo album, Bella Donna, many times over the years with the men who wrote it, the last time being back in February at a show put on by MusiCares honoring Petty as Person of the Year.
"When I went into the dressing room before the Hyde Park show, it was me, the Heartbreakers, the Webb Sisters [Petty's backup singers], some other friends," she said. "We stood there and rehearsed it with [drummer] Steve Ferrone beating on the couch, everybody sort of humming their parts. Tom and Mike played guitar. Ron Blair dragged out a bass but didn't play it very loud because it wasn't plugged in. We went through it a couple of times. It was funny – you play a wrong chord, and everybody's eyes go straight up. We didn't know it as well as we thought we did."
"If Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers had said 'Leave Fleetwood Mac and come and join us,' I probably would have joined Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, " Nicks has joked. Unfortunately, Petty had told her that The Heartbreakers was a boys-only club, so Nicks, who met Petty in '78, settled on being best friends and occasional collaborators.
As Nicks continued to think back on her friendship with Petty, she added that he was always great at giving her advice. "He gave me a lot of advice about stuff," she said. "He was the kind of person who said, 'Here's my advice. If you take it, great. If you don't, that's fine too.' He was never going to shake a finger in your face and make you feel bad if you didn't take his advice."
One instance of Petty giving advice to Nicks was just after her rehab stint in 1994. "I had a visitation from an old boyfriend, right after my rehab, and it had shaken me," Nicks recalled. "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."
Nicks began writing new material that night, which resulted in the song "Hard Advice" for the album 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault. "The chorus goes, 'Sometimes he's my best friend.' It was really "Sometimes Tom's my best friend." I changed it because I knew Tom would not want me to say his name," Nicks claimed. "That's how well I know him."
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