“I want the best for her”: The artist Stevie Nicks talked out of joining Fleetwood Mac
If you were a singer, would you pass up on the opportunity of joining Fleetwood Mac if the chance came calling? The answer, in most cases, is probably not – because aside from the inevitable dramas and disputes, it would be the one-way ticket to lifelong rapture and rock stardom, working alongside the heights of the British-American conglomerate while still revelling in your own individual fame.
That seems pretty intoxicating a chalice, so it’s no real surprise that singers the land over would clamour to join the band’s ranks. Indeed, for one artist in particular, that dream came extremely close to almost happening. But even despite the biggest opportunities, life can still get in the way – and the task of talking the star out of it to focus on their own lane fell to Stevie Nicks.
The long-suffering frontwoman has faced it all within the throngs of Fleetwood Mac. Between romantic breakups and professional bust-ups, she’s well-versed in having an awkward conversation or two. But perhaps one of the trickiest came when there wasn’t actually any bad blood; she just had to convince Sheryl Crow that this was not the right band for her.
Rumours had swirled incessantly throughout the 2000s that the classic country rocker was going to join Fleetwood Mac, but with this never coming to fruition, Nicks finally set the record straight in a 2009 interview. She explained that a rehearsal had been planned for Crow to get a taste of the band, but the timing unfortunately clashed with her first Mother’s Day with her new baby.
Nicks recalled: “I told her it was really important that she come [to the rehearsal]. She just couldn’t get out of it. We had a long talk on the phone and I said, ‘If you’re in Fleetwood Mac it’s like joining the National Guard thinking you’re going to be there for just one weekend a month and then you’re deployed to Afghanistan. Sheryl, understand, there are no holidays, there are no days off, it’s like you’re in the Army now.’”
The frontwoman added: “She said, ‘Are you trying to talk me out of this?’ I said ‘No honey I’m not. But this is me, your friend saying I don’t think this is the right thing for you. Now Stevie Nicks, the girl who loves singing with you is very disappointed. But if you’re asking me what I think, I think right now in your life it’s too much for you.’”
With that ultimatum, Nicks left Crow to think. Two days later, the ‘If It Makes You Happy’ singer decided to pass. According to Nicks, it was the right choice as “Sheryl is my friend and I love her so I want the best for her,” she said.
With that, what might have been one of the most seismic crossovers in all of rock music history was left by the wayside. In the end, it was hardly as though the missed opportunity did either career trajectory any harm, but the image of Nicks and Crow coming together as a force still remains as enchanting as when it was first proposed.
