The one band Stevie Nicks would happily join: “My favourite person to sing with, ever”
Stevie Nicks may not be a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, but it was a band that she successfully moulded into her identity. Upon arriving in the group, she quickly found her feet and a rightful musical home for her talents. It gave her a platform to express her skills to the world, become a rock icon, and take Fleetwood Mac to newfound commercial heights.
Although she is established as a solo star, Nicks’ career is built around the concept of collaboration. Before Fleetwood Mac, she was one-half of Buckingham Nicks after she met Lindsey Buckingham during their time at university. From that moment, Nicks knew it was her destiny to perform and make a living in the music industry by whatever means necessary. Her plans to become a teacher were quickly discarded, and Nicks placed all her chips on her new musical venture with Buckingham.
Eventually, Buckingham Nicks secured a deal with Polydor Records, but their eponymous debut failed to be a hit with the general public. For a time, it seemed as though Nicks would be forced to give up on her ambitions, but one timely phone call from Mick Fleetwood would change the direction of her career forever.
Of course, nothing could prepare her for what was about to happen, and Rumours took Stevie Nicks and the band to heights of superstardom that she couldn’t have envisaged. The album – and its subsequent success – allowed Nicks to work with everybody under the sun, from BB King to Tom Petty and even today’s contemporary artists, such as Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles, who joined her on-stage at Hyde Park in 2024.
As a result of the astronomical success that Nicks enjoyed with Fleetwood Mac, it’s difficult to imagine her being in another band. However, if The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) came calling, Nicks would have accepted the invitation with glee.
While the call to Nicks from The Chicks has never transpired, she has enjoyed sharing a stage with Natalie Maines from the band. The two artists’ paths first crossed in 2002 when The Chicks covered Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’, and they eventually had the chance to perform it together. Although Nicks was the more famous name, she was utterly mesmerised by Maines’ talent, and if it was up to her, she’d happily repeat that sensation on a nightly basis.
“Natalie Maines is my favourite person to sing with, ever,” Nicks told Oprah Winfrey. “I could happily be a part of the Dixie Chicks. Even though they’re billed as country artists, they’re very rock ‘n’ roll.”
The Chicks’ version of ‘Landslide’ became a monumental success for the group and later went platinum. Maines later revealed her main attraction to the song because she was the same age as Nicks when she originally recorded it, which made ‘Landslide’ feel like it was written personally for her situation.
Nicks, meanwhile, loved the cover and even interviewed The Chicks following their version of ‘Landslide’. She later said of their bond: “I love it and since I got to go to Las Vegas and actually sing it with the girls, that was such a treat for me. I think we ended up in a four-part harmony. You know, I remember sitting in some house in Colorado in like 1973, with a beautiful view in someone’s big beautiful home where I had gone to dinner or something”.
The singer, referring to VH1 Divas Las Vegas in 2002, when they shared the stage, added, “I took my guitar, and I went into this beautiful room, and I sat and I wrote ‘Landslide’. I can remember it and seeing it through my eyes when I was, gosh, in my early 20s and then through my eyes all the way up until now — and through you guys’ eyes. It’s really quite an amazing metamorphosis for this song from generation to generation to generation, and I’m so proud to be a part of it.”
Significantly, it was six years later when Nicks declared to Winfrey that Mains was “her favourite person to sing with” in the world, which shows how much the Fleetwood Mac singer adored the moment. Few have performed with as many revered musical heroes as Nicks in the rock landscape. Therefore, her positive words regarding The Chicks hold immense weight, and they should consider it the ultimate compliment.
