“It’s a shame”: The artist Stevie Nicks refused to speak to for years
No artist is forced to be cordial with their colleagues at every turn. Even though some people earn friends for life thanks to their time in the business, some people would gladly be anywhere else than by their bandmates’ side whenever they aren’t onstage. Although Stevie Nicks already had a few shakeups working with Fleetwood Mac, she felt that a few hours was enough for her never to speak to this creative dynamo ever again.
Looking back on her career, though, Nicks is never one to drop someone from her life that quickly. Even though she would have gladly been anywhere else than next to Lindsey Buckingham, her professionalism is second to none in this industry, whether that’s singing along to lyrics that were written about her or finding the patience to mock dance with him on the cover of Mirage despite wanting to yell at him.
In fact, her solo career may have been the only time when she could truly be herself. Nothing that went into the collective Fleetwood Mac mindset was going to work out the same way she heard it, so hearing someone work with her to get what she heard in her head must have been a godsend when working on Bella Donna.
Once Nicks started working on The Wild Heart, she did get some help from a few familiar faces. Outside of Tom Petty returning for another duet, hearing that Prince was making his way to the studio felt like a match made in heaven. Both ‘The Purple One’ and Nicks were the most mystical figures in rock and roll at the time, and hearing bounce of them bouncing ideas off each other should have been great.
Although Prince contributed what he could to songs like ‘Stand Back’, it didn’t take long for his star to begin rising even more. He had captured lightning in a bottle when he made Purple Rain, but when Nicks went to support her friend by seeing the film, everything was far too racy than anything that she wanted any part in.
Before even getting to the graphic footage of sexual situations, Nicks remembered cutting ties with Prince for a while after she told him about her disapproval of him being abusive towards Apollonia in the film, saying, “I was at the premiere of Purple Rain, and in the scene where he slaps Apollonia I freaked and had to go sit in the bathroom. Afterward, I went back to see him, and when he asked why I’d left, I had to tell him, ‘When you popped Apollonia, it kinda popped my brain.’ He looked at me like it just killed him. We’ve never spoken since. It’s a shame, really…we were alike in so many ways.”
Then again, perhaps the footage may have been a little too real given what Buckingham had been accused of back in the day. There had been stories about Buckingham being abusive towards his romantic partners, but while the fight didn’t get physical between him and Nicks until Tango in the Night, it would be hard for anyone to watch a scene like that and not feel a little uncomfortable.
But that was part of the language that Prince spoke. Everything about him was designed to push the envelope and expose the darker side of life, but for the next decade, he would have to deal with one of rock’s female heavyweights walking out of his life.
