“I’ve never admitted that”: The musician who broke Stevie Nicks’ heart the most
In Stevie Nicks’ world, art and love have always lived side by side.
It has taken many forms, from the deep platonic love Nicks shared with her bandmate Christine McVie to the various romantic relationships throughout her life. Some people argue that business and pleasure should be kept separate, but Nicks’ artistry has always been driven by the opposite. Her musical journey began with love when she met Lindsey Buckingham at school, and the two entered into a creative and romantic partnership that would shape her career for decades.
When they joined Fleetwood Mac as a package deal, the breakdown of their relationship helped fuel the band’s biggest success. The intensity of Rumours comes directly from that heartbreak. Both were writing about their own version of events, often in the same room, which gave the recordings an added edge. The tension between them is almost audible in the music.
When Nicks later began an affair with Mick Fleetwood, things became even more complicated and emotionally charged, which fed into her first run of solo material. Outside the band, the relationships in her life have come and gone, bringing not only inspiration but collaboration. She seems to draw as much from working with the people she loves as she does from writing about them.
Trying to understand which came first is akin to a chicken-and-egg situation: perhaps it was the love that led Nicks to want to work by them, or perhaps it was seeing someone in their flow, in the zone of their creativity, making something beautiful, prompting a spontaneous softening of the heart. There is truly nothing as beautiful as seeing someone focused and passionate, and Nicks seems to know that better than anyone; however, no matter the chronology of beating hearts and creativity, love also comes along with a fair share of heartbreak.
The pain of the split from Buckingham was so harsh that its aftershocks quite literally lasted decades, but still, Nicks wouldn’t say that was the biggest heartache of her life.
“The one who broke my heart most was probably Joe Walsh, but I’ve never admitted that before,” Nicks once said, finally sharing the revelation that it was the Eagles member who prompted the harshest wound. Nicks also dated Don Henley for a while, but it was his bandmate and her regular collaborator, Walsh, who seemed to hurt the most.
It was the pain of almost perfection, for the pair had known each other for a long time when they started dating in 1983 and made it work until 1986, until their busy lives and schedules pulled them apart, as well as their worsening drug addictions. “We were busy being superstars, and everyone was doing way too many drugs, but I was so in love with him,” she said, still full of yearning for those days.
However, it was doomed. As her addiction was getting worse and worse, and tensions in Fleetwood Mac were only exacerbating it, Nicks couldn’t be a good partner, and nor could Walsh, who was also struggling and busy himself. In the end, it simply couldn’t work out, where it seems that to Nicks, almost having something and then losing it is the biggest pain of all.
