The one band Stevie Nicks wanted to leave Fleetwood Mac for: “I would have gone”
Discussing the different eras of Fleetwood Mac tends to feel like talking about two completely different bands. Although Mick Fleetwood and John McVie have been the backbone of every era of the group, their start as a blues-rock outfit was a far cry from what they would become once they got Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham into the fold.
The two members would completely overhaul the group. They had been a steadfast blues rock band, capable of turning heads on the streets of London, but the two new additions would turn Fleetwood Mac into a global outfit that dominated the decade and beyond.
Before she had even started in Fleetwood Mac, though, Nicks worked in a duo with Buckingham under the creatively titled Buckingham/Nicks. Recording one album together at the famed Sound City Studios in California, Fleetwood Mac was working in the studio opposite the duo when Fleetwood heard the sound of the track ‘Frozen Love’ blaring from the hallway.
Since the band had recently lost their guitarist Bob Welch, Fleetwood inquired if Buckingham would be interested in joining the group. While it was too good an offer to pass up, Buckingham said that he would join the group under the condition that Nicks join with him. Crafting the self-titled White Album, Nicks’ songs were significant hits like ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘Landslide’.
While it looked like everything would be perfect on paper, the crumbling relationships between Nicks and Buckingham and John and Christine McVie drove a wedge between the members while making the next album, Rumours. The tension within the group might have been what gave them the edge over their rivals, but Fleetwood Mac were always hanging on by a thread, and it would have been a strain on all the members.
Although Nicks could make a living touring with the band forever, she almost left the group to work with someone else in the early 1980s. Although the group soldiered on through their highlights and other major projects like Tusk, Nicks kept her ear close to the ground on another up-and-coming act from Florida.
Formed out of the ashes of the group Mudcrutch, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were starting to make waves on the rock circuit, with minor hits appearing on the charts like ‘Breakdown’ and ‘American Girl’. With the release of Damn the Torpedoes, the band became one of the biggest concert draws of the late 1970s, with one hit after another storming onto the charts like ‘Refugee’ and ‘Here Comes My Girl’.
Since Fleetwood Mac wasn’t suiting her style anymore, Nicks started thinking about working with Petty later. In Runnin Down a Dream, Nicks even considered leaving her old band behind, saying, “I started to prefer Tom Petty’s music to Fleetwood Mac’s music at the time. If they had told me to leave Fleetwood Mac and join them, I would have gone out with them”.
While Petty already had the vocals covered, Nicks would start advancing towards the band’s camp, including picking producer Jimmy Iovine to make her debut solo album, Bella Donna. With a token appearance by Petty on the song ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’, Nicks became one of the biggest solo success stories of Fleetwood Mac, even appearing alongside Petty live for a cover version of the song ‘Needles and Pins’.
Despite not getting the call to join the band, Nicks did tell a story about getting an honorary membership, telling Rolling Stone, “Tom made me a little platinum sheriff’s badge that had 24-karat gold and diamonds across the top and said ‘to our honorary Heartbreaker, Stevie Nicks’.”
It was a memento that meant a lot to Nicks. She had clearly always felt supported in Fleewtood Mac, but working with Petty was different. With the singer and his band, she felt like part of a gang, and it would be something she would treasure for the rest of her life. “On the back, it says, ‘To the only girl in our band’,” she continued, “I keep it on my black velvet top hat. It goes with me everywhere. It’s probably the most beautiful piece of jewellery a man has ever given me”.
