The romance Stevie Nicks places above the rest
An artist’s love life almost always finds its way into their music. Whether they’re channelling the passion they feel for their significant other into a tender love song or expelling their anger towards an ex in a bittersweet ballad, relationships have continually proven to be one of the most lucrative muses within songwriting. One of the most prolific writers about love is Stevie Nicks, whose creations have consistently been informed by her dating life.
This pattern began with Buckingham Nicks, the creative partnership between future Fleetwood Mac members Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. Together, they penned a series of folk rockers that attracted the attention of Polydor and, eventually, the attention of Mick Fleetwood. In between songwriting sessions, Buckingham and Nicks also found love in their creative partnership, embarking upon a relationship in the early 1970s.
Their creative and romantic relationship only intensified when the duo joined Fleetwood Mac in late 1974. Just a couple of years into their time with the band, their romance would come to an end, leading to a slew of bitter Fleetwood Mac songs about one another. Nicks penned ‘Silver Springs’ about their ability to haunt one another, while Buckingham wrote the rage-fuelled ‘Go Your Own Way’ about his former songwriting partner.
Rumours, in particular, was fuelled by these interpersonal issues within the band, but Buckingham wasn’t the only lover who inspired Nicks to write. Over the years, her relationships continued to intertwine with her artistry, from producing Bella Donna alongside her romantic interest, Jimmy Iovine, to penning tracks inspired by Eagles drummer Don Henley.
But it was a different Eagle who Nicks once declared her greatest love. During a conversation with Q Magazine in 2008, the Fleetwood Mac singer was asked to name the love of her life, to which she definitively responded, “Joe Walsh”. Adding insult to injury for her former Fleetwood Mac partner, Nicks went on to suggest that she “fell in love with Joe in kind of the same way that Lindsey fell in love with [her].”
Nicks and Walsh became romantically involved in the mid-1980s, embarking upon an intense relationship. “Joe and I only went out, off and on, for about two years,” Nicks remembered, but the short romance would still result in some creative collaboration. The Fleetwood Mac songwriter worked alongside Walsh on his 1985 record The Confessor, while Nicks penned ‘Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?’ for Walsh’s late daughter.
Though Nicks and Walsh weren’t together for long, the relationship would still leave her heartbroken when it ended. By around 1986, the pair had gone their separate ways, each struggling with addiction issues. “When Joe and I broke up,” Nicks remembered, “I was devastated for a long, long time.”
While Nicks has often referred to Walsh as the great love of her life, the Eagles guitarist doesn’t seem to share this level of intense feeling towards their short relationship. During an interview with Howard Stern, Walsh shared his appreciation for Nicks and her impact on his songwriting, but he also suggested that he loved her “as a sister”.
Despite the seemingly unrequited nature of her feelings, Nicks clearly saw Walsh as the love of her life, placing him above her short-lived marriage with Kim Anderson, her lengthy and turbulent relationship with Buckingham, and her flings with several other members of the Eagles.
