The singer Stevie Nicks compared to herself
Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks is a rock ‘n’ roll archetype. Through the decades, Nicks has been relentlessly individualistic and only moved to the beat of her drum, an attribute she seeks in those she chooses to collaborate with musically.
One of the most crucial figures in her career is legendary producer Jimmy Iovine, who introduced her to Tom Petty and Vanessa Carlton, who became her best friends. Their relationship began when Carlton’s debut album was passed to Nicks by Iovine, and they later coincidentally met at a record plant, which was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.
Following the success of her debut album, Be Not Nobody, and the hit single, ‘A Thousand Miles’, Carlton was expected by her label to replicate it on her follow-up record. However, this wasn’t the case, but fortunately, Nicks was there to pick her up by inviting Carlton to support her on tour. “She just knows when you need her. That’s when I really got close to Stevie. I would say 2005 when we started touring together,” the singer told Berklee.
A few years later, the pair duetted on ‘Circle Dance’, which appeared on Nicks’ live album The Soundstage Sessions. During an interview with The Republican, Nicks explained the collaboration and her love of Carlton: “Because she’s my favourite and I just love her. She’s completely crazy, and she’s completely modernist 2009. She could care less about record companies or record deals or what people want. She’s all about writing exactly what she wants. She’s extreme and I just adore her because of that. I give her advice, she totally doesn’t take it. I tell her what I think, she listens and does the exact opposite thing. I love her for that, because she’s me in a lot of ways.”
Nicks added: “I think she’s extremely talented and I love her voice. If she wanted to be a big rock star she could, but she has kind of chosen to take the avant-garde way and she’s made that choice. She’s had the big record deals and she has been the one to walk because she has decided that’s not for her.”
Almost two decades later, the duo have remained extremely close, with Carlton operating as her opening act as recently as 2022. They have a familial-type relationship, and Nicks even officiated Carlton’s wedding to John McCauley in 2013.
Carlton added to Berklee: “She’s one of the most, if not the most important relationship in my life, in a way, because she has travelled this very unique road. She was there, for instance, when I was in the middle of having my child, cut out of me in a c-section. She’s there singing to me in my ear, holding my hand. We are very, very close. She’s one of my best friends.”
Listen below to Nicks and Carlton team up on ‘The Circle Dance’.
