Stevie Nicks shares intimate memories of her longtime friend Prince

Stevie Nicks: ‘My Heart Is With Hillary Clinton’

By  Ian Drew
Us Magazine

The Gold Dust Woman is with her too! During a chat with Us Weekly Entertainment Director Ian Drew about her upcoming 24 Karat Gold tour, Stevie Nicks revealed her pick for the 45th president of the United States: Hillary Clinton.

The ringing endorsement doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. After an extended hiatus, the singer, 68, reunited with her legendary band Fleetwood Mac to perform at the Inaugural Ball for the former secretary of state’s husband, Bill Clinton, in 1993 (the group’s 1977 smash “Don’t Stop” was his campaign theme song).

Nicks previously revealed she’d like to sing her Mac classic “Landslide” if Clinton wins. “I could gather together the Dixie Chicks, Billy Corgan and everybody who’s ever sung a version of ‘Landslide,’” she told The New York Times on September 6.

The “Stand Back” chanteuse, whose 27-city solo tour with the Pretenders kicks off October 25, also shared intimate memories of her longtime friend Prince, who died from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl on April 21.

Us: You recently finished playing 120 shows with Fleetwood Mac and now you are heading out on the road again. Do you ever take a break?

SN: No, and I blame it on my mother. She was a born entertainer. Leave the songwriting, the singing and all that behind, and I still would have found some way to be an entertainer. I would have never been an actress, though, because I realized early in my life, in like sixth grade, I was a terrible actress. But I would have found something because I love to entertain people. I had the option to take the rest of the year off. But I said the songs on my last solo album, 24 Karat Gold, mean so much to me. I need to get out there and sing them.

Us: Why did you decide to tour with Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders?

SN: When Chrissie Hynde was inducted into the Hall of Fame, I, of course, was there to see that because I have to back up the girl. When it was over, I said we needed to have a party for Chrissie in my hotel suite. I didn’t really know her, but it was great. I got to sit at the piano with her and just talk to her about everything — her family, rock ’n’ roll, the music business. I’ve always been a Pretenders fan, but I got to know her. So I’m very excited about this.

Us: You collaborated with Prince on your 1983 hit “Stand Back.” I assume you’ll be playing that song in his memory?

SN: I will always play “Stand Back” anyway. And he will always he standing behind me every time I do. When we started becoming friends, I was really doing a lot of cocaine, and he hated that. Prince was so against drugs. That is the saddest thing: He always thought I would die of a drug overdose, and here it happens he dies of an accidental overdose. I know he’s up there saying to me, “This is not the way I wanted it to happen, Stevie.” I remember once he dropped by to see me when I was in Minneapolis and I was sick, with a bag of cough drops and a spoon of cough medicine. I said to him, “Hey, can I have another spoon of that? It’s just over the counter,” and he’d go, “No, I didn’t come here to start up new drug addictions for you.” And I was like, “C’mon, give me that bottle!” He was very watchful over me.

Us: Do any other memories of him stick out?

SN: I remember he gave me a cassette of Purple Rain. It was like 20 minutes long and he asked me to write something on it. I tried for a month and then he came to L.A. I went to see him and said, “I can’t do it. It’s too perfect. It’s like 'Stairway to Heaven.'” He said OK and then I go, “I can keep the cassette, right?” He said, “Of course and thank you for trying.”

Us: You were also there when he played the Super Bowl in 2007, right?

SN: Sort of. We did the opening tailgate party — I’m not a big football person —and it started to rain. I was a little sick and went back to the hotel where we were all staying. We didn’t know whether Prince was going to go on or not because the rain got so bad. He had already prerecorded it just in case he couldn’t go on. So I’m sitting there wrapped in blankets, with a hot water bottle and hot tea, and he goes on and it’s the most magical thing I have ever seen. I was so mad I wasn’t sitting at the stadium watching it in person. So when he came back to the box where I would have been after he performed, he said to my makeup artist, “Where’s Stevie?” She said, “She’s sick, and she was told by our manager that she would have to walk across the football field when the game was over in the mud and try to find a limo, so she made the decision that she couldn’t do that.” He was not happy that I wasn’t there, and now today I’m not happy about it because I should have gone and I should have walked in that mud for him. Because I missed being with him on that, and it’s a lesson that sometimes you have to push yourself a little harder for your friends. You could never in a million years have told me Prince would not be here today. He would have been the person I thought would live forever because of the way he took care of himself — not counting the fact he jumped off risers in 6-inch heels. He probably had fractures from his feet all the way up to his head.

Us: You will be on the road during the presidential election this year. Who has your vote?

SN: My heart is with Hillary Clinton. I feel that the world is in a really dangerous place and it scares me. It’s the first time I can ever remember being scared that the United States might mess up and something terrible will happen to us. I don’t like that feeling and I watch the news every day because of it. It’s going to be hard to fix all of these problems that seem absolutely unfixable to me. But I’m very proud that a woman, has finally been chosen as a candidate for the president of the United States, because I always felt women should be treated like first-class citizens. We are just as a good as men are — and maybe better and smarter. 

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