Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks

On the surface, Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks probably wouldn’t seem to have too much to do with one another, especially back at the tail end of the 1970s. In the wake of Fleetwood Mac’s spectacular success with Rumours (and especially in light of the fact that she’d written “Dreams”, the band’s only #1 single up to that point) Stevie Nicks was the queen of pop music. She was also known for her witchy, vaguely Arthurian image and stage presence, which involved a lot of dry ice and an unparalleled collection of floaty scarves. Together with the rest of Fleetwood Mac, she was also a poster girl for the creeping excess that had been sapping the vitality of the rock scene for years.

Tom Petty, on the other hand, fronted a crack band that delivered some of the tightest pop songs ever written with unfailing rock’n’roll punch, and added more than a touch of punk attitude to boot. The Heartbreakers were still raw and hungry, not witchy at all, and wore scarves only when it was unavoidable. Also, Tom Petty is a dude.

So when Nicks’ first solo album, Bella Donna, was released in the summer of 1981, you could’ve been excused for being just a little bit surprised that the first single was… a duet with Petty called “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”. Not only that – the song was written by Petty and it featured the Heartbreakers as the only musicians on the track. And… it smoked. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” is, without a doubt, the tightest classic rock track that Stevie Nicks has ever had a hand in.

What most people don’t know is that this song is really just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the relationship between Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. The two also recorded duets on “Insider”, from Petty’s Hard Promises album, which came out the same year, and one of the standout tracks from Nicks’ The Wild Heart record, “I Will Run to You” – not to mention joining each other on stage for live renditions of all of these songs in the 1980s.

Perhaps the most amusing aspect of their relationship, as related by Tom Petty in his “Running Down a Dream” documentary, is that at the time, Stevie Nicks was hellbent on leaving Fleetwood Mac and actually joining Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell, bassist Ron Blair, drummer Stan Lynch and keyboardist Benmont Tench in the Heartbreakers! Petty had to inform the crestfallen Nicks that “we don’t allow girls in the Heartbreakers”; Fleetwood Mac fans everywhere breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, one song that wasn’t part of the Tom Petty-Stevie Nicks relationship is “Leather and Lace”. Contrary to common internet misconception, for “Leather and Lace” Stevie Nicks and Don Henley (singer/drummer for a little known band called The Eagles) were actually the duet partners. That track was also from the Bella Donna album, and it was also a big hit. Even though it wasn’t nearly as good a song, IMHO.