Prince Showed Stevie Nicks a Surprising Talent When They Recorded Together

Stevie Nicks and Prince became friends in the 1980s. They both respected each other and flirted with the idea of performing together. Nicks wrote a song inspired by one of Prince’s songs and invited him to play on it. He joined them and, according to Nicks, showcased another talent while he was there. 

Stevie Nicks said Prince impressed her with a surprising talent 

When Nicks was on the way to her honeymoon, she heard Prince’s song “Little Red Corvette” on the radio. The song inspired her so powerfully that she told her new husband to pull over the car so she could begin working on her own music. After she finished writing what became “Stand Back,” she invited Prince to play on it with her.

“I said, ‘I wrote it to your song. You would never have known but because I’m very honest, I’m telling you. How do you feel about that?’” she recalled, per Louder Sound. “He said, ‘Great.’ Then I told him how much I loved the synths on ‘Little Red Corvette’ and asked him to play on my song.”

He spent a short period of time in the studio with Nicks. Before he left, Nicks recalled Prince showing off his basketball skills.

“It all happened in about an hour,” she said. “I remember him playing basketball outside afterwards like one of the Harlem Globetrotters, spinning the ball on his finger and throwing it backwards into the net. He shot a few more baskets and was gone.”

Stevie Nicks thought Prince wanted a romantic relationship with her

This was not the only time Nicks crossed paths with Prince. He inspired several of her songs, and they built up a friendly relationship. She believed he wanted something more, though.

“Prince and I were just friends,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I think he would have been happy to have had a relationship.”

She respected him too much as a musician, though. Nicks said she knew if they broke up, they’d fall out of touch.

“I really wanted a musical relationship, and I had smartened up, even then,” she said. “You’ll break up and never speak again. But he wasn’t interested in just that.”

Nicks told Rolling Stone that she and Prince always had a “crazy respect” for each other.

She said she still talks to the late artist

Nicks said that while she cherished her friendship with Prince, she has some regrets about it. They never performed “Stand Back” together despite her desire to.

“The saddest thing of all is Prince and I never played that song onstage together,” she said. “And that just breaks my heart. I guess we all think we’re immortal — I always thought we had plenty of time. I should have told Prince 10 years ago or 15 years ago, ‘Hey, Prince, we should do this song onstage together — some night, some city, call me.’”

Still, she said she sometimes feels Prince’s presence on stage with her.

“I feel like Prince is with me,” she said. “When I’m nervous, I’ll talk to Prince. In my solo act, when I do ‘Moonlight,’ I wear this white wolfy coat — I put this coat on and I try to transform into a Dire Wolf from Game of Thrones. And before I go on, I always say, ‘Walk with me, Prince.’”