RIP Prince

[WildHearted]

Some of Stevie's stories about Prince over the years:

Prince played synth on your 1983 single Stand Back, which you had written by singing new words and a new melody to his Little Red Corvette. What do you remember about the session with him at Sunset Sound?
I remember him playing basketball outside like one of the Harlem Globetrotters. He was spinning the ball on his finger and throwing it backwards into the net. In terms of the actual recording he was super-quick, Unfortunatatley we couldn’t keep him locked-down there forever (laughs).

But he later sent you the backing track for Purple Rain, asking you if you wanted to write something to it..
lt was a cassette – and I’ve still got it – with the whole instrumental track and a little bit of Prince singing “Can’t get over that feeling.” or something. But it was 10 minutes long with the big guitar solo and I was overwhelmed. I told him, “Prince, I’ve listened to this a hundred times but I wouldn’t know where to start. It’s a movie,

So you turned down what became Prince’s defining song?
Right, Bit I always feel like there’s a little bit of me in it. The olive branch of him giving me that cassetee was huge, but I think he would have liked a romance with me, too.

Wow. Were you flattered?
Very flattered. I remember Fleetwood Mac were in Minneapolis on tour one time and Prince came and got me right after the show. I’ m still in my chiffon stage outfit and he’s in his purple stage outfit. We get in his purple Camaro and bomb out onto the freeway at 100mph. I’m terrified, but kind of excited, too: “****, we’re gonna get pulled over!” So we get to his purple house and he has a studio downstairs and we try to write a song together. But I’ve just done a show and I’m tired, so I go upstairs and sleep on the floor of his purple kitchen. In the morning he wakes me up and I have some coffee and I sing a little part on the song. But I’ve got to be at the airport by 2pm to take-off with Fleetwood Mac, and you do not miss that plane. We get into the purple Camaro again. Prince bombs it down the freeway and right out on to the tarmac alongside our private jet. He comes around to open my door and we hug goodbye, but we both look like crazy people. I get on the plane and the rest of the band are like (drums fingers, rolls eyes). I’m like, “What? Nothing happened.

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Details: Really? What about you and Prince?

Stevie Nicks: Let me state this here and now: We did not have a sexual relationship--I did not let that happen.

Details: How did you meet?

Stevie Nicks: When we were recording "Stand Back" I decided to be really blatant and call Prince up and tell him that I had been inspired to write the song while listening to "Little Red Corvette." I told him that I figured my song was half his. He came over to the studio where I was recording and listened to it--as I turned extremely white and started to shake. Then he walked over to the piano and put on a really incredible keyboard track. And not only did Prince make it up right on the spot, he played it with only two fingers. Then he left.

Details: Did you see him again?

Stevie Nicks: Yes, when I was on the road a year or so later. I was sick, and Prince brought some cough syrup up to my hotel room. He was sweet--he walked around the room folding things, fluffing pillows, tidying up in general. Then he gave me a spoon of it himself. But when I asked for another spoonful he changed--he said, "I didn't come all the way up here just to get you hooked on another substance!" Then he left.

Details: Do you still see him?

Stevie Nicks: No. I was at the premiere of Purple Rain, and in the scene where he slaps Apollonia I freaked and had to go sit in the bathroom. Afterward I went back to see him, and when he asked why I'd left, I had to tell him, "When you popped Apollonia, it kinda popped my brain." He looked at me like it just killed him. We've never spoken since. (sighs) It’s a shame, really...we were alike in so many ways.

Details: Such as?

Stevie Nicks: Well, for one thing, we both liked wearing black chiffon around the house.