Stevie Nicks Is Convinced a Surprise Talent Was a Gift From a Deceased Friend

Stevie Nicks is an accomplished singer, songwriter, and performer, and she has awards, two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame memberships, and hoards of fans to show for it. She’s also picked up several other, lesser-known talents. The Fleetwood Mac singer believes that one specific skill is a gift from her deceased friend, Robin Snyder Anderson. She explained why she considers the talent a “parting gift.”

Stevie Nicks’ friend Robin Anderson died of leukemia

Nicks met Anderson as high school students in California and became fast friends. When Nicks wrote her first song, Anderson praised it, which led her to perform at the school assembly. Years later, Anderson would continue to support Nicks, joining her on tour as a vocal coach. According to the book Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams, and Rumors by Zoë Howe, Anderson was “one of the only people who really knew Stevie.”

In 1982, Anderson died of leukemia just days after giving birth to her son, Matthew. Naturally, the loss had a profound impact on Nicks.

“[Robin] walked me through life, taught me how to sing, how to use my voice. She made sure before she left this planet that I was all right,” Nicks said. “As I questioned [whether there] would be life after Fleetwood Mac, I certainly questioned would there be life after Robin.”

She later said that life after Anderson’s death was “not the same, not near as special.”

The Fleetwood Mac singer thinks she received this talent from Robin Anderson 

Soon after Anderson’s death, Nicks discovered a previously unknown talent for visual art. Based on the timing of her sudden talent, Nicks believes it was a parting gift from Anderson. According to Rolling Stone, the paints are dreamlike and abstract.

“This is really my forte – the stuff that looks like bones and teeth,” she explained.

In the 1980s, Nicks took comfort in the paintings. While painting, she said she was often taking some form of drug and “alone and lost in a lot of ways.”

Though some of these drug-fueled painting sessions resulted in a messy finished product, Nicks says she continues to work on them for years to come.

“I’m never finished with them,” she said. “I can bring them back to life.”

Stevie Nicks and Kim Anderson got married

Several months after Anderson’s death, Nicks married her widower, Kim. In her grief, she felt that this was the best way to support Matthew. The marriage was a mistake, something Nicks realized after she felt Anderson’s presence.

“One day when I walked into Matthew’s room, the cradle was not rocking,” Nicks told The Guardian. “I know that sounds crazy, but it was always rocking whenever I’d walk in, and I knew Robin was there. And one day it wasn’t rocking and it was very dark and the baby was very quiet. And I said, ‘Robin wants this to end – now.’ I felt it as strongly as if she’d put her hand on my shoulder.”

She took Anderson’s instruction and ended her marriage after just three months. Still, she eventually reconnected with Matthew and put him through college.