Why Tom Petty Turned Down Stevie Nicks When She Asked Him to Produce ‘Bella Donna’
Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks are two beloved musicians with decades of combined experience in the industry. Both Petty and Nicks rose to fame with bands — Petty with his band The Heartbreakers and Nicks with Fleetwood Mac — and eventually went on to become solo artists. When Nicks was preparing to record her debut solo album, she tried to enlist the help of Petty, but to no avail.
Stevie Nicks released her debut solo album ‘Bella Donna’ in 1981
After achieving recognition as the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks worked to launch her solo career at the turn of the 1980s. She released her debut solo album Bella Donna in 1981. And when she was preparing the record, she wanted to enlist the help of Tom Petty to create her own sound.
Music Spotlight magazine highlighted Nicks’ journey to creating the album.
“Stevie was certain of one thing: She didn’t want [Bella Donna] to sound like Fleetwood Mac. She was in love with the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and wanted her album to be like one of theirs, with a country-inflected, rock ‘n’ roll energy,” the publication said. “She went right to the source and asked Petty to produce her album. After one attempt, he decided it wasn’t a good fit for him.”
Tom Petty turned down Stevie Nicks’ request to produce ‘Bella Donna’
Petty told American Songwriter why he opted to turn down Nicks’ request to produce her debut LP.
“She was very sweet, and we liked her,” Petty said honestly. “But she had a whole different kind of work ethic than we had, and there were a lot of people, a lot of hangers-on — the whole Elvis kind of theme of big entourage. We’d never been a very big fan of that. And so after a track I went, ‘Look I can’t do this. I’m too busy, and I don’t think that I’m going to be a big help to you. But I know a guy who might be good for you named Jimmy lovine.”
Stevie Nicks worked with Jimmy Iovine on the album
Nicks was interested in working with Jimmy Iovine, a music mogul and the co-founder of Interscope Records.
“Iovine came well recommended,” Music Spotlight detailed. “He’d produced John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, and Patti Smith. He had also cut Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 1979 commercial breakthrough, Damn the Torpedoes, and was presently working on their 1981 album, Hard Promises.”
Naturally, Nicks’ interest was piqued. “I said, Well, wow, if he’s good enough for Tom Petty, he’s good enough for me,'” she told ABC in 1981.
Iovine, meanwhile, wasn’t convinced at first, especially given Fleetwood Mac’s reputation in the studio: their last two albums had each taken a year to create, both with large expenses.
According to Music Spotlight, Iovine was straightforward with Nicks from the start, dictating that there would be no drugs or groupies at their recording sessions. “[He said,] ‘I know that you’re really used to being like the midnight cat queen that comes in whenever you feel like it,'” Nicks recalled. “This is not how we’re gonna do this album. First of all, you only have three months. And second, I don’t want to waste my time with a cartoon.”
