Following a surprise performance during Broadway’s School of Rock on Tuesday night, Stevie Nicks took a moment backstage to remember Prince with a story about the time they worked together. She says “Little Red Corvette†became the inspiration for her 1983 single “Stand Back†after she heard it in the car (on the day she married Kim Anderson, as the Stevie mythology goes). She pulled over, sang “Stand Back†on a tape recorder, then later in the studio called Prince to invite him to Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, where she was recording the song, “never in a million years†thinking he would come. Twenty minutes later and poof, he was there and ready to play. Multi-instrumentalist that Prince was, she says he ended up contributing organ and “several other things I don’t really remember†to “Stand Back.†Stevie says what came out of that collaboration and their mutual respect was a lasting friendship: “I didn’t have to call and tell him that I kind of ripped off his song, but I did because I’m honest. So it turned into a really amazing relationship. Is my heart broken? Absolutely. Broken.â€
Read her full story below:
“I wrote ‘Stand Back’ riding along in the car, the first time I heard “Little Red Corvette.’ I had these words in my head, and I just started singing these words with a friend of mine. And I said, ‘You know, we need to pull over and get a tape recorder because I need to record this.’ So I did, on a little tape recorder, and then I went in to record and I called him — I got the number somehow — to ask him if he would come over to Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, never in a million years expecting that he would say yes or that he was in Los Angeles. He was there in 20 minutes and he played all the organ parts and he played, well, several things that I don’t even really remember, but he played a lot on it. And he owns 50 percent of the song. We became really good friends from that moment onward because we had a — you know, I didn’t have call and tell him that I kind of ripped off his song, but I did because I’m honest. So it turned into a really amazing relationship. Is my heart broken? Absolutely. Broken.â€