(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Tue 16 December 2025 14:09, UK
It’s no secret that Stevie Nicks has maintained an eventful life. From her early struggles for success alongside then-partner Lindsey Buckingham and her rise to prominence as one of rock’s defining voices with Fleetwood Mac to her enduring legacy as a solo artist and the hardships she’s faced along the way, Stevie Nicks has truly done, seen, and sung it all.
For most artists, recalling “unforgettable” career moments is simple. However, for Nicks, her storied life and career have created a whirlwind of significant events and encounters that shape who she is as a person. While it’s well-known that Nicks is a legacy act, she also possesses a depth of knowledge and experiences that no number of interviews will ever fully capture.
Still, this means that the moments she does open up about are like lightning in a bottle—additional pieces to the puzzle that will someday make up the complete picture of Stevie Nicks. The nucleus of her story might be the tumultuous Fleetwood Mac days and the fiery execution of Rumours, but the magic of her artistic vision continued long after into her solo work, including the 1985 release Rock A Little.
At the time, Nicks had her heart set on creating an album she would deem an “unforgettable” moment, even if that meant scrapping earlier material and the unsubstantial working title Mirror Mirror in favour of something that better reflected her vision. Rock A Little and its accompanying tour also signified an important segment of Nicks’ career and ongoing addiction to cocaine, as she battled with the romanticism she applied to legacy acts who died young and getting clean.
While working on ‘Talk to Me’, Stevie Nicks encountered a familiar challenge: emotional blockage that hindered her vocal performance. In the album’s liner notes, she reflected on how the song was “a hard song to sing” because she struggled to capture the right emotional tone.
Stevie Nicks singing in 1989. (Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
While many of Nicks’ best songs were written about specific people, this tune doesn’t seem to have a particular origin outside of Jimmy Iovine bringing the track under her nose. However, if there was a pivotal figure for the tune, it might have to be Jim Keltner. Her breakthrough came one night when the session drummer entered the studio to lay down some drum overdubs, which ultimately helped her overcome the hurdle and find the song’s true voice.
She explained: “This was a hard song to sing, but I had loved ‘Missing You’ and I loved the words to ‘Talk To Me.’ It took a long time to finish it though, because I couldn’t quite get the right feeling on it until one night, Jim Keltner came in to do some drum overdubs.”
As a result, what started as being stuck between a rock and a hard place became one of her “unforgettable” moments; another piece of gold dust added to the pile of cherished memories. “He stayed to be an audience to push me a little, to make me get a great vocal,” she recalled. “So I had someone to sing to, and I got the vocal. I put some tambourine on it, and it was finished forevermore. That was one of my unforgettable moments.”
For Nicks, such “unforgettable” moments aren’t always moments of sheer elation. Often, it’s lessons learned when least expected, whether savouring an overwhelming moment of appreciation on stage or unintentionally allowing a friend’s company to inspire you to greatness. And that’s what makes Nicks’ life an ongoing series of magical events and meet-cutes, rarely does she aspire to be a living, breathing embodiment of mysticism; she yields it in her magnetism and her ability to embrace the input of others.
There is some mysticism still present in this song. The track wasn’t just benefited by the ability of a songwriting partner to get a little bit more out of Nicks, but some kismet that the lyrics seem to be entirely entangled in a similar premise. As she asked her partner in the tune to open up and share their feelings, Nicks mirrored this in the recording of the song. It is moments like this which often suggest that perhaps there really is something cosmic about the star.
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