Stevie Nicks Gives a Tearful Tribute to Tom Petty

Stevie Nicks and her Fleetwod Mac bandmates received the MusiCares Person of the Year award on Friday night. But while the eight-time Grammy Award winner had tears in her eyes during the acceptance speech, they weren’t tears of joy.

Nicks was physically pained by the loss of her close friend Tom Petty, who died Oct. 22 at the age of 66 due to a heart attack caused by an accidental overdose.

“The loss of Tom Petty has just about broken my heart,” Nicks said. “He did the MusiCares thing last year … And he spent a lot of time after that night talking to me about how important it was to him.”

“He was not only a good man to go down the river with, as Johnny Cash said, he was a great father and he was a great friend,” Nicks said. ” “He was one of my best friends. My heart will never get over this.”

Nicks recalled a conversation the two had during last year’s charity ceremony, saying, “[He was] talking to me about how important it was to him. And maybe he was talking about it because [he] was ill. He was not well.”

Petty’s family revealed in a Facebook post following his autopsy report being released that the frontman of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers was battling knee problems, a broken hip and emphysema, all of which caused him to take the medications that eventually cost him his life. Despite that, Petty was one week into a 40th Anniversary worldwide tour.

“He should’ve cancelled, and he should’ve just gone home and gone to the hospital,” Nicks said. “But not Tom. He was gonna go down that river. And so, God bless him, he finished his tour at the Hollywood Bowl. Three shows. And one week later he died — but he got down the river. So Tom, I know you’re standing next to me cause you always have been for so many years.”

Nicks and Petty made multiple duet songs together, including “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” “I Will Run to You” and “Needles and Pins.”

Photo: Twitter/@UPROXX