London, Harry Styles and Stevie Nicks pay tribute to Christine McVie

Yesterday evening, Friday 12 July, former One Direction member Harry Styles was a guest at Stevie Nicks’ concert in Hyde Park, London, for a special tribute to Christine McVie, Nicks’ former bandmate in Fleetwood Mac who – if she hadn’t passed away in November 2022 – would have celebrated her eighty-first birthday yesterday. The two artists, at the end of the set, performed together “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, Nicks’ 1981 single written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, the first extract from the singer’s debut album “Bella Donna”, and “Landslide”, a Fleetwood Mac hit (written by Nicks) included in the 1975 album “Fleetwood Mac”.

“It’s always hard to ask someone to come and sing this song with you, when you’re singing about your best friend who died so suddenly and so sadly,” Nicks explained to the crowd in the heart of the British capital. “I asked Harry to do it. Because I want you to know that Christine was his friend, my friend, and a friend to all of you. And she loved being that. Today would have been her birthday, and it’s taken me all this time to come to terms with that.”

“One thing my mom always told me when I was little, when I was hurt, was, ‘Stevie, when you’re hurt, always run on stage,’” Nicks continued. “And that’s what I’ve done ever since Chris passed away: I’ve run on stage. And the only people who’ve helped me get through it have been all of you.”

It’s not the first time Nicks and Styles have appeared together in public: the former One Directioner – who has never hidden his admiration for the “Rumours” band – hosted Stevie Nicks’ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2019: “Her songs make you sick, they make you feel great, they make you want to dance and usually all three at once. Her songs have made me run more mascara – including mine – than all the failed love stories in history combined. That’s really Stevie. She’s more than a role model, she’s a beacon for all of us. Every time you hear her voice, life gets a little better. When she sings, the world is hers and it’s yours. She’s everything you ever wanted in a woman, a lover, a friend.”