Stevie Nicks & Don Henley Were Plan B for ‘Leather & Lace’
- edgarstreetbooks
- 4 days ago
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‘100 Greatest 80s Pop Songs’ Book Excerpt
Frank Mastropolo
Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks wrote “Leather & Lace” and recorded it as a duet with Don Henley of the Eagles. The song appeared on her 1981 solo debut album Bella Donna. Nicks intended “Leather & Lace” to be recorded by Waylon Jennings and his wife, Jessi Colter.
“Waylon Jennings asked me to write a song called ‘Leather & Lace.’ That’s his title,” Nicks told High Times in 1982.
“So I did, and I spent a lot of time on the psychology of the man and the woman in the music business both being stars in their own right and trying to live with each other and work and give Waylon a break and let him be a little weaker for a minute and let Jessi be a little stronger for a minute.
“This is a long time ago. This is what I was searching for even then. I mean, I was writing about Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. And I was, at that point, going out with Don Henley, and I was writing about Don and me. I was writing about the few couples that I knew and what they went through to try and work it out.”
Jennings did not use the song on his Leather & Lace album but hoped to record it on a solo album. Nicks was determined to record the song as a duet.
“I guess Jessi and Waylon sort of broke up around then. And I felt in my heart that either I had to do this song with Don, or Waylon had to do it with Jessi, or Waylon and I had to do it. Those were the only three possibilities for that song to be done.
“It was the most disciplined song I had ever written, and I had to finish it.”
“Leather & Lace” was a №6 hit in early 1982. Nicks told KLOS in 1988 that she and Henley occasionally perform the song together.
“Every once in a while, Don and I still sing that song. It has remained a really fun thing to do every once in awhile because we know the song so well, we don’t have to practice so much, so people love it.
“I can’t take Don with me everywhere; that’s the problem, you know? When you do a duet with someone, you’re kinda stuck because they don’t go with you; they’re not there to sing it.”
Frank Mastropolo is the author of 100 Greatest 80s Pop Songs, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.
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