The Truth About Don Henley And Stevie Nicks' Relationship
Stevie Nicks' tumultuous relationship with Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham amassed a multitude of hits for the band's 1977 cult classic Rumours, which hosts stories of the duo's rocky past in both camps. These stories didn't end, either. Even on Nicks' 2014 project 24 Karat Gold – Songs From the Vault, when the singer debuted lost songs written between the late sixties and mid-nineties, at least one of them was about Buckingham, per Billboard.
However, it was Nicks' short-lived fling with Don Henley in the mid-seventies that sparked inspiration for a later song off of the band's 1979 album Tusk. The somber ballad "Sara" was written in the aftermath of Nicks' relationship with Mick Fleetwood — who went on to marry Sara Rector in 1988 — as well as the singer's unexpected pregnancy with collaborator and Eagles member Don Henley.
According to Nicks, Sara is the name that she would've given their child.
Stevie Nicks didn't want to settle down
In the late 1970s, Don Henley and Stevie Nicks got together after Nicks briefly dated drummer Mick Fleetwood. Henley may have even considered marrying Nicks, according to Smooth Radio. Nicks ended up becoming pregnant by Henley in 1979, per Billboard, and she had an abortion. Nicks has stated multiple times in the past that she deliberately chose not to settle down and have children of her own due to her demanding career. "My mission maybe wasn't to be a mom and a wife; maybe my particular mission was to write songs to make moms and wives feel better," she told ABC Downtown in 2001.
But yes, if the baby had been a girl, she would've been named Sara. "Had I married Don and had that baby, and had she been a girl, I would have named her Sara," Nicks told Billboard magazine, per Mercury News.
In 1982, years after the breakup, a duet between Henley and Nicks peaked at No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks straight. Initially penned for Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter's duet album Leather and Lace, Nicks' version has remained a classic in the pop rock canon and has since been performed live by the two on multiple occasions. In fact, Henley and Nicks seem to remain amicable to this day: the pair went on tour together in 2005, completing ten performances under the bill The Two Voices Tour.