Sara Lynn Fleetwood (née Jones) (b. October 2, 1953) is one of Stevie’s close friends. She assisted with recording the demo for “Sara,” which was later recorded for Fleetwood Mac’s 12th studio album Tusk (1979). The song’s title was inspired by her. “I used her name because I love the name so much” (Nicks, 2009).
“My friend Sara was there when I wrote it. She kept the coffee going and kept the cassettes coming and made sure we didn’t run out of batteries, and it was a long, long night recording that demo. She was a great songwriter helper.
“Sara was the poet in my heart. She likes to think it was all written about her, but it really wasn’t. She’s in there, for sure, but it’s written about a lot of other things, too” (Nicks, 2015).
In 1978, Sara started dating drummer Mick Fleetwood after his secret affair with Stevie ended. Sara and Mick married in 1988 and divorced in 1995. Sara was previously married to producer Jim Recor in the early 1970s.
Sara provided backup vocals for some tracks on Stevie’s fifth solo album Street Angel (1994) and accompanied her on the Street Angel Tour as a backup vocalist.
References
Fleetwood, M. (1990). Fleetwood: My life and adventures with Fleetwood Mac. New York: Morrow.
Jones (Recor), Sara L. California, Marriages, 1960 – 1985.
Nicks, S. (2009). Stevie Nicks on her favorite songs. Entertainment Weekly.
Nicks, S. (2015). Fleetwood Mac: Tusk Expanded [liner notes].
