The Wild Heart is Stevie Nicks’ second solo album. It features the hit singles “Stand Back” and “If Anyone Falls” and notable collaborations with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (“I Will Run to You”), singer-songwriter Sandy Stewart (“Nightbird”), and Prince (“Stand Back”).
Track List
- Wild Heart
- If Anyone Falls
- Gate and Garden
- Enchanted
- Nightbird (Featuring Sandy Stewart)
- Stand Back
- I Will Run to You (Duet with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
- Nothing Ever Changes
- Sable on Blond
- Beauty and the Beast
*B-side to “Stand Back”
Background
After a brief tour to promote her massively successful debut solo album Bella Donna (1981), Stevie returned to Fleetwood Mac to began the recording sessions for the band’s thirteenth album Mirage (1982). During this time, Stevie was already in the process of gathering material for her second solo album, The Wild Heart.
Shortly after the Mirage tour ended in late 1982, Stevie began recording The Wild Heart. Themes of love, loss, and camaraderie characterized the songs of the recording sessions.
One was the first tracks to be recorded was “Wild Heart,” a song inspired by Heathcliff and Cathy’s relationship in Emily Bronte’s 1847 novel and 1938 film adaptation Wuthering Heights.
Stevie met singer-songwriter Sandy Stewart through producer Gordon Perry. The two collaborated on “If Anyone Falls,” “Nothing Ever Changes,” and “Nightbird,” forming a songwriting partnership that has continued to present day. (In the years to follow, Sandy would co-wrote “Seven Wonders,” “Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind,” and “Too Far from Texas” for Stevie, as well.)
Stevie enlisted the help of Tom Petty for the duet “I Will Run to You” and Prince for the hit single “Stand Back.”
CD Description
“The Wild Heart is a Stevie Nicks’s successor to Bella Donna, her 1981 solo debut, and it features some of the same cast that helped make Bella Donna a two million seller. Tom Petty, who dueted with Stevie on her first single, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” is back for “I Will Run to You,” this time with all of his Heartbreakers on hand as well. Other guest performers include pianist Roy Bittan (from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band), guitarists Waddy Wachtel, Steve Lukather (from Toto), and Don Felder (late of the Eagles), and drummer Chet McCracken (an ex-Doobie Brother) and Mick Fleetwood, a founding member of Fleetwood Mac.”
Release
Modern Records released The Wild Heart on Friday, June 10, 1983. It debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart (7/9/1983), spawning the Top 40 singles “Stand Back,” “If Anyone Falls,” and “Nightbird” (with Sandy Stewart).
With the album’s commercial and critical success, Stevie Nicks received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Female Vocalist for “Stand Back” and an American Music Award nomination for Best Female Pop/Rock Artist in 1984.
Since its release, the RIAA has certified it double platinum for the shipment of two million copies to retailers.
In 2016, Rhino Records released the Deluxe Edition of The Wild Heart, which included the remastered album and a second disc with outtakes and alternate versions from The Wild Heart recording sessions.
2016 Deluxe Edition — Disc 2
- Violet and Blue (from Against All Odds: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)*
- I Sing for the Things (Unreleased Version)
- Sable on Blond (Alternate Version)
- All the Beautiful Worlds (Unreleased Version)
- Sorcerer (Unreleased Version)
- Dial the Number (Unreleased Version)
- Garbo (B-Side)
- Are You Mine (Demo)
- Wild Heart (Session)
*In 1985, the Against All Odds soundtrack received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special.
Charts
Stand Back
| Billboard Chart | Peak |
| Pop Singles | 5 |
| Album Rock Tracks | 2 |
| Dance | 12 |
If Anyone Falls
| Billboard Chart | Peak |
| Pop Singles | 14 |
| Album Rock Tracks | 8 |
Nightbird (Featuring Sandy Stewart)
| Billboard Chart | Peak |
| Pop Singles | 33 |
| Adult Contemporary | 39 |
| Album Rock Tracks | 32 |
I Will Run to You
| Billboard Chart | Peak |
| Album Rock Tracks | 35 |
Enchanted
| Billboard Chart | Peak |
| Album Rock Tracks | 12 |
Nothing Ever Changes
| Billboard Chart | Peak |
| Album Rock Tracks | 19 |
Promotional Videos
Stand Back
If Anyone Falls
Nightbird
News & Coverage
- REVIEW: Stevie Nicks The Wild Heart June 10, 1983 - Stevie Nicks was following both her debut solo album, Bella Donna (1981), which had topped the charts, sold over a… More
- Stevie Nicks’ newest album filled with romantic spirit July 5, 1983 - Stevie Nicks inhabits a world of sprites, gnomes, fairies and handsome princes. The songs she writes and sings all seem… More
- ALBUM REVIEW: The Wild Heart July 7, 1983 - Seldom has Stevie Nicks been in better voice than on The Wild Heart. Her distinctive lower-range growl has broadened and… More
- ALBUM REVIEW: Stevie Nicks, The Wild Heart August 7, 1983 - Stevie Nicks: The Wild Heart (Modern) -- As with her first solo effort, Bella Donna, Stevie Nicks' latest album combines… More
- Stevie Nicks sees world in a blur August 11, 1983 - PHOENIX, Ariz. — For singer Stevie Nicks, her success as a songwriter could be attributed to her failing eyesight. I… More
- Innerview: Stevie Nicks September 1, 1983 - Stevie Nicks: Arizona's Bella Donna comes home. Once upon a time, there lived a golden-haired princess named Stephanie. She grew… More
- ALBUM REVIEW: Stevie Nicks, The Wild Heart September 1, 1983 - Arts/Entertainment: Record Guide, Pop-Rock Stevie Nicks: The Wild Heart. (Modern/Atco Records 7 90084-1.) It's Stevie Nicks's second solo album away… More
- A Wild Heart — Stevie Nicks September 18, 1983 - Houston, Texas — It had been building toward this all day. First, Stevie Nicks' personal assistant and then her road… More
- Stevie Nicks: She’s smiling now October 1, 1983 - Stevie Nicks has always been two performers. At times, she is the Gothic figure of tragedy, the enigmatic witch of… More
- Mystical Music: Stevie Nicks November 4, 1983 - One of the "rules" of growing up is to leave behind childhood fantasies of spirits, fairy princesses and the like… More
< Bella Donna | Rock a Little >
