"She steps in the room with us, a rock'n'roll band that's fronted by a guy she adores": How a song from Tom Petty's reject pile unwittingly became the massive hit single that launched a Fleetwood Mac icon's solo career

Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty onstage.

In late 1980, while Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers were recording what would become their album Hard Promises, Petty became increasingly aware of a certain famous fan trying to crash the line-up of the group.

“Stevie Nicks was saying all the time: ‘I’m going to leave Fleetwood Mac and join The Heartbreakers,’” Petty said in the 2007 documentary Runnin’ Down A Dream. “Yeah, that’s good, Stevie, but there aren’t any girls in The Heartbreakers.”