Stevie Nicks Reveals a ‘Horrible Wrench’ Was Thrown Into Her 1983 SNL Set. How Her Sister-in-Law Saved the Day (Exclusive)

• Stevie Nicks will be the musical guest Saturday night live October 12
• The performance comes two weeks after she released her new song “The Lighthouse”
• When she first performed in 1983, Nicks’ sister-in-law Lori joined her for a last-minute backing track

Before Stevie Nicks returns to Studio 8H to perform for the first time in 41 years, she looks back on her first Saturday night live performance.

The rock legend — who recently released his new single “The Lighthouse” — will take the stage as SNLmusical guest on Saturday, October 12, with host Ariana Grande, marking the Fleetwood Mac singer’s first appearance on the show since 1983.

“It was about 21/2 years into my solo career, so it was nerve-racking because it wasn’t Fleetwood Mac; it was my solo career, so it was really scary going into a show when you’ve been in a huge band and now you’re moving on Saturday night live as a solo artist,” Nicks, 76, tells PEOPLE exclusively in an email interview.

Stevie Nicks performs with Lori Perry Nicks performing on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 1983.

RM Lewis Jr./NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

In December 1983, Nicks performed two songs from her sophomore solo album: “Stand Back” and “Night Bird”.

“You know, we rehearsed and rehearsed, and everything was going well. At the time, I had a friend of mine who wrote ‘Stand Back,’ and she wanted to do another song, which was called ‘Nightbird’ — and she freaked out and she had terrible stage fright, so she couldn’t do it,” says Nicks.

Instead, Nicks found a replacement at the last minute.

“So one of my singers, who ended up being my sister-in-law Lori, said, ‘I’ll do it,’ and she’s crazy, but she said, ‘I’ll do it,'” Nicks says of her longtime backup singer Lori Perry. “This is literally right before we went on, and so we went on and we did it, and it turned out perfect!”

Despite the impromptu lineup change, “It was one of those shows where even with that horrible wrench thrown in the middle of it, it turned out great,” adds Nicks. “I’ve never been so proud of anything as I was that night. It was a magical performance, I was blown away and it definitely launched my solo career.”

Stevie Nicks performs at BottleRock Napa 2024.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Now, more than four decades later, Nicks still has nerves, despite her iconic status.

“Well, I continue to perform Saturday night live now it’s like it used to be. It’s about the biggest thing you can do, bigger than a stadium concert because it’s going to go worldwide,” she says. “So if you want to talk about being nervous about something! It doesn’t matter how much you’ve performed or how much you practice, you’re going to be nervous!”

Adds Nicks: “You can never say that Saturday night live it doesn’t help you get a lot of new followers, younger people, older people, etc. And to be asked to do it again … I never thought I’d do it again — so to be asked to do it again made it completely I’m nervous, but I’m really excited. I’m really excited to play the new song.”

When he returns to SNLNicks is expected to play her new song “The Lighthouse,” which she wrote as a call to action after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade 2022, abolishing the constitutional right to abortion.

“I am very sad, at the age of 76 I had to see it Roe v. Wade taken away,” Nicks recently told PEOPLE exclusively. “Two years ago, when I realized the ramifications of women’s rights disappearing, I was watching a lot of news and I was like a sponge — it just soaked into me.”

Women’s reproductive rights are a personal issue for Nicks, who revealed to The Guardian in 2020 that she “would have had to walk out” of Fleetwood Mac if she hadn’t had an abortion in 1979. Without that procedure, “I’m pretty sure there would be no Fleetwood Mac,” she added at the time.

“All the stories we’re telling about the need for women’s health care and the need for safe and legal abortion for women are absolutely necessary,” she recently told PEOPLE.

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