“I called him back and said, ‘I can’t do it. I wish I could. It’s too much for me.’
“I’m so glad that I didn’t, because he wrote it, and it became Purple Rain,” she added.
After Nicks turned the song down, Prince decided to work on developing it himself.
Lisa Coleman, who was part of his backing band, The Revolution, from 1980 until 1986, revealed how it morphed dramatically after guitarist Wendy Melvoin began playing guitar in accompaniment.
“At first he wasn’t sure Purple Rain was actually a Prince song,” she told The Guardian. “It was kind of a country number and he gave it to Stevie Nicks, but she felt intimidated by it.
