Kenny Loggins Recalls Stevie Nicks' Offer That Led to 'My Breakthrough' in 1978: 'Probably We Were Drunk'

Loggins discusses the genesis of "Whenever I Call You Friend," his first hit as a solo artist, in 'Yacht Rock: A Documentary'

Kenny Loggins had a run of successful singles in the '80s, when he was known as the "King of the Movie Soundtrack." His 1984 No. 1 hit, "Footloose," from the movie of the same, was one of the defining songs of the decade.

Yet Loggins, 76, who first enjoyed chart success as a member of the duo Loggins and Messina in the early to mid '70s, says his solo career might never have happened had it not been for a friendly invitation from Stevie Nicks.

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Loggins talks about his early association with the Fleetwood Mac superstar in the new HBO film Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, which explores the belatedly named soft-rock genre of the late '70s and early '80s that blended soft rock, jazz and R&B and of which Loggins was a major part.

His contributions to the sound include two Grammy-winning hits that he cowrote with Michael McDonald, his own "This is It" and the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes," as well as "Whenever I Call You Friend," a 1978 vocal collaboration with Nicks.

"There was some bounce back from going solo," he says in the documentary, which is streaming on Max. "I didn't realize at the time how difficult it was to go from a successful duo into being a successful soloist, and I credit Stevie Nicks a lot with my breakthrough, because it was the duet with Stevie that ultimately made a huge difference in launching my solo career, 'cause she was so loved at the time."

In 1977, during the ascent of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album, the band tapped Loggins as their opening act. "I like to say I went on the Rumours ride with them because I was out with them for six or seven months and became friends with the band, especially Mick [Fleetwood] and Stevie," he continues.

"She said to me one day, probably we were drunk, she said, 'If you need a chick singer, give me a call.' So I said, 'OK, I got that going for me.' "

The resulting single from his Top 10 debut solo album, Nightwatch, went all the way to No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1978, setting the stage for a remarkable solo career that would continue to produce hits through the next decade, including "Footloose" and "Danger Zone" (the No. 2 hit from Top Gun).

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Loggins is joined in the documentary by fellow so-called yacht rockers McDonald, Christopher Cross and members of Toto. "Yacht rock" didn't actually exists as a genre when the musicians most associated with it where creating their greatest hits. The term was coined retroactively by the creators of a 2005–2010 web series called Yacht Rock, which lovingly lampooned the sound and the artists responsible for crafting it.

"Kenny Loggins can't be contained in one genre," says Yacht Rock (the web series) host Steve Huey in the documentary. "He has to explore; he has to push his boundaries. So even when Kenny Loggins does yacht rock, he's only doing it a couple tracks an album most of the time. But when he does it, it's so good and so genre-defining that he's still up on the Mount Rushmore."

Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary is now streaming on Max.