“The timing worked out perfectly,” she says. The pair’s current tour came together naturally, Collins says. “And I said, ‘Then you wouldn’t have written “Judy Blue Eyes” and had a great career.’” “Stephen once said to me, ‘We should’ve just skipped the romance and gone straight to the music,’” she recalls. He starts to play the guitar and it melts your heart.”ĭespite their romantic history, working together has remained seamless, she adds. “I‘ve always had an incredibly strong feeling about Stephen’s gifts. “I think we admire each other’s work tremendously,” she says. That includes releasing a new album together this year.Ĭollins believes this lasting friendship reflects their commitment to their art form, she says.

Through the years, they continued to lean on each other for support and artistic inspiration. “We’ve been friends ever since.”īoth proceeded to enjoy epic careers, with Collins famous for hits like “Both Sides, Now” and Stills recording favorites with his group such as “Love The One You’re With.” “That was one of the first songs that became a hit for Crosby, Stills & Nash,” Collins says. While the romance soon after transitioned to friendship, Stills was inspired by their fling to pen “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” which catapulted his band’s success. “He came on to play on this session of mine for a week or so, and we had an affair,” she recalls. With Stills backing her up in the session band, sparks between them quickly flared. “It’s just one of those romantic versions of things coming back around.”Ĭollins and Stills first met in Southern California during a recording session for Collins’ eighth album, she says.

I think it’s sort of romantic in a lot of ways, and I don’t mean that it’s a romance,” Collins says. Now performing side-by-side at last on their first-ever tour together, Collins considers this an endearing twist of fate. The two couldn’t have known when they first met decades ago that their lives and music would remain permanently intertwined.īeyond an initial passionate romance, Collins and Stills have remained close friends for 50 years, influencing each other’s crafts and bolstering one another’s success as both became acclaimed singer/songwriters in their own right. “I think we’ve helped each other a lot in our careers.” “It’s very nice to have a classic, iconic song written about you,” Collins says with a laugh. It’s singer Stephen Stills’ personal ode to her, a vestige of their brief and fiery romance decades ago. For folk music legend Judy Collins, the nationally beloved song “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” by Crosby, Stills & Nash represents more than just an iconic melody.

Judy stills