Stevie Nicks: A Journey Through Music, Dreams, and Education

Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks, the iconic songstress, has captivated audiences since the early 1970s. Her work has taught many to see sensitivity as a source of strength. Nicks's music is what you listen to when you need help listening to yourself. Even if you're not a fan of Nicks or Fleetwood Mac, you've heard the mega hits like "Dreams," "Landslide," and "Stand Back" on the radio, on the jukebox, or over the P.A. This article delves into her educational background, influences, and the journey that shaped her into the "Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll."

Early Life and Influences

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, to Jess and Barbara Nicks, Stevie's musical journey began early. Her grandfather, Aaron Jess "A.J." Nicks Sr., introduced her to the world of music by teaching her to sing duets at the tender age of four. "My grandfather bought me a truckload of records when I was in the fifth grade," she recalled, highlighting the early exposure to diverse musical styles. Her father's career as a vice president of Greyhound necessitated frequent relocation, exposing the family to various cultural landscapes across Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Nicks listened to lots of Top 40 R&B radio. I loved the Shirelles and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas; stuff like "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" by The Shangri-Las…

High School and Meeting Lindsey Buckingham

During her senior year at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California, Nicks met her future musical and romantic partner, Lindsey Buckingham. Their meeting occurred when she heard Buckingham playing "California Dreamin'" at the Young Life club, she joined him in harmony. She recalled, "I thought he was darling." This encounter marked the beginning of a significant musical partnership.

With the Goya guitar that she received for her 16th birthday, Nicks wrote her first song, titled "I've Loved and I've Lost, and I'm Sad but Not Blue".

Fritz and the Buckingham Nicks Era

Buckingham was in psychedelic rock band Fritz, but two of its musicians were leaving for college. He asked Nicks, in mid-1967, to replace the lead singer. Fritz later opened for Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin from 1968 until 1970. After Fritz disbanded in 1972, Nicks and Buckingham continued to write as a duo, recording demo tapes at night in Daly City, California, on a one-inch, four-track Ampex tape machine Buckingham kept at the coffee-roasting plant belonging to his father. They secured a deal with Polydor Records, and the eponymous Buckingham Nicks was released in 1973.

Early Career Struggles and "Rhiannon"

With no money coming in from their album, and Buckingham contracting mononucleosis shortly thereafter, Nicks began working multiple jobs. While living with Dashut, Buckingham landed a guitar role with the Everly Brothers 1972 tour. Nicks stayed behind working on songwriting herself. During this time, Nicks wrote "Rhiannon" after seeing the name in the novel Triad by Mary Leader.

Joining Fleetwood Mac

In late 1974, Keith Olsen played the Buckingham Nicks track "Frozen Love" for drummer Mick Fleetwood, who had come to Sound City in California in search of a recording studio. Fleetwood remembered Buckingham's guitar work when guitarist Bob Welch departed to pursue a solo career. On December 31, 1974, Fleetwood called Buckingham, inviting him to join the band. Buckingham refused, insisting that Nicks and he were "a package deal" and that he would not join without her. The group decided that incorporating the pair would improve Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood Mac Success and "Dreams"

In 1975, Fleetwood Mac achieved worldwide success with the album Fleetwood Mac. Nicks's "Rhiannon" was voted one of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone. Her live performances of the song throughout the decade began to take on a theatrical intensity which differs from how the song plays on the album. Becoming aware of her image as a performer, Nicks worked with clothing designer Margi Kent to develop a unique onstage look. While Nicks and Buckingham achieved professional success with Fleetwood Mac, their personal relationship was eroding. Nicks ended the relationship.

Fleetwood Mac began recording their follow-up album, Rumours, in early 1976 and continued until late in the year. Among Nicks's contributions to Rumours was "Dreams", which became the band's only Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit single. Nicks had also written and recorded the song "Silver Springs", but it was not included on the album because the early versions of the song ran too long, and the band did not want too many slow songs on the album. Studio engineer and co-producer Ken Caillat said that Nicks was very unhappy to find that the band had decided against her song "Silver Springs", which he said was beautifully crafted, and carried some of the band's best guitar work. "Silver Springs", written about her tumultuous relationship with Buckingham, was released as a B-side of the "Go Your Own Way" single-Buckingham's equally critical song about Nicks. Copies of the single eventually became collector's items among fans of Fleetwood Mac.

Rumours, Fleetwood Mac's second album after the incorporation of Nicks and Buckingham, was the best-selling album of 1977, and as of 2017, had sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. The album remained at number one on the American albums chart for 31 weeks and reached number one in other countries. The album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978.

Personal Struggles and Solo Career Launch

After the success of the Rumours album and tour in 1977 to 1978, Fleetwood Mac began recording their third album with Nicks and Buckingham, Tusk, in the spring of 1978. By this time, Nicks had amassed a large backlog of songs that she had been unable to record with Fleetwood Mac because of the constraint of having to accommodate three songwriters on each album.

The day that Bella Donna reached number one on the Billboard 200, Nicks was told that her friend Robin Anderson had leukemia. Anderson was pregnant at the time and given only three months to live. She gave birth to a son, appointing Nicks as the child's godmother. "I never got to enjoy Bella Donna at all because my friend was dying. Something went out that day; something left." Following Robin's death in 1982, Nicks married Robin's widower, Kim Anderson, believing that Robin would want her to care for the baby. "We were all in such insane grief, just completely deranged," she told the Telegraph in 2007.

Nicks released her second solo album, The Wild Heart, on June 10, 1983. The album went double platinum, reached number five on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and featured three hit singles.

Addiction and Recovery

The tour marked a turning point in Nicks's life. The January before the tour was to begin, a plastic surgeon warned her of severe health problems if she did not stop using cocaine. At the end of the Australian tour, Nicks checked herself into the Betty Ford Center for 30 days to overcome her cocaine addiction. Recalling the strong influence of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix on her music and life, she told a UK interviewer, "I saw how they went down, and a part of me wanted to go down with them …"

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Later Solo Work and Fleetwood Mac Reunions

In late 1985, Fleetwood Mac began work on Tango in the Night, but due to her promotional schedule for the Rock a Little album and subsequent tour, Nicks was mostly unavailable to work on the album with the band except for a few weeks following her stay at the Betty Ford Center in 1986 (which was the inspiration for the song "Welcome to the Room…Sara"). She sent the band demonstrations of her songs to work on in her absence. Creative differences and unresolved personal issues within the band led Buckingham to quit the group right before their world tour.

Also in 1988, Nicks began work on a fourth solo album with English record producer Rupert Hine. The Other Side of the Mirror was released on May 11, 1989, to commercial success.

In late 1993, while Nicks held a baby shower at her house, she tripped over a box, passed out, and cut her forehead near a fireplace. Following her successful detox, Nicks released her fifth solo album, Street Angel, recorded during 1992 and 1993 using material written mostly in previous years. Released on May 23, 1994, Street Angel was poorly received, reaching number 45 on the Billboard Top 200. Despite a three-month tour in support of the album, Nicks was crushed by the focus on her weight and the poor reception of the album.

The band's live CD The Dance was released to commercial and critical acclaim. The box set Enchanted was released to acclaim on April 28, 1998, with liner notes from Nicks, as well as exclusive rare photographs, and pages from her journals.

Nicks had begun writing actively for Trouble in Shangri-La in 1994 and 1995, as she came out of her Klonopin dependency. According to her, friend and former musical partner Tom Petty was responsible for convincing her to write music again when he rebuffed her request that he write a song with her. She resumed recording songs for the Trouble in Shangri-La album with Sheryl Crow, who produced and performed on several tracks. When a scheduling conflict forced Crow to drop out of the project, Nicks first approached R&B producer Dallas Austin, but these sessions have never surfaced. Nicks finally called on John Shanks to produce the remainder of the album, with additional contributions from David Kahne, Rick Nowels, Pierre Marchand, and Jeff Trott. Released May 1, 2001, Trouble in Shangri-La restored Nicks's solo career to critical and commercial success. "Planets of the Universe" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and Nicks was named VH1's "Artist of the Month" for May 2001.

In 2001, Fleetwood Mac began work on a new studio album, though this time without Christine McVie, leaving Nicks as the sole woman in the band for the first time. After a few months' respite from the Say You Will tour, Nicks did a four-night stint in May 2005 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and then did 10 shows with Don Henley dubbed the Two Voices tour.

Recent Projects and "In Your Dreams"

After completing the Unleashed tour with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks began work on her first solo album in a decade with David A. Nicks performed in a series of shows in August 2010 ("it's not really a tour", she said). They did not contain any of her new music, because she did not want it to end up on YouTube. On January 13, 2011, Reprise announced Nicks's upcoming album In Your Dreams would be released on May 3, and the lead single, "Secret Love", would be released on February 8. Nicks originally wrote "Secret Love" in 1976 and recorded a demo of it for Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album, Rumours. It did not make the final cut for the album. The demo version had been circulating among fans for many years prior to its inclusion on In Your Dreams. Nicks promoted the song with a video directed by Dave Stewart. Nicks's goddaughter Kelly appears in the video wearing a vintage dress that Nicks wore on stage in 1976. Billboard charts, "Secret Love" was a modest hit on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart, peaking at number 20, and at number 25 on the Triple-A Singles chart. Another song on the album, "For What It's Worth", features Nicks's niece in the video. The song reached number 25 on the Billboard …

The documentary chronicles the making of her 2011 album, "In Your Dreams," which was produced by Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics) and Glenn Ballard. Nicks is also tremendously excited about what she calls “this little film” that is showing during HIFF, one that documents the nearly yearlong process of writing and recording the CD In Your Dreams in her Malibu home. It was a process that Nicks likens to a “happening,” with at least ten people in and out every day.

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