Biography !

Stevie was born in Phoenix, AZ on May 26 1948 and she was named Stephanie Lynn Nicks.
Her sign is Gemini with the moon rising in Aries.
Her grandfather, Aaron Jesse Nicks aka AJ, was so proud of his granddaughter, that he took her with him when he played country clubs.
He loved country music and wanted to be a famous country singer.
Unfortunately his career was without success.
But when little Stevie was with him when he played,
she danced on the tables and bars and he would pay her 50 cents.
When her parents saw that, they knew something big was going to happen.

In her childhood the close knit Nicks family, expanded by brother Christopher who’s 6 years younger than Stevie, moved around a lot.
They lived in New Mexico, Utah among other states. On her 16th birthday her parents bought Stevie her first Goya guitar.
She wrote her very first song: I’ve Loved and I’ve Lost. A star was born.
Stevie continued to write and when her family was living in San Francisco she met Lindsey Buckingham.
He asked her to join his band Fritz, a pshychodelic rock band. But her family had to move once again. This time Stevie didn’t go with them.
She stayed in San Francisco and became the singer in Fritz. It didn’t take long before Fritz was known as “the band with the blonde haired singer”.
Quickly Stevie & Lindsey found out that their voices were made for each other. And… they had fallen in love.
The band split up and Stevie and Lindsey went their own way as a couple, but also as the duo
Buckingham Nicks.

They opened for every major band: Jefferson Starship, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. The latter had a major influence on Stevie.
She once said:”If I was ever to become a star, I wanted to be like Janis” and “We opened for her.
My chin was glued to the floor, you couldn’t have pried me away with a million dollar check”.
Buckingham Nicks tried everything to get a record deal and finally Polydor came through.
They were willing to record an album with them. It was produced by Keith Olsen, Waddy Wachtel played guitar and Jerry Scheff,
who played with Elvis Presley, was on bass.
The songs were all written by the duo and had gems like Frozen Love, Long Distance Winner, Don’t Let me Down Again and Race Are Run.
Their expectations were high but the album was a total flop.
It had some success in Alabama and they did one show there. Stevie and Lindsey were back to square one.
To make ends meet, Stevie worked as a cleaning lady at Keith Olsen’s house and she was a waitress at Clementine’s,
while Lindsey worked on their music and recovered from mononucleosis.
Polydor decided to give them one more chance and gave them the go ahead for another album.
While working on that album, Mick Fleetwood was looking for a studio to record in with his band Fleetwood Mac.
He ended up at Sound City, where Stevie & Lindsey were working.
He met Keith Olsen and Lindsey and saw Stevie through the window of the control room.

Lindsey and Mick shook hands and Lindsey went back to work.
Keith Olsen played Mick a tape of Frozen Love just to demonstrate the quality of the studio and his producer’s skills.
Mick really liked the song, especially the guitar parts. When Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist Bob Welch left the band,
Mick knew who he wanted to take his place: Lindsey Buckingham.
Much to his surprise Lindsey told him that he and Stevie were a package deal: no Stevie, no Lindsey.
Mick, Chris & John agreed to have Stevie in the band and yet another line-up of Fleetwood Mac was born.
Working on the first album went really smooth and was done within 3 months with Keith Olsen producing.
They simply called it Fleetwood Mac. It had hits like Over My Head by Christine but the real smasher was the haunting Rhiannon by Stevie.
The album sold well and the band started to tour.
Stevie and Chris became fast friends and often shared hotel rooms together.
Than there was trouble in paradise.
Stevie and Lindsey ended their long term relationship.
Not only that, John and Christine McVie who were married, divorced.
Work began on another album.
The songwriters, Stevie, Lindsey and Chris, wrote about their ex spouses.

In February 1977 Rumours saw the light of day. It contained their first no. 1 hit single Dreams by Stevie.
She was hopeful that she and Lindsey could be together again.
Lindsey however replied with Go Your Own Way. Despite all the friction they kept the band together,
like they sing in The Chain:”The Chain will keep us together”.
By the time they went on the road, Rumours was a monster hit and Stevie had become the face of Fleetwood Mac.
Her fame became worldwide and her songs were hits. Rumours sold 28 million copies.
In 1979 the double album Tusk was released.
There were 20 songs on the album and Stevie had only 5:
The endearing Sara which became an instant hit, The haunting Sisters Of The Moon, The ballad Storms, The danceable Angel and:
The wonderful Beautiful Child. The rights to that song were given to Unicef.
On October 10 Fleetwood Mac got a Golden Star on Hollywood’s Boulevard Walk of Fame.
To this day October 10 is still “Fleetwood Mac Day” in Los Angeles.

The Tusk world tour was massive and was sold out in every city.
When the tour ended, Stevie went into the studio to record her first solo album Bella Donna. It was released in the summer of 1981.
It was a smash hit.
She also worked on Fleetwood Mac’s Mirage album which was partly recorded at Le Chateau in Hérouville, France.
In the winter of 1981 she did a short tour for the Bella Donna album and a live video was released.
In 1982 Mirage was released and a tour followed.
During that tour her best friend and vocal coach, Robin Snyder-Anderson, died of leukemia.
Because she was pregnant, the baby was 3 months pre-mature.
Kim, Robin’s husband, called him Matthew and he survived.
Stevie was heartbroken but the show had to go on and she finished the Mirage tour.
A video of a LA show was released where she cried and gave the best renditions of Rhiannon and Sisters Of The Moon ever.
In January 1983 she and Kim decided to get married to give Matthew a stable home.
In August that same year, Stevie filed for divorce and she never saw Matthew again.
In the summer of 1983 her second solo effort was released: Wild Heart with the dance hit Stand Back.
On this song Prince did a guest appearance.
She also included another lady to her back up singers:
Sandy Stewart who also played keyboards all through the Wild Heart album.
The song Nightbird is a duet between Stevie and her and is supposedly about Robin.
Stevie did background vocals on Sandy’s album The Catdancers but the album was a total flop.

After a period of silence Rock A Little was released in 1986.
The hit from that album was I Can’t Wait and there were several re-mixes made.
A tour followed but by then Stevie was using so much cocaine that she nearly fell off the stage.
A video, Stevie Nicks Live At Red Rocks, was released as well. Than it was time for her to check herself in into the Betty Ford Centre.
She stayed there for 28 days and came out completely clean.
The close-ups for the Red Rocks video were re-done as were the vocals and the video hit the stores.
In the meantime Fleetwood Mac had been working on Tango In The Night album which was released in 1987.
Stevie’s best song was Seven Wonders, co-written by Sandy Stewart.
Welcome To The Room, Sara was about her days in the Betty Ford Centre.
When I See You Again was recorded before she was admitted.
Than Lindsey dropped the bomb: he was fed up with working in a band and he didn’t want to tour anymore.
He was replaced by 2 guitarists: Billy Burnette and Rick Vito.
The new Fleetwood Mac hit the road and the world tour was sold out once again.
After the tour Stevie went into the studio to do her 4th solo album: The Other Side Of The Mirror.
The hit single Rooms On Fire made it into the top ten and for the very first time she went on a world tour by herself.
The tour was a success.
When she came back, she went into the studio to do another Fleetwood Mac album: Behind The Mask.
She liked working with Billy and Rick.
A world tour followed and was yet again a big success.

In 1991 Timespace was released, a best of Stevie Nicks album with three new songs: Sometimes It’s A Bitch, Love’s A Hard Game To Play and Desert Angel. The latter was about the war and she wrote a letter to the troops which was published in “Stars & Stripes”.
In 1992 she released another solo album: Street Angel.
She claimed it was her worst work ever. The single Blue Denim wasn’t a real hit.
In 1997 Fleetwood Mac did a reunion tour called The Dance. Lindsey was back in the band.
He had been working on a solo album, asked Mick to play drums and John to play bass and Fleetwood Mac was reborn.
The USA tour was very successful.
Right after the tour Christine McVie, member since 1970, packed her bags, left the band and went back home to England.
In 1998 she released a 3 cd box-set called Enchanted.
It had all her favorite songs on it and it was released with a booklet filled with never before seen photos.
At the time she said that this was harder than making an album because there were so many songs to choose from.
A tour followed with as a highlight a performance at Woodstock ’98.
In the year 2000 the European market released Stevie Nicks - The Divine.
It had songs on it from The Wild Heart and The Other Side Of The Mirror. It flopped in Europe.
Than in 2001 she came back with Trouble In Shangri-La.
A very strong album with guest appearances of Natalie Maines (The Dixie Chicks), Sarah McLachan, Macy Gray and Sheryl Crow.
The song Too Far From Texas was written by Steve Booker and Sandy Stewart.

Stevie and Sheryl Crow became friends and worked together on the Practical Magic soundtrack doing Crystal
(which had already appeared on the Buckingham Nicks album and the Fleetwood Mac album)
and If You Ever Did Believe, a song which was covered in the 80’s by Louise Goffin.
They also did a song for the Sweet November soundtrack called Touched By An Angel.
Stevie appears on Sheryl Crow’s latest album.
On April 15 2003 the new Fleetwood Mac album in 16 years was released: Say You Will.
They spent a year recording it.
Stevie has strong songs on it: Illume (9/11), the title track,
Smile At You which was written way back in 70’s,
Everybody finds out, Running Through The Garden, Thrown Down,
Silver Girl, Everybody Finds Out and Goodbye Baby.

At the age of 55 Stevie sounds better than ever and aged very well. She looks wonderful.
Her outfits and hairstyles are a great inspiration to many of her fans.
She has overcome a lot of sorrow in her life which makes her the strong lady she is today.

 

“Once I hit that stage I don’t feel like I’m in my fifties” - Stevie Nicks, April 16 2003