With the band Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks wrote and sang a slew of memorable hits, including “Rhiannon,” “Dreams” and “Landslide.” She and the band also helped provide rock ‘n’ roll with one of its most interesting soap operas as band members married, divorced, hooked up and broke up — all with each other. They fed off the drama, turning the romantic turmoil into myriad hits. Now, Nicks has released her first solo CD in 10 years, In Your Dreams, featuring her usual brand of emotive, heart-on-her-sleeve poetry.
In your early days, you waited tables to support your then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, didn’t you?
Somebody needed to work, and it certainly wasn’t going to be him. I think he telemarketed for one day. I worked at the Copper Penny. I cleaned Keith Olsen’s house twice a week. (Olsen is a music producer who produced Fleetwood Mac.) I didn’t have a problem making the money to support Lindsey and I and the rest of our friends who were making music at the house every day, because none of them could possibly have a real job.
Lindsey would go, “How come you’re so happy when you come home from your waitress job?” And I would go, “Because I got to be out there with real people, and I made really good money that’s paying for our house, our car and our food.”
Fleetwood Mac was known for a serious rock-star lifestyle. What did you most like spending money on?
I enjoyed not being poor, because we were so poor for five years that we made a pact to never, ever look in a store window. So when we went to work for Fleetwood Mac and started getting $200 a week apiece — and then, four weeks later, $400 a week apiece — we were fascinated. We hadn’t spent money in so long that we didn’t know what to spend it on.
It took a while to get to the point where I walked into that Jaguar place on Sunset Boulevard, and this lady said, “You can’t buy a Jaguar.” I went in with three of my friends, and she said, “You guys are, like, secretaries.” I said, “No, we’re not. I want that red Jaguar and I want it now!” I handed my business manager to her and he said, “You should sell her the car, because she can afford it.” And I drove that car out of there.
Now that you live a calmer, more sane life, do you still like to spend extravagantly or are you more frugal?
I’m more careful now in this world of financial stress. But I’m a rock star, so I still live like one, and I enjoy it. I’m not married and I don’t have kids. I have a little Chinese crested Yorkie, and she has beautiful cashmere sweaters, and that’s my biggest (expense). (If) she wants diamonds, I’m getting them.
By Larry Getlen / Bankrate.com / June 7, 2011
