As a young child, Stevie Nicks attended public schools in Albuquerque, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. For 8th and 9th grades, she attended Wasatch Junior High in Salt Lake County, UT. Though raised Episcopalian, Stevie ended up attending a strict Catholic high school in downtown Salt Lake City for her freshmen year because she did not maintain a B average while in junior high school, a stipulation from her parents.
When the Nicks family was relocated to Southern California, Stevie attended Arcadia High School for her sophomore and junior years in 1964 and 1965. In the middle of her junior year, she transferred to Menlo-Atherton High School in Northern California, where she graduated the following year in 1966.
During that year, Stevie met Lindsey Buckingham for the first time at a church function related to school. Sitting at the piano, Lindsey started to play The Mamas & the Papas’ “California Dreamin,'” a song that Stevie knew every word to from her The Changing Times acapella group days. She approached Lindsey at the piano and started to sing along. Although the two hit it off, they wouldn’t meet again for another two years (Vare & Ochs, 1984).
After high school, the Nicks family relocated again, this time to Chicago, Illinois. But Stevie stayed back to continue her education in the Bay Area. She attended San Jose State College (University), where she majored in speech communication and minored in psychology. There, she reconnected with Lindsey, who had been performing in the rock band Fritz. She was just months shy of graduating when she dropped out of college to perform with Fritz. (Stevie would have pursued a career in teaching if she didn’t succeed in the music business.)
Although Stevie graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School, she attended Arcadia High School’s Class of 1966’s 40th reunion on October 7, 2006 at the Westin Hotel in Pasadena, California, where she reminisced with her old classmates.
References
Graham, S. (1978). Fleetwood Mac: The authorized biography. New York: Warner Books.
Vare, E.A. and Ochs, E. (1984). Stevie Nicks. New York: Ballantine Books.
