Dave Stewart has recorded “Face to Face,” a new song for the people of Ukraine. The track also features Serhii Babkin and Boris Grebenshikov with harmonies by Stevie Nicks.
This is an original song for Ukraine, written by Dave Stewart (UK), Boris Grebenshikov (RUS) and Serhii Babkin (UA), with harmonies by Stevie Nicks (USA). Please consider donating to UNITED24 to help provide medical care to the people of Ukraine.
In an exclusive excerpt from Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A Life in Music, Dave Stewart’s scintillating memoir (Feb. 4, NAL), the former Eurythmics member recalls a wild night of love — and drugs — with Stevie Nicks (and the drama that followed)
Memoir Excerpt:
We continued touring America for the remainder of 1984. When Annie [Lennox] and I played the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, the place was absolutely packed with half of the L.A. music industry and a host of famous musicians. There was hardly room for the general public. It was a wild show. There were a lot of musicians and singers backstage, and one of them was Stevie Nicks.
Stevie was in my dressing room doorway, wearing a faux-fur coat just like the first time I met Annie. Underneath she wore a black lace dress and she had long, flowing hair. I didn’t know who she was, but there was something about her that I was instantly attracted to. Stevie remembers that I looked her straight in the eye and said, “I want to be your boyfriend.” Little did I know that the day before, [The Eagles’] Joe Walsh and Stevie had had a big fight and had broken up. She invited me back to her house for a party, and 10 minutes later, still in full sweaty leather stage gear, I was in the back of a limo with Stevie and her backing singers. When we got there it wasn’t really a party: just Stevie and her singers being very speedy, laughing and talking. The house seemed enormous to me, so I wandered around, and when I came back to the living room, they had all disappeared into a bathroom for what seemed like hours. Actually it was hours. At around three in the morning, I ended up saying to myself, “OK, I’m really tired now and I have no idea where I am or which hotel Annie and the band are staying in.”
I just went to bed in one of the four bedrooms upstairs. I woke up at about 5 a.m. to the sound of doors rustling open and in the half-light saw Stevie opening and closing closets, as if it was the middle of the afternoon. Obviously they were all still wide awake, aided, I imagine, by what we in England call “marching powder.” Stevie went back in the bathroom and about an hour later came out in a long Victorian nightdress and quietly slipped into the other side of the bed. Stevie is an incredibly talented, soulful and beautiful woman. There was a fair amount of what I’d call skirmishing that went on. I remember at one point actually falling backward out of bed onto the floor, which made us both laugh hysterically. Stevie recently told me that all she could see when she came out of the bathroom that night was a mound of black leather and chains on the floor and a wild head of hair poking out of the bed covers. I remember making love once, but she later told me we made love twice. And then she said, “I remember clearly because I was wide awake, wired on cocaine.” It was all very good-humored and sweet, but also romantic in a rock’n’roll kind of way.
I was woken up at about 9:30 a.m. by Stevie saying I had to leave because someone might have been coming around to collect their clothes, and things could get tricky. I didn’t like the sound of “tricky,” so I phoned my management, found out where the band was staying and jumped in a cab.
After San Francisco we had some time off, and I decided to go back to L.A. to see Stevie again. Jimmy Iovine, the great producer who went on to start Interscope Records in the early ’90s, had invited me to stay with him at his house, and this was where it got interesting. I had no idea of the complexity of the relationships among Jimmy, Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty at the time. But I was soon to find out more than I ever imagined.
Jimmy had been living with Stevie in 1981 when he was producing her album Bella Donna, which was a huge success. Now he was working on her next album, except this time around they were not together. Stevie said later that it was because she was so addicted to drugs at that time.
I played Jimmy the demo of “Don’t Come Around Here No More” [which Stewart co-wrote and co-produced], and he said, “Wow! This is going to be great. Let’s make it for Stevie’s album.”
I jumped at the chance to work with Stevie, and we went right into the studio a few days later. When we started recording, Stevie was acting strangely and not really coming out of the bathroom much.
There seemed to have been quite a bit of friction between them. I had no idea that it was because they had been living together and were now broken up. Finally, Stevie appeared with her lyric book and started to sing into the microphone.
I was mesmerized until Jimmy said, “She’s reciting f–ing Shakespeare!” He did have a point; it was kind of Shakespearean and very odd. He was trying to get Stevie to change the lyrics. Stevie was upset and the discussion became very tense. He was saying, “Can you stop arguing with me in front of my friend David? You don’t really know him.” And she said, “Your friend? What are you talking about? We slept together the other night.” I turned white and stared at the floor, wondering what was coming next. Fortunately Stevie turned, walked out the door and left the studio.
I thought Jimmy was going to ask, “What does that mean?” But he just said, “I know what we should do. We should get Tom Petty down here to finish writing the song with you. He’s great.”
—Dave Stewart
This story originally appeared in the Feb. 6 issue of Billboard.
Billboard / Saturday, February 6, 2016
Get ready a double dose of Stevie in February!
On Friday, February 5, Charles Kelley releases his first solo album The Driver, which features harmony vocals from Stevie on the Tom Petty cover “Southern Accent.”
Listen to Charles Kelley’s cover of ‘Southern Accents featuring Stevie Nicks now!
Then on Tuesday, Feburary 9, Dave Stewart releases his first autobiography Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A Life in Music, in which Dave describes meeting Stevie for the first time and recording Stevie’s 2011 album In Your Dreams. The autobiography includes several pictures, including a few with Stevie. Here is Stevie’s comment about Dave, which is printed on the back cover of the book:
“In 2010, I spent an entire year with Dave making a record called In Your Dreams at my house in Los Angeles. It was the ‘best year of my life.’ But now, I really see what it meant to me; it meant everything. He allowed me to be my most creative self. He is my hero. The memories of those days still take my breath away. Thanks Dave. It was real….beautiful.”—Stevie Nicks
Both releases are available for preorder now!
Amazon: The Driver and Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A Life in Music
iTunes: The Driver
On Monday, Stevie Nicks, Dave Stewart, and Mick Fleetwood talked to Red Carpet News TV at the In Your Dreams UK premiere event. Nicks and Stewart debunked some myths that the casual observer may have had about Nicks’ role in the recording process.
“I only sit around and crochet or draw when there’s absolutely nothing else for me to do,” Nicks explained, “and that’s almost never. But that seems to be the pieces of film that have gone into the things that we have done over the last 30 years.”
Stewart also discussed the guitar solo that he created for the song “The Ghosts Are Gone.” Nicks described it as “one of the greatest rock and roll riffs ever.”
Mick described his first impressions of Stevie, saying “she had a magic thing about her” that reminded him of French singer Edith Piaf. Fleetwood also spoke about the success and longevity of Rumours and Christine McVie reuniting with the band at shows in London.
The cameras were flashing for this highly anticipated event: Christine McVie reuniting with members of Fleetwood Mac. On Monday evening, McVie and fellow guest Mick Fleetwood attended the UK film premiere of Stevie Nicks and Dave Stewart’s In Your Dreams documentary. McVie looked charming as she smiled and posed alongside Dave Stewart and her former Fleetwood Mac bandmates.
McVie’s confirmed guest appearances at two London shows is also highly anticipated. McVie, who will rehearse with Fleetwood Mac later this week in Ireland, will perform with the band during “Don’t Stop.” The European leg of the tour starts on Friday in Dublin, Ireland.
Stevie Nicks and Dave Stewart will both be part of Absolute Radio’s fifth birthday celebrations after agreeing to host special shows.
The two will present an edition each of Absolute Radio Icons, a brand new mini series launching on September 23 and going out at 11pm from Monday to Thursday that week in which a different star will host each night. Fleetwood Mac star Nicks will kick off the series next Monday (September 23), while Arctic Monkeys will present next Tuesday (24), Kings Of Leon on the Wednesday (25) and Dave Stewart on the Thursday (26).
In the cases of the Nicks and Stewart episodes, the programmes will also go out on their respective nights at 8pm on Absolute’s Absolute Classic Rock digital station. Nicks will talk about her new documentary In Your Dreams made with Stewart, her work with Fleetwood Mac, including their current world tour, and her solo work. Stewart’s show will include him discussing his new album Lucky Numbers, which is due out in October, and him writing Ghost the Musical plus his work on Nicks’ film.
Other specials taking place to mark five years since Virgin Radio became Absolute Radio include Primal Scream playing the Hard Rock Cafe this coming Thursday (September 19) and a broadcast at 9pm next Sunday (September 22) of Kings Of Leon playing at The NIA in Birmingham. This was recorded exclusively just after the station’s launch in 2008.
Paul Williams / Music Week (UK) / Monday, September 16, 2013
Taking place at the Curzon Mayfair, London on Monday 16th September, Nicks will also be joined by Dave Stewart who collaborated with her on the documentary. The film opens just ahead of Fleetwood Mac’s 2013 World Tour which kicks off in Dublin on 20th September.
The premiere will be introduced by journalist Craig MacLean who will host a Q&A with Nicks before the screening.
The synopsis for In Your Dreams is:
Co-produced and co-directed by Dave Stewart, “In Your Dreams shows the up close and personal musical journey that the two artists embarked on in Nicks’ Los Angeles home as they wrote and recorded an album during what Nicks called “the greatest year of my life”. Nicks felt compelled to share the joyful experience with her fans on what she termed “the day the circus came to town”. The record was co-written by Nicks and Stewart and produced by Stewart and Glen Ballard.
A multi Grammy Award winning artist and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Nicks allowed cameras inside her magical old mansion high atop the hills of LA with a wild cast of musicians and friends. The inner life of the legendary Nicks has by her design long been kept at a distance from the public. We learn in “Dreams” that her world features costume parties, elaborate dinner feasts, tap dancing, fantasy creations and revealing song writing and recording sessions all of which are captured on film. There are cameos by Edgar Allan Poe, Mick Fleetwood, Reese Witherspoon, a massive white stallion in the backyard, owls and naturally a few vampires who appear in several “home movie” style music videos.
In addition to the story of the Nicks / Stewart creative partnership, “In Your Dreams” has plenty of other cinematic payoffs including rare never before seen personal scrapbook stills from Nicks’ childhood and family life and a wealth of candid backstage and performance shots taken over the last 35 years. The documentary was produced by Dave Stewart’s production company, Weapons of Mass Entertainment.
Pip Ellwood / Entertainment Focus / Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Over their respective careers, Stevie Nicks and Dave Stewart have accomplished more than just about anyone else in rock ‘n’ roll. Nicks, as both a solo artist and a driving force behind Fleetwood Mac, continues to captivate audiences young and not so young (including much of the Refinery29 staff), while Stewart’s work with the Eurythmics, as well as his career as a producer and activist, has kept him in the limelight for more than three decades. Considering their histories, when we heard that Stewart would be working with Nicks on her latest solo album, we were more than a little bit excited. What we didn’t know is that Stewart and Nicks had decided to film the whole process.
The result is In Your Dreams, a documentary that serves as a time capsule for the months the two spent writing and recording the 2011 album of the same name in Nicks’ beautiful California home. The film shows what it’s like to have two icons (and friends) throwing ideas back and forth, arguing about creative decisions and shaping the sound of the record. Along the way, there are guest appearances by Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, and Reese Witherspoon, who helped contribute to the album. We caught up with Stewart to talk about working with Nicks, recording the album, and staying inspired. If you’re interested, you can purchase the film from iTunes here.
Was it hard to get used to the constant presence of the cameras during the recording process?
“No, not once I’d established how omnipresent they were. And also nowadays, there are these great, very small cameras. Sometimes we’d set up cameras on tripods, and they’d capture hours of unusable stuff, but then you’d capture magic moments.”
Was there any moment in particular that you were amazed you had captured?
“There were loads, actually. I loved watching how spot on and focused Stevie was. All these nuances that captured her focus. A lot of artists don’t particularly want cameras, but in that sense, she was surprisingly open. It was pretty amazing.”
In the documentary, you mention that you’ve been filming for much of your life, but Stevie also has a directing credit.
“I sort of suggested she had a directing credit, [because of her role in] the editing process. She was devouring information. I think because of that it took a lot longer because, interestingly enough, she wanted to [be involved] with the editing process.”
Stevie called making the record “the greatest year of my life.” Do you have the same fondness for that period of time?
“Oh yeah. A lot of people who make films — actors, actresses, directors — describe it like they were in the Air Force or the Army. You do get a great fondness for the people. There is a camaraderie and understanding that you’re doing it together. And I think Stevie loved that. [Before] she was making albums in studios or touring nonstop. Then her life wasn’t so much [about] fun and creating. It was more her on her own writing songs and poems and things like that. So, it opened her eyes up to an album that was just creating.”
How do you stay inspired to make new music after so many years in the industry?
“I think it might be a creative gene. The idea not to create has never entered my head. It doesn’t have to be for me. It could be photography or design — all sorts of different ways. Or it could be working with somebody else who is creating something. That’s just what I do.”
Considering how well the album went, do you think you and Stevie will work together on another album?
“Yeah, sure. I’m sure there will be more collaborative ideas. The world is changing so fast, so I’m not sure how much longer the word ‘album’ will be around, but there will always be music. There will be [more] collaborations because we get on so well.”
Is there a moment in film that encapsulates the time you spent together making the record?
“There’s a bit in the end credits where they are blasting ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ out of the stereo. It’s the end of shooting, and we’re both singing at the top of our voices, and camera pans back and you see all the crew and her friends, and everyone is laughing and having a really good time.”
Nathan Reese / Refinery29 / Wednesday, July 3, 2013
In advance of Fleetwood Mac’s Tuesday concert, singer Stevie Nicks stopped by a screening of her new documentary for a Q&A.
By Linda Barnard
Toronto Star
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Stevie Nicks says it was a “million-to-one” serendipitous event that allowed her to present In Your Dreams, the documentary she co-directed with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame, at two sold-out screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox Monday night.
“Really, seriously, what are the chances that Toronto would ask us to show this film? They didn’t know that Fleetwood Mac would have one day off here and I would be able to come to this showing,” said Nicks during the first of two post-screening Q&A sessions for the film, about the making of her 2011 solo album. “What are the chances of that?”
Fleetwood Mac plays the Air Canada Centre Tuesday night. With bandmates Mick Fleetwood and John McVie in the house to cheer her on, singer-songwriter Nicks shared insight into her art and her life with appreciative fans. They brought albums, photos and even paid tribute by imitation, like Nicks female impersonator Crystal Visions, who was outfitted in a blonde wig, flowing black dress with a sparkling shawl and a scarf-ringed tambourine.
Nicks took her time on a red carpet leading into the theatre, stopping for photos and interviews. Slim and looking younger than her 62 years, Nicks was dressed all in black with her trademark high-heeled boots, fingerless gloves and a shimmering half-moon necklace at her throat.
The film is an up-close look at Nicks’ songwriting process and, since the album was recorded in her California home, a rare look inside her life.
Working with Stewart and the added pressure of shooting a film while writing and recording an album took some getting used to, Nicks admitted. He showed up daily to start work at 2 p.m., “which was ridiculous because I don’t get up until 1 o’clock,” Nicks laughed.
So she simplified. “I wore exactly the same thing every day. It was a different top, but it was a closetful of these black tops made by (New York designer) Morgane Le Fay. I didn’t want to think about what I was wearing.”
Nicks made several jokes at her own expense during the brief Q&A session. She said that what’s onscreen, the portrait of an uncompromising artist who has a stellar ear, a silly side and a stubborn streak, is true to who she is. “If you know me, if you had known me for the last 35 years, you would say, ‘That’s really her. That’s the way she really is.’”
But she became quiet and her voice quavered when Nicks talked about her mother, Barbara Nicks, who died at age 84 in December 2011.
“Ever since I lost my mother, I really realized how important what you do is and that your journeys are much, much more important than what you come out with,” she said, adding her mom often reminded her during the making of In Your Dreams to enjoy the moment when creating the album.
“It’s a journey,” said Nicks. “You’re just making memories. That’s all you’re doing.”
In Your Dreams screenings continue until Thursday at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
The songs to be played at Tuesday’s Fleetwood Mac concert at the ACC are under wraps, but here’s what the band performed at its most recent show, on Saturday in Chicago, according to setlist.fm:
1. Second Hand News
2. The Chain
3. Dreams
4. Sad Angel
5. Rhiannon
6. Not That Funny
7. Tusk
8. Sisters of the Moon
9. Sara
10. Big Love
11. Landslide
12. Never Going Back Again
13. Without You
14. Gypsy
15. Eyes of the World
16. Gold Dust Woman
17. I’m So Afraid
18. Stand Back
19. Go Your Own Way
(Encore)
20. World Turning
21. Don’t Stop
(Second encore)
22. Silver Springs
23. Say Goodbye
By Erin Criger
City News Toronto
April 16, 2013 8:32 AM
Stevie Nicks was in Toronto this week ahead of Fleetwood Mac’s show Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre.
The singer was promoting her new documentary In Your Dreams. The movie, filmed with Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, follows Nicks as she makes her 2011 album, also called In Your Dreams.
The Canadian premiere was held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on Monday night.
“We got stuff that nobody ever gets. We got the actual writing of the songs – nobody ever gets that, because you usually don’t let anybody in while you’re doing it,” Nicks told CityNews at the Lightbox.
“Everybody got a camera. There were like 12 people there with a camera,” Nicks said.
Nicks said Stewart persuaded her to make the documentary and to film it in her house. At first, she said, they were only going to record the album at her home.
When he proposed the idea, she said, “Are you serious? Are you kidding? You mean I have to put makeup on every day?”
She said Stewart promised that if she didn’t like the footage, they wouldn’t use it.
“It was a promise made between the caterpillar and Alice. And I knew it was true,” Nicks said.
In Your Dreams will play at the Lightbox until April 18.
