Background vocalist Sharon Celani returned to ADIKA Live on Friday, this time to talk with host Stefan Adika about the recording of Stevie Nicks’ 1981 solo recording Bella Donna on its 40th anniversary.
In the new episode, which aired live on YouTube Friday night, Sharon shared her memories of recording Bella Donna, working with Stevie and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers on the record, and some of her favorite songs to sing on (e.g. “Edge of Seventeen,” “Kind of Woman,” “How Still My Love”), and much more. In between the album talk, Sharon revealed nuggets about how she stays healthy (e.g. yoga, pilates, eating paleo) and how she once lived in an actual treehouse on Maui!
Tune in next Saturday for Stefan’s next guest Danny Goldberg, co-founder of Stevie’s first label Modern Records.
Longtime background vocalist and friend of Stevie Nicks, Sharon Celani looks back on an impressive 43-year career in music, including performing with Mick Jagger
Background vocalist Sharon Celani shares Stevie Nicks stories on the latest episode of Coffee Talk with ADIKA Live. Stevie Nicks’ longtime friend also tells stories about Fleetwood Mac and her 43-year career in rock music.
Sharon and Stevie first met in Maui, Hawaii, in 1978, at the former Blue Max nightclub in Lahaina. The two performed Warren Zevon’s 1976 song “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” and struck up a friendship that has lasted ever since. Stevie asked Sharon, along with fellow backup vocalist Lori Nicks, to join the solo band that Stevie had been forming to record her first solo album Bella Donna (1981). An instant success, Bella Donna would be the launching pad for several more Stevie Nicks recordings, on which Sharon also performed.
In her episode of Coffee Talk, Sharon Celani shares Stevie Nicks stories, as well as the time she performed with Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger. Read the full description of Sharon Celani’s two-part episode on Coffee Talk with ADIKA below.
Coffee Talk with ADIKA Live I Episode #1282 (Part 1)
March 30th 2021 8:00AM PST I 11:00AM EST
Coffee Talk with ADIKA Live I Episode #1283 (Part 2)
March 31th 2021 8:00AM PST I 11:00AM EST
Guest: Sharon Celani
It was on the island of Maui that Sharon first met Stevie Nicks in 1978, a meeting that would have a major impact on Sharon’s life. It happened that Stevie was vacationing on Maui and on one very fateful evening she decided to go to the Blue Max nightclub in Lahaina; it just so happened that Sharon’s band was performing there that night. Stevie was invited up to sing with the group, and the lucky audience was ecstatic when she took the stage – and stayed there for the rest of the night.
The events of that evening led to a lasting friendship between Sharon and Stevie, and Sharon has been singing on Stevie’s recordings and concert performances ever since.
Answers from backup singer Sharon Celani are now posted at the Nicks Fix.
In January, the Nicks Fix launched “Ask the Backup Singer,” a Q&A session with longtime backup singers Sharon Celani (left) and Lori Nicks. Both singers have known and worked with Stevie for more 20 years.
Sharon Celani is one of Stevie’s longtime backup vocalists.
In 1978, which vacationing in Maui, Stevie met Sharon at The Blue Max, a nightclub on historic Front Street in Lahaina. Sharon and her Top-40 music band invited Stevie onstage to perform with them. One of the first songs that they performed together was Warren Zevon’s “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” later covered and popularized by Linda Ronstadt and Teri Clark. Although Stevie didn’t know the words to the song, Sharon amusingly whispered them in Stevie’s ear as they sang together.
Sometime that evening, Stevie told Sharon about the new condo she had purchased at on the island, but it was missing a piano on which she could rehearse songs. The following day, Sharon arranged to borrow a piano from one of her musician friends and have it delivered to Stevie’s condo. Delighted by the gesture, Stevie invited Sharon over to the condo so that they could rehearse a song that Stevie had been working on called “Blue Water” and, more importantly, hear how their voices sounded together. Impressed with the results, Stevie asked Sharon if she would be interested in participating on the solo project that would become Bella Donna. Sharon graciously accepted Stevie’s offer and the rest, as they say, is history. Sharon has been recording and performing onstage with Stevie ever since.
