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Stevie Nicks to honor Prince on upcoming tour

NEW YORK (AP) — Stevie Nicks is trying to whittle down the set list for her upcoming solo tour, but one song that definitely made the cut is her 1983 hit “Stand Back” with Prince. Originally written as a compliment, now it will be a tribute.

The Fleetwood Mac singer, who heard Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” on her car radio and loved it so much she decided to write an answer song, hasn’t played “Stand Back” since Prince died in April.

“I will be singing it for the first time without Prince being on the planet,” she said. “That is going to be horrible, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to pay homage to my ‘Little Red Corvette’ friend. I’ll sing it forever for him now.”

Nicks’ two-month tour with The Pretenders kicks off Oct. 25 in support of her 2014 album, “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault.” She never got a chance to promote the CD since she spent most of the last three years on the road with Fleetwood Mac.

Nicks promises songs from “24 Karat Gold” as well as old favorites like “Dreams,” ”If Anyone Falls,” ”New Orleans,” ”Bella Donna,” ”Rooms on Fire” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”

“Stand Back” will be there, fueled by the memory of her having lured Prince into the recording studio to play keyboards on the song he inspired. She said one of her deepest regrets is never getting him to join her onstage for a live version.

Though Nicks and Prince were friends, the two didn’t hang out much. One thing they disagreed on was drug use. “He hated them. And he hated that I did drugs and that’s probably why we didn’t hang out more,” she said.

“He was worried that I would die of an accidental drug overdose and my sadness is that he did die of an accidental drug overdose. He’s up there looking down, saying to me, ‘Sweetie, I can’t believe it happened either.’”

Nicks has no current record deal — “I’m free to do whatever I want” — after delivering “24 Karat Gold” to Warner Bros. It’s an album of orphan songs, demos mostly written between 1969-1987.

“These were written during the days when everybody was pretty high and crazy and there was a lot of love affairs going on and a lot of breakups going on and just a lot of emotion going on,” she said.

The 68-year-old singer-songwriter said that there were many reasons why the songs never got on any of her albums or those by Fleetwood Mac. In some cases, she didn’t like the arrangements and pulled them. Or they came out soulless.

So in 2014, she and producers Dave Stewart and Waddy Wachtel went to Nashville, Tennessee, and re-recorded the songs in a matter of weeks. When they were finished, she put one CD in a gold box, wrapped it in a red bow and delivered it to the front desk of Warner Bros. Then she rejoined the Fleetwood Mac reunion tour.

Now she’s getting ready to hit the road again, one of the few legendary acts like the Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen to be able to deliver a three- or four-hour set because they never stopped making music.

“I am very aware that artists over 50 don’t — and are never going to — sell a lot of albums any more. It took me years to accept that,” she said. “Now we can just pretend we’re like 15 and start over and make records just because we want to.”

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

September 13, 2016
Stevie Nicks on tour, Fleetwood Mac album, Prince regret

Stevie Nicks on crafting a setlist for 24 Karat Gold Tour, possible Fleetwood Mac album & wishing she’d performed with Prince

“I’m hoping that this will be as much fun for the audience as it’s gonna be for me,” Stevie Nicks tells Billboard about her just-announced 24 Karat Gold Tour. The two-month trek — launching Oct. 25 in Phoenix, with the Pretenders opening — supports her 2014 effort 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, which marked her sixth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 chart.

The album was comprised of tracks Nicks had written and made demo recordings for decades ago but had never been included on any of her previous albums. Then, in 2014, she and producer Dave Stewart headed to Nashville with the demos and recorded entirely new versions of the songs to produce 24 Karat Gold. “I think this [tour] is going to be great,” Nicks says. “I think that all the fans are gonna have a ball. And I hope that they totally just dress up — as Wendy Williams would say, ‘Dress to the nines.’ And come to party, and sing.”

Stevie Nicks Announces Joint Tour With the Pretenders

Nicks says the setlist for the tour is still being shaped (it’s “about at 30 songs right now”) but will feature songs from 24 Karat Gold and possibly title cuts from some of her older albums, like “Bella Donna,” “Wild Heart” and “Trouble in Shangri-La.” She wants the show to “have its little explosions of fun” from the various parts of her career. Nicks also gives a hint to fans: “You know what, you might want to come to two shows, because you never know: There might be an alternative [set]list.”

It’s likely that familiar favorites like “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stand Back” will both turn up in the setlist, and for Nicks, “Stand Back” has a new emotional weight. The track was “written to” Prince’s “Little Red Corvette,” and she’s “brokenhearted” that she was never able to have him share the stage with her on the song. “Had I ever in a million years thought that we would lose him,” Nicks says, “I would have made sure that that would have happened. And it didn’t. So that’s just one of those things in your life where you so say, ‘I really missed out.’ Because he should have. That should have happened. So whenever I play ‘Stand Back’ from this day forward, Prince will be standing next to me. That is always going to be a joy.”

Nicks, of course, has a second career with the band Fleetwood Mac, which completed its triumphant On With the Show Tour in November 2015. The global run saw the classic Rumours-era lineup of the band — with a returning Christine McVie — play 120 shows on three continents. Now that the tour has concluded, might there be a new studio album from the famous quintet?

“You know what, I never know what’s going to happen,” Nicks says. “It’s like, I didn’t — in my wildest dreams — ever know that I was going to do the 24 Karat Gold record. And I certainly didn’t ever, after 16 years, think that Christine McVie was going to call up and say, ‘How would you feel if I came back to the band?’ You know, it’s like, are you serious? Is this a joke?”

With McVie back in the Fleetwood fold, fans are also holding out hope for a new album from the group. “I learned a long time ago to never say never. Right now, because of the fact that we know that people don’t buy records… it’s like, hard to sell records. So then you think, ‘Well, why do you do records?’ Well, the reason you do records is because it’s like we’re like kids again, and we can do anything we want. We have enough money. We don’t really have to work if we don’t want to. So we can do records for the reason that we actually did them in the very beginning — just ’cause it’s fun.

“Is it possible that Fleetwood Mac might do another record? I can never tell you yes or no, because I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. … It’s like, do you want to take a chance of going in and setting up in a room for like a year [to record an album] and having a bunch of arguing people? And then not wanting to go on tour because you just spent a year arguing? Or do you just go on tour because you know that you have fun up there and you love doing shows? And Christine’s only been back for [laughs] a year and a half.

“So you start to weigh your… ‘Why would you do this, why would you do that?’ And I honestly don’t know. But I never say never… that really is in God’s hands.”

Here are some excerpts from our conversation with Nicks:

Nicks recorded the 24 Karat Gold album just two months — and it was her final album owed to her record label, Warner Bros. Records. But she had to essentially put 24 Karat Gold away and not listen to it for over a year as she was about to head out on the road with Fleetwood Mac:

We finished [24 Karat Gold] in, like, two months — the whole record. And then, this is kind of what I did: It was like, metaphorically, I bought a gold box, I put the record in the box, I put tissue around it, I wrapped it, I put a red bow on it. I got in the car, we drove past Warner Bros., and I ran in, put it on the front desk and said, “Please give this to the president of Warner Bros.,” and I ran back out. Got in the car and went straight to Culver City to be at rehearsals with Fleetwood Mac at 2 o’clock. That was it!

Needless to say, me doing a record wasn’t exactly the most favorite topic of conversation at the Fleetwood Mac rehearsal. Christine had just come back in, you know, changed her life, moved to L.A. So that was it. I can honestly say, I never even listened to 24 Karat Gold again until we got home from the tour in January. Because why would I, you know what I mean? Why would I go and make myself feel bad by listening to my really beautiful, fun record of all my great old glory songs? [They] were the sex, rock & roll and drug songs that just almost made every single big record, but for whatever my reasons were, I pulled them. These weren’t songs that were kicked off the record by anybody; these were songs that I pulled off records.

So why would I want to sit around and make myself miserable? So I never listened to it once until we got home from the Fleetwood Mac tour. And then I said to my manager, “Well, I’m gonna think about this very carefully.” And the fact was… my little life-partner puppy dog that was almost 18 years old was seriously dying. And she died between December and July 5. So I didn’t go anywhere, I didn’t take any vacations, I didn’t really do anything except be with her and kind of deal with that whole situation. But all through that, I was thinking, “You know, if I don’t do this now, we’ll miss the window that will make it possible.” If we go out for 24 Karat Goldright now, we’re actually going out with some product — not that I am going to necessarily sell records, because I don’t believe that people buy records, so that’s not why I’m going out. I’m going out to promote this record just because I want people to hear what’s on it. And I figured the only way I can let them hear what’s on it is to actually go out and play some of the stuff that’s on it.

Her manager asked if perhaps Nicks would just rather stay home this year after the passing of her beloved pet and spending so much time on the road with Fleetwood Mac:

I don’t want to miss the window. If I don’t go out until next year, we won’t go out until the spring, and then by the time we get out there, it’ll be the summer, and by the time I get home, it’ll be too late to do the 24 Karat Gold Tour. And it’ll just end up being Stevie going out to do another Stevie Nicks tour that has all the exact same songs that every other Stevie Nicks tour for the last 20 years has had. And that’s not what I want to do.

Nicks discusses what the 24 Karat Gold Tour setlist might include:

This will make you laugh, but it’s the truth. When I sat down a couple weeks ago to start figuring out what would be in here, I had decided that I also wanted to do “Wild Heart,” maybe do “Bella Donna,” maybe do “Trouble in Shangri-La.” So I wanted to do some title songs [from Nicks’ albums]. I mean, I thought, you know, this is laying open a whole new world for me… So my list is like about at 30 songs right now. And so Waddy [Wachtel, Nicks’ guitarist and music director for the tour], he said to me, “Just call me when [the setlist is] over.” Like, “Stevie, have you cut out any songs yet?” And I said, “Well, maybe two, so I’m working on it.”

So what I’ve done is, I’ve sent out all 30 songs [Laughs] to everybody in the band, saying, like, “We’re not going to do all of these 30, but we have to try some of these.” Because sometimes you don’t know. You might hear the song that you think is going to be the best ever, and it’s not. And then there’s the song that you think is going to be totally terrible and it’s great. So I said, “You don’t have to learn them for real, but just be aware.” So that we can spend a few days just playing bits and pieces of everything. So, yes, is [the setlist] going to be songs from 24 Karat Gold? Absolutely. But it’s also going to be some things from some of the other records also, because I’ll never get a chance to do this again. Until I actually do, like, the full-on acoustic set that will actually be three hours, where I can actually start with “Bella Donna” and go all the way up through… until I get to that tour.

So this tour, I want it to have its acoustic parts, I want it to have its little explosions of fun from all different parts. I want it to have the 24 Karat Gold demos, there’s two or three songs off In Your Dreams. I’d like to do the “New Orleans” song, I want to do “Soldier’s Angel” because that’s important to me right now — just, once again, with the whole political thing that’s going on, I think “Soldier’s Angel” is an important song to do. So it’s like, it’s gonna be a lot of cool stuff, and I’ll have about two hours and 15 minutes. So, I may — maybe — cut a couple songs down a little bit. Maybe I won’t do all six verses, you know? … Maybe if I do “Bella Donna,” maybe I’ll only do half of “Bella Donna.” I want to do “Wild Heart,” and that has never been done onstage, ever. Because that is a hard song to do. So I’ll give it a try, and if I can pull it off, I’ll do it.

On how so many of her old demo recordings ended up on the Internet and eventually back to the 24 Karat Gold album, and then to the 24 Karat Gold Tour:

At some point a suitcase of demos was sold, and out went all the demos to all these songs. … They all got sold. I mean, they just got lost. And in those days, we were so free with our music. It was like, “Sure I just wrote a new song.” And some of your friends are like, “Can I have a tape of it?” And you’re going, “Sure I’ll make you a cassette right now.” And then of course that cassette goes to their house and then somebody else says, “Gee, that’s so great can I have a cassette of that?” And they’re like, “Sure!” And nobody was ever selfish with music, one bit. But in the long run, unfortunately, it did release just about everything I’d ever done. Everything, probably, I’ve never done is out in the cosmos, somewhere.

But the thing is, [the fans] haven’t seen it done. They haven’t seen it played in concert. So that’s what I’m hoping, is that this can be the suitcase of demos that they didn’t ever see performed. And that this will be really fun for people. Because they are familiar with these songs. They’re familiar with all the songs on 24 Karat Gold. They’re familiar with almost every demo I ever made. So this is bringing them to life. And that’s what I wanted to do, you know? And I’m hoping that this will be as much fun for the audience as it’s gonna be for me, because I’m so tired of doing the same thing over and over and over again. I’m not that kind of person, really. I’m the off-the-top-of-your-head kind of person and always have been. And it’s very hard for me to just do the same thing every single night.

Nicks has performed “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stand Back” more than 400 times each in her shows. Are there songs she’s tired of performing live?

Because I have two careers — the great thing is, is that I got three years off from doing “Edge of Seventeen” or “Stand Back,” because Fleetwood Mac actually used to do “Stand Back” and took it out [on the last tour]. So I haven’t done “Edge of Seventeen” or “Stand Back” in closing in on four years. … All those songs, if they actually were in almost all the sets, then you know I really like those songs. I didn’t do them because I had to do them. Because I could always put something else in instead.

Keith Caulfield / Billboard / Thursday, September 8, 2016

Read more articles by Keith Caulfield

September 8, 2016
Stevie Nicks’ Top 10 biggest Billboard hits

“Stand Back!” It’s time to celebrate Stevie Nicks‘ birthday (May 26) with a special look back at her biggest hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.

In this exclusive recap of the rock goddess’ biggest hits, we include not just her solo material, but also those songs she sang lead vocals on with her band Fleetwood Mac.

Leading the list is her collaboration with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 chart on Sept. 5, 1981. The song spent 21 weeks on the list — the longest of any Nicks or Fleetwood Mac tune on the tally. “Draggin’” was Nicks’ debut solo single, and the lead track from her first album, Bella Donna. The latter set ultimately reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was the first of so far 13 charting efforts for the diva.

At No. 2 on our recap is Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” which was written by Nicks and features her on lead vocals. (The band’s Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie — the group’s two other lead vocalists — provide harmony and background vocals.)

Stevie Nicks’ Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits chart (below) is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 ranking. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, certain eras are weighted to account for different chart turnover rates over various periods.

Stevie Nicks’ Top 10 Biggest Hits on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart:

Rank, Title, Hot 100 Peak Position, Peak Date

1. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), No. 3, Sept. 5, 1981

2. “Dreams” (Fleetwood Mac), No. 1, June 18, 1977

3. “Leather and Lace” (with Don Henley), No. 6, Jan. 23, 1982

4. “Talk to Me,” No. 4, Jan. 25, 1986

5. “Stand Back,” No. 5, Aug. 20, 1983

6. “Sara” (Fleetwood Mac), No. 7, Feb. 2, 1980

7. “Rhiannon” (Fleetwood Mac), No. 11, June 5, 1976

8. “Edge of Seventeen,” No. 11, April 17, 1982

9. “I Can’t Wait,” No. 16, April 12, 1986

10. “Rooms On Fire,” No. 16, July 1, 1989

Keith Caufield / Billboard / May 26, 2016

May 26, 2016
Happy Birthday, Stevie!!

Today is Stevie’s 68th birthday!

Read a touching tribute to Stevie from four young women inspired by her…

Happy Birthday, Stevie Nicks: The Hero, the Friend, the Woman

By Inspirer, Desarae Gabrielle, Ashley McFaul, Carrie Courogen and Lily Grae
May 25, 2016

There is a special reason why four different young women can all form a friendship and partnership based on the influence of a shared hero. We are just four of many other countless young women who admire Stevie Nicks, who don’t take the use of the word hero lightly when describing her.

There is a special reason why we care so deeply about certain artists, why we choose to celebrate their birthdays and grieve their deaths, why we cheer for their triumphs and support them from afar during their trials. There is a reason why we feel so close to someone we may have never even met.

Read the full article at Inspirer.

May 26, 2016
It Don’t Matter to the Sun (2015)

From the Don Henley album Cass County (2015)

September 26, 2015
Happy Birthday, Stevie!

(Herbert W Worthington III)

Today is Stevie Nicks’ 67th birthday! Stevie is currently in London with Fleetwood Mac, preparing to kick off Leg 3 of the On With The Show Tour on Wednesday.

To celebrate her birthday, we look back at “10 Things You May Not Know About Stevie Nicks” from this Rock Square article published in 2013. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVIE!

Rock Square
Friday, May 24, 2013

Her career has spanned more than four decades, from the Buckingham Nicks era all the way to the present, as she tours the world with a reunited Fleetwood Mac.

To celebrate all things Stevie, here are ten things you may not know about her.

1. Jimi Hendrix dedicated a performance to her.

When Stevie joined Lindsey Buckingham’s early band Fritz, the opportunity gave her a lot of high-profile slots opening for major musical acts – including Jimi Hendrix, who singled her out on stage one night and dedicated a song to her. (source)

2. She has never won a Grammy Award as a solo artist.

Chalk this one up to the erratic nature of the Grammys – Stevie has been nominated for an award eight times as a solo act, but has yet to take one home.

3. A Pokemon character *may* have been created in her likeness.

There’s a long-standing story floating around that the Japanese anime series/merchandising empire Pokemon created a character, Jynx, modeled after Stevie’s personality. This remains unconfirmed, but strong opinions on both sides continue to circulate. (source)

4. Stevie loved Destiny’s Child’s sample of ‘Edge of Seventeen.’

Destiny’s Child sampled Nicks’ solo hit “Edge of Seventeen” with their own mega-hit, “Bootylicious.” Despite drawing some ire from her fans, Stevie reportedly loved the sample – and even appeared in Destiny’s Child’s music video for the song.

5. Her 2011 single ‘Secret Love’ was originally written a long time ago.

The lead single to Nicks’ 2011 album In Your Dreams, “Secret Love” actually originated back in the 1970s – Stevie had written it and recorded a demo version for Rumours, but it didn’t end up making the cut.

6. It took her a while to nail the vocals on ‘Gold Dust Woman.’

According to Mick Fleetwood, Stevie struggled with laying down the vocal tracks for the song Gold Dust Woman. The scene, in his words, found Stevie “hunched over in a chair, alternately choosing from her supply of tissues, a Vicks inhaler, a box of lozenges for her sore throat and a bottle of mineral water.”

7. Nicks’ original version of ‘Sara’ was very long.

Though its final album cut ended up at more than six minutes long, Stevie’s original version of Sara ran much longer – sixteen minutes long, in fact.

8. The death of her godson inspired her Sound City collaboration with Dave Grohl.

In 2012, Stevie appeared on a song called “You Can’t Fix This,” which was featured on the soundtrack to Dave Grohl’s documentary Sound City. According to Stevie, the song’s somber lyrics related to the death of her godson, who died of a drug overdose.

9. ‘Landslide’ wasn’t released as a single.

Though it’s become one of Fleetwood Mac’s signature songs (and boasts some of Stevie’s most impressive work), “Landslide” wasn’t originally released as a single. It wasn’t until the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1990s cover amassed great success that Nicks and Fleetwood Mac thought about re-recording it for their 1997 live album The Dance. That version of the song hit the Billboard Hot 100.

10. ‘You May Be the One’ utilized the best talents of Nicks and Dave Stewart.

Stevie’s colleague and producer Dave Stewart (of the Eurythmics) brings a lot to the table and it was the combination of his impeccable guitar skills and her expansive book of poetry that joined forces to create the song “You May Be the One.” As Stevie put it, “He just says, ‘OK. Go,’ and I start reciting my poem. By the end of a half an hour, we had written a great song. I was completely amazed.”

Stevie Nicks has led a remarkable, iconic life – and as such there are countless other facts that didn’t make the cut. So, feel free to suggest any others in the comments below, and happy birthday, Stevie!

May 26, 2015
Order Crystal Visions vinyl bundle now!
Stevie Nicks’ official store is taking pre-orders for the Crystal Visions Vinyl Bundle. The following things are included:
- Limited Edition “Crystal Clear” Transparent Double Vinyl
- Stevie Nicks Logo Vinyl Carrier Messenger Bag
- (14″ x 14″ x 3″ with a 54″ adjustable strap)
- Limited Run 11″ x 18″ Portrait Poster
Crystal Visions Vinyl Bundle Offer
April 23, 2015
Living Legend: Stevie Nicks

[slideshow_deploy id=’82191′]
“I live in the world of romantic possibility,” says Stevie Nicks. Nicks is one of the most successful and iconic (overused word, but it’s appropriate here) singer-songwriters of the past fortysomething years. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona–but her millions of besotted fans know that cannot be true! Not only does Stevie live in a “world of romantic possibility,” she lives in a world of unicorns and benevolent magic; of flowing scarves and eternally windswept hair. She is a one-woman magical mystery tour.

Few artists have maintained the consistency of Stevie Nicks, in her presentation and in the quality of her distinctive voice (a compelling, keening sound: not quite beautiful, but seductive and soul-catching).

Stevie has been consistently linked–since her high-school days!– to Lindsey Buckingham. Both would be linked, to this very moment to the band Fleetwood Mac. Nicks and Buckingham joined the group in 1975, after several years of writing and performing on their own. The inclusion of the couple–romantically involved at that time–galvanized the group. Nicks’ songs “Landslide” and “Rhiannon” became instant classics, and drove the album to the top of the charts. Her dreamy onstage look (created by designer Margi Kent) was at odds with her powerful impassioned delivery. (The platform boots she favored gave her not only height–she’s tiny–but a certain grounded, solid quality. She still wears those boots!)

Yet success, as always was a cruel mistress. Tension wracked the Nicks-Buckingham relationship and they parted, personally, during the recording of the follow-up album Rumours. This records, another hit, addressed some of the inside gossip about the end of their affair. But this was nothing compared to what came later, during the tour for that album. Nicks and Mick Fleetwood (who was married with children) began an affair. Nicks was horrified it happened and anger from friends was a daily burden. The relationship would end, but, in a sick twist–it’s only rock ‘n’ roll!–Mick would eventually leave his wife for Stevie’s best friend!

Stevie, almost comically prolific–how much could a woman write and know and express?!–now began branching out. She appeared occasionally with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and in 1981 released her first solo album, Bella Donna. It was a smash. Her second solo effort The Wild Heart, came in 1983. Another smash, more hit singles. Then came Rock a Little in 1986 (November, 1985), which continued her streak of solo successes. Her lyrics were–and are–deeply personal but universal. “I write songs that people can’t write for themselves,” she has said.

Still working with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks faced a variety of issues, personal (i.e. cocaine, chronic fatigue syndrome) and professional. But the band played on, seemingly unstoppable despite the fact that Buckingham had left.

In 1995, Nicks and Buckingham reunited for the duet “Twisted” which is heard on the soundtrack to the popular tornado movie, Twister.

Stevie continued to spit her creativity between Fleetwood and her own solo career, which she managed with apparent ease. When Fleetwood began a new album in 2001, Nicks was, for the first time, the sole woman in the band–Christine McVie had left, Buckingham had returned. The subsequent tour was successful but fraught.

Married only once, briefly to musician Kim Anderson in 1983, Stevie Nicks seemed to float above the gritty, grim world of bruised egos, shattered dreams, and an industry that worships the new obsessively. Even when she’d speak of her once-upon-a-time drug habit, or above love or sex or growing older, there seemed to be a distance–great candor through gauze, so to speak.

I once sat in a room with Stevie, in the office of her press representative, Liz Rosenberg. I wasn’t there to interview Stevie, so I didn’t feel right about repeating, afterward, the conversation that poured out. There’s an old expression, “Ask a question, get a pageant.” Stevie definitely is a pageant. It’s almost stream-of-consciousness. She often asked and answered her own questions. She was quirky, fascinating, intelligent, and yet…the gauze was up.

As I write this, Stevie is back on the road with Fleetwood Mac. McVie has returned and–so far!–nobody’s backed out of the tour. One sophisticated woman I know fairly well took me by surprise when she told me she was a huge Stevie Nicks fan, and was rapturous after seeing her in concert.

“A goddess, this woman is a goddess!” (The goddess also appeared on the popular and fabulously bizarre T.V. series American Horror Story: Coven. She played herself. Well, the fan fantasy version of herself, singing to the coven of witches. She was mesmerizing.)

A few years back, contemplating her enviably long career, Nicks said, “I never wanted to be just some ‘girl singer.’”

Stevie has talked now and then about writing her memoirs. On the one hand, she says she wants to wait until everybody who could be hurt “is too old, no longer cares,” about what she might reveal. On the other hand, she demurs on the basis of sex–she won’t write about her sex life, she insists! Well, why not keep up that mysterious quality? (Madonna she ain’t!)

Personally, Stevie Nicks admits she is still searching. (Young men are too dumb, older men are too, well, old!) But professionally, Stevie got her wish. She never was, never will be, just some “girl singer.”

Liz Smith / Quest / Spring 2015

April 20, 2015
Rock’s Gold Dust Woman

Already a fiercely popular vocalist for mega-band Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks began her solo music career in 1980 It seemed that releasing just two to three songs every two years was not enough for her. And being a prolific songwriter, she decided to sow her creative oats with what would be her first solo album, Bella Donna. No one expected a hit, not even Stevie herself. She figured she would simply return to Fleetwood Mac once the album as done, but the fans stated otherwise. Upon its release, Bella Donna went to Number One on the Billboard Top LP chart, eventually gaining platinum status and spawning 4 singles, including “Edge of Seventeen” and “Leather and Lace.” A small tour followed, after which she did go back to Fleetwood Mac. But the seeds were sown, and a solo Stevie was just fine with where she was headed.

Throughout the 1980s, Nicks would go on to record her most popular music. Her second and third albums, The Wild Heart and Rock A Little went on to achieve platinum status as well, with singles like “Talk To Me,” “I Can’t Wait,” and the uber hit, “Stand Back.” Collaborations with some of rock’s heavy hitters, most notably Tom Petty and Don Henley, added fuel to the fire, creating a grueling schedule where she balanced both Fleetwood Mac and her solo career.

Enter cocaine. Once thought of as the “rock star’s friend,” Stevie developed a life-threatening addiction to the drug. She overcame addiction first to cocaine in the late 1980s, then to a prescription medication called Klonopin in the mid-1990s. After entering rehab twice, she emerged clean and ready to rock once again.

2001 saw the release of her sixth solo LP, the critically-acclaimed Trouble In Shangri-La, which features a guest list that included Natalie Maines of Dixie Chick fame, as well as Sarah McLachlan and Macy Gray. The album saw the return of her romantic, yet cryptic, style of songwriting, with Nicks winning the Blockbuster Songwriters Award that same year.

In 2011, Stevie returned with In Your Dreams. Produced by former Eurythmics member Dave Stewart (the two had met in the 1980 and vowed one day to work together). Stewart took the music to new heights, all the while staying true to Nicks’ style. Upon release of the first single, “Secret Love,” fans and critics alike said the same thing — she has never sounded better.

Now, fast forward to the present. At age 66, Stevie is better than ever, touring with a newly reunited Fleetwood Mac, while releasing her latest solo LP, 24 Karat Gold — Songs From the Vault. With Dave Stewart once again at the producer’s helm, the album has been quite well received by critics as well as adored by thousands of rabid fans. There is no middle ground with Nicks’ fans — they worship her. The rock icon shows no signs of stopping any time soon. With a slew of tour dates with Fleetwood Mac, as well as her own album to promote, she is one busy lady.

And a very lucky one! Many of her contemporaries succumbed to drug addiction and overdose. Nicks broke the cycle, and not only survived, but thrived in a business where fame can kill. Now, after eight successful solo albums, countless tours, and even a special appearance on NBC’s The Voice, Nicks is at the top of her game. She’s planning a new album with Fleetwood Mac, as well as a tour for her own latest release. The life and career of Rock’s Chief Sorceress are fantastic once again.

Marc Farr / Playback: stl / Thursday, February 5, 2015

February 5, 2015
‘When in doubt, be Stevie Nicks’

The iconic singer releases a record amid fierce interest in her work and persona

A night owl by nature, Stevie Nicks was unable to sleep on a recent Saturday night in Manhattan and had scheduled a late interview to help pass the evening. So 1:30 a.m. found her looking out on the terrace of her rented penthouse atop the Palace Hotel, with a hypnotic view of the Rockefeller Plaza. Amid a torrent of recollections—of her band, Fritz; of the duo she later created with former lover and Fritz guitarist, Lindsey Buckingham; and, of course, of Fleetwood Mac—Nicks began to hum a hip-hop tune. “Which rapper is it that I love who says, ‘Mo’ money more problems?’ ” she asked, pausing in the midst of Notorious B.I.G.’s biggest hit. “He spoke the truth. Don’t I know it!”

Nicks’s truth is peppered with tales of fate and near-fatalities: Fleetwood Mac’s opulent success, the long nights of work wrought with “enough alcohol and cocaine to guarantee years of addiction,” the speculative stories that followed them around for years (orgies and paganism were favoured topics).

Related: An extended web-only Q&A with Stevie Nicks

The history is relevant; her recent solo album, 24 Karat Gold, reinterprets demos written before, during and after Fleetwood Mac’s rise. In it, Nicks doesn’t simply cover her own work; she acts as a musical necromancer who resurrects old sounds and personal stories of burned love, life on the road and facing demons. The song Twisted, first released on the soundtrack for the 1996 disaster-drama Twister, flicks at the appetite for danger all five band members shared. “It was originally written about a group of tornado chasers who dedicate their lives to hunting down storms,” she said. “The parallels to Fleetwood Mac are so there.” The mix of emotion, narcotics and creative egos brought forth a bounty of songs, and turbulent romances. Nicks ended her relationship with Buckingham in 1975, and had an affair with drummer Mick Fleetwood. Christine McVie, the band’s keyboardist-vocalist, left the guitarist for the sound engineer. “After the show, we wouldn’t go out,” Nicks said. “[Christine] would drink wine spritzers and I’d drink tequila alone in our adjoined rooms. The boys were angry at us [and] we had to see them in the morning to work.”

Nicks’s record is timed to a Fleetwood Mac reunion; the group is booked for more than 40 dates in Europe and Australia, and McVie rejoins them after a 16-year hiatus. On tour, Nicks and Buckingham, who share time alone on stage during the ballad Landslide, remain uncomfortable co-workers. “Fences will never be mended with Lindsey and me,” Nicks said. “We don’t agree on anything. If something’s going on [and] I’m doing something that Lindsey doesn’t like, his manager tells my manager. I don’t care what he thinks.”

The distance is working for Nicks. The solo project, produced by former Eurythmics guitarist-producer Dave Stewart, contains some of the best recordings she has made in two decades. The work riffs on the witchy reputation she has propagated referencing Welsh mythology and wearing sorceress-style shawls, and which is enjoying something of a moment. Nicks had a cameo on the HBO series American Horror Story: Coven last year and was a guest judge on The Voice. “I could never be Madonna,” she shrugged. “It’s too much work to be a chameleon.” She will not be dressed by stylists—“They steal your personality”—or coerced by A&R people (“Nobody has the balls to tell me what to do”). Her ’70s bohemian look is referenced by fashion designers ranging from Rodarte to Ralph Lauren. Her duets with Dixie Chicks and Taylor Swift are awards-show ratings draws. The 18-year-old editor Tavi Gevinson gave this advice to her platoon of Millennial followers in a TED talk: “When in doubt, just be Stevie Nicks.”

The 66-year-old Nicks does not own a cellphone or computer, but she’s aware of the momentum behind her. She wants to record a sequel to 24 Karat Gold. She plans to launch a capsule collection of clothing, a jewellery line and a perfume. “I spend so many late nights mixing scents with cinnamon,” she said. She had advice for young, scantily clad singers she sees backstage at awards shows. “It’s degrading, and it makes women appear to be fancy little hookers. If you are not at least somewhat of a feminist, you’re going to be taken advantage of.”

Elio Iannucci / Maclean’s Magazine / Sunday, 25th January 2015

January 27, 2015