Stevie Nicks -

Stevie Nicks is an American singer and songwriter who first emerged in the early 1970s as one-half of the folk-pop duo Buckingham Nicks with then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham.

Early Life

She was born Stephanie Nicks on May 26, 1948, in Phoenix, Arizona; one of two children borne to Barbara (née Neppel, 1927–2011) and Jess Nicks (1925–2005). The family lived in multiple cities (Albuquerque, El Paso, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, San Francisco) due to Jess’s position as the Vice President of Greyhound. As a toddler, she referred to herself as “tee-dee,” hence the nickname “Stevie.”

Barbara sheltered her daughter, who spent large amounts of time indoors and developed a fascination with fairies. From age four, her grandfather taught her to sing and harmonize. For her tenth birthday, he bought her a bundle of rockabilly and country singles. “Party Doll” by the Everly Brothers became an early favorite.

Early Music Activity

On her sixteenth birthday, Stevie received a Goya acoustic guitar. She used it to write her first song, “I’ve Loved and I’ve Lost, and I’m Sad but Not Blue.” At Arcadia High School (South California), she joined her first band, the harmony-folk combo Changing Times.

As a senior at Menlo-Atherton High School (Central Cal), she met Lindsey Buckingham, a junior member of the swim team who played in psychedelic rock hopefuls Fritz. As band members drifted to college, he invited her to join the band. After a joint spell at San José State University, where Stevie enrolled as an English major, the couple left college and hit the road with Fritz, which opened shows for Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.

Stevie developed her flamboyant stage persona in Fritz, which disbanded in 1972 with no contract. Meanwhile, the couple roomed in LA with Keith Olsen, a budding producer with industry contacts, including promoter Gordon Perry, whose then-fiance, Lori, befriended Stevie.

Fleetwood Mac

As a duo, Buckingham and Nicks linked with Polydor and cut a 1973 album of folk-pop originals. After the deal ended, Buckingham and Nicks came to the attention of Mick Fleetwood, who needed a new guitarist and singer for his band, Fleetwood Mac, a onetime English blues-rock act that recently settled in California with guitarist/singer Bob Welch, who left for Paris and a subsequent solo career.

Their first album with the band, 1975’s Fleetwood Mac (the English band’s tenth overall), reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spawned an FM hit with Stevie’s “Rhiannon.” The 1977 followup, Rumours, spent 31 weeks at No. 1 and spawned four hits, including Stevie’s “Dreams,” an ethereal ballad that topped the Billboard Hot 100. (Lindsey reflected on their romantic split in another Rumours hit, “Go Your Own Way”).

During a mid-1978 tour break in Maui, Stevie met Sharon Celani, an LA native and soul-harmony enthusiast whose band, Dancer, performed at Lahaina’s Blue Max nightclub. Sharon impressed Stevie with a rendition of Linda Ronstadt’s recent hit “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (Lindsey played on Warren Zevon’s 1976 original). The two women became lifelong friends.

Stevie reconvened with Fleetwood Mac for their 1979 double-album Tusk, an eclectic set with Stevie’s hit piano ballad “Sara.” The ensuing five-leg tour spawned a concert album, Fleetwood Mac Live. Meanwhile, Stevie stockpiled material that exceeded the band’s confines. On a break from group activity, she recorded her first solo album.

Bella Donna

Stevie Nicks released her debut solo album, Bella Donna, on July 27, 1981, on Modern–Atco. It features seven self-penned originals, including the radio hits “Edge of Seventeen” and “Leather and Lace,” a country-ballad duet with Don Henley.

Side A contains songs co-written with E Street keyboardist Roy Bittan (“Think About It”) and Heartbreakers organist Benmont Tench (“Kind of Woman”). Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell wrote the album’s biggest hit, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a dramatic call-and-response between Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. It features three-fifths of the Heartbreakers (Campbell, Petty, Tench, and drummer Stan Lynch), who also play on “Outside the Rain.”

Tench plays on six additional tracks, which also feature guitarists Waddy Watchel (of Linda Rondstadt’s band) and Davey Johnstone (of the Elton John Band) with three prolific LA sessionists: bassist Bob Glaub, drummer Russ Kunkel, and percussionist Bobbye Hall. “The Highwayman” features Campbell with Henley (drums) and Eagles colleague Don Felder.

Lori Perry and Sharon Celani sing backing vocals throughout this and Stevie’s subsequent albums.

A1. “Bella Donna” (5:21) features the standard band (Tench, Watchel, Kunkel, et al.) arranged by Gordon Perry with synthesist David Adelstein (a sideman of Bob Welch and fellow Mac associate Robbie Patton).
A2. “Kind of Woman” (3:12)
A3. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (4:04) brings Stevie together with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (minus outgoing bassist Ron Blair, deputized here by Mar-Keys/MG’s vet Donald “Duck” Dunn, a Hard Promises auxiliary heard on “A Woman in Love”).
A4. “Think About It” (3:35) features Little Feat pianist Billy Payne.
A5. “After the Glitter Fades” (3:31) features pedal steel guitarist Dan Dugmore (a sessionist for Ronstadt, Andrew Gold, John Stewart, and Karla Bonoff).

B1. “Edge of Seventeen” (5:28)
B2. “How Still My Love” (3:54)
B3. “Leather and Lace” (3:44)
B4. “Outside the Rain” (4:19) features Campbell, Tench, and Lynch with percussionist Phil Jones (ex-Crabby Appleton) and bassist Tom Moncrieff (a sideman of Walter Egan, an earlier Buckingham/Nicks associate).
B5. “The Highwayman” (4:49) features Henley, Felder, Campbell, Tench, Johnstone, and journeyman country-rock bassist Richard Bowden (Shiloh, Blue Steel).

Sessions spanned November 1980 through April 1981 at Studio 55, a Hollywood facility co-owned by producer Richard Perry (Carly Simon, Diana Ross, Leo Sayer, Manhattan Transfer), also used for 1981 albums by Pointer Sisters and The Tubes.

Steve Nicks recorded Bella Donna with Brooklyn-born producer Jimmy Iovine, a decorated Seventies soundman (Electric Light Orchestra, Kansas, Meat Loaf, Wiggy Bits) who worked on recent titles by Dire Straits (Making Movies) and Graham Parker & The Rumour (The Up Escalator). Iovine produced Bella Donna in tandem with Petty and the Heartbreakers’ fourth album, Hard Promises, which features Stevie’s backing vocals on “Insider” (with Lori) and “You Can Still Change Your Mind” (with Sharon).

Jimmy’s engineer for both albums was Shelly Yakus, a prior Return to Forever soundman with credits in the realms of hard rock (Swampgas, Ursa Major), brass rock (Ambergris, Lighthouse), art rock (Crack the Sky, Yellow Dog), and lavish pop (Raspberries, Rupert Holmes).

Stevie and her brother Christoper Nicks co-conceived the Bella Donna cover with Rumours photographer Herbert Wheeler Worthington III, who pictured her full-bodied profile holding a white cockatoo and matching gypsy gown (front) and medium profile with a tambourine and bouquet (back). Graphic artist Michael Manoogian (Ambrosia, Chick Corea) designed the Art Nouveau-style logo. The lyrical inner-sleeve pictures Stevie, Lori, and Sharon in a vintage-furnished, high-ceiling interior. The back-cover quotes the title track (“Come in out of the darkness”) with a personal note: “And once again, the music is dedicated to my Grandfather and all his children.”

Stevie first lifted “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” on July 8, 1981, as the album’s lead single (b/w “Kind of Woman”). In the video, Stevie and the Heartbreakers perform in a dark studio where Nicks and Petty trade sly looks up front while the camera recurrently focuses on Campbell’s fretwork. Lori and Sharon make a brief mid-song cameo. On August 1, the video became the 25th clip aired by MTV on the cable network’s first day of broadcast, which repeated the clip three times that day.

On September 5, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” commenced six straight weeks at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100^>, where it nested under No. 2’s by the Pointer Sisters (“Slow Hand”), Juice Newton (“Queen of Hearts”), Christopher Cross (“Arthur’s Theme”), and the nine-week No. 1 reign of the Lionel Richie/Diana Ross duet “Endless Love.” The song also reached No. 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart (a more crucial metric for its FM evergreen status). Abroad, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” went Top 10 in South Africa (No. 4), Canada (No. 5), and Australia (No. 10).

On October 6, Stevie lifted the Don Henley duet “Leather and Lace” as the second single, backed with the Bella Donna title track (“Outside the Rain” in the UK). “Leather and Lace” reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 12 in Canada.

On February 5, 1982, Stevie lifted “Edge of Seventeen” as the albums third single, subtitled “Just Like the White Winged Dove” and backed with a live version (5:57). The song reached No. 4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and No. 11 on the Hot 100. On April 30, “After the Glitter Fades” reappeared as the fourth single (b/w “Think About It”) and reached No. 32 on the Hot 100.

Bella Donna reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and later certified quadruple-Platinum for sales exceeding four million units. Abroad, the album reached No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in Canada, No. 7 in New Zealand, and No. 11 in the UK.

Stevie’s 1980/81 Studio 55 sessions spawned multiple outtakes, including the soundtrack inclusions “Blue Lamp” and “Sleeping Angel” and the later unearthed “Gold and Braid” (included on her 1998 Enchanted box set), “If You Were My Love,” “Belle Fleur,” and “The Dealer” (all included on her 2014 comp 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault).

“Blue Lamp” (3:48) appears on the soundtrack to Heavy Metal, a 1981 animated adult sci-fi film by the publishers of the namesake magazine with cuts by Blue Oyster Cult, Devo, Donald Fagen, Journey, and Nazareth.

“Sleeping Angel” (4:43) appears on the two-record soundtrack to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a 1982 teen comedy with cuts by Don Henley, Sammy Hagar, Billy Squier, Donna Summer, The Go-Go’s, Quarterflash, Oingo Boingo, and Jackson Browne’s iconic “Somebody’s Babe.”

“Gold and Braid”
“If You Were My Love”
“Belle Fleur”
“The Dealer”

The Wild Heart

Stevie Nicks released her second solo album, The Wild Heart, on June 10, 1983, on Modern.

A1. “Wild Heart” Stevie Nicks 6:08
A2. “If Anyone Falls” Nicks, Sandy Stewart 4:07
A3. “Gate and Garden” Nicks 4:05
A4. “Enchanted” Nicks 3:06
A5. “Nightbird” (with Sandy Stewart) Nicks, Stewart 4:59
B1. “Stand Back” Nicks 4:48
B2. “I Will Run to You” (with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) Tom Petty 3:21
B3. “Nothing Ever Changes” Nicks, Stewart 4:09
B4. “Sable on Blond” Nicks 4:13
B5. “Beauty and the Beast” Nicks 6:02

Recorded Autumn 1982 – Spring 1983
Stevie Nicks – lead and backing vocals
Sandy Stewart – synthesizers (1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9), keyboards (3), acoustic piano solo (5), lead vocals (5), additional backing vocals (5)
Roy Bittan – synthesizers (2), acoustic piano (4, 8, 9, 10)
Benmont Tench – organ (3, 4, 5), keyboards (7)
David Foster – acoustic piano (5)
David Bluefield – Oberheim OB-Xa programming (6), Oberheim DMX drum machine (6)
Prince – synthesizers (6, uncredited)
David Monday – guitars (1, 3)
Dean Parks – guitars (1)
Waddy Wachtel – guitars (2-6, 9)
Steve Lukather – guitars (6)
David Williams – guitars (6)
Mike Campbell – guitars (7)
Tom Petty – guitars (7), lead and backing vocals (7)
Don Felder – guitars (8)
Roger Tausz – bass (1)
Bob Glaub – bass (2, 4, 8)
Kenny Edwards – bass (5, 9)
Howie Epstein – bass (7)
John Beal – bass (10)
Brad Smith – drums (1, 3), percussion (3)
Russ Kunkel – drums (2, 4, 8), drum overdubs (6)
Marvin Caruso – drums (5, 6)
Chet McCracken – drum overdubs (5)
Stan Lynch – drums (7)
Mick Fleetwood – drums (9)
Bobbye Hall – percussion (2, 4, 6, 8)
Ian Wallace – percussion (6)
Phil Kenzie – saxophone (8)
Sharon Celani – backing vocals
Lori Perry-Nicks – backing vocals
Carolyn Brooks – backing vocals (2, 10)
String section on “Beauty and the Beast”
Paul Buckmaster – string arrangements and conductor
Kenneth Whitfield – string arrangements
Jon Abramowitz, Seymour Barab, Jesse Levy and Frederick Zlotkin – cello
Gene Bianco – harp
Julien Barber, Theodore Israel, Jesse Levine and Harry Zaratzian – viola
Harry Cykman, Peter Dimitriades, Regis Eandiorio, Lewis Eley, Max Ellen, Paul Gershman, Harry Glickman, Raymond Kunicki, Marvin Morgenstern, John Pintavalle, Matthew Raimondi, Herbert Sorkin, Ruth Waterman and Paul Winter – violinProduction
Jimmy Iovine – producer
Gordon Perry – producer (1, 3)
Tom Petty – producer (7)
Shelly Yakus – engineer, mixing (2, 4–10)
Goodnight Dallas (Dallas)Record Plant (Los Angeles)Record Plant (New York)Studio 55 (Los Angeles)A&M (Hollywood)The Hit Factory (New York)”Stand Back”
Released: May 19, 1983[2]
“If Anyone Falls”
Released: September 3, 1983[3]
“Nightbird”
Released: November 30, 1983