The rock star lifestyle is full of all kinds of ups-and-downs, and Stevie Nicks has experienced them just as much as anyone. Nicks recorded some of the most iconic rock music of the '70s and '80, with Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist, but she also had well-documented struggles with difficult relationships and drug use over the years. When she and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac, they were a couple, as were members Christine and John McVie, but both relationships at the center of the band quickly crumbled. Let's take a look at some tragic details about Stevie Nicks.
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00:00As both a legendary solo artist and a member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac,
00:05Stevie Nicks has lived hard and fast in her five-decade career, for better or for worse.
00:10And it's fair to say things haven't always been easy. Here are the tragic details about Stevie
00:14Nicks. Stephanie Lynn Nicks was born in Phoenix in 1948 to Jess, a corporate executive, and Barbara,
00:22a homemaker. Nicks' grandpa, Aaron Nicks, was an aspiring country music singer who taught her to
00:28sing at the age of four, built a guitar for her, and began taking her with him to local music gigs.
00:33Following a successful tap dance performance in the sixth grade,
00:36Nicks decided she wanted to be a performer. Then, while attending high school, she met a boy,
00:41a high school classmate and fellow musician named Lindsey Buckingham, who was playing at a party
00:46Nicks went to in 1966. On a whim, Nicks began singing as Buckingham played. The two didn't
00:52see each other again for two years, until one day, Buckingham called out of the blue
00:57and asked Nicks to join his band. The group was called Fritz, and Nicks was a welcome addition.
01:02She also fell in love with Buckingham, and the duo remained together as Fritz and opened for a
01:08number of iconic musicians, including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Santana, before breaking up in
01:131971. Nicks and Buckingham, however, remained together and formed their own band, Buckingham
01:19Nicks. Within two years, Buckingham Nicks was signed by Polydor Records. Their debut,
01:26self-titled album came out in 1973 and went largely unnoticed by both critics and the public,
01:32except for one thing. On the album cover, the couple appeared nude from the waist up,
01:36a daring move that had never been done before. But this decision by Buckingham Nicks didn't
01:41fall into place all that easily. According to Gold Dust Woman, a biography of Nicks,
01:47Nicks demurred when asked to take off her blouse, and the abusive Buckingham threw a fit,
01:52insisting that the cover was art and lambasting Nicks for acting like a child.
01:56Nicks gave in and later hid the album, refusing to show it to her father.
02:01Unfortunately, Buckingham Nicks didn't work out all that well. Following the virtual failure of
02:06the album, the couple began to struggle financially. Buckingham continued working
02:10on his music, but Nicks worked at a variety of jobs to keep the couple afloat,
02:14including as a dental assistant, maid, and waitress. In 1994, Nicks told The Islander,
02:20"...I worked at the Copper Penny, Clementine's, and Bob's Big Boy. I supported Lindsey and I for years."
02:27In 1975, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham finally got their due.
02:31They were asked to join Fleetwood Mac. McFleetwood called the couple on New Year's
02:36Eve and asked them to dinner, but they were already working on their second album,
02:39and Buckingham wasn't too excited about the idea of joining another band.
02:43Nicks was unsure as well, since Christine McVie was already playing
02:47with Fleetwood Mac alongside her husband, John. Nicks later told Rolling Stone,
02:51"...at the beginning, people said,
02:52Does Christine want another girl in the band? And I said, I hope she does.
02:56When she meets me, I hope she likes me."
02:58McVie did indeed like Stevie Nicks, and both Nicks and Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac
03:03almost immediately.
03:04"...we had dinner, and when we left, everybody just sort of hugged each other and said, well,
03:09rehearsal is next week at 7 o'clock, and it was done."
03:14Together, the ladies made a pact, said Nicks, to never be treated like second-class citizens.
03:20Nicks later recalled that they agreed,
03:22"...we will never be not allowed to hang out in a room full of intelligent,
03:25crazy rock and roll stars, because we're just as crazy and just as intelligent as they are."
03:31Luckily, things worked out, and the band was thrilled with Stevie Nicks' songs.
03:35Two of them, Rhiannon and Landslide, appeared on Fleetwood Mac's first album with Buckingham
03:40and Nicks, making the Billboard 200 list in 1976 with three hits in the top 20.
03:46As Fleetwood Mac skyrocketed to fame, however,
03:48the band members themselves weren't doing so hot. Nicks had long been frustrated about the old days,
03:54in which she worked as a waitress while Buckingham turned down $500 gigs at steakhouses.
03:59Naturally, she hoped for a better relationship with Fleetwood Mac,
04:03so she insisted to Buckingham that they had to repair their relationship
04:06and put their problems behind them. Things weren't helped, however,
04:10by the fact that Nicks began having an ill-fated affair with Mick Fleetwood.
04:14She and Buckingham broke up. Elsewhere in the band, the McVies were going through their own
04:18troubles, after Christine had an affair with the lighting director in 1976.
04:23Despite the fragmented nature of the band in the late 70s, however,
04:26it was during this era that they put out arguably their greatest album ever, Rumors.
04:31Notably, a significant number of songs from Rumors can be seen as obvious preludes to the
04:36band members' impending romantic breakups, including Buckingham's secondhand news and
04:41Never Going Back Again and Christine McVie's You Make Loving Fun, which was written about her affair.
04:47So as Rumors took off to become number one on Billboard and won a Grammy for Album of the Year,
04:53the players themselves were falling apart.
04:56Stevie Nicks' newfound romantic freedom led to a number of relationships beginning in the late
05:0170s. She first romanced the Eagles frontman, Don Henley. Nicks' 1981 debut solo album,
05:08Bella Donna, featured Henley on one of the tracks, the ever-romantic Leather and Lace.
05:12But although it was rumored that Henley wanted to marry Nicks, the couple eventually broke up.
05:17A decade or so later, in 1992, Nicks told Vox magazine that she had once been pregnant by
05:23Henley, one of four times total she had become pregnant in her life. Nicks decided to terminate
05:28her pregnancies. She explained,
05:30"'To give up four babies is to give up a lot that would be here now. So that bothers me,
05:35a lot, and really breaks my heart.'"
05:37In 2009, Nicks elaborated further to The West Australian,
05:41"'I chose purposely, my choice, to not be married or have children,
05:45so I could follow being a true artist.'"
05:48Although the members of Fleetwood Mac did split up romantically, everybody made a concerted effort
05:53to keep the band together. Unfortunately, the band's busy schedule had another unfortunate
05:58side effect. Touring night after night quickly took its toll on Stevie Nicks' vocal cords.
06:03A July 1977 concert review by New York Times writer John Rockwell revealed Nicks had
06:09nodes on her vocal cords. Not only was her voice hoarse, but her mid-range notes were
06:13shredded to the point that a few of the band's upcoming concerts were subsequently canceled.
06:18The sound of Nicks' voice onstage was also costing the band in the way of bad reviews.
06:23Stevie Nicks publicly addressed her issues in August 1977. She told the public that a
06:28doctor had informed her that her speaking voice was destroying her singing voice,
06:32having aggravated the nodules in her vocal cords. Nicks then recuperated by refraining from talking
06:38as Fleetwood Mac took a break from their world tour. At the time, she said,
06:42"'I just have to do the best I can do.'"
06:44But Rockwell had noticed something else in Fleetwood Mac's concert performance, too. He wrote,
06:49Nicks pushed her lackadaisical loopiness too far. She managed to come in on cue and to remember her
06:54words, but at her worst she looked like a glamorous female equivalent of Joe Cocker,
06:59and in general her slack meanderings were more a cause for concern than for fascination.
07:04What Rockwell did not say outright was that Nicks, at this point,
07:07was overindulging in drugs and alcohol.
07:10Stevie Nicks spent most of the early 1980s as high as a kite. She tried to quit her cocaine
07:15habit as early as 1982, but slipped while filming the music video for Gypsy.
07:20It was the first thing I thought of when I woke up in the morning,
07:23and the last thing I thought of before I went to bed."
07:26She also began chain-smoking cigarettes, and in 1986,
07:29discovered that her cocaine usage had literally burned a hole in the septum of her nose.
07:34Nicks' parents and friends finally intervened in the late 1980s.
07:38Nicks' close friend Tom Petty later told Rolling Stone,
07:41I was very worried about her. If the phone did ring and they said Stevie died,
07:45I wouldn't have been surprised."
07:47Nicks checked into the Betty Ford Clinic in 1986. Three songs came from the experience.
07:52Welcome to the Room, Sarah, and When I See You Again appeared on Fleetwood Mac's Tango
07:57in the Night album in 1987, and I'm Doing the Best I Can appeared on Nicks' own The
08:02Other Side of the Mirror album in 1989. By then, however, the singer had been
08:06prescribed Klonopin by her psychiatrist. Anne was now addicted to that drug.
08:11She entered rehab a final time in 1993.
08:14In 1998, Nicks told People magazine that she remembered very clearly that day in 1986,
08:20when her plastic surgeon told her that, if she wanted her nose to remain on her face,
08:24she had to stop using cocaine. Another told her one more snort could cause a brain hemorrhage,
08:30but her stints in rehab subsequently caused the petite singer's weight to go up to 175 pounds.
08:35At the end of her 1994 tour, Nicks decided, in her own words,
08:39"...I would never sing in front of people again. Singing is the love of my life,
08:43but I was ready to give it all up because I couldn't handle people talking about how fat I was."
08:48Unfortunately, Stevie Nicks' weight became the talk of the music world,
08:51and it has been suggested that it had an effect on her success in the music industry,
08:55with album sales taking a particular hit. This side effect wasn't lost on Nicks herself,
09:00who vowed not to go on stage ever again if she didn't lose that weight.
09:04In the end, she embarked on a high-protein, low-carb diet in 1995 and ended up shedding 30 pounds.
09:11In 1990, Fleetwood Mac produced their first real flop,
09:14Behind the Mask. That September, Nicks left the band to pursue her solo career full-time.
09:19Her departure has since been attributed to an argument with Mick Fleetwood,
09:23who refused to allow Nicks to use her own song,
09:26Silver Springs, on a solo project called Time Space. Upon leaving the band,
09:30Nicks compiled some of her other hits for Time Space instead, which was relatively well-received.
09:36A successful tour followed during 1991 and 1992.
09:39Nicks did reunite with Fleetwood Mac briefly in the early 90s. Presidential nominee Bill
09:44Clinton decided to use the band's hit song, Don't Stop, for his successful campaign,
09:49but both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham stayed on just long enough to perform a single
09:53concert at Clinton's inaugural ball in January 1993 before resuming their solo acts. But Nicks
09:59never really wanted a solo career. She told Rolling Stone in 2011,
10:03"...I always wanted to be just in a band, but I just had so many songs."
10:07So it was probably inevitable that Nicks would eventually rejoin Fleetwood Mac.
10:12It happened in 1997 for their next album, The Dance. To this day, although she still
10:17has her solo gig running, Nicks is a member of Fleetwood Mac.
10:21She may have endured a tumultuous personal life, but Stevie Nicks' professional career
10:26is littered with accolades and accomplishments. Since 1977, Nicks has earned two Grammys with
10:31Fleetwood Mac, has been nominated for a Grammy 14 times, and has two recordings
10:36in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Since 1981, Bella Donna has sold more than 5 million copies in
10:40the U.S. alone. That same year, Rolling Stone named the singer the reigning queen of rock and
10:45roll as well as one of the 100 greatest singers of all time. Three more of Nicks' albums have
10:50gone platinum over the years, and between her own and those she made with Fleetwood Mac,
10:55Nicks has sold over 140 million records. In 2019, Nicks made history. She was inducted into the
11:01Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the second time, making her the first woman in music history to
11:05have achieved such an honor.