Stevie warns rockers to save for rehab

FLEETWOOD Mac rock star Stevie Nicks has urged aspiring musicians to set aside plenty of cash for rehab when they get older.

The American singer songwriter, 72, endured troubled times with drink and drug issues in the party days of the mid to late 1970s.

However the Grammy winner admits it is impossible to stop musicians from problematic spirals and says $30,000 (£23,000) should be put away for when things go wrong. Nicks said: “I don’t think you can tell a drug addict what to do, I think an addict has to wake up one morning and say, ‘I’m an addict and I’m dying and I’m not going to do it anymore. Or, take me to hospital’.

“I don’t think there was anybody in the world that could have told Fleetwood Mac or any of the rest of the band because it was not just us, it was everybody.

“And it wasn’t just us bands either, it was not a good time. And I wouldn’t advise anybody to get into it because if you do, I tell everybody to open a savings account and start saving money for your rehab because it’s going to cost 30,000 bucks to go and get off these drugs so just don’t start.

“But could people have told us that? I don’t think so.”

Speaking on BBC radio Nicks also said she thanks genetics and a young mindset for remaining looking so youthful.

She said: “Well I’m very grateful. My dad had really beautiful skin and I think I got my skin from him and I do take really good care of myself because if I’m going to go on stage and I’m going to wear these clothes, and if I’m going to have long blonde curly hair, I cannot look like I’m 90. You have to stay young to do this.”

Laughing she added: “If you want to jump down and do the splits, and then you gotta take care of yourself. And I can still do it.

“I can’t walk for a few days after that but I can still do it.”