STEVIE NICKS
Wisdom from the first woman to make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. By Rob Sheffield
Stevie Nicks has the only kind of BDE that matters: Bella Donna Energy. Fleetwood Mac’s gold-dust woman is adding yet another sequin to her top hat this spring by going into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, 21 years after she got enshrined with the Mac. She’s the first woman inducted twice — as she puts it, “at the ripe and totally young age of 70.” She’s also touring the world with Fleetwood Mac after their surprise split with Lindsey Buckingham. As eloquent and witty as ever, Nicks went deep with RolliNg StoNe for an epic late-night chat about her 50 years as a rock goddess, discussing love, poetry, platform boots, her closeness with Tom Petty, how “Stand Back” makes her miss Prince, and the joys of sharing a band with her friend Christine McVie. Rock on, queen.
Congratulations on the Hall of Fame. How is it different going in the second time?
It’s 22 to zero. Twenty-two guys who’ve gone in twice, and zero women — Eric Clapton is probably in there 22 times already! Maybe this will open the doors for more women to fight to make their own music.
You’re one of the few rock stars with both a band and a solo career.
My solo career is much more girlie-girl than Fleetwood Mac is. I never wanted a solo career — I just had so many songs! To this day, I write all the time. I have a poem that I’ve written about Game of Thrones, and I have a really beautiful poem that I’m writing about Anthony Bourdain.
You were a pioneer, too — a female rock star, when that was virtually unknown.
I was a female rock star in a band with another female rock star, which was totally cool. If I had been the only girl in Fleetwood Mac, it would have been very different. People said, “Does Christine want another girl in the band?” I said, “I hope she likes me.” And she did really like me. We got Mexican food, and we laughed and went, “This is going to be great.”
Then I did the Gemini thing where you’re two different people — let’s give Stevie her solo career, without breaking up one of the world’s biggest bands. I hope that inspires the women musicians out there. I just had this hysterical talk with Haim: “OK, at least one of you needs to start making your solo record.”
Who were the women singers who inspired you most as a kid?
I started singing in fourth grade: R&B, the Shirelles, the Supremes and the Shangri-Las. All those amazing songs Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote. When I first listened to the Fleetwood Mac recording of “Dreams,” I said, “There’s that little girl that was singing along to the Supremes.”
Right now women are changing the world and changing music like never before. What was it like when you first joined a band?
I met Lindsey in 1966. Two years later, I joined his band, and we played all over San Francisco. I got to watch Janis Joplin and Grace Slick — the best school of rock ever. We opened for Chicago, with Bill Graham standing on the side of the stage. That was the only time in my life I was heckled. Some guy went, “Hey, baby. You want to come home with me?” Bill Graham screamed at this guy and told him to get the f-u-c-k out. Basically, “If I ever see you again, I will kill you.” Years later, I reminded him of that night. He said, “Yeah, I don’t let that happen.”
Was it tougher to get a break as a songwriter at first because you were a woman?
I didn’t face a lot of the things that a lot of women have faced. I was very lucky. Christine and I made a pact the day I joined Fleetwood Mac. She and I said, “We will never be treated like second-class citizens. We will never be not allowed to hang out in a room full of intelligent, crazy rock & roll stars — because we’re just as crazy and just as intelligent as they are.” We promised that we would fight for everything we wanted and get it, that our songs and our music would be equally as good as all the men surrounding us. And it was.
You and Tom Petty were close friends. He gave you the star on your top hat, right?
He did, and he gave me “Stop Dragging My Heart Around.” Had he not given me that song, let me candidly tell you, Bella Donna [Nicks’ 1981 solo debut] might not have been a hit. My biggest sadness about the Hall of Fame is that Tom is not here to enjoy this with me, because he would have been the proudest of anyone.
I loved how you did “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” on your recent solo tour — as a duet with Chrissie Hynde.
She’s not great at harmony, but neither was I. We never actually sang the song — we would just look at each other and giggle like two girls.
Then you have “Stand Back,” a real soul song that you recorded with Prince.
Prince and I never played that song onstage together, but I feel like Prince is with me. When I’m nervous, I’ll talk to Prince. Before I go on, I always say, “Walk with me, Prince.”
You and Prince both had unique style. You never look or sound like anyone else.
I don’t put the boots on until right before I walk up to the stage. When my little foot goes into that boot, it is like Cinderella. All of a sudden I become me. I become six inches taller. I walk like an African queen. Halloween is my favorite day, but I never have to wonder, “What am I gonna be?” A witch, of course. Wearing my Stevie Nicks clothes.
Where do you keep all your shawls?
I have my shawl vault — they’re all in temperature-controlled storage. I’m trying to give my shawls away, but there’s thousands of them. If I ever write my life story, maybe that should be the name of my book: There’s Enough Shawls to Go Around.