People PEOPLE Stevie Nicks

“THE ONLY THING THAT EVER REALLY HEALS ANYTHING IS MUSIC”—STEVIE NICKS STEVIE NICKS: SINGER, SONGWRITER, SUPERSTAR Fleetwood Mac to Solo Artist to Rock Hall of Famer • The Stories Behind Her Hits ‘Dreams,’ ‘Gypsy’ & More PLUS New Music, New Tour: Why Nicks Won’t Stop…

Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?/ Can I handle the seasons of my life?” Stevie Nicks wrote those words when she was in her 20s, still working odd jobs, and had not yet found the recognition that would come when she joined Fleetwood Mac. Now, in this season of her life 50 years on, Nicks could be kicking back as the only woman twice inducted to the Rock Hall of Fame. Instead she is as busy as ever. She’s on tour throughout 2023. On Spotify, where the canon of her back catalog remains a staple, she can be heard harmonizing with Damon Albarn on “Oil,” a new track from his alt-electronic band Gorillaz. And that hit show about the girl with the band, Daisy Jones & the Six. Well,…

PATRONS AT AN ARIZONA GIN MILL surely thought they’d had one too many when they saw a 5-year-old girl stride atop the bar in a cowgirl outfit, complete with boots and toy pistols. Her tiny hand enthusiastically rattled a tambourine as she belted out country standards by Red Sovine in perfect harmony with the man backing her on guitar. It was 1953, and this small gathering of barflies was witnessing the public debut of Stevie Nicks. She duetted with her grandfather Aaron Jess “A.J.” Nicks, who’d spent much of his life trying to make it as a country singer. Though fame had eluded him, he believed this double act with his precociously talented granddaughter might be his ticket to the Grand Ole Opry. “My granddad was the first person that brought…

AS A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR IN 1966, Stevie Nicks’s social highlight was the weekly Young Life youth group meeting, held every Wednesday at a local church. It was there, shortly before graduation, that she noticed a tall boy with dark curls and intense blue eyes sitting moodily in the corner, playing the opening riff to “California Dreamin’,” which had just become a hit for the Mamas & the Papas. Nicks knew the song well—she often sang along to it in her bedroom. She was less acquainted with the boy, whom she recognized from the halls of Menlo-Atherton High. Though he was a year younger, she found him “absolutely stunning.” Doing her best to appear casual, she began singing in harmony, much to the surprise of this young man with the…

STEVIE NICKS WOKE UP ON THE LAST DAY OF 1974 ready to give up on music for good. The year had brought a string of disappointments—a failed album, a terminated record contact and a dearth of gigs—that left her professional dreams in tatters and her partnership with Lindsey Buckingham all but over. Everything changed with a call from British drummer Mick Fleetwood. The couple were dimly aware of his band Fleetwood Mac. The London group had formed in 1967 as a vehicle for virtuosic blues guitarist Peter Green. Though they scored a U.K. No. 1 hit with “Albatross” in 1969, the band was not as well known on the other side of the Atlantic. Following Green’s growing mental health issues, drug use and subsequent departure three years later, the band limped…

‘Gypsy’ Following the global success of Rumours and the fame and substance-fueled lifestyle that came with it, Nicks grew nostalgic. “Gypsy” is filled with snapshots of her uncomplicated early days with Buckingham, a time when they were poor but hopeful, content to sleep on a mattress on the floor of their San Francisco apartment. “It’s just a search for before this all happened,” Nicks (at right in 1982) said of the song. Written in 1979, “Gypsy” took on a deeper meaning during sessions for Mirage two years later when she learned her close high school friend Robin Snyder (inset) had been diagnosed with leukemia. Nicks wrote the final verse in Snyder’s honor. The line “I still see your bright eyes” became a poignant farewell. Snyder died weeks after the song was…