3.0 A Brief Biography (Stevie Nicks)
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This article is from the Stevie Nicks FAQ, by CLMoon clmoon@pipeline.com with numerous contributions by others.
3.0 A Brief Biography (Stevie Nicks)
Stephanie Lynn Nicks was born to Barbara and Jess Seth Nicks on
May 26, 1948 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, AZ. Jess was a
Corporate President. Barbara was a housewife and was protective of
her daughter. She was kept inside much of the time, and Barbara would
read fairy tales to little Stephanie. Stephanie had trouble
pronouncing her name, so she called herself Stevie.
At the age of four she sang country songs with her grandfather,
Aaron Jess Nicks, including Goldie Hill & Red Sovine's "Are You
Mine." Stevie was close to her grandfather, and he had an influence
on her choosing music as a career path. AJ lived out of two trailers
in the Arizona mountains. He played guitar, fiddle, and harmonica. He
took freight trains all over, and was a pool shark.
Stevie's brother Chris was born when she was five. Due to Jess'
career changes, the family moved quite often.
In 1965 Stevie was a sophomore at Arcadia High School in Los
Angeles CA, where she had just joined her first band, The Changing
Times, a folk outfit. Then in 1966 the family moved to Atherton CA,
where she attended Menlo-Atherton High School for junior and senior
years, and met Lindsey Buckingham, who was a sophomore.
In the Fall of 1966, The Fritz Raybyne Memorial Band was formed,
named after a fellow classmate at Menlo-Atherton High.
Fritz -- Stevie, Brian Kane, Bob Aguirre, Javier Pacheco, and
Lindsey Buckingham -- got their start playing current Top 40 cover
tunes at dances held at their own high school. The band rehearsed
in Lindsey's garage. In the early days Stevie would play guitar on
her own country flavored tunes, "Where Was I," and "Funny Kind
of Love." The on-stage theatricality she displayed in covering
Buffy Saint Marie's "Codeine" would foreshadow later performances
of "Rhiannon." Intertwining her voice with Lindsey's was fine tuned
by performing renditions of Ray Charles' "Georgia."
In 1968 her family moved to Chicago, and Stevie stayed behind
in California. She attended Canada Junior College in Redwood City CA
for two years, and San Jose State University for three years, but quit
S.J. State just short of receiving a degree in Speech Communication
after five years of college. She had planned on becoming an English
teacher. Instead, she transitioned into a professional musician.
With the help of upstart booking agent David Forest, Fritz soon
progressed from playing high school dances to playing Stanford
fraternity parties, Bay Area community colleges Cañada and
De Anza, and Winterland and Fillmore West. On July 12 1970,
Fritz opened for Janis Joplin at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds,
and Stevie met her idol at that time. Janis would be gone
three months later.
In 1973 Stevie, Lindsey, Richard Dashut, and Tom Moncrieff
shared a house in Los Angeles. During these lean times, Stevie worked
for one day as dental assistant, was a waitress at Copper Penny,
Clementine's (a Beverly Hills singles restaurant), was a hostess at
Bob's Big Boy, and did housekeeping for her record producer, Keith
Olsen. Lindsey did some phone sales, but mostly sat around the
house practicing his guitar. Stevie's first recorded music can be
heard on "Buckingham Nicks," released in 1973.
Then, on New Year's Eve 1974, a fateful phone call came that
would change Stevie's life forever. It was Mick Fleetwood, drummer
for the band Fleetwood Mac. He had heard Stevie and Lindsey's
"Frozen Love" at Sound City recording studios, and was impressed by
the guitarist, a position that needed filling in his current band.
Mick asked Stevie and Lindsey to join Fleetwood Mac, and no audition
was required. For 15 years, from 1975 to 1990, Stevie Nicks sang lead
for Fleetwood Mac.
Stevie parted ways with Fleetwood Mac from 90-97. She had
left the band over a disagreement with Mick over rights to the song
"Silver Springs," which she wrote intending royalties to be funneled
to her mother. Mick had refused to allow Stevie to release "Silver
Springs" on her 1991 Greatest Hits collection, "TimeSpace."
The band reconciled for one gig, to play "Don't Stop" for President
Clinton's inauguration celebration on January 19, 1993.
In 1997, Stevie rejoined Fleetwood Mac for "The Dance" television
special and tour.
Stevie has concurrently had a successful recording and touring
career as a solo act beginning in 1981, and continuing to this day.
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