By Lynne Margolis | August 3, 2011
Your Houston News
When Stevie Nicks decided to record her first solo album in 10 years, she called her old pal, Eurythmics veteran Dave Stewart. Not only did he prove to be a particularly well-suited writing partner and producer, he shared a unique historical circumstance that bonded them in a special sort of kinship; like Nicks, Stewart had been part of a duo that was both musical and romantic. And like Nicks, his romance ended before the musical connection did.
Stewart, of course, was with Annie Lennox when the pair gained fame. Nicks had joined forces with Lindsey Buckingham when they were still high-school students, and when Buckingham was invited to join Fleetwood Mac, he said the Buckingham-Nicks duo, which had released one dead-in-the-water album, was a package deal. By the time they split, they had put their indelible stamp on what would become one of the best-selling albums of all time, 1977's "Rumours," a chronicle of two band couples coming apart (John and Christine McVie were the other) and Nicks' affair with the band's co-founder, drummer Mick Fleetwood.
The members of Fleetwood Mac have since splintered and come together again more than once, but in the meantime, each made solo forays. Nicks, however, has notched the most successful solo career of any Fleetwood Mac veteran (including several before she and Buckingham joined). Her string of hits, with and without Fleetwood Mac, represents one of pop music's most beloved canons: the list includes "Rhiannon," "Landslide," "Dreams" (a favorite topic), "Edge of Seventeen," "Leather and Lace" (a duet with one-time lover Don Henley), "Stand Back" and, with Tom Petty, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."
Her gypsy/witchy-woman look - Victorian-inspired gowns, high-heeled boots, leather and lace, silk and satin, romantic hats over long, blonde hair, all shown off with frequent stage twirls - set a tone in the ‘70s from which she hasn't wavered. Nicks hasn't changed her songwriting style much, either - or at least, she hadn't, until she began working with Stewart on her new CD, "In Your Dreams," released in May.
Up until he sat across from her in her L.A. living room, expecting her to sing along as he played, she'd never written a song with another person while sharing the same breathing space, face to face.
"I sent him 40 pages of poetry, never really expecting him to read all of it, but he did," Nicks recalled, speaking over the phone in her deep alto. "He puts his guitar on and he takes one of the poems out of the binder that I had sent him, and he said, ‘I like this poem. Let's do this one.'"
Startled ("like a deer in headlights," she said with a laugh), she wanted to tell him she doesn't write with other people. But she kept her mouth shut - likely a rare moment for a woman who hardly breaks for another question once she gets going during an interview.
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