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Stevie Nicks: timeless, tireless BY DAN FIRESTONE BLADE STAFF WRITER
Toledo Blade
When Stevie Nicks last performed in Toledo, a thunderstorm threatened to blow her and her band right out of town.
"It blew so hard it almost knocked some of our set down," Nicks said in a phone interview, recalling her appearance at the Toledo Zoo Amphitheatre in 2008, which finally began after a downpour delayed the show for almost two hours. "Of course I remember. But you know it turned out to be a magical night."
The rock and roll legend returns this week, with no worries about weather conditions. Her concert is scheduled for Friday at the Huntington Center.
Nicks, calling from her home near Phoenix last week, is embarking on a tour to promote her seventh studio solo album, "In Your Dreams." It debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard charts, an impressive showing in a business dominated by younger artists.
At 63, the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman never seems to stop working, either on her solo career or with the band that shot her to superstar status in the 1970s. She did a mini-tour earlier this year with Rod Stewart. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer seems everywhere these days, with guest appearances on all of TV’s top competition shows.
It’s hard to imagine that it’s been nearly 40 years since she and then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham joined three remaining members of the English-based Fleetwood Mac and skyrocketed to success with a run of best-selling albums, most notably "Rumours," which sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.
Nicks released her first solo album, "Bella Donna" in 1981 and it went to No. 1 and spawned the hits "Edge of Seventeen," "Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around" (with Tom Petty), and "Leather and Lace" (with Don Henley). She’s overcome battles with drug addiction to develop a career that spans generations, which she discussed in a recent interview.
How do you approach writing songs, because you’ve often said you don’t write for your generation?
I try to make my music as timeless as possible. I don’t think that any of my songs are directed to people in their 70s. My songs are directed towards the whole world. I think love in many ways, when you’re writing about it, is not different. When I fell in love with the first guy I fell in love with at 15½ and I wrote my first little love song and told my mom and dad I was going to be a songwriter, I was in love with that guy at 15½ [in the same way] as I have been in love with anyone since.
So when I write, that’s how I write, I look back to 15 and come up to how old I am now and I see so many similarities. I don’t think a lot of things change. I think a lot of people think it does. I write for people who think love is timeless.
Unlike the old days where we didn’t see Fleetwood Mac or yourself on TV much, you were everywhere the past few months, especially on the talent shows (Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, America’s Got Talent.) How is it different in promoting albums from years past?
