Interview Stevie Nicks on the demise of Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie and New Music

The Rolling Stone Interview

Stevie Nicks: ‘I Believe in the Church of Stevie’

In a nearly four-hour interview, the legendary singer goes deep on longevity, Kamala Harris, why Fleetwood Mac are finished, and much more

By Angie Martoccio

Rollingstone

Every second feels like an ­eternity when you’re hovering four inches from Stevie Nicks, noodling around with her blouse. This is Stevie Nicks, the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice — as a member of Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. Stevie Nicks, whose legendary shawl collection resides in its own temperature-controlled vault. Stevie Nicks, who, at 76, has become an obsession of younger generations, from her American Horror Story appearance to the original poem she wrote for Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department to a recent viral TikTok video, where she intensely stares down her ex-boyfriend and bandmate Lindsey Buckingham during a 1997 performance of “Silver Springs.” (Yes, Nicks has seen it.)  

This is also Stevie Nicks, who’s somehow gotten a long, spiraled, gold ring she’s wearing stuck in the mesh fabric of her blouse, requiring the up-close-and-personal assistance of an interviewer she met only minutes ago.

She is surprisingly nonchalant as I lean over her, delicately unwinding the thread from each loop of the ring. “It happened [recently] onstage,” she says of the ring tangling. “It was stuck on my ‘Gold Dust Woman’ cape, and the most handsome guy on our entire tour ran out and was down on one knee trying to undo it. I felt like a princess in a Cinderella movie.” She laughs. I loosen up. Miraculously, I free the material from the ring without a single tear. “Thank you, honey,” she says sweetly. 

Nicks has been in Philadelphia for the past three days, wrapping up a massive tour and recording a Christmas song with former NFL star Jason Kelce. Tonight, she’s in her signature all-black attire, save for hot-pink hair ties that hold her blond, elegant French braid. Her tiny Chinese crested dog, Lily, saunters in and out of the room, occasionally sitting on her lap and staring at the massive charcuterie plate in front of us. 

The spread will go untouched over the next three and a half hours while Nicks takes me on a wild ride through her life — and, at one point, into the bedroom to meet her Stevie Nicks Barbies. There’s the prototype, dressed in her beloved “Rhiannon” black dress, and the official Stevie Barbie, released last fall. Nicks didn’t love Barbies as a child, but there’s something special about this doll. “I never in a million years thought this little thing would have such an effect on me,” she says, holding the miniature Gold Dust Woman. 

Nicks is as prolific and driven as ever. She’s also unmoored from her famous band. After a successful tour with the classic Fleetwood Mac lineup in 2014 and 2015, Buckingham ran into conflict with his bandmates — and with Nicks in particular — leading to him being fired from the group in 2018. The 2022 death of Christine McVie, whom Nicks calls “my musical soulmate,” truly seems to have ended the band; Nicks says she’s done with Fleetwood Mac for good. Instead, she launched a two-year-long solo tour, which just wrapped a couple of evenings before we talk at the 30,000-seat Hersheypark Stadium.

She’ll perform to millions shortly after our conversation, when she appears as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live for the first time in more than 40 years. When she steps onto the stage at Studio 8H, she’ll play her women’s-rights anthem “The Lighthouse,” which Nicks wrote following the demise of Roe v. Wade. Featuring Sheryl Crow on guitar, it’s a cathartic rocker in which Nicks compares herself to a lighthouse, guiding women and encouraging them to stand up for their power. 

Mick Fleetwood Speaks to Billboard About Blues Experience and Fleetwood Mac Reunion

 

Out Now!

Inside Mick Fleetwood’s Collaborative Blues Album With Ukulele Pro Jake Shimabukuro

Their album, 'Blues Experience,' includes a heartfelt tribute to the late Christine McVie

By Gary Graff 

Billboard

Jake Shimabukuro is still pinching himself. And Mick Fleetwood is smiling ear to ear.

That’s how the two are feeling as they bring out Blues Experience, a collaborative album that finds the ukulele virtuoso and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer exploring the blues over nine tracks – one of which is a moving tribute to Fleetwood’s late Fleetwood Mac bandmate, Christine McVie.

“I’m really excited about this project,” Shimabukuro tells Billboard via Zoom from Hawaii, where he lives (and where he met Fleetwood, another Hawaii resident). “It’s such a departure from anything I’ve ever done, but I love that because it really feels like I learned a lot from this experience. In my wildest dreams I never would have imagined that this album would exist someday. And I love those kinds of things…the most unlikely collaborations or combinations coming together to do something very different and unique.”

Fleetwood — who has some 40 ukuleles hanging on the walls of his home as decorations — adds that the appeal for him was to work with someone he calls “an explorer. He’s fascinated with music. He comes from a very traditional musical background, but he’s done an extraordinary amount of projects with anyone from Neil Young to Bette Midler, all this strange, bizarre, super-eclectic stuff that’s obviously intrigued him on his journey. That’s what led to, ‘What can a funny old drummer — me — do with someone like this?'”

Fleetwood and Shimabukuro had met a number of times over the years, establishing a friendly relationship. “We basically were passing in the night for years, always saying, ‘We’ve got to do something together,’” recalls Fleetwood. Meeting up again at a Shimabukuro show in Maui during early 2023 put the idea on the front-burner for both, and by March they were in a studio Fleetwood has near his home, with “no pressure, no agenda, just to get in there to see what happens.” Four songs in four days — “recording everything live and just experimenting and having a lot of fun,” according to Shimabukuro — proved they were creatively in sync. Shimabukuro was even happy to plug into a vintage Fender Princeton amplifier that helped him craft a sound that “really seemed to work nicely for this genre and this style.”

The Wild Story of Tusk - Lindsey Buckingham Interview

The Independent
October 17, 2024

With lobster and champagne arriving at the studio by the crateload, the making of Fleetwood Mac’s radical 12th album is pure rock’n’roll history. As the album turns 45 this week, Mark Beaumont speaks to Lindsey Buckingham about those storied sessions, and going his own way after the commercial success of ‘Rumours’

For Lindsey Buckingham, making Tusk was akin to following Jurassic Park with some small indie cult flick. “Here we are in Spielberg-land,” he says of life after selling 16 million copies of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours in 1977, en route to its eventual 40 million global sales. “But if you’re willing to do what you want to do and lose nine-tenths of your audience, then you’re Jim Jarmusch or somebody. That’s what I’ve been valuing ever since Tusk.”

On its 1979 release, 45 years ago this week, Tusk was one of the boldest, bravest, and most bewildering records in rock’n’roll history, the very grandest of rock follies. Fleetwood Mac were following Rumours, the ninth-best-selling album of all time, with this experimental, often ramshackle double record full of junkyard clatter, Kleenex box drums and a full-on marching band. A record that was willing to risk the sort of monumental folk-rock success most bands can only dream of in order to stay creatively invigorated and relevant within an evolving post-punk landscape.

At the time, Tusk sold four million albums: a career-making phenomenon for most acts but a major knockback for Fleetwood Mac. However, as their late-Seventies era has been rediscovered and re-evaluated by subsequent generations, Tusk has become regarded as a triumph of art and creativity over the crass demands of mainstream commerce.

“There was a certain amount of esteem that it did garner from people who might have thought Rumours maybe a little too safe or a little too decadent or a little too California,” the former Fleetwood Mac singer and guitarist, now 75, says down the line from his Californian home, happy to discuss a record that acts as an origin story for his decades of musical exploration since. “But it did take a number of years for it to reveal itself. People, younger artists especially, began to appreciate it, not just for the creativity but for the reason it was done. They could see that there was a method to the philosophy of it.”

Tusk is arguably the most punk record of the Seventies; the ultimate in nonconformist, anti-commercial artistic expression with far, far more than a last-minute punt deal with Virgin Records on the line. For Buckingham, though – relatively fresh in Fleetwood Mac, having joined with then partner Stevie Nicks on New Year’s Eve 1974 and hit the biggest of big times on just his third album release – it was merely the natural next step of an artist following the instincts that were serving them so well.

“With our first album [1975’s seven-million-selling Fleetwood Mac] and then with the Rumours album, everything we’d done had been from our gut, from our heart,” he says. “And [Tusk] was where we wanted to go creatively and emotionally.” The inevitable “far greater, extreme expectations” from their label Warner Bros to repeat the formula of Rumours seemed counterintuitive: this was the Rumours formula.

Stevie Nicks’ SNL Performance Sparks iTunes Chart Resurgence

Following Stevie’s performance on *Saturday Night Live*, her music catalog saw a significant boost on iTunes, with both her latest single, "The Lighthouse," and the classic hit "Edge of Seventeen" making a notable impact—both songs were performed during the show.

On October 13th, *The Lighthouse* re-entered the iTunes Top 100 at No. 17 after peaking at No. 3 following its initial release on September 27th. As of Monday afternoon, the single has climbed back to No. 3 on the chart.

*Edge of Seventeen* re-entered the Top 100 at No. 81 on October 13th, reaching a peak of No. 37. Currently, it sits at No. 39 as of Monday, October 14th.

On the Top 100 Rock Songs Chart, *The Lighthouse* has held the No. 1 position since October 13th, while *Edge of Seventeen* peaked at No. 3. Additional charting tracks include *Stand Back*—peaking at No. 15 and currently at No. 16—*Leather and Lace* at No. 20, and *Stop Draggin' My Heart Around* at No. 32.

Regarding albums, *Crystal Visions: The Very Best of Stevie Nicks* peaked at No. 66 on the iTunes Top 200 Albums, while *Bella Donna* reached No. 179.

It’s remarkable how a single appearance on a show can reignite interest in an artist’s catalog. Even Fleetwood Mac’s songs and albums have seen a resurgence as a result.

Stevie Nicks "The Lighthouse" CD Single Available Nov 1, 2024

Stevie Nicks will release a CD and 7 inch vinyl single 

of "The Lighthouse" Nov 1st and Nov 29, 2024

Pre-order the CD Single NOW through her website.

"The Lighthouse" 7 inch vinyl will be available to order Nov 29, 2024 through her website, or you can look for it on November 29th during Record Store Day Black Friday. Check your local viny store. 

I can't remember the last time Stevie actually released a physical single in North America, maybe the 90's?

Stevie Nicks Returns to ‘SNL’ at a critical time to impart a critical message

Stevie Nicks Returns to ‘SNL’ After 40 Years With Powerful Women’s Rights Anthem ‘The Lighthouse’

Nicks also performs "Edge of Seventeen," the classic from her 1981 debut solo album.

By William Vaillancourt

Rollingstone

Stevie Nicks, whose last Saturday Night Live appearance came in December 1983, returned to the late night show at a critical time to impart a critical message.

Nicks first sang “The Lighthouse,” a call-to-action for women’s rights that she wrote shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned two summers ago.

“Don’t let them take your power / Don’t leave it alone in the final hours,” she sings. “Don’t close your eyes and hope for the best / The dark is out there, the light is going fast.”

Nicks, although not explicitly endorsing a presidential candidate, recently praised Taylor Swift’s message supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.

Nicks’ second performance was a rousing rendition of “Edge of Seventeen,” one of the standout tracks from her 1981 debut solo album, Bella Donna.

“Edge of Seventeen” is also ranked number 217 on Rolling Stone‘s “Greatest Songs” list.

Saturday Night Live recap: Despite delays, Ariana Grande and Stevie Nicks deliver an entertaining episode

By Andy Hoglund

Entertainment Weekly

Tonight, we have a special match-up: Bowen Yang's Wicked costar Ariana Grande is being teamed with a deep cut SNL musical guest, a genuine legend: Stevie Nicks. Here is how big Stevie Nicks is: Not only was her first time playing at 8H way back in 1983, but there's a classic sketch spoofing Nicks that itself is over 25 years old! Longevity and lore, folks. SNL50.

Stevie Nicks performs "The Lighthouse"

"The Lighthouse" was released last month as a rally cry for women, intended to reinvigorate the fight for reproductive healthcare. "I have my scars, you have yours/ Don't let them, take your power," she sings. "They'll take your soul, they'll take your power, unless you save it." What a ballad.

As noted, Nicks first played 8H way back in the early '80s. Gary Kroeger recalls that season 8 performance: "I was in my 20s when she did SNL during my time there! When she came on the scene 10 years earlier, I was in my teens! Was I a fan of Stevie Nicks? Of course I was! She was one of, if not the Goddess of Rock and Roll. I was too nervous to say hello. My recollection was that she didn't hang out much and I don't recall her at the after-party, but that doesn't mean my memory is correct. Only that I was too shy to say anything. She was terrific on the show."

Sheryl Crow plays guitar and bass, and sings on this track, which she co-produced. (And yes, she has played at 8H three times.)

Stevie Nicks performs "Edge of Seventeen"

After this episode's second "delay of game," we return from commercial — and it's worth it! "Edge of Seventeen" is on the menu, and I know somewhere Joan Cusack is pleased. A timeless classic. I am a fan of this! 

Another sign of Nicks' longevity: 45 years ago today, Fleetwood Mac released their album Tusk.