Leaving a band to pursue a solo career can be a frightening, unreliable professional venture. But this week in 1981, Stevie Nicks proved that she could do just that with her record-breaking solo debut, Bella Donna. The album solidified her status as her own musician independent of her hit band, Fleetwood Mac.
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Although the transition didn’t come without its fair share of bumps in the road, Nicks’ hits like “Edge of Seventeen,” “Leather and Lace,” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” helped dissipate any lingering hesitations or doubts about her solo career.
Stevie Nicks Makes History With Record-Breaking Solo Debut
When Stevie Nicks released her first solo album, Bella Donna, in late July 1981, she had what must have seemed like an entire lifetime’s worth of fame, fortune, and success thanks to her six-year tenure with Fleetwood Mac. People were already familiar with the lace and chiffon-clad Nicks who played the tambourine and twirled around the stage to songs like “Dreams” and “The Chain.”
But Nicks as a solo performer was different—both for the audience and herself. Even before Fleetwood Mac, Nicks performed under the moniker Buckingham Nicks with her then-partner and future Mac bandmate, Lindsey Buckingham. Once she joined Fleetwood Mac, she was both the youngest and most diminutive band member, leading her to adopt the persona of a “little sister.”
That had its perks, like emotional and mental protection from the harsh external forces of the music industry. However, it was also limiting. “I will always be the baby sister, the one that is left out a little bit,” Nicks once said. “My solo work allows me not to feel bad about it and enjoy them for what they are instead of worrying about not being included enough. That’s what I used to get upset about.”
“They were not even close to using my full potential,” Nicks continued. And she was right. Her first solo record debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard Top LPs and Tape charts. This made it the highest debut since Stevie Wonder’s “Hotter Than July” from November of the previous year. Bella Donna took Rick Springfield’s place, who was at No. 12 the previous week with Working Class Dog. Nicks’ album just barely beat Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Hard Promises.
Adjusting To ‘Bella Donna’ Success Took Some Time
Just as her songs in Fleetwood Mac would suggest, Stevie Nicks is an incredibly sensitive, emotional songwriter. Even though the initial success of her debut solo album, Bella Donna, was undoubtedly elating, Nicks said there was an adjustment period where she had to acclimate to the ubiquity and public nature of her music. “All those songs I did over a long period of time,” Nicks explained. “They’re now out in the world, and everybody’s hearing songs that I’ve been listening to for five, six, seven years. It bothers me a little bit just because it has been a part of me, and it has been very private.”
“I was really kind of stunned,” Nicks said of her album’s success. “I never let myself believe that the best thing is going to happen; I just sort of let myself be very surprised if it does. But I don’t expect it. So, I didn’t expect anything from Bella Donna. I just did the best I could and finished it. It was over in two and a half months, like a flash. She flew out of the record stores without me. And it was very much out of my hands. There’s nothing I can do to change it now.”
The enduring quality of Nicks’ solo debut album means that people are still listening to “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” decades after the Fleetwood Mac singer discussed her private nature and “little sister” status in 1983. So, we’d wager a bet that even if Nicks could change something, she wouldn’t. After all, what rock ‘n’ roller wouldn’t want their solo debut’s songs to be permanently cemented in the classic rock canon?
Photo by Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
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