Even as a member of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks managed to stand solo as a chiffon-wearing, tambourine-wielding tour de force. The beauty of Fleetwood Mac was each member’s contributions, sure. But Nicks is arguably the only Mac alum who is just as known as a singular entity as a member of the band. This public perception is due largely to the success of her solo breakout album, Bella Donna, which included monster hits like “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”
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However, life in Fleetwood Mac didn’t stop when Nicks went off to record Bella Donna in the fall of 1980. By the spring of the following year, Nicks was facing a reality check so brutal that she wondered if those few months as a successful solo artist were all just a wistful dream.
Solo vs. Band Life
The interpersonal drama of Fleetwood Mac is nearly as recognizable as their musical catalog. Love triangles, big egos, and plenty of illicit substances made for a tumultuous band experience. And while these musicians could set their differences aside to make some of the most iconic rock music of all time, that didn’t make the process any less emotionally taxing on an individual level. In 2003, Stevie Nicks spoke to Classic Rock magazine, comparing her solo and band experiences.
“In Fleetwood Mac, there’s always chaos,” Nicks said. “It’s not easy for us. It never will be, and it hasn’t ever been. Whenever we get back into a room together and start working, we don’t agree on a lot of stuff. And we’ve fought through every single record we have ever made. When we’d do an album, they’d hear fifteen of my songs and invariably pick the two that were my least favorite. Some of my favorite songs didn’t get used.”
“My solo career is very precious to me,” Nicks continued. “But it can never be like Fleetwood Mac. For each of the members of the band and everyone surrounding us, it’s so much more heavy. When I’m working by myself, it is by myself. I’m very inward and very much a loner. But Fleetwood Mac just overwhelms everything, takes everything. Everybody in the band is possessive and jealous. I don’t know what else to say about it. It makes my whole face turn red. I get a fever.”
Stevie Nicks Had A Reality Check After First Solo Stint
The difference between working as a solo artist and as a band member was likely the most jarring during that first transition from Bella Donna to the next Fleetwood Mac album, Mirage. Stevie Nicks worked on her solo album in her boyfriend and producer Jimmy Iovine’s Pacific Palisades home with her two best friends singing harmonies with her. Fleetwood Mac’s success might have been a sure thing compared to her stint as a solo artist, but it also meant working with a lot more egos, including that of her ex, Lindsey Buckingham.
Nicks managed to squeeze in a two-week tour to promote her solo album, Bella Donna, before returning to the studio with Fleetwood Mac to record their 1982 album, Mirage. “I woke up three days [after the tour], in France, with no ice, no air-conditioning, in this stupid castle, and I’m thinking, ‘What just happened? Did I dream the entirety of that record?’ Lindsey was not in a very good humor because I’d just made this solo record, and I’ve brought my new producer boyfriend with me. They almost got in a fight. Jimmy was meant to be there for ten days but he left the next morning, he was so p***ed off.”
The “Rhiannon” singer might’ve undergone quite the jolt shifting from solo star back to band member, but it paid off in the end. Bella Donna didn’t have as far of a global reach as Fleetwood Mac’s Mirage, but Nicks’ solo album was certified platinum twice as many times in the U.S. and Canada compared to Fleetwood Mac’s thirteenth full-length record.
Photo by Pete Still/Redferns
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