Stevie Nicks Revealed What She Learned From Being ‘Blown Away’ by Janis Joplin
Stevie Nicks learned a lot from Janis Joplin, even though the rock music icon died in 1970, years before Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974. The “Gypsy” singer has spoken many times of her admiration for Joplin. Here’s what Nicks said she learned from being “blown away” by her fellow singer.
Janice Joplin once screamed Stevie Nicks off stage
Before Stevie Nicks joined the rock supergroup Fleetwood Mac, she was in two different bands with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. She was in Buckingham’s group Fritz, and the couple later broke off and formed the duo Buckingham Nicks.
While Nicks was in Fritz, she got to open for Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. “It was a big huge show in San Francisco,” she explained on the Ultimate Classic Rock Nights radio show. “There was like 20 bands on; there was you, there was 15 more bands, and then there was Jimi Hendrix.”
Nicks was a huge fan of Joplin and adored her so much that she didn’t even mind when the “Cry Baby” singer shouted for her to get off the stage as the opening act’s set ran a little long. Instead of being offended, the Fleetwood Mac star later said of the incident (per AP News), “Being yelled off the stage by Janis Joplin was one of the greatest honors of my life.”
Stevie Nicks said she was ‘blown away’ by seeing Janis Joplin perform
Stevie Nicks has described her encounter with Janis Joplin multiple times. “The first time I saw her, I didn’t know who she was, because she wasn’t all dressed up. She was screaming at the band that was on before her, who had gone over time,” Nicks reportedly told Q Magazine. “Janis was not a beautiful girl, she was little and she just looked crazy and she was telling them to get the **** off her stage. And I thought, ‘Whoa!’”
Nicks said the singer completely transformed when it was her turn to perform. “Anyway, they wrapped it up and 30 minutes later on comes Janis, very different, feathers in her hair, fantastic bell-bottoms, really high-heeled shoes and a top with little bell sleeves in silky beautiful material and beads, and wild, crazy, curly hair,” she described. “I was blown away by her. I learned more from her during that hour and a half – watching how she dealt with the crowd, how she paced herself, how she sang – than any hour and a half in my life.”
The Fleetwood Mac star said she ‘emulated’ the ‘Piece Of My Heart’ singer on stage
Despite being yelled off stage by Janis Joplin, Stevie Nicks has no hard feelings. She frequently credits the “Me and Bobby McGee” singer for influencing her artistry.
She opened up to Rolling Stone about which musicians “Flamboyance and attitude from Janis, humbleness and grace from Hendrix, and a little bit of slinky from Grace Slick,” she said. “Those were the three people who I emulated when I was on stage.”
Besides learning how to handle a crowd and pace herself while watching Joplin perform, the “Dreams” singer said that her fellow musician taught her another crucial lesson.
“From Janis I learned that to make it as a female musician in a man’s world is gonna be tough and you need to keep your head held high,” Nicks told The Telegraph in 2011.
