Stevie Nicks Said Her Solo Career Is Girlier Than Her Career in Fleetwood Mac
Stevie Nicks has had success in her solo career and her career as Fleetwood Mac’s frontwoman. However, Nick’s solo career is way girlier. Still, Nicks loves her solo career and Fleetwood Mac equally.
Stevie Nicks said her solo career is girlier than her career in Fleetwood Mac
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2019, Nicks said her solo career is girlier than her career in Fleetwood Mac.
“You’re one of the few rock stars with both a band and a solo career,” Rolling Stone pointed out.
Nicks replied, “My solo career is much more girlie. It’s still a hard rock band — but it’s much more girlie-girl than Fleetwood Mac is. I never wanted a solo career — I always wanted to be just in a band. But I just had so many songs!
“Because when you’re in a band with three prolific writers, you get two or three songs per album — maybe four. But I was writing all the time, so they just went into my Gothic trunk of lost songs.
“Christine would walk by me — my totally sarcastic best friend. She’d say [imitation of Christine McVie’s English accent] ‘Soooo. Writing another song, are we?’ To this day, I write all the time. I have a poem that I’ve written about Game of Thrones, and I have a really beautiful poem that I’m writing about Anthony Bourdain.”
Both of Nicks’ careers are female oriented
When Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975, there were very few women in rock, let alone two women in the same band. Then, when Nicks embarked on her solo career, even fewer women in rock stayed in their original group while embarking on their solo career.
Both of Nicks’ careers are female-oriented. In Fleetwood Mac, she has Christine McVie, and in her solo career, she has her faithful backup singers, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks (her sister-in-law).
“I was a female rock star in a band with another female rock star, which was totally cool,” Nicks told Rolling Stone. “Then I went into my own band where I had Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks — she married my brother. So I’ve always had the girls, you know?
“If I had been the only girl in Fleetwood Mac, it would have been very different, so I’m really glad I joined a band that happened to have another woman in it. At the beginning people said, ‘Does Christine want another girl in the band?’ And I said, ‘I hope she does. When she meets me, I hope she likes me.’
“She did really like me — we got Mexican food and we laughed and looked at each other and went, ‘This is going to be great.’
“But up until 1980, I had five years’ worth of songs that I knew were just never going to have any place to go. So I did the Gemini thing where you’re two different people — let’s give Stevie her solo career, without breaking up one of the world’s biggest bands.
“I was on a mission. Every time a Fleetwood Mac tour ended, I hit the ground running. I would already have songs ready for my next record. I’d take a week off, then I’d be in the studio. Everybody else would go on vacation.”
Nicks advises younger artists to have double careers like her
Although Nicks was initially nervous to start her solo career, she felt better as an artist once she released her solo debut, Bella Donna. She loved Fleetwood Mac and didn’t want to leave. However, she also needed another outlet to showcase her songs.
Since Nicks’ career has been successful (she’s a double Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee), she advises younger artists to do the same. She tells them never to break up their groups to start a solo career.
“I hope that inspires the women musicians out there. I had this hysterical talk with Haim: ‘OK, you need to work on your band, but at least one of you needs to start making your solo record,'” Nicks told Rolling Stone.
Nicks added to Vogue, “I’ve always said all the way through these two careers I’ve had: If you’re in a band first, never break it up.
“I know Beyoncé because I spent a day with Destiny’s Child making the ‘Bootylicious’ video… But when Beyoncé made the decision to be a solo artist, she did not see herself going back to Destiny’s Child every couple of years.
“And that’s a perfectly acceptable decision because sometimes that’s what people wanna do. I, on the other hand, said, ‘Why not have the ability to go back to Fleetwood Mac whenever I want?’ Being a Gemini, I get bored really easily, so being able to have those two careers was great.”
Nicks’ solo career might be girlier than her career in Fleetwood Mac, but she loves them equally. Let’s hope she continues with both.
