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Stevie Nicks found success both as the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. Rather than breaking up the band, Nicks has said that her solo career actually kept Fleetwood Mac together. Here’s what the songstress shared about her solo work and how it helped the classic rock supergroup.

Stevie Nicks smiles and poses in sunglasses at an event.
Stevie Nicks | Robin Marchant/Getty Images

Stevie Nicks was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, thanks to her solo career

After stepping into the public eye as part of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks released her debut studio album, Bella Donna, in 1981, launching her solo career. The album featured hits like “Edge of Seventeen” and Nicks’ duet with Tom Petty, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” The record received critical and commercial acclaim, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with four singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

She has released a total of eight albums as a solo artist. Her solo career made her the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice: with Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and again as a solo artist in 2019.

During an interview with CBS, Nicks shared what the honor meant to her. “It’s 22 men that are in twice for their solo work and being in a big band and no women,” she said (via NME). “Until me. So I feel that I definitely broke a big rock’n’roll glass ceiling.”

Stevie Nicks said her solo career is ‘the reason Fleetwood Mac is still together’

Rather than tearing Fleetwood Mac apart or taking time away from it, Stevie Nicks said her solo career kept the band together. 

She was asked about the difference between touring as a solo artist and touring with Fleetwood Mac. “Fleetwood Mac is a team, and when you’re on a team everybody has the same vote – except in this particular team Lindsey has a little bit of a stronger vote than anybody else,” Nicks told The New York Times in 2016.

“I love being part of a team. We argue all the time, but we always have. In my band, there is no arguing. I am the boss,” she said. “My solo career is probably the reason Fleetwood Mac is still together in 2016, because I was always happy to leave Fleetwood Mac, and I was always happy to come back, too.”

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The Fleetwood Mac singer said her career ‘ruined’ nearly every relationship she’s had

Although Stevie Nicks has found success as part of a group and as a solo performer, the Fleetwood Mac singer said her career did not come without a price. Nicks said her career “ruined” all of her relationships.

“In almost every relationship I’ve had, my career has ruined it,” she told USA Today in 1991 (per In Her Own Words). “I will never be able to stay with anyone really long, because there will always come a point when they say, ‘I can’t deal with your life.’”

Nicks said touring for months at a time made it impossible to maintain a relationship, and her ex-boyfriends couldn’t “deal with the jealousy.”

“I mean, everybody that I’ve ever gone with in my life – rich rock & roll stars, poor guys that didn’t have a penny, guys in completely other businesses – they finally just look at me and say, ‘I really love you, and if you were ever around, that would continue,” she told Us Magazine in 1990. “‘But I don’t ever get to see you, and I can’t dig the way that you live. I can’t deal with the jealousy, I can’t deal with the fact that the whole world seems to be more important to you than I am.’”

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