In the film "24 Carat Gold - The Concert", filmed on two evenings in 2017, Stevie Nicks spreads out her eventful life before the audience: Not only did she become the frontwoman of Fleetwood Mac, she also managed a highly successful solo career. Blessed with a unique smoky voice, the power woman in the Bohemian-Gypsy look enchants not only a generation of rock fans to this day. But where there is light, there is also shadow - be it drug problems, bereavement, relationship dramas or an abortion
Excess and emancipation
Singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks' prominent place in the history of rock music is already underscored by the fact that she is the only woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: in 1998 with Fleetwood Mac, and in 2019 as a solo artist. Songs like "Rhiannon", "Dreams", "Gold Dust Woman", "Landslide", "Edge Of Seventeen" or "Stand Back" speak a clear language. In 2016/17, she most recently embarked on a major world tour to promote her album "24 Carat Gold: Songs From The Vault", which consists of re-recordings of unused demo songs. At the performances, she told stories of her life in the style of the TV concert series "VH1 Storytellers" with a select setlist that included solo material as well as some Fleetwood Mac classics
The blonde-haired music legend, who still wears high platform boots and spills her charms into the crowd with waving scarves and (now slower) gyrating dance moves at well over 60 lenzen, not only has charisma in abundance. She can also be considered a prime example of an excessive rock 'n' roll life - and of an independent woman who has unflinchingly made her way in a male-dominated entertainment glitterati. Accompanied by some of the songs presented, we visit below some of the stages of a life journey that often resembled a roller coaster ride.
Formative experiences with Joplin and Hendrix
"Lost songs from the 'goth chest'" is what Stevie Nicks calls those pieces that have long lain dormant in her archive. A born storyteller, she keeps journals throughout her life: "I like to tell all my fairy goddaughters and my niece Jessie that when I'm gone [...] they can sit on the floor and go through all these journals, walk through my life and smell the gardénia perfume on the pages. They can hold in their hands ... who I was" ("More," February 21, 2014)
For Phoenix native Nicks, the musical journey began early: she sang a duet with her grandfather at the age of four and got her first guitar at 16. The spark for her own creativity came when she met Lindsey Buckingham in high school: when he sang "California Dreamin'", she was smitten and a dramatic love affair began. Lindsey brought her into his psychedelic rock band Fritz as the new lead singer, and their performances supporting Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix were formative for Nicks. According to her, Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane also had a big influence on her way of singing and presenting herself. In addition, the Californian hippie scene also influenced her in terms of fashion: in the Velvet Underground boutique in San Francisco she found all the clothes and accessories that gave her her very special "fairy look".
