The following article mentions domestic abuse allegations and addiction.
Fairy godmother of rock.
The ethereal andstunning Stevie Nickshas accumulated many titles over her 50-year career in music and fittingly so.
It would be unreasonable to expect anything less from a woman whose life has been a blazing adventure.
Sure enough, Nicks' legacy is defined by a magic that eludes worldly explanations.
Whatever human scrutiny it has so far allowed has sufficiently established Nicks as rock’s most glamorous tragic figure.
The word that often finds mention in any profile of Nicks or her stamping ground Fleetwood Mac is excess.
Scroll ahead to read more about the tragic life of Stevie Nicks.
So when Barabra passed away in 2011 following pneumonia, the loss hit Stevie hard.
“I didn’t leave the house for almost five months,” she toldThe Herald.
Though Stevie was mournful about her mother’s death, the singer didn’t stop feeling her presence.
If anything, Stevie felt closer to her mother after her death than when she was living.
“It’s so real and creepy, and I always just go ‘Thank you, Barbara.'”
Their musical inclinations brought them together for a band called Fritz, and their dynamic turned romantic.
“From the beginning, Lindsey was very controlling and very possessive,” Nicks toldRolling Stone.
The darkest moments of their relationship, however, lie forgotten under that romanticism.
“I thought he was going to kill me,” Nicks said.
Buckingham reportedly mocked, kicked, and even threw a guitar at Nicks mid-performance.
She regretted posing topless for an album cover
“Buckingham Nicks” was what started it all.
But the album’s legacy is more problematic than its successful outcome would have one believe.
As Nicks recounted toMojomagazine, she bought a flowing blouse for the cover shoot.
“I’m actually quite prudish.
Buckingham apparently chastised 25-year-old Nicks and she gave in.
“I couldn’t breathe.
But I did it because I felt like a rat in a trap,” Nicks recalled.
The union came about after her friend Robin Snyder Anderson tragically died leukemia that year.
Snyder left behind a son, born just two days before her death, perThe Guardian.
Driven by the impulse to take care of her late friend’s baby, Nicks proposed marriage to Anderson.
Despite the disapproval of people around them, the pair tied the knot three months after Snyder’s death.
“It was a completely ridiculous thing.
It didn’t take long for Nicks to acknowledge that the whirlwind wedding had been a mistake.
The incident marked the start of what would turn out to be a struggle with the substance for Nicks.
“Nobody had any idea how insidious and dangerous and horrible it was.”
Evidently, it only escalated for Nicks.
“I was a girl, I was fragile, and I was doing a lot of coke.
The program was a success, rendering Nicks clean from cocaine but unfortunately leaving her with other troubles.
“This doctor was a groupie he just wanted to hear me tell stories about rock & roll.
So he kept upping my dose for years,” she toldRolling Stone.
The latter was especially highlighted in the press.
She gained close to 50 pounds, unable to avert the situation under the influence of the tranquilizer.
During her years of success with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks neglected her voice as much as she used it.
The nodes on her vocal chords progressively worsened the situation.
Thankfully, it didn’t come to that.
The romance materialized in the midst of Fleetwood’s second-time marriage with Jenny Boyd.
Even so, Fleetwood felt a connection strong enough with Nicks to tell his then-wife about it.
There were other love connections in the mix, most obviously Boyd.
Nicks eventually apologized to Boyd, who toldFox News, “Yes, it was devastating.
But after all these years, it’s all water under the bridge.”
“They were full-on jealous,” Nicks said.
“They hated that kind of confidence in a woman.”
Nicks has long attributed her sickness to the faulty breast implants she got in 1976 and later got removed.
As she toldVarietyin 2020, “It’s going to kill you.
And I’ve said that if I get it it’ll kill me.
I have compromised lungs.”
Nicks and the late Tom Petty became pals all the way back in the 1970s.
My heart will never get over this.”
Nicks has expressed regret over not seeing Prince before he died in 2016.
And we really stuck to it,” Nicks toldThe New Yorker.
The two singers’ relationship endured for decades untilChristine McVie’s heartbreaking deathin 2022.
“When she died, I figured we really can’t go any further with this.
There’s no reason to,” she toldVulture, eulogizing McVie’s status within the band.
“Without her, what is it?”
The keyboardist and vocalist rejoined the troupe after a 15-year hiatus, much to the delight of her admirers.
Nicks was perhaps the most thrilled to have McVie back in the band.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration websiteor contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
