I discovered Fleetwood Mac at the age of 18 and after living through the melancholy music of The Smiths in my teenage years their music seemed to resonate with me more at this time of my life. Their infamous album "Rumours" was my first and the song "Dreams" became a fast favourite as stands to be my favourite till this day.
It captured to me the purest form of lost love which was written so articulately yet simply by Stevie Nicks, That song was the first time I began to direct my attention to her.
Before the band formed again after originally being a blues rock band l, Stevie Nicks and Guitarist/vocalist Lindsay Buckingham were in a relationship and joined the band when the band reformed to make their self titled album. During the making of Rumours they broke up and Stevie Nicks wrote "Dreams" about Buckingham and their relationship, whilst Buckingham in turn wrote "Go your own way".
Buckingham and Nicks weren't the only relationship in the band that suffered in the making of "Rumours", Christine Mcvie (Keyboardist/vocalist) and John Mcvie (bass player) also divorced at the same time. But during Rumours and onward their breakup remained much more civil in contrast to Buckingham and Nicks which was obvious when they continued writing about each other in not only Rumours but Tusk, Mirage and Tango in the night with songs like "Silver Springs", "Tusk" and "big love" and not all of them were particularly nice with Buckingham refusing to let Nicks have the song "Silver springs" on the album Rumours and Nicks having disagreements on the lyrics of "Go your own way". To add flame to the fuel the band in the height of their fame frequently used drugs and at times this lead to verbal (and on one occasion physical) arguments.
Despite the bands success and talent, Nicks remained to be the star of the show. With her lyrical prowess, stage presence and influence as a strong woman that stands to this day. In concert she took to the stage with every inch of her being, you could see her emotion in the expression on her face and the way she moved her body and beat her tambourine.
Not only that but her style made her a fast fashion icon, adorning long flowing dresses, high fringed boots, bangles on her wrist and necklaces around her neck. She didn't follow the crowd, she just beat to the sound of her own drum.
In interviews she remains to have a mysterious air to her whilst being both earnest, retrospective and honest about herself, her music and her past.
In Tavi Gevinsons (blogger, the style rookie) TED talk she gave her last piece of advice to her audience "To be like Stevie nicks...who is unapologetic about her flaws" and I think we can all agree on this.
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