Why Stevie Nicks Found It “Exhilarating” To Work Without This Fleetwood Mac Member on ‘Bella Donna’
In 1981, Stevie Nicks launched her debut solo album, Bella Donnawhich included ten tracks. Nine of those had been written by Nicks. This was fairly the distinction from her work with Fleetwood Mac, wherein the songwriter remarked she would often solely get “two or three songs on an album.”
In a 1981 interview with Blair JacksonNicks spoke about what it was wish to work on her personal on songs quite than along with her bandmate, Lindsey Buckingham. The pair had been courting all through a lot of their time with Fleetwood Mac till their breakup in the course of the recording of the Rumors album in 1977.
When he got here to collaborate for Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham would play devices and write songs. Nicks would additionally write songs, and Buckingham would alter them.
“When you work with someone who is that much in control,” Nicks shared, “and who has always been that much in control, since like 1970 on, you forget that you’re even capable of doing something yourself. I’d write my song and then Lindsey would take it, fix it, change it around, chop it up and then put it back together. Doing that is second nature to Lindsey, especially on my songs.”
When requested if she discovered it difficult working by herself on Bella Donnathat is what Nicks needed to say.
“No, it was exhilarating! Instead of just sitting around hour after hour, I got to be a part of it,” she shared. “Working with Lindsey, it’s so easy to just let him take it. On this album I didn’t have to fight to do my songs the way I wanted to. The other players just did them the way I wrote them and they came out great.”
Bella Donna ended up being a No. 1 album for Nicks. It would additionally spend nearly three years on the Billboard 200.
Nicks Says Buckingham “Puts the Magic In” Her Songs
Buckingham and Nicks initially met as highschool seniors within the 60s. By the early 70s, they had been collaborating musically on the Buckingham Nicks album, which they wrote whereas being romantically concerned. In 1974, following the restricted success of Buckingham Nicksthe duo joined Fleetwood Mac, who needed to recruit Buckingham for his guitar expertise. The band launched their iconic Rumors album in 1977, which nonetheless stays one of many best-selling albums ever.
Personally and collaboratively, it is no secret that Nicks and Buckingham had their struggles. However, in a 1980 cowl story with Rolling StoneNicks really gave Buckingham fairly a little bit of credit score.
“I write my songs, but Lindsey puts the magic in,” she defined, “and there’s no way…well, I could pay him ten percent. I could walk up to him and thank him. If I were to play you a song the way I wrote it and gave it to them, and then play you the way it is on the album, you would see what Lindsey did.”
Photo by: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for FIREAID
