Stevie Nicks Wiki: 5 Facts To Know About 'Edge of Seventeen' Singer-Songwriter

Stephanie Lynn Nicks also known as “Stevie,” is a well-known singer-songwriter from the 70s until today. Her passion for musical performances has made her widely known as the Queen of Rock and Roll. Nicks has also been acclaimed as one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.

Stevie Nicks was born on 26 May 1948 in Phoenix Arizona. Her parents were Jess Nicks and Barbara Nicks who are since both deceased. Their daughter, Stevie was mentored and trained by her grandfather Aaron Jess, also known as “AJ” who was a hopeful country music artist. Her father was a prominent businessperson in the food industry and he moved around a lot with the family while her mother was a housewife. In later years, Nick’s father was also a president of Greyhound’s Amour-Dial. Nicks attended Arcadia High School in California and later joined Menlo-Atherton High School where she met and dated Lindsey Buckinghum. They both went to San Jose State University whereby Nicks intended to pursue a teaching career in 1971 but dropped out before graduation.

At the early age of four, Nick’s grandfather was already singing duets with his granddaughter at gigs. As a teenager, her love for music developed rapidly and she began songwriting and she joined a band called Changing Times and later on joined the rock band, Fritz in mid-1967. Stevie Nick’s first duo with Lindsey Buckinghum was called Buckingham Nicks, which was released in 1973 but was not a success. In January 1975, Nicks and Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham was made the guitarist while Nicks was the lead vocalist and the band recorded the album, Fleetwood Mac, which became a success. In early 1976, Fleetwood Mac band recorded the album Rumors with Lindsey Buckingham on the bass and Stevie Nicks. The producers of Rumors besides Fleetwood were Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut. Rumors hit the US and UK Billboard charts. In this album, Nicks contributed in the song, Dreams, Go Your Way, and the song, Silver Springs as singles. Rumors was a great success as it won the 1978 Grammy Award for Album of the year. Over 40 million copies of Rumors were sold worldwide giving it the acclamation of the best-selling album of all time. The album received diamond certification in US, Australia, and Canada.

Stevie Nicks’ debut solo album is Bella Donna, which was released on 27 July 1981 under Fleetwood Mac. It hit number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The Bella Donna album was such a great success that Rolling Stone proclaimed Stevie Nicks as the Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll. Bella Donna has since attained quadruple platinum status. Stevie Nicks wrote the song Edge of Seventeen, which was part of the album Bella Donna. Edge of Seventeen was released as a single on 4 February 1982 and produced by Jimmy Iovine. It was written while Nicks was grieving her belated uncle and the murder of John Lennon. In November of 1981, Nicks recorded the album Mirage with Fleetwood Mac and did tour within the year. In 1983, Nicks released the solo album The Wild Heart, which went double platinum reaching number five on the Billboard charts. She followed it up with a tour later that year and did live performances. Fleetwood Mac released another hit album called Tango In The Night in April 1987. Later that year Lindsey Buckinghum left the band. Nicks was not amused by the move and expressed her dissatisfaction but Buckingham had some vague personal issues. Stevie Nicks took on a tour of the album The Wild Heart in May 1983, which ended November the same year. The Wild Heart Album began its recording in 1982 and took a few months before its release the following year in June. The Wild Heart album was produced by Jimmy Iovine, Tom Petty, and Gordon Perry. The Wild Heart is an album that achieved double platinum in 1993 and made big sales in the US. In the UK The Wild Heart was certified silver with sales capitalizing over 60,000. What made The Wild Heart prominent was its notable guest musicians. Stevie Nicks was involved with Fleetwood in the release of the album Rock A Little in 1986. The album topped the Billboard charts and was served with a platinum after only a month. Rock A Little was also ranked number 41 as a best seller in 1986 in the US. The successful album, Rock A Little contains hits such as Talk to Me and I Can’t Wait. Rock A Little was most recognized in Australia as one of the biggest selling 1986 album releases. Jimmy Iovine was one of the producers of the album but later left the production due to love affair rifts with Nicks. Rock A Little had a mixed review rate but still chartered number 12 in the US. In November 1988, Fleetwood Mac released their Greatest Hits album and the following year Nicks worked on the album, Behind the Mask with Fleetwood Mac. It released in 1989. Stevie Nicks has released eight solo albums up to date. Her most recent album is 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault of 2014.

The singer-songwriter, Stevie Nicks achieved eight Grammy Awards and two American Music Awards. She has worked with Fleetwood Mac and has won various awards with them. Some of them are as follows: • 1978- Stevie Nicks, under Fleetwood Mac won the Album of the Year award for her fabulous recording of Rumors. She was also nominated for Best Arrangement of Voices and Best Pop Performance by Duo or Group. • 1982- Stevie Nicks was the Nominee for Best Rock Vocal Performance By, Duo for her recording, Stop Draggin My Heart Around. The same year she was awarded nominee for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the famous record-breaking album, Edge of Seventeen. • 1984- Nicks was Nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for her record, Stand Back. • 1985- Nicks was nominated for Best Album of Original Score (Motion Picture or TV Special). This was for her excellent recording on Against All Odds where she was among other artists. • 1990- Nicks was nominated for Best Album Package for Fleetwood Mac’s Behind the Mask. • 2002- Nicks was awarded Best Female Rock Vocal Performance nominee for her recording, Planets of the Universe. • 2003- Nicks garnered a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for the renown Fleetwood Mac recording.

Stevie Nicks has an accumulated net worth for her stringent contribution to albums that have attained platinum status. Her active involvement with Fleetwood band, which gained a lot of popularity from the 70s, definitely spiked her net worth over a long period. She has garnered herself a net worth of $75 million. This admirable net worth is going down in history as she gracefully approaches the golden age of 70.

Stevie Nicks’ first relationship was with Lindsey Buckinghum who was in junior high while she was in high school. They sang together in the rock band, Fritz where she became the lead singer in mid-1967. Later Nicks met with Mick Fleetwood and dated from November 1977. Their fling was widely known. She admits that her relationship with Fleetwood was a mistake. This was because Fleetwood was a married man who had a family and she felt like a home-wrecker. After the recording of the Fleetwood Mac album, the couple ended their relationship. Mick Fleetwood later had a relationship with Sara Recor who was Nick’s best friend. In 1983 Nicks was briefly married to her late friend’s husband with whom they disagreed after a short period. Her late friend, Robin Anderson left behind a son that Nicks passionately wanted to take care of as her own but later on discovered that it would not work out. Then she dated singer, Don Henley. Nicks recently revealed that Joe Walsh who was a guitarist for the Eagles band was her true love. Their story ended in the 80s when they had to break up due to the both of them being heavily addicted to drugs. She is presently single.

1. Bella Dona was Nicks first solo break-through album. It received a lot of positive feedback from critics and was recorded outside Fleetwood Mac. This gave Nicks the confidence to advance aggressively in her career. 2. The album Bella Donna has two songs that are dedicated. Stevie Nick’s song, The White-winged Dove was written in memory of her Uncle, Bill who succumbed to cancer and in dedication to John Lennon who was shot. Nick was an admirer of John Lennon. He worked together with her then boyfriend and producer, Jimmy Iovine in the 70s. The deceased is referred to as ‘white-winged doves’ in the song. 3. The second song, Edge of Seventeen was also in dedication to Nicks deceased Uncle and to Lenon. The title, Edge of Seventeen was mistakenly derived from the phrase, ‘Age of seventeen’. This phrase was supposedly a reply to a question whereby Nicks asked her friend, Jane on when she had met her husband. Jane replied, “At the age of seventeen.” In the song, she quotes, “Words from a poet and a voice from a choir” which is talking of Lenon. She also describes her uncle’s death in the song whereby she was present but his family was not there. 4. Nicks owns a charity foundation for wounded military soldiers called Stevie Nicks Band of Soldiers. She began the foundation with Mick Fleetwood who supported her all along the way. The two would handout iPods with Nick’s favorite music to soldiers as an inspiration over their difficult lives. Returning wounded soldiers would benefit from this foundation and find healing and motivation in the kind gesture. 5. Stevie Nick’s song, Landslide is dedicated to Matthew Anderson. His mother, Robin Snyder Anderson was Nick’s best friend who died of leukemia after giving birth to Anderson. She later married Anderson’s father. The marriage lasted only three months before they divorced. It was a marriage driven by grief and a regrettable mistake according to Nicks. Nicks has managed to put Matthew Anderson through college and they are very close after a few years of separation. 6. Stevie Nicks confessed that she was a heavy drug addict. She became aware that she was addicted to cocaine because she used to get it from friends but then began sourcing it herself. Nicks has had a long addiction to both prescription and illegal drugs. The singer-songwriter revealed that her addiction to cocaine had taken a toll on her career and that she has used tranquilizers. Nicks had become unstable and sometimes lost balance. She also developed a hole within her nostrils due to sniffing cocaine. Her doctors warned her of possible brain hemorrhage if she did not stop the use of drugs. In 1986, Nicks had to resort to attending a rehab clinic, where she went to Betty Ford clinic. She followed up with psychiatric treatment where she ended up getting hooked on tranquilizers. This forced her back to rehab in 1993. For this phase of addiction, she wholesomely blames her doctor. Stevie Nicks has had her share of challenges along the way to stardom but not even her fallouts could hold her back. She is an admired singer-songwriter who has a loveable appeal and a very generous heart. She has beaten all odds and will forevermore be a memorable Queen of Rock and Roll.