Stevie on coke & her voice..

[BlackWidow]

This is a first..I have always wanted to hear her talk about the effect coke has had on her voice. It is always been the elephant in the room no one talks about..this was taped last year while she was Down Under...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8F3LhxAb10

[catinthedark]

that's a cool clip - the inetrviewer is a bit of a dud. but i like her candidness.

i don't think cocaine itself actually damaged her voice. i think the coke made stevie generally unhealthy, and all of its effects on her body and her mind and her soul took their toll on her vioce. she didn't care about anything but the coke, therefore she didn't take care of herself and she didn't take care of her voice. the voice is an instrument that has to be cared for. and clearly she wasn't doing that. so ultimately, it did affect her voice, but it was just one aspect of all the damage she did to herself. but she was strong enough to recover. i think the difference between her 70s voice (sigh) and her voice today is simply (sorry stevie!) the effects of time...

[BlackWidow]

that's a cool clip - the inetrviewer is a bit of a dud. but i like her candidness.

i don't think cocaine itself actually damaged her voice. i think the coke made stevie generally unhealthy, and all of its effects on her body and her mind and her soul took their toll on her vioce. she didn't care about anything but the coke, therefore she didn't take care of herself and she didn't take care of her voice. the voice is an instrument that has to be cared for. and clearly she wasn't doing that. so ultimately, it did affect her voice, but it was just one aspect of all the damage she did to herself. but she was strong enough to recover. i think the difference between her 70s voice (sigh) and her voice today is simply (sorry stevie!) the effects of time...

..alot of truth to your post..I agree!

[strandinthewind]

I still maintain she was overall in her best voice on the SA tour. Yes, she was not as high as her falsetto in the 70's - but the purity was there in spades.

[amber]

that's a cool clip - the inetrviewer is a bit of a dud. but i like her candidness.

i don't think cocaine itself actually damaged her voice. i think the coke made stevie generally unhealthy, and all of its effects on her body and her mind and her soul took their toll on her vioce. she didn't care about anything but the coke, therefore she didn't take care of herself and she didn't take care of her voice. the voice is an instrument that has to be cared for. and clearly she wasn't doing that. so ultimately, it did affect her voice, but it was just one aspect of all the damage she did to herself. but she was strong enough to recover. i think the difference between her 70s voice (sigh) and her voice today is simply (sorry stevie!) the effects of time...

If people who smoke (like Stevie did after a few years into her career) do coke
they could easily smoke 4-5000 cigarrettes in a 24 hour period.

[strandinthewind]

^^^^

I do not understand that?

[amber]

^^^^

I do not understand that?

If you smoke, and then do coke, you'll probably smoke a billion more cigarettes than a normal, non coke doing smoker would.
Stevie started smoking a few years into her career.

[strandinthewind]

If you smoke, and then do coke, you'll probably smoke a billion more cigarettes than a normal, non coke doing smoker would.
Stevie started smoking a few years into her career.

Ah!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

[MacMan]

that's a cool clip - the inetrviewer is a bit of a dud. but i like her candidness.

i don't think cocaine itself actually damaged her voice. i think the coke made stevie generally unhealthy, and all of its effects on her body and her mind and her soul took their toll on her vioce. she didn't care about anything but the coke, therefore she didn't take care of herself and she didn't take care of her voice. the voice is an instrument that has to be cared for. and clearly she wasn't doing that. so ultimately, it did affect her voice, but it was just one aspect of all the damage she did to herself. but she was strong enough to recover. i think the difference between her 70s voice (sigh) and her voice today is simply (sorry stevie!) the effects of time...

Agreed... But I also think the hole she burnt in her nose had/has an effect on her vocals and her voice. Time will deepen everyones voice to a certain extent and smoking is very bad for the vocals!

[BlackWidow]

I still maintain she was overall in her best voice on the SA tour. Yes, she was not as high as her falsetto in the 70's - but the purity was there in spades.

..in retrospect..she sounded pretty good..visually she was a mess.
By that point everyone knew she was really in trouble.

[strandinthewind]

..in retrospect..she sounded pretty good..visually she was a mess.
By that point everyone knew she was really in trouble.

I disagree in that forthe first part of the tour, she looked great because I remember like CNN or MTV doing a segment on her clothes. Then, she, as I think she usually does, packed on 20 pounds by the end of it. I also think the tour was the beginning of the beginning, though she does not see it that way.

[paleshadow]

I disagree in that forthe first part of the tour, she looked great because I remember like CNN or MTV doing a segment on her clothes. Then, she, as I think she usually does, packed on 20 pounds by the end of it. I also think the tour was the beginning of the beginning, though she does not see it that way.

I agree with you completely. After seeing her during the OSOTM tour I was nervous because in my opinion she was like a zombie and sounded awful. When I saw her during the SA tour, I did notice the weight, but she sounded the best I had heard her live. At the shows I saw she seemed really happy and playful.

[AliceLover]

My favorite part of this interview is when the guy says "ive heard rumours about body gaurds actually gaurding lines on stage." Stevie was like "Oh yeah, it was done on stage (puts her head down and starts fiddling with her nails), OH YEAH." She said it like she just remembered something. Great interview.

[BlackWidow]

I disagree in that forthe first part of the tour, she looked great because I remember like CNN or MTV doing a segment on her clothes. Then, she, as I think she usually does, packed on 20 pounds by the end of it. I also think the tour was the beginning of the beginning, though she does not see it that way.

nor do most fans....
she looks good at the beginning of every tour.....can't sustain it on the road.

[ragandbone]

Right, well the coke iteself numbs the throat and nasal passages (if consumed through the nose or mount—ahem) and that means you ravage the vocal cords a bit, by not feeling when they are hurting. I think, though that she probably had those steroid shots for chronic laryngitis (because that was standard at the time) and those shots, in fact, even chloraseptic will do allow same damage.

Another weird affect from cocaine, and any amphetamine is dehydration, and lack of proper rest which are terrible for your voice, and pretty much ever other part of you.

Being pushed to the edge, physically, and being fabulously high, as she was, probably did account for some of the wild sounds she was making though. The rock and roll life was like The Red Shoes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/) for her, dancing and dancing more beautifully, even while it was killing her.

[strandinthewind]

. . . The rock and roll life was like The Red Shoes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/) for her, dancing and dancing more beautifully, even while it was killing her.

Beautiful analogy!!!!!

[BlackWidow]

Right, well the coke iteself numbs the throat and nasal passages (if consumed through the nose or mount—ahem) and that means you ravage the vocal cords a bit, by not feeling when they are hurting. I think, though that she probably had those steroid shots for chronic laryngitis (because that was standard at the time) and those shots, in fact, even chloraseptic will do allow same damage.

Another weird affect from cocaine, and any amphetamine is dehydration, and lack of proper rest which are terrible for your voice, and pretty much ever other part of you.

Being pushed to the edge, physically, and being fabulously high, as she was, probably did account for some of the wild sounds she was making though. The rock and roll life was like The Red Shoes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/) for her, dancing and dancing more beautifully, even while it was killing her.

good analogy.....:nod:

[ELIUD]

"Obsessive crazy people...you know...there's nothing to really like about those people."
Well at least she knows I'm alive.

[skcin]

..in retrospect..she sounded pretty good..visually she was a mess.
By that point everyone knew she was really in trouble.

In trouble with what? :shrug:

[strandinthewind]

In trouble with what? :shrug:

That's my point too. I think she knew SA was a comparative financial failure -- but her tour did ok and she was clean from the pills. So, as far as I am concerned, that was the beginning of the rise. It took a year or two and she had some slip ups like the usual weight gain, but it was the beginning.

[BlackWidow]

That's my point too. I think she knew SA was a comparative financial failure -- but her tour did ok and she was clean from the pills. So, as far as I am concerned, that was the beginning of the rise. It took a year or two and she had some slip ups like the usual weight gain, but it was the beginning.

She was still addicted to Klonopin on the SA Tour! 86-94 ..thats eight years.
She was very unhealthy is my point.

[strandinthewind]

She was still addicted to Klonopin on the SA Tour! 86-94 ..thats eight years.
She was very unhealthy is my point.

I think she said she beat the Klonopin and then was horrified that she had to go out and promote the hazy SA record :shrug:

[Johnny Stew]

She was still addicted to Klonopin on the SA Tour! 86-94 ..thats eight years.
She was very unhealthy is my point.I think she said she beat the Klonopin and then was horrified that she had to go out and promote the hazy SA record :shrug:

Strand is right -- she kicked the Klonopin several months before the tour.
In fact, she has said that it was only after she came out of rehab and listened to the work she'd done with Glyn Johns, that she realized she needed to go back into the studio to try and fix it a little bit... which is when she and Thom Panunzio overdubbed and remixed it.

[BlackWidow]

Strand is right -- she kicked the Klonopin several months before the tour.
In fact, she has said that it was only after she came out of rehab and listened to the work she'd done with Glyn Johns, that she realized she needed to go back into the studio to try and fix it a little bit... which is when she and Thom Panunzio overdubbed and remixed it.

hmm...her behind the music said she checked into rehab directly after the SA Tour ended.

[HejiraNYC]

hmm...her behind the music said she checked into rehab directly after the SA Tour ended.

Are you sure you're not thinking of when she checked into Betty Ford right after the Rock a Little tour ended? :wavey:

I also recall that Stevie was clean/clear for the SA tour, and I think the proof was in her passionate singing throughout that jaunt.

[Kelly]

I thought she checked in rehab in December of 1993 and stayed through Jan. 94, then toured for Street Angel in the Summer of 94? After she got out of rehab, she said she listened to Street Angel and was unhappy so she tried to "fix it" but eventually gave up and had to go out and promote something she was not happy with. Her energy on the Street Angel tour was totally different than the Mirror, Cage or BTM tours. I personally thought she rocked out on the SA tour. She seemed much more "on" than the prior tours. She was heavy, yes..but her voice was incredible when I saw her live.

[skcin]

^ What she said. :wavey:

[BlackWidow]

I will look into it...