Your Stevie Nicks Story!

[sorcerer999]

Hey Everyone,

I'm going to apologize in advance if ever there was a thread started about this topic. I went back a long way but couldn't find any threads that were similar. If there is one, I'll delete this one and we can bump the other one up.

I am EXTREMELY CURIOUS about YOUR Stevie Nicks story. How it was that you came to hear Stevie for the first time, why you love her or why you are obsessed with her, interesting stories, etc. It can be as short or as long as you want it to be. I think it would be a really interesting thread and a good way for us to learn more about each other, etc. If this is a stupid idea, again I'm sorry. But I think it might be fun.

-Dave

[sorcerer999]

I'll go first...

The first time I heard Stevie Nicks’ voice was when I was 4 years old in 1980. My family and I were driving back home from a Florida vacation. It was late at night and I was laying in the back of our ugly, brown van listening to the music on the radio station my folks preferred. Suddenly a song came on the radio that featured both a male and female duet (What I know now as “Whenever I Call You Friend”). I was immediately struck by the female vocal, and how powerful it was…and I also LOVED that vibrato. I logged it in my brain, and weeks later asked my mother, “Who’s that girl that sings ‘Sweet Love Do It On A Saturday Night?’” After my mother corrected me on the song title, she pulled out Fleetwood Mac “Fleetwood Mac” , “Rumours” and the 45rpm of John Stewart’s “Gold”. From then on, they were in regular rotation throughout what I call “the Vinyl Years”, before my older sister and I got a cassette player in ’83.
But it actually WASN’T UNTIL ’83 that my obsession with Stevie began. I remember hearing the “Bella Donna” singles on the radio, but for some reason, we never bought the record. Every summer, my sister and I would spend about a week with our Aunt in East Tennessee. We loved her because she had no kids and would spoil the hell out of the two of us. A few days after we arrived, she told us she had bought us tickets to Stevie Nicks’ show in Knoxville. We were psyched! At the time I had no clue, but I’ve learned since that it was one of her first shows of the “Wild Heart” tour. Of that experience, I have vivid memories of her clothes (she wore red and black) and of just how happy and bubbly she was the entire time. And of course, I was in awe of how wonderful and how well the girls harmonized with each other. To this day, it has been my dream to find a good bootleg recording of that show. It is my own personal holy grail of all things Stevie – however, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t exist. My memories, however, still resonate!
When we got back to Nashville, I begged my mom to buy me “The Wild Heart” album, which she did…and my obsession started! The next Christmas, my sister and I got a cassette tape player (they were called Ghetto Blasters back then ) and my mom (masquerading as Santa) bought me” Rumours”, “Bella Donna” AND “The Wild Heart” on cassette. I saved my allowance in the coming months to get “Tusk” and “F.Mac S/T” on cassette as well.
“Rock A Little” came around and my obsession continued (to the point where I would get on top of the slide at the neighborhood playground and sing “The Nightmare” to the ground, pretending I was Stevie and each blade of grass was an audience member). I was in 8th grade by the time TOSOTM came around. I enjoyed the record, but was kind of outgrowing my “childhood obsession” for her. Newer bands were coming along and as I got into High School, bands like Nirvana, Concrete Blonde, STP, and Pearl Jam were attracting me most of all. Yes, I went through a huge grunge/neo hippie phase from 1990 to 1994. I didn’t even know “Timespace” or “Street Angel” had even been released. I was so far removed from the world of Stevie fandom.
So in 1997, when “The Dance” premiered on MTV, I was in college and immersed in a group of friends who made me into the music snob that I am today. A bunch of us ordered pizza, beer and watched the concert in AWE! All my childhood memories of Stevie came flooding back…and thus began my “adult obsession” for all things Stevie! I have followed her faithfully ever since. Collecting, traveling, spending WAY TOO MUCH MONEY, etc…but it has been a blast.
I collected/traded all the unreleased demos/outtakes/interviews I could get my hands on, I traveled the country for the TISL tour and the Say You Will tour, made my first trip to Vegas for the “Dreams” shows (where we met Carlos Rios and Jana Anderson, who were standing in front of me and my friend Diana, as we were all waiting for a taxi), did the “Two Voices” tour, traveled yet again for “Gold Dust” and F.Mac “Unleashed” tours…I have a million stories I could tell, but that is pretty much my Stevie story.
To me, she is the voice of Rock And Roll! There will never be anyone like her EVER! The entire package, voice, clothes, songs, etc. is OTHERWORLDLY and can make even my most depressing days sooooooooo much better! I’ve never met her, but she did grab both my hands and looked into my eyes during the “Edge walk” in Nashville during the TISL tour. I will never forget it. I will never forget how real it was…how different (and much more stunning) she looked in person, how soft her hands were, and how great she smelled! I’ve often tried to find the same perfume just to have some sort of sense memory of the whole experience.
Anyways, that’s my story. I’d be greatly interested to hear all of your stories! Please!

[TerraRhiannon]

I'm gonna get to this tomorrow!!

[amberlemegan]

This is great idea for a thread!!!

My story is kinda short. I haven't been a fan for very long. It was in September of 2009. I was sitting in traffic with my dad on the way to his house. I had my ipod in listening to Celine Dion when Tusk came on. My dad turned the volume up really loud so instead of turning up my ipod up I decided to save my ears and just listen to whatever my dad turned up. My dad was talking about USC marching band being on it. He was in marching band back in the day so I guess he thought that was cool. I ended up really liking the song. At that point I only knew two things about Fleetwood Mac. 1. That they were a band. 2. That my stepmom had a very best of cd of theirs. Since I liked the song so much I wanted to put it on my ipod so I borrowed my Stepmoms cd. I decided to put all the songs on my ipod just for the hell of it (Best decision I've ever made) That night I sat there and listened to them all.I couldn't believe how many of their songs I had heard before like Dreams, Landslide, Rhiannon, Go Your Own Way, Gypsy, and Little Lies to name a few. Landslide, Dreams, and Gypsy were all songs I loved hearing on the radio, but never looked them up. Who knew they were from the same singer from the same band??? I couldn't stop listening to it. I really loved Seven Wonders at the time so I decided to look it up on youtube. I watched the live video from the Tango in the Night tour and I was like who is this chick because she is awesome and then proceeded to watch it an uncountable amount of times :laugh:
So I did some hardcore researching on Fleetwood Mac. I found out that that awesome chick was Stevie. I then proceeded to do some hardcore researching on her. I just kept falling in love everytime I watched a new video on youtube and found out something new. My poor friends and family. I told them everything and wouldn't shutup about Stevie all day everyday for like a year. I still don't. I still tell them whether they are listening or not.
I started listening to her solo stuff and other songs she's done with Fleetwood Mac. After that the rest is history. I love her clothes and her voice. Because of her I actually started paying attention to the lyrics of a song. And there's just something about her that I just can't put my finger on that makes me love her so much. Stevie introduced me into a whole new world of music I didn't know was out there. I wasn't much of a music fan before I heard her and now I can't think of life without it.
Along the way I found this fantastic site filled with all you wonderful people and learn so much more stuff about her from you guys that just keeps me falling in love. :xoxo:

[mezzoforte]

Groovy idea for a thread. And Dave--I can't believe how long you've loved Stevie! Almost your entire life; it's pretty amazing. My story is much shorter.

I think I've always loved the sound of Stevie's voice. For years, every time GDW or Eof17 or the Chain would come on the radio, I remember thinking "I love this song." What stopped me from becoming a fan? Mainly, the fact that as those songs were playing, my mother would invariably say, "I hate this song." And normally mutter something about ridiculous spinning in chiffon. My mother has unimpeachable taste in almost everything, but she loathes la Nicks. And because I have a terrible habit of trusting my mother's opinions more than my own, I'd always shrug, decide she was probably right about the song, and forget all about it. Until a couple of years ago, Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac were only vaguely familiar names to me.

Actually, when I finally got into them last summer, I found my way in more by the drama than the music. Confession time: my name is G.G., and I'm addicted to other people's drama.
I don't want it in my life, but hearing about it in others' is my crack. Eh, blame it on having spent way too much of high school and college in drama club.
Anyway, the Mamas and the Papas are my other all-time favorite band, and I'd always kind of loved all of their crazy, screwed up relationships (note: this is before the incest came out in the open--I may love drama but that devastated me). I loved how John wrote it all into their songs. To me, the stories gave their music that extra something to latch onto. I loved other bands, but I was fascinated by them.
There was a sudden flood of articles about the group following High on Arrival, all of them mentioning the tumultuous history, and most of them describing the Mamas and the Papas as "rivaling Fleetwood Mac" in that regard. I remember reading comparisons between John reveling in making Denny and Michelle sing about their affair, and Lindsey making Stevie sing about "shackin' up."
Now that got my attention. I knew literally nothing about FM, but after hearing that they made an entire record about all breaking up with each other? I was so completely sold. Honestly, Rumours probably could have sounding like dying cats and I would have listened to it.
So I listened to Rumours straight through, and of course, it didn't sound like dying cats. I remember being amazed--most of the songs were familiar to me, but I'd never known who sang them or the stories behind them. I fell in love immediately.

[mitzo]

I recall Rhiannon being on the radio in '75 or so and liking it a lot, but in '77 when I was in the messy process of coming out of the closet and alternately whooping it up and going on antidepressants, Rumours came out. I started to do transcendental meditation and my depression was swept away, and Dreams was all over the radio. GDW and Dreams were a kind of background track to my good moments then, blasting through my car radio speakers from an 8-track player. I loved Stevie's voice and delivery of these unusual songs, and the attitude she seemed to convey. But it was in '79, when I was a real hot mess but trying really hard to keep it together (my first tragicomic love, more coming out drama, etc.) , that Stevie on Tusk really grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Sara, Beautiful Child, and Storms seemed to speak directly to me and I spent hour after hour setting the turntable needle to those tracks and wallowing in the feelings they seemed to tickle. Since then I've been hooked and I am always listening for Stevie to reprise that amazing whirlpool of sentiment in her music.

[The Catdancer]

February 26 1977 saw them on tv for the first time doing GYOW, been hooked eversince. I had already heard Rhiannon but I had no clue as to who it was (band, solo singer...) but when I heard GYOW that was it. Black top hat, chiffon, the works. The voice (even though she was b'ground vocals) was almost overwhelming. Got Rumours for my 14th birthday a month later. Need I say more?! Met the band several times, great people!!! And I'm still crazy about them (after all these years....).

[jellyman10]

Thanks for sharing your stories, guys. I enjoyed reading them. I'll try and keep mine short.

Rumours was my intro to FM. I was about 15 -- and a girl! -- and I just fell totally in love with Stevie for about six months. Voice, songs, style, looks.... the whole package. I just couldn't believe such a human being could exist and not, like, be the queen of everything! Real teenage crush time.

Then I got more and more into music generally, and began to see her more as an artist, which, by the way, is just a noun to me. It doesn't imply any especially high level of quality. I just was becoming a writer and singer myself, and was interested in her creative processes, alongside the processes of many other people too.

Then I went off music big-time for about 15 years...... so fast-forward to last year, when it all came back!

And it's great to be a fan again, in the Internet age -- but only because the Ledge is great! I mean, given how lousy (lazy) the Mac and Stevie are at PR, we'd be stuffed without it.

In fact, I often think when I come here that some of you guys have no idea how much has changed since the 80s! :laugh: But I love it. Now, I can indulge my obsession with SN's process by listening to all these demos -- and indulge my resurgent girl crush by looking at SortaSavage's picture thread. :o

Loz

[HejiraNYC]

Thanks for sharing your stories, guys. I enjoyed reading them. I'll try and keep mine short.

Rumours was my intro to FM. I was about 15 -- and a girl! -- and I just fell totally in love with Stevie for about six months. Voice, songs, style, looks.... the whole package. I just couldn't believe such a human being could exist and not, like, be the queen of everything! Real teenage crush time.


Loz

Enough about Stevie. There seems to be a much more interesting story for you to tell! Feel free to share, if you like. Consider me fascinated!

[Sleepless-Child]

Groovy idea for a thread. And Dave--I can't believe how long you've loved Stevie! Almost your entire life; it's pretty amazing. My story is much shorter.

I think I've always loved the sound of Stevie's voice. For years, every time GDW or Eof17 or the Chain would come on the radio, I remember thinking "I love this song." What stopped me from becoming a fan? Mainly, the fact that as those songs were playing, my mother would invariably say, "I hate this song." And normally mutter something about ridiculous spinning in chiffon. My mother has unimpeachable taste in almost everything, but she loathes la Nicks. And because I have a terrible habit of trusting my mother's opinions more than my own, I'd always shrug, decide she was probably right about the song, and forget all about it. Until a couple of years ago, Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac were only vaguely familiar names to me.

Actually, when I finally got into them last summer, I found my way in more by the drama than the music. Confession time: my name is G.G., and I'm addicted to other people's drama.
I don't want it in my life, but hearing about it in others' is my crack. Eh, blame it on having spent way too much of high school and college in drama club.
Anyway, the Mamas and the Papas are my other all-time favorite band, and I'd always kind of loved all of their crazy, screwed up relationships (note: this is before the incest came out in the open--I may love drama but that devastated me). I loved how John wrote it all into their songs. To me, the stories gave their music that extra something to latch onto. I loved other bands, but I was fascinated by them.
There was a sudden flood of articles about the group following High on Arrival, all of them mentioning the tumultuous history, and most of them describing the Mamas and the Papas as "rivaling Fleetwood Mac" in that regard. I remember reading comparisons between John reveling in making Denny and Michelle sing about their affair, and Lindsey making Stevie sing about "shackin' up."
Now that got my attention. I knew literally nothing about FM, but after hearing that they made an entire record about all breaking up with each other? I was so completely sold. Honestly, Rumours probably could have sounding like dying cats and I would have listened to it.
So I listened to Rumours straight through, and of course, it didn't sound like dying cats. I remember being amazed--most of the songs were familiar to me, but I'd never known who sang them or the stories behind them. I fell in love immediately.

This made me laugh :laugh:. Really, it's great that you admit you were attracted by the drama. Most of us are ashamed to say that we love Fleetwood Mac's drama, but we do. Or i do. Or maybe i did, i'm kind of sick of it now, but i'm still a shipper, so yeah, it mattered, in the beginning. (and you made me read The Mamas and the Papas' article on wikipedia---gross!).
Does your mother hate you? :laugh:

My story isn't that interesting, but the feeling is. I never felt THAT connected to someone i don't know, without even knowing the reason.
Heard Edge of Seventeen in School of Rock. Loved it immediatly, but had no idea who it was. Then, i checked a video on youtube : it was Stevie singing Edge of Seventeen in 1981 (HBO special). It was the first time in my life i saw someone CRYING on stage, and it was shocking, seriously (though i know now it was coke :)). Then i watched it a second time, and cried with her.
I did some research, and listened to Rhiannon, for like a week. I was already hooked.

Someone in this thread said something very true : thanks to Stevie, i learned to listen to the songs' lyrics, and have a different view on music now.
I'm aware of her imperfections, and of why she's so great too, but the only thing i can't explain is why i'm feeling this way about her. Weird. But she's almost a part of me now.

[jellyman10]

Enough about Stevie. There seems to be a much more interesting story for you to tell! Feel free to share, if you like. Consider me fascinated!

:lol:

Possibly the worst sentence I have ever constructed. Off now to tear up my Society of Authors membership.

[OooMissionary]

I was born in 1987...

...The first song I ever clearly remember from childhood was 'Tell Me Lies'... My mother used to sing the chorus continually throughout the late 1980s, apparently...

Then...

It was the fall of 1996... and I was in the 3rd grade. I was eating red beans and rice (I always find it odd that I remember what I was eating). My father would always give me random albums to listen to that he thought I would like. On this night, he gave me Fleetwood Mac "Rumours"... EPIC evening... I loved it all front to back (or maybe back to front?) The songs that stuck out to me the most were Dreams, The Chain and Gold Dust Woman I became obsessed with the witchy woman on the cover with the hypnotic voice. That week, my father purchased 'Timespace' for me... I was even more blown away. For that Christmas I received my own copy of 'Rumours', the white album, 'Tusk' and 'Belladonna'... I was fully obsessed... The only kid in elementary school raving about the genius of Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks...

Then it happened... 'The Dance'... I was fully prepared for a new era of the Mac, and just in time...

In Middle School, I made friends with another odd girl in my classes... We bonded over our love of everything Stevie Nicks... Taking summer art classes and bringing in our parents old FM albums to pay is a memorable highlight for me...

Now, well over a decade later... I am married to that odd little girl from middle school (under its own interesting circumstances)... and we still obsess, daily, over Miss Stevie Nicks...

Andy

[Aussie W/Heart]

Don't worry Loz, i know exactly what you meant, i felt the same way at 16yrs old in 1977 lol.. i remember staring at Stevie's photos inside the cover of Rumours, & wishing she was my big sister.. how weird is that?? lol

That was a really cool story Andy..

[Pooks]

I discovered Stevie in 1997 during a painful breakup.

My once-upon-a-time boyfriend of 2 1/2 years had decided to completely disappear from my life... no warning, no explanation... for all I knew he was dead. I had moved home from college for the summer so I could spend more time with him (he had recently moved away from my college town), only to find that *POOF* he was gone. :distress: I knew he was living with his mom for awhile, whom I had never met (red flag, anyone?), so after a few days I decided to go hunt him down, stalk him out at her apartment and wait in the parking lot for him to get home from work. I'm making myself sound like a crazy woman, but I was hurting; I was desperate; I didn't know what else to do.

To make a long story short, he eventually came home. We talked. He lied. I cried. And I got in my car to drive home. I was crying so hard I could barely see to drive. As I was pulling away, I started listening to the song that was playing on the radio. It was a beautiful, almost magical female voice that was singing exactly the thoughts that were running through my head. I remember thinking, "wow, this woman knows EXACTLY how I feel!" Come to find out I was listening to Silver Springs (the Dance version) by Stevie Nicks (well, technically Fleetwood Mac). ;) That very moment was when my love of Stevie began. I watched The Dance over and over on TV, started researching her music and went to Best Buy to buy Enchanted. I remember listening to each song and feeling this deep connection with her music. I became a HUGE fan and have been ever since. Stevie helped me get through an extremely painful time, and countless hard times through the years. She's who I turn to in the depths of my despair; the one I turn to to pick my spirits up. So, thanks, once-upon-a-time boyfriend. You introduced me to one of the best things in my life.

I'm relatively new to the board, btw. This is my first post! Thought it might be a good way to introduce myself. Glad to be here. :wavey:

[holidayroad]

I'm relatively new to the board, btw. This is my first post! Thought it might be a good way to introduce myself. Glad to be here. :wavey:

Welcome to The Ledge!!:thumbsup:

[holidayroad]

The first Stevie song I heard (knowing it was her) was "I Can't Wait". I thought it was great!! Anytime it came on the radio, I was thrilled! At that point I was 11 years old. Fast forward to 1987 when I see the vid for FM "Big Love". I was super surprised that my already favorite singer (Lindsey Buckingham) was in a band with another singer I enjoyed (Stevie Nicks)! I went on to buy more FM and Stevie solo. I discovered plenty of songs that I already liked, but hadn't known that Stevie sang them. I've been a fan ever since.

[OooMissionary]

These stories make me happy... There really are a ton of people as insane as myself :)

[David]

I am EXTREMELY CURIOUS about YOUR Stevie Nicks story. How it was that you came to hear Stevie for the first time, why you love her or why you are obsessed with her, interesting stories, etc. When I was a little boy, I used to listen to 93-KHJ on AM. They played all my favorite pop songs, the Hit Parade. So they played Over My Head & Say You Love Me. I got dragged to a Fleetwood Mac show about that time, & I really didn't like it. The players looked as if they hadn't showered or washed their hair in years, & they played LOUDLY--too loudly. They were hippies, & dangerous at that. I thought they were part of the Charles Manson family.

But then Go Your Own Way was released to the radio station, & I loved that song! After that, Dreams was played. I hated that one. I thought the lead singer was awful. It took a while for that song to sound cool to me.

I fell in love with the black chiffon, the top hat, & the midnight-suede riser boots. (Elton John, my favorite, also wore platform shoes, so that made Stevie seem cool.) I felt that here was a look not out of Dickens but out of Trollope (not the Barchester novels but the Palliser novels). I became enchanted, wild, wild in the darkest places of your mind. Where are the children? Do they lie hopelessly enchanted? Please visit my blog & leave comments for me & Cassandra.

[sorcerer999]

I'm gonna get to this tomorrow!!

TerraRhiannon, I'd love to read it! And thanks to everyone else who replied. I really enjoy reading all your stories and experiences!

More please!!!:]

[SapphireSister]

She had me at "I'm not a witch, get a life!".

[Ghost_Tracker]

Hey Everyone,

I'm going to apologize in advance if ever there was a thread started about this topic. I went back a long way but couldn't find any threads that were similar. If there is one, I'll delete this one and we can bump the other one up.

I am EXTREMELY CURIOUS about YOUR Stevie Nicks story. How it was that you came to hear Stevie for the first time, why you love her or why you are obsessed with her, interesting stories, etc. It can be as short or as long as you want it to be. I think it would be a really interesting thread and a good way for us to learn more about each other, etc. If this is a stupid idea, again I'm sorry. But I think it might be fun.

-Dave

First time I saw "Stevie Nicks: Live." (The "HBO Special.") Absolutely blown away by it. Never had seen anything like it or that even could compare. And then when she did
"Edge of Seventeen" (which i.m.o. was one of her strongest performances ever by the way), I knew that she was going to be a *huge* solo star in her own right and that I would be a fan for life.

HUGE Kudos to Jimmy Iovine for that special and Bella Donna, by the way.

Oh, also, in the same time frame, she did "Stand Back" and "Nightbird" on Saturday Night Live and Solid Gold, and I was lucky enough to see both of those when they
were originally broadcast. That "sealed the deal." :nod:

[jellyman10]

Don't worry Loz, i know exactly what you meant

:xoxo:
10 characters

[Aussie W/Heart]

:xoxo:
10 characters

Hahaha, what took you so long to respond...:thumbsup:

[jellyman10]

Hahaha, what took you so long to respond...:thumbsup:

Rookie/idiot tendencies. I keep forgetting to set the alert on threads I've added to. *facepalm*

[sorcerer999]

I'm bumping this thread in hopes that some of our newbies, and even some senior Ledgies who haven't had a chance, will share their Stevie story!

I appreciate all the responses thus far, but I WANNA HEAR MORE STORIES! :)

I think they're all fascinating!

[Kooch68]

First let me start off by saying I am a newbie here....so please be kind to my mistakes.
My Stevie story starts with my parents divorcing and me being forced to spend every other week end with my dad. He wasn't really much into being a parent so he thought the best way to entertain a 10 year old boy would be to sit him down in front of the stereo with headphones and a stack of vinyl records. After sifting through Alice Cooper, Moody Blues and Patti Smith, I stumbled upon his copy of "Rumours". I was hooked by her voice right away. I secretly removed that record from his house (along with "Horses" by Patti Smith). I still have both of those records incidentally. I fell in love with Stevie's voice and its a love affair that has continues all these years. I was never terribly fond of my father but I do have him to thank for my Stevie Nicks addiction.

[estranged4life]

just always found something sexy about her when I was a teenager, She wasn't (at the time) my type of music (Have and will be a metal-head - more of a music JUNKIE these days) but she had the rocker girl look I liked (And still do).

I can recall hearing Stevie back when I was around 5-6 years old when "Rhiannon" was released as a Fleetwood Mac single on the AM radio station in my hometown (KBIX 1490 AM) because it was rare for my Dad to play rock UNLESS it was something like Elvis & the Beach Boys - but I remember Dad liking that song...

Years later my oldest brother played Fleetwood Mac alot, He even saw Stevie in concert in Tulsa during the Wild Heart Tour 1983. So I heard alot of it in my youth and even though I ventured off into my own taste in music, I always had her in the back of my mind.

Started to listen to Stevie alot around 2001 when TISL was released, and joined here in June 2001 - so its cool that ya newbies are joining in a similar style to the way a bunch of us 2001 Ledgies joined, to get info on the newest album & tour...

Been here ever since (obviously) and enjoy sharing the bootleg collection I have of Stevie solo music and music with Fleetwood Mac with those who may never have the chance to listen to rarities. :thumbsup:

[sorcerer999]

First let me start off by saying I am a newbie here....so please be kind to my mistakes.

Welcome to the Ledge! I love the Kate Bush reference! ;)

[Kooch68]

Thank you for the welcome......Nice to see someone caught the Kate reference, Guess I am not very good at being subtle

[Aussie W/Heart]

My Stevie story:
Well where do i start, fast forward to 2008 when late one night i decided to explore the Internet, as i resisted using the family computer for a few yrs..I first Googled Stevie Nicks, i read a couple of articles then noticed all these YouTube clips so i watched some old fav songs Sara, Rhiannon & GDW over & over till the early hrs
I instantly fell back in love with her voice & music, practically every night id stay up till 2am discovering everything Stevie related on YouTube.. I had a lot of catching up to do.
As a teenager i listened & loved F/Mac, went to see their awesome Rumours concert in 77, then in 1980, i met F/M & had a conversation with Stevie for 10 min or so.. wow i still cant believe i would be so lucky.. right place right time for sure!! A Surreal experience. I still feel bad for fibbing to her:o
Another highlight for me was seeing F/Mac Unleashed tour 09..

[76sparky]

I first heard Stevie Nicks with me knowing it was her in 1991, Timespace was just released and on UK television there was a TV ad for it - i caught this and was instantly beguiled by her appearance and the brief snippets of songs that were shown.

I bought the album and also the 1988 FM greatest hits album and played these to death - I then set to buying everything I could that had her on them.

The first time i played the Fm greatest hits - i set my bedroom up with candles and incense burning to create the right ambience and the first song i heard was Rhiannon - totally perfect.

1994 and Street Angel - this was the first new Stevie Cd i was there for and I loved it at the time - still have a soft spot for it even now.

1997 - The Dance - wow - this was shown in abridged form on UK TV and it mainly focused on Stevie's songs - amazing. At the same time i had started to collect some demos and live stuff but being internet phobic - wasn't hot on this

1998 - enchanted and disc 3 - just blew my mind - i had collected most of the b-sides but there were gems on here i had heard of but never heard.

2001 - TISL - i took the day off work when this was released and then spent all day listening to it thinking it was amazing.

2003 - Say you will - i loved the songs on this but still preferred some of the demos i had heard. Got to see them live in Manchester and it was almost a relgious moment for me - to be in the same space as Stevie herself.

2004-now - expanded my collection with Live/ Demos/ master reels etc and fell in love with new songs, old songs all over again.

Cant wait for In your dreams to be released to get that new music feeling all over again.

[goliath111]

well I came across Stevie by mistake...I was listening to Casey Kasem's countdown in about 1993 or so...and they had some kind of "top 40 extra" and I hit record on my tape player because I thought it was "Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton (lol,don't ask why) and when the song was over they went on to say it was "Leather and Lace" by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley....and I started looking for her albums/cassettes and then learned she was in fleetwood mac and so on... :)

[TakenByTheSky23]

I’ve made about 20 posts on The Ledge so far, after rabidly following along for a few years now. I still feel like a rookie here – because I am – but I, like everyone else on here, have a story that led to my adoration of Stevie and to my being a member on this forum. I’ve never written it down before, and figured that it might be a formal way to introduce myself to the board. It’s bound to be long; I’m a journalist and therefore a writer. Feel free to ignore it and to move along if you like, but if you’re bored and looking to come into someone else’s world for a few minutes, you’re all set!

I lived my childhood ignorantly unaware of who Stevie Nicks or Fleetwood Mac were, at least on a conscious level. I remember my cousin Shelley imitating Stevie’s vocal on Seven Wonders around the time when Tango came out (of course, she did no justice), and I can recall hearing my mother singing along to Little Lies on the car stereo as my sister and I sat in the backseat waiting for our father to return to the vehicle one evening. Strange how you can recall little things like that. But save for those two wispy remembrances, my education in all things Nicks had been virtually nil.

In 1996, when I was 16, I began working at a location of a Canadian record store chain. After about a year of employment there, that location was being shut down, and all the employees were being shunted to other stores in the area, as if from a sprinkler. I was transferred to a store in the far-east end of the city, and I can remember my boss, whom I was about to cease employment with, saying to me, “so you’re going to work for Mike now. I hope that you like Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. And if you don’t, you’d better start.” It seems that Mike had a deep and lifelong love affair with everything involving the lady from the mountain and her fireflies. And that’s putting it lightly. Mike had an addiction. And one that I would come to be bitten by.

Putting things into perspective here - what was happening around this time? In 1997? That’s right – The Dance had exploded onto the mainstream. This new store that I began working at was surrounded with TVs. I was inundated and overwhelmed (and in hindsight, treated) on every single shift with this magical reunion tour. Rhiannon rang like a bell through the night, and I was hooked. I couldn’t get away from that DVD – it became a fixture in my life. When I saw Stevie clutch that fringed microphone as if her life depended on it as she cried “never get away…” into Lindsey’s eyes during Silver Springs, that was it for me. Game over. This is my life now.

I spent the next little while pouring over that DVD and CD and memorizing it verbatim. It became my soundtrack. When I got to university in 1999, the advent of Napster came about. It was a new toy. I was fascinated by this Nicks woman, or what I knew of her thus far, and eagerly typed her name into the software. That’s when I first became exposed – and rapt – with her demos. I fell in love. Again and again. I burnt, among others, the cleaning lady version of Sara onto a disc and played the hell out of it. It remains, to this day, my favourite song.

By early 2001, she was musically defining my life. I was gobbling up she and the Mac’s catalogue as much as I could. But in addition to the old stuff that I was enveloping myself in, I knew that something bigger was afoot. This was going to be a big year. On May 1st, Trouble In Shangri La would be released. All of the press was making me giddy. This was the first solo album of Stevie’s where I knew who she was. I was hanging on every word of this new album, and I hadn’t even heard it yet. She performed Fall From Grace on the Blockbuster Music Awards, and I watched with an open jaw. It would be quite a summer.

And it was. I moved that August onto the 35th floor of the tallest building in town with my best friend. She and I had been flirting with the idea of becoming romantically involved. We were absolute kindreds, but I had always knew that something was wrong. Just after we moved in together, she fell in love with me just as I was figuring out that I was gay. Silver Springs was her song to me. Stevie leant a lot of dramatic music to our lives at that point, but she also helped us get through some delicate moments together as well.

On September 10th, 2001, my kindred and I went to see Stevie play at The Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto. Absolute bliss. At that show, we ran into Mike, my boss from yesteryear at that record store – the one who had exposed me to Stevie back in 1997. He got us up to the front row, and we touched Stevie’s hand during the Edge walk. Elation.

That elation still permeated through my little head the next morning when I awoke, until I turned on the TV and saw that in New York City, the World Trade Centre had been attacked. The skies were on fire. I felt guilty about my pleasure from the previous evening. Stevie had flown from Toronto that night into New York City, where she was scheduled to perform next. Some of her crew had stayed behind in Toronto to catch a later flight, and they had become stranded due to the NYC tragedy. Even in Canada, the streets and the skies were still that day. Everyone was devastated. Nobody moved. In the weeks that would follow, I’d follow Stevie on The Nicks Fix and read her journal about the experience. It seemed that we were all there with her, and in the tragedy…even from Canada.

Fast forward. I was 21 then. I just turned 31 last week. Stevie would come to absolutely define my 20s for me. She taught me how to write music. I taught myself how to play simple piano and guitar, replicating the songs that made me fall in love with her, and then later putting melodies to my own words. We all know that she is a poet. She brought out the poet in me, as well.

Personally, I’m finding so many parallels between the last album and this one. May 1st, 2001. May 3rd, 2011. 2001 was absolutely defined, for me, by Stevie Nicks. I am absolutely certain that 2011 will come to be as well.

And Mike, my manager from the record store? The one who singlehandedly, without knowing, gifted me with something so changing when I was all of 17? The one who delivered Stevie to me my mere chance and circumstance? The one who I have had countless Stevie listening parties with? And the one who I have to thank for all of the above? He is still a treasured and great friend of mine. And ten years later, I’ll see him in the front row when Stevie plays Toronto for her In Your Dreams tour. I’ll look over at him and, if he’s close enough, sing into his ear, “…and then I see someone standing at the side of the stage…”

And I’ll thank him.

And then Stevie will come out for her Edge walk.

And nothing else will matter…

[sorcerer999]

TakenByThe Sky, that was an absolute joy to read! Thank you for sharing your story with us! :)

[TakenByTheSky23]

TakenByThe Sky, that was an absolute joy to read! Thank you for sharing your story with us! :)

Wow - I was pretty certain that my tale would be ignored in favour of other more exciting threads. I know that there's a lot going on right now - that I'm totally into as well! - and I was almost sorry to bump this thread up. But thank you for that. We all have a Stevie tale...she's always said that her fans are so interesting, and I just wanted to try and contribute to that...in my own little way. I have been ensconced reading everyone else's! I love this club.

[J.Miller]

I’ve made about 20 posts on The Ledge so far, after rabidly following along for a few years now. I still feel like a rookie here – because I am – but I, like everyone else on here, has a story that led to my adoration of Stevie and to my being a member on this forum. I’ve never written it down before, and figured that it might be a formal way to introduce myself to the board. It’s bound to be long; I’m a journalist and therefore a writer. Feel free to ignore it and to move along if you like, but if you’re bored and looking to come into someone else’s world for a few minutes, you’re all set!

I lived my childhood ignorantly unaware of who Stevie Nicks or Fleetwood Mac were, at least on a conscious level. I remember my cousin Shelley imitating Stevie’s vocal on Seven Wonders around the time when Tango came out (of course, she did no justice), and I can recall hearing my mother singing along to Little Lies on the car stereo as my sister and I sat in the backseat waiting for our father to return to the vehicle one evening. Strange how you can recall little things like that. But save for those two wispy remembrances, my education in all things Nicks had been virtually nil.

In 1996, when I was 16, I began working at a location of a Canadian record store chain. After about a year of employment there, that location was being shut down, and all the employees were being shunted to other stores in the area, as if from a sprinkler. I was transferred to a store in the far-east end of the city, and I can remember my boss, whom I was about to cease employment with, saying to me, “so you’re going to work for Mike now. I hope that you like Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. And if you don’t, you’d better start.” It seems that Mike had a deep and lifelong love affair with everything involving the lady from the mountain and her fireflies. And that’s putting it lightly. Mike had an addiction. And one that I would come to be bitten by.

Putting things into perspective here - what was happening around this time? In 1997? That’s right – The Dance had exploded onto the mainstream. This new store that I began working at was surrounded with TVs. I was inundated and overwhelmed (and in hindsight, treated) on every single shift with this magical reunion tour. Rhiannon rang like a bell through the night, and I was hooked. I couldn’t get away from that DVD – it became a fixture in my life. When I saw Stevie clutch that fringed microphone as if her life depended on it as she cried “never get away…” into Lindsey’s eyes during Silver Springs, that was it for me. Game over. This is my life now.

I spent the next little while pouring over that DVD and CD and memorizing it verbatim. It became my soundtrack. When I got to university in 1999, the advent of Napster came about. It was a new toy. I was fascinated by this Nicks woman, or what I knew of her thus far, and eagerly typed her name into the software. That’s when I first became exposed – and rapt – with her demos. I fell in love. Again and again. I burnt, among others, the cleaning lady version of Sara onto a disc and played the hell out of it. It remains, to this day, my favourite song.

By early 2001, she was musically defining my life. I was gobbling up she and the Mac’s catalogue as much as I could. But in addition to the old stuff that I was enveloping myself in, I knew that something bigger was afoot. This was going to be a big year. On May 1st, Trouble In Shangri La would be released. All of the press was making me giddy. This was the first solo album of Stevie’s where I knew who she was. I was hanging on every word of this new album, and I hadn’t even heard it yet. She performed Fall From Grace on the Blockbuster Music Awards, and I watched with an open jaw. It would be quite a summer.

And it was. I moved that August onto the 35th floor of the tallest building in town with my best friend. She and I had been flirting with the idea of becoming romantically involved. We were absolute kindreds, but I had always knew that something was wrong. Just after we moved in together, she fell in love with me just as I was figuring out that I was gay. Silver Springs was her song to me. Stevie leant a lot of dramatic music to our lives at that point, but she also helped us get through some delicate moments together as well.

On September 10th, 2001, my kindred and I went to see Stevie play at The Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto. Absolute bliss. At that show, we ran into Mike, my boss from yesteryear at that record store – the one who had exposed me to Stevie back in 1997. He got us up to the front row, and we touched Stevie’s hand during the Edge walk. Elation.

That elation still permeated through my little head the next morning when I awoke, until I turned on the TV and saw that in New York City, the World Trade Centre had been attacked. The skies were on fire. I felt guilty about my pleasure from the previous evening. Stevie had flown from Toronto that night into New York City, where she was scheduled to perform next. Some of her crew had stayed behind in Toronto to catch a later flight, and they had become stranded due to the NYC tragedy. Even in Canada, the streets and the skies were still that day. Everyone was devastated. Nobody moved. In the weeks that would follow, I’d follow Stevie on The Nicks Fix and read her journal about the experience. It seemed that we were all there with her, and in the tragedy…even from Canada.

Fast forward. I was 21 then. I just turned 31 last week. Stevie would come to absolutely define my 20s for me. She taught me how to write music. I taught myself how to play simple piano and guitar, replicating the songs that made me fall in love with her, and then later putting melodies to my own words. We all know that she is a poet. She brought out the poet in me, as well.

Personally, I’m finding so many parallels between the last album and this one. May 1st, 2001. May 3rd, 2011. 2001 was absolutely defined, for me, by Stevie Nicks. I am absolutely certain that 2011 will come to be as well.

And Mike, my manager from the record store? The one who singlehandedly, without knowing, gifted me with something so changing when I was all of 17? The one who delivered Stevie to me my mere chance and circumstance? The one who I have had countless Stevie listening parties with? And the one who I have to thank for all of the above? He is still a treasured and great friend of mine. And ten years later, I’ll see him in the front row when Stevie plays Toronto for her In Your Dreams tour. I’ll look over at him and, if he’s close enough, sing into his ear, “…and then I see someone standing at the side of the stage…”

And I’ll thank him.

And then Stevie will come out for her Edge walk.

And nothing else will matter…

Isn't it great to be a Stevie/Fleetwood Mac fan. I am very excited about the new music too.
My story? I have been seeing a psychiatrist over the last several months. She asked me about my hobbies. She asked me to write about my hobbies in a notebook between sessions. The Stevie/Fleetwood Mac story I wrote end up being 30 pages long in a spiral bound notebook. She said I was a good writer. I like to post this but as only a whole. If I do a rewrite it probably end up being longer. The psychiatrist diagnosed me with having Aspergers Syndrome. It is a mild form of Autism. My eight year old son has been diagnosed with Aspergers also. It is a wonderful story but I am not a typist. A clue: My love for Stevie Nicks sort falls between Taylor Swifts 'Love Story' and Lady Gaga's' Bad Romance'. Typing this took an hour. Thanks again:)

[Nathan]

yup, good post. welcome and thank you
you

[PenguinHead]

Groovy idea for a thread. And Dave--I can't believe how long you've loved Stevie! Almost your entire life; it's pretty amazing. My story is much shorter.

I think I've always loved the sound of Stevie's voice. For years, every time GDW or Eof17 or the Chain would come on the radio, I remember thinking "I love this song." What stopped me from becoming a fan? Mainly, the fact that as those songs were playing, my mother would invariably say, "I hate this song." And normally mutter something about ridiculous spinning in chiffon. My mother has unimpeachable taste in almost everything, but she loathes la Nicks. And because I have a terrible habit of trusting my mother's opinions more than my own, I'd always shrug, decide she was probably right about the song, and forget all about it. Until a couple of years ago, Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac were only vaguely familiar names to me.

Actually, when I finally got into them last summer, I found my way in more by the drama than the music. Confession time: my name is G.G., and I'm addicted to other people's drama.
I don't want it in my life, but hearing about it in others' is my crack. Eh, blame it on having spent way too much of high school and college in drama club.
Anyway, the Mamas and the Papas are my other all-time favorite band, and I'd always kind of loved all of their crazy, screwed up relationships (note: this is before the incest came out in the open--I may love drama but that devastated me). I loved how John wrote it all into their songs. To me, the stories gave their music that extra something to latch onto. I loved other bands, but I was fascinated by them.
There was a sudden flood of articles about the group following High on Arrival, all of them mentioning the tumultuous history, and most of them describing the Mamas and the Papas as "rivaling Fleetwood Mac" in that regard. I remember reading comparisons between John reveling in making Denny and Michelle sing about their affair, and Lindsey making Stevie sing about "shackin' up."
Now that got my attention. I knew literally nothing about FM, but after hearing that they made an entire record about all breaking up with each other? I was so completely sold. Honestly, Rumours probably could have sounding like dying cats and I would have listened to it.
So I listened to Rumours straight through, and of course, it didn't sound like dying cats. I remember being amazed--most of the songs were familiar to me, but I'd never known who sang them or the stories behind them. I fell in love immediately.

A little off topic:

Both Fleetwood Mac and The Mamas and Papas are my favorite groups, and they very much share a lot similarities, including: the drama, the infidelity, the drugs, the indulgence. And, they all released solo albums.

The obessesion I have with both groups is equal, save for the fact that The Mamas & Papas couldn't manage to overcome their issues, and only existed for 3 1/2 years. What's really frustrating it that while fans get to enjoy lots of live shows from Fleetwood Mac, the Mamas and Papas only performed about 30-40 shows. The only recorded show that exists is their Monterey Pop show, where they didn't have time to rehearse, they didn't have their regular touring band, and there were numerous technical isssues, primarly because Jimi Hendrix performed right before them and decimated the stage set up. It was, by their own admission, their worst show. And that sucks for fans, because they were hugely influentual.

I feel proud that my name is in the book "Go Where You Want to Go." I'm credited for an image from a tour program that the author included in his book. My prized possession is a very rare 1967 Monterey Pop poster.




For t

[jellyman10]

I burnt, among others, the cleaning lady version of Sara onto a disc and played the hell out of it. It remains, to this day, my favourite song.



Mine too! Hello, and thanks for sharing.

Loz