Shocking 1992 Article...
 

Come Into My Parlour

Spencer Bright
VOX Magazine (London) February 1992***

Deserted by Mick Fleetwood, bullied by her record company, and haunted by the memory of four abortions, Stevie Nicks is rich but not happy. Spencer Bright breaks out the Kleenex for the woman who couldn't go her own way. Homely snaps by George Bodnar.

I pull a Kleenex from its box and hand it to Stevie Nicks. She wipes a tear as it slides down her cheek. She cries when she speaks of Mick Fleetwood, she cries when she speaks of the babies she might have had, and she cries when she speaks of the bullies in the record industry shoving her around. She's like a damsel in distress in her castle, and we're in her fairy land lounge. There is a warm glow from the chunky candles and the blue flame on the log fire. While outside in LA, the temperature sizzles up to 80.

Stevie points out her favourite chaise lounge. Her favourite doll, which resembles her, sits regally upon it. Shawls are draped about. One, a 12-year-old garment, is loosely draped around the chanteuse. Stevie needs the comfort of these long familiar possessions; they stress a continuity and equilibrium that have been sadly lacking in her emotional life.

To say that Stevie Nicks is considered flaky is a mild understatement. But, as with so many things Nicksian, it's a mythical fog that masks the true woman. She isn't just a mystical old crone running a witches coven in the Hollywood Hills. The fantasy world she appears to inhabit actually stems from her love of England, mainly its history, kings and queens.

Her home in Encino - up the road from Dave Stewart's house and over the brow of the hill from that of her former lover Tom Petty - is the sort of chocolate box creation you'd expect to find in a theme park. From the outside it's a Tudor mansion with Elephantitis; as you enter there's a drained waterfall replaced by plants and flowers running alongside the winding brick staircase.

Climbing the stairs it changes from medieval to Hansel and Gretel, as the carved wooden banisters meander perpendicularly up three more stories. At the top of the house is an octagonal bell tower, but there's no bell, just a viewing platform and windows where Stevie, her friends, and employees go to watch the sun set over San Fernando Valley.

I'm given a guided tour that the barman at my hotel would have died and gone to Heaven for. There's Stevie's grand four-poster bed with lace cushions and lacy covers. In the adjoining dressing room a sweet musty smell of perfume hangs in the air. All around are satin and silk nightgowns bunched on hangers. Stevie says she bought this house because she could imagine Ann Boleyn living here.

When Stevie Nicks first made money with Fleetwood Mac, she was able to fulfil her Dickensian fantasies of looking like a "ragged doll"- she came off resembling Artful Dodger, Bill Sykes' girlfriend from Oliver Twist and Miss Haversham from Great Expectations.

Stevie is not quite sure where this obsession with English things came from. "It was born into me. Maybe my last life was in England." Thus, when, in January 1975, a 6'5'' English eccentric named Mick Fleetwood came and asked her and her boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham to join his band, she had to say yes. "Just the idea that his band was English was reason enough to join. It was a dream come true." It was also a perfect opportunity to learn about kings, queens, princes and princesses.

Fleetwood perfectly matched her dreams. "The first time Mick walked into the room I thought I was witnessing the entrance of an English king, because that's how he looked to me. He was wearing a burgundy coloured water silk vest (waistcoat) with a watch chain and a very long jacket that was very nipped at the waist, and beautifully made pants. I was awe struck. I still am to this day of Mick's presence. The whole air around him is power." The people who saw Fleetwood's performance with Samantha Fox may find this a little hard to accept.

Previously Lindsey Buckingham had dominated Stevie. He was the artist; he didn't know how to do anything except music. "What was he going to do, sell shoes? I had a $50,000 education, I could do anything." Her waitress job paid for the rent, the food, the car. "I knew it was going to take my strength to push Lindsey and I over the edge if we were going to make it in the music business."

After Buckingham came a rogues' gallery of rock'n'roll suitors not known for their wimpishness- Joe Walsh, Don Henley, Tom Petty and producers Jimmy Iovine and Rupert Hine. And the man who called his on-the-road dalliances an attack of "veal viper", Mick Fleetwood. All get their individual tributes on Stevie's Best Of compilation album, Timespace.

In parallel with the last 10 years of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie enjoyed the most successful career of the whole group. Her first solo album, Bella Donna, sold 10 million copies and subsequent collections have enjoyed less spectacular, but still reputable sales. Now, though, with the apparently final demise of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie is suffering a personal and professional crisis.

The recent Mac troubles can be traced to an old song called Silver Springs. So taken was Stevie's mother by this number that she was moved to open an antique clothing shop in Phoenix in the same name. Stevie made a gift of the song to her.

Silver Springs nearly became a classic, but was dropped at the last minute from the 20-million selling Rumours album. Stevie thought it would be nice to resurrect the song and place it on Timespace. But Mick Fleetwood refused to give up the group's performance rights; he wants the option of having the number on a boxed set due for this year's commemoration of Fleetwood Mac's 25th anniversary.

"I have told the world what a vile thing it was that Mick Fleetwood had done to me, who has fought like a dog for 15 years to keep this band from breaking up. I don't really know what's going through Mick's mind. He never returned a phone call, and he never felt it was his duty to sit down and write a letter to tell me why.

"He has always been very English, and very proper and sometimes very arrogant, but to me a very close and loving friend. And somebody that I always felt I could trust and love" says Stevie, wiping away tears.

"He has always been the boss of the group. He has always made all the decisions. And he has always made all the decisions. And he has always made them without asking anyone else. So he had no reason to do this to us. To break up the whole band."

In the tradition on rock'n'roll's greatest soap opera, Stevie has Fleetwood's soon-to-be ex-wife Sarah on her side. "She's singing with me now, she's a very good friend. She's divorcing Mick after being with him for 13 years; they are completely separated. She doesn't understand."

Stevie has included 'Beauty and the Beast' on Timespace, a song written about her affair with Mick in the late 70's. She explains that it is not a dig at him being a beast, but about the beauty and the beast within us all. The album's sleeve notes are full of similar references to her ex-lovers.

Was there a common thread among her men? "They're all very smart and very loving, and they all had a difficult time with my life and the way that I live it and how busy I am." For four lovers, a crucial test came when she became pregnant and opted for terminations. "It's always been a tragedy. But they understood." But they didn't really. "Eventually their hearts couldn't take it, they couldn't understand quite enough, how deeply embedded in this I was. And so it eventually hurt them too much and they had to leave, or face devastation on their own."

She put her relationship with her fans before a relationship with one man. Ever since she saw Janis Joplin perform, Stevie has wanted to emulate her, to achieve that state of communion with the crowd. "I just wanted to be in love with my audience and I wanted them to be in love with me back."

But now there is remorse at the havoc her abortions have wreaked on her psyche. "To give up four babies is to give up a lot that would be here now. So that bothers me, a lot, and really breaks my heart. But they're gone, so..." She composes herself. "But I couldn't have because I was too busy. And I had all these commitments." She wants to adopt, but age and single-parenthood are against her.

"I've also though about having one myself but I'm booked up for the next four years. I don't know if, at my age, I can get pregnant right away, do an album at the same time, have a baby, promote an album, go out on tour with the baby. So I'm going back and forth in my mind. At 43 years old, my time clock is ticking, so I can't afford to wait around for very long." Surely these are the same excuses she made on the last four occasions -- with two important differences. There is no obvious candidate for the father, and even if there were, the decision totally remains in her hands.

In an epic inversion of the star's role, she is subservient to the 40 people who depend on her for their livelihoods. "I don't know quite how to walk away without hurting a lot of people -- even though every one of those people would say 'you've done a lot for us and we know that you love us, but go do something for yourself for a change' But I just can't."

The determination, toughness, and pragmatism that helped her achieve success now seem elusive, but what hurts most is being pushed around by business moguls. She is smarting from the inclusion - against her wishes - of Jon Bon Jovi's song "Sometimes It's a Bitch" on Timespace.

"I was told that if I didn't do a song by Jon Bon Jovi then my career was over. I don't have any reason to hate Jon Bon Jovi. He wrote me a song that was a wonderful thing to do. I knew that just me singing it wasn't going to go over well with my fans, which it hasn't. But I was told by the industry, by management, and by everybody else that if I did NOT do this, and reach this new audience, that my career was simply, finally, completely over.

They exerted all the pressure you could possibly exert, they scared me to death. So I did the song, and is it a big hit song? No, it's not."

She found it particularly distasteful to sing the word 'bitch', which she considers a swear word. Stevie concedes that she has difficulty challenging authority figures.

It all makes her appear so fragile. While we speak she only opens her doe eyes to wipe away the tears, preferring instead to look down when the talk gets serious. There are no crutches anymore. she gave up the cocaine and alcohol in 1986 when she admitted herself to the Betty Ford Center.

Bad as she was, she still had the inner strength to take control of her destiny, probably because she sensed she was in mortal danger. One night she was inspired to write a personal creed: "I am not special, I am not infallible, I am dying."

"I started crying really hard, and I wrote under it something to the effect never forget these three lines. And so I feel that yes, I can write stories for people, but that I'm not indestructible that I'm not special. And that I was dying. So, that was a very bug turning point at Betty Ford for me."

If Fleetwood Mac had been told to do 'Sometimes It's A Bitch', she thinks she knows what would have happened. "Mick would have ridden in on his white horse and swept me up and told them all to go to hell and say I won't let her do it." The tragedy is that after all these struggles, Stevie Nicks is a victim once again.


Photo caption:
VOX was privileged to receive a guided tour of Stevie Nicks's home. However, since several previous attempts at photographing the interior of her mansion had not matched up to her idea of how it should look, Nicks chose to recreate the interior in sympathetic lighting conditions.



Two days later Ms. Nicks summoned our photographer to a professional sound-stage at a studio near LA International airport. There, with the aid of two articulated lorries of furniture, clothes, dolls, and assorted knickknacks, she recreated her bedroom. A staff of more than a dozen people-- including caterers (note bulging fridge), lighting men, set builders, makeup artists, hairdressers, and a mysterious "personal assistant"-- spent a whole day recreating the authentic ambiance of Stevie's home.

All of this was done at her own cost. But Ms. Nicks is no stranger to excess. During the last Fleetwood Mac world tour, she had every hotel room she stayed in redecorated to her personal taste-- and at her own considerable cost

uh didn't this article result in a shake up of sorts on here quite a few years ago including the acrimonious departure of a group of Ledgies and the subsequent creation of an alternate somewhat darker ledge.I may be mistaken but I think that this article and the posting of it caused quite a stir at one time.:shrug:

It did. I must point out though that the reference to the "four" in this article referes I believe to a live interview around that time, where it is unclear whether she refers to four abortions or four lovers or loves of her life. We do know, however, that she had an abortion for Don Henley's child in the 70's as they have both admitted that.

Hopefully this thread will die quickly. :rolleyes:

Why, why, why did this get posted again? :shrug:

I liked the picture of the stocked 'fridge in the article.

Thanks for posting this article...I have never read it.....such a dark time for Stevie, you cant help but cringe when you read it....she was so bitter during this era.

I understand the controversy of Stevies' revelations during this interview may stir the pot between us fans, but I dont think such honest and candid words should be swept under the carpet.

Stevies interviews of this era (91'-94' )were the most down to earth and candid of her entire career, a must read for a true Stevie fan not interested in revisionist history. To say that Stevies career has been codependent upon image and illusion is an understatement, so few articles such as this gives us flashes of the the real woman behind the curtain.

I meant no malice..I had never seen this article.:angel:

I think it is fine to post the article, esp. if you have never seen it, etc. Having said that, the article created a huge argument awhile back on this board and others and the poster then did not have your good intent. So, I say no harm and no foul - but I also say that all of the peeps worried about where this thread could lead to should just avoid this thread, etc.

Anyway, my $0.02

I've never read this article either....I had only heard of it until now....

This article is FASCINATING. I've never read it. How any of you can complain that BlackWidow posted is beyond me. Look past the abortions part, this article shows more then anything I've seen just how depressed Stevie was in this era. Say what you want about Stevie now, but at least shes happy with what shes doing now. In 1992 it appears that she's regreting her decision to focus on her career quite a bit.

And another thing, her feelings for Mick really came through in this article. I always knew of how her lovers she's had the closest connection to Mick, but never as much as this article says. I also never knew Stevie had a thing for England and thats a big reason why she wanted to join, becuase she was joining 3 englishmen. I loved the end when she said Mick would've rode in on a white horse and said she doesnt have to do SIAB. Im guessing that song will never be a suprise in a Stevie show :lol:

But Id say the biggest shocker in this article is that Stevie was actually considering maybe having a kid in 1992. It sounds she was at a crossroads and seriously considering it.

Oh, she said that in most of the 89-93 articles, that's nothing new. It wasn't until around the Dance that suddenly she started saying that she never regretted making the decisions she made. Me thinks she was having a lot of regrets in the early 90's.

Great article, BlackWidow! Thanks for posting it. In this along with the 1991 BBC radio interview, you really hear a woman on the skids. It's like Fitzgerald--like "The Crackup"--or one of those blubbery, mawkish Susan Hayward movies.
Had anyone else I know been in her state, he'd have been in bed in privacy. It's unfortunate that Stevie felt compelled to continue marketing & careering all through this ghastly emotional jam.
Now to me what's shocking is how Vox editors would let slip this solecism without correcting it.
That's a rare day, given the smog.
Or gee Stevie maybe you're just an Anglophile like millions of other people.
There's a perfect example of Stevie's "intelligence": joining a rock band in Southern CA provides a "perfect opportunity" to learn about the succession of the Stuarts or the vagaries of the House of Hanover (as if Mick Fleetwood has any more idea of it than Stevie did).
I still haven't seen a video of that legendary botchup! Anyone have it for YouTube?
He could have taught swimming at the camp for kids or been a lifeguard; he could have taught music/guitar/bass; he could have taken part in his dad's business. There are dozens of things he could have done for a decent income.
whoa--is that accurate? that seems inflated by at least twice. I thought BD was about 4 million in worldwide sales.
This is an excellent read, this interview. Thanks again for posting it, Widow.

Doesn't anybody remember two stays in Betty Ford? One around the early part of the '86 year & another in very late '86? I think the L.A. Times cryptically reported the first one & then made the 2nd one much more public. But I never hear fans talk about it.

Thanks for posting this, BlackWidow! I've never seen it before. It's extremely fascinating, and does indeed show how vulnerable our girl was back in the early 90's. Sometimes, tho...I wish she'd be a bit stronger. She does tend to play the victim in many of her recollections, and that's not a very pleasing trait in La Nicks. You make yourself the victim, Stevie - not other people....you.

In the words and melody of an old, wise Joni Mitchell song..."It all comes down...to you."

her fans respond deeply to that.
That's in "Gypsy" too! :thumbsup:

Yes, this topic has created heated discussions in other forums as well. The minute it gets nasty the thread will be archived. Otherwise the topic remains open to intelligent discussion. Remember to keep your anger and emotions in check and no personal attacks. If this topic or a post makes you angry, please wait to respond until you're no longer angry.

Ah... finally I get it. The song "Watchdevil" is about Mick:

"And a watch chain becomes you...
You're just a watch chain...
Watchdevil... keeper of the time."

As the drummer in the band, Mick is literally the keeper of the time. Duh! I love the way she made the association between Mick the drummer and this rather innocuous (but telling) accessory he was wearing. Brilliant. But what's really intriguing is that last verse:

"Be aware of the danger as you cross the great water.
Be careful of strangers who are new to your eyes.
Be careful of the people who look not straight at you.
~The keeper of the time is blind.
~The keeper of the time is blind."

Could this possibly have to do with Mick and the affair that his then-wife had with Bob Weston, who had just recently started in the band? And Mick was initially kind of oblivious to what was going on?

Discuss.

Did I miss something? I'm totally not understanding why this article would have caused an uproar or caused people to form their own underground sect. It's a fascinating article about a very sad time in Stevie's life. So what's all the fuss for? :shrug:

That is a very interesting interpretation of that tune. I've never thought of Watchdevil being about a specific person, and that does make sense. But when was Watchdevil written and/or recorded? I always assumed it was a BN demo, but I'm not sure.



The abortion issue gets some people upset, and then people argue about how accurate & truthful the article is, and then it gets personal, and then the thread gets locked. :laugh: You know, like usual.

It should be noted, though, that the "perfect opportunity to learn about kings, queens, princes and princesses" comment was made by the author of the article, not by Stevie.

I've never had any major problems with this article... it's more sad and depressing than shocking or inflammatory. One thing is certain, Stevie is undoubtably human, and she's as vulnerable to life's ups and downs as the rest of us. This article shows her at the lowest point in her life, and, as a document to that time period, it makes her ultimate reemergence as a healthy, vibrant, clear-headed woman all the more impressive.

Dont worry. I've never seen it before and I found it informing. I dont think you should have to apologize. I find it rather rude for people to jump down someone's throat that meant no malice.

If memory serves, I believe Watchdevil first surfaced on the FM "Almanac" bootleg LP that was released in either 1979 or 1980. I would suspect that it is a "Rumours" era boot since to my ears the bass sounds like John McVie and her voice has that "Dreams"-like raspy quality to it. And since Mick's own marriage was falling apart around that time I suspect Stevie was consoling him by saying "I think that I should hold your hand," to which Mick would reply "I'm hurting, Darling, do you understand?" You know how Stevie flip-flops between the first and third voice without any warning!

Yeah that's where it first appeared. I still have my Almanac vinyl (two records) that I bought back then at Rockaway Records in Glendale. The vinyl is mostly inaudible by now because it was such cheap vinyl.
I think the recording on Almanac is no earlier than 1978. There's a yamaha cp-30 on it, & those weren't manufactured until around '78 (although one of the music magazines had an ad for it in late '77). Chris bought one & used it at the Village Recorder to play on Tusk tracks. Stevie is probably playing Christine's cp-30 on this demo (given the nature & design of the instrument, it's unlikely stevie or anyone else in her circle would have owned one--christine needed a heavy-duty combo instrument to tour with).

Excellent, hejira! I think the song has something to do with Mick, too.

Yes, and the first I saw of this was her performance at MixFest where she was just on fire. I never thought I'd see that Stevie again and boy was I ever grateful. I still am!

Oh it is a bit scandalous, this article, but I did love reading through it and for the first time actually. The only thing that bothered me, in fact was the bitchyness of the interviewer. Those English and their possessiveness of their precous Samantha Fox. **** em.

Mea culpa!
I don't think any less of my artists when they don't or can't re-emerge as healthy, vibrant & clear-headed. They might sink deeper & deeper into the mire of obsession, confusion, self-torture, drug addiction, illness & insanity. I love reading about Beethoven, Hölderlin, Hugo Wolf, Tchaikovsky, Van Gogh, Hoffmann, Fitzgerald, Falconetti, Twain, Griffith, Pabst, Pavese, Kafka, Robert Lowell, William James, Camus, Herzog, Ingmar Bergman, Conrad, Poe, Hawthorne, Lincoln, Romain Gary, Jean Seberg, Abbie Hoffman, Randall Jarrell, Primo Levi, & on & on. I also have always loved reading about Stevie's (& Peter's & Danny's & Lindsey's & John's) psychical battles, their agones.

I'm fascinated also by people's descent into madness (especially if they have some sort of artistic talent to hang it on), but I also find it really inspiring and reaffirming when people pull themselves out of it.

Thank you...:)

It was around The Dance..she changed her tune...:nod:

True.
I believe there were 2 stays at Betty Ford. The first time she left Rehab early as reported by The L.A. Times saying "..it's a worthless thing" - lines she echoed in Welcome To The Room Sara. Her friends/family and Management Company (Frontline) did an intervention on her that did not go well. In Wecome..she says "Frontline baby, well you held her prisoner and after all these years..well as well as you knew her..when you hang up that phone..well you cease to exist!" I read the first thing she did when she left Betty Ford was fire Frontline Mgt. for sponsoring her Intervention.

and like the song Gypsy: "..and it all comes down..to you"

Stevie is also a Joni fan..I always thought that was a nod to Joni..or she stole it...lol.;)

Love Ya David!:xoxo: :D

My friends David & Wayne (brothers)..own Rockaway Records in Glendale!!!
Small world huh? Where in L.A. are you? I'm in Studio City.....

This has been one of the most informative threads I have ever read.

As for the Vox article, are we believing that Stevie told the interviewer that Tom Petty was a former lover? It would surprise me since it is admitting being with a married man. I might believe she would do it, but I have a hard time believing she would put it out in the world for Jane Petty to know.

I think this Encino house is the one in that video of Stevie's house for sale. I have it saved on my computer, and it was fun to pause it and find all the things the writer described.

I want to put the microscope on this portion:
I am thinking the writer is being disingenuous here because it doesn't sound to me like she is talking about her abortions.

What was the deal with Mick and Samantha Fox?

I WANNA KNOW TOO....:lol:

They hosted "The Brits" (the UK equal to The American Music Awards, and, to a lesser extent The Grammys) and they were horrible at it. Mick was embarrassing because he didn't know who anyone was...and he was acting like mick.

hmmm.....i see....:)