The Ledge - Stevie inspires her

Brani Neal's In the Know: Enchanted (Printed Oct. 11, 2007)

I was in seventh grade when I first learned who Stevie Nicks was. The alarm on my clock radio had just gone off and the deejay of the local morning show had Stevie on the phone. She was playing a show in town and was promoting her first greatest hits album “Timespace.”
Suffice it to say, this was more than 14 years after Fleetwood Mac’s (the band that made Stevie famous) album “Rumours” became one of the highest grossing records of all time. “Rumours” was released the year I was born, and my parents didn’t listen to Fleetwood Mac, so I was left to discover the woman who has become my favorite singer/songwriter all on my own.
When the husky radio deejay announced he would be talking to Stevie Nicks, I rolled over in bed and waited to hear the man answer questions about his new album. I had no idea Stevie was a woman until I heard her throaty voice come through the radio speakers. Then they played some of her music, that’s all it took for me — I was hooked.
I used the money I made from my paper route to buy the new cassette tape and I played it until it wore out. Even at the tender, and often angst-ridden, age of 13 I knew there was something special about Stevie.
When I was 17 I pushed my way into a job at a local record store by approaching one of the managers while he was eating dinner at Big Boy. I had submitted my resume (which at this point included a stint at Little Caesars, a job waiting tables at a supper club and my paper route), but they had yet to call me in for an interview, so I did what any clueless teenager would do, I sat down at his table uninvited and told him all the reasons I had to have that job.
Obnoxious as it seems, my tactic worked and within a week I was working at the record store. This is where I discovered Fleetwood Mac. In 1997, the year after I graduated from high school, Fleetwood Mac released their live album “The Dance.” More education for me, the guitar player Lindsey Buckingham was a man (I of course thought Lindsey was just a female name) and he and Stevie were exes with enough lingering tension from their 1976 break-up to solve the world’s energy crisis.
I immediately began opening all the Fleetwood Mac (even pre Stevie and Lindsey Fleetwood Mac) and Stevie Nicks the store owned. I took home videotapes and CDs. My manager and good friend Steve bought us tickets to see “The Dance” tour and it was one show that lived up to the hype.
I began collecting vinyl and found most of both Stevie and Lindsey’s records, including the one they released together before they joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975. The album was appropriately dubbed Buckingham Nicks, but the duo was later dropped from the record label due to low sales. It has never been released on CD, so having a vinyl copy is pretty special.
When I moved to Maine I foolishly gave away most of my records, thinking I could live without them and travel light, but I’m pretty sure I’ve held onto Buckingham Nicks and it’s buried somewhere in my basement.
About eight year’s ago I took the man I was dating to see a solo Stevie Nicks show. He reluctantly accompanied me, preferring the guitar stylings of Jimi Hendrix or the Red Hot Chili Peppers to the mystical lyrics of an aging songstress. After the show we had the privilege of shaking Stevie’s hand, and as we were walking back to my car my boyfriend turned to me and grinned.
“I know what you mean about Stevie now,” he said. “She does with her voice what Jimi (Hendrix) does with his guitar.”
At another show I attended that same summer with my girlfriends, we met a woman who had left her husband for the summer to follow Stevie around. We weren’t surprised. Stevie has that effect on people.
Stevie Nicks recently turned 59 and she is still one of the most rockin’ females in the music industry. Her songs, especially “Landslide,” continue to be covered by today’s hottest bands. Stevie conquered the music business by being part of a number one band and having a successful solo career simultaneously — a feat no other woman has accomplished.
She’s been through more and seen more in her lifetime than most people will experience in 10 lifetimes, she’s come out on the other side of it, and she’s done it all with grace.
You might wonder why I’m telling you all of this. One reason is that she is currently in my CD player non-stop and another is that she truly motivates me to keep trying. She cites the secret of her success as the fact that she hates to lose. I can relate.
I think it’s important for young women to have strong female role models, and for me Stevie’s many accomplishments, extensive charity work and perseverance keep things in perspective for me. She’s not perfect and has made her fair share of public mistakes, but she never let those mistakes define her and has done her best to share her failures with the hope they will become lessons for others.
Stevie was 29-years-old when “Rumours” was released, she spent most of her 20s waiting tables, cleaning houses and trying to make it in the music business, which means she and Lindsey were bouncing checks so they could share a slice of pizza for dinner. She plans to spend her 60s (and beyond) rockin’ and rollin’, and she even does a worthy cover of Led Zepplin’s “Rock and Roll” on her new album.
When I think of the future of my career I want to publish creative writing, short stories and books in addition to my work in newspapers, and when I become discouraged I think of Stevie, the ultimate Gypsy (also the name of my cat) who never gave up, and I try to do the same. Her music’s pretty great too.
— Brandi Neal

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