The Girls Light Em Up on Unreleased Versions

[desertangel]

From Nicksfix Backup Singers Q&A

Hi Lori! Thank you soooo much for taking time to answer our questions. Here's mine. We all know how Stevie feels about this but you and Sharon haven't really put in your two bits. How do you feel about all the demos and "unfinished" songs being out on the internet for fans to download and have? Do you think anything should be done about it or should they be able to have them to enjoy? I for one LOVE "Julia" and one called "Prittiest Girl in the World" and hope that they make it onto an album soon!!!

Lori's answer:

Hi "Desrtangl"! (That's one of my favorite songs!) Welllll..... you want to know my feelings? You may not like what I have to say, but here goes..... I think it is sinful that people have "stolen" Stevie's unfinished/unreleased songs. If there were something that could be done about it, I would say, ABSOLUTELY... do it!!!! That having been said... I will try to explain: All of Stevie's songs are, well, STEVIE'S... and nobody has a right to them except for Stevie. They are personal, and private... until she is ready to share them with the world. Listen... there were reasons why those songs were not put on records previously. In alot of cases it was because the song was not finished, or had not been recorded and/or represented the way Stevie meant for them to be. "Julia" (one of my favorite unreleased songs) is a good example of a song that is quite personal to Stevie, and wasn't done quite the way she wanted. We always intended to re-do it, but for various reasons, it hasn't happened yet. Now that people have made these songs available everyone, it's possible she may never do them again, even the right way, which is sad. I think if these people thought about it, they wouldn't like it if someone read their diaries, without their permission... it's the same thing.



Hi Sharon ,My question is a a hard one I bet ..Do you think Stevie Knows that her Demos and other unfinished works have been sold and traded within her fan base? There all great and I want to tell you there is a outtake of you singing Leather and Lace, just you on vocal and it must be the best version I have ever heard! Take care!

Sharon's answer:

Hi Angie,
Stevie does know that her demos and other unfinished works have been sold and traded as "bootlegs". As you can read on her "Ask Stevie" page here on the Nicks Fix site, in her own words, "It greatly upsets me that people came into my life and stole my tapes". Of course it upsets me greatly as well, that this would happen to Stevie. As interesting as it might be to the fans to hear these recordings, it is still a violation of Stevie's privacy. Please consider that it would be much more appropriate to leave the decisions about circulating versions of a "work in progress" to the artist.

As concerns your comments about my vocal on "Leather and Lace", I only recently found out that there was a version of me singing the song going around. In this case, I was singing what is called a "guide vocal" for a Stevie recording session, so that the musicians would know where the lead vocal parts would be going while they were learning the song and working on the arrangement. This would be similar to a stand-in reading a part for a lead actor on a movie set, to give the other actors and camera men a chance to work out their parts and ideas for the actual filming. Please keep in mind, if this had been intended for public release, an entirely different process would have been used in order to get the best possible performance. Anyway, I'm glad that you enjoy Stevie's music so much, and thanks for your kind words about my vocal.