Houston Chronicle 1991

[michelej1]

[even if he was her pill tester, Stevie doesn't like Glen to risk his life!]

Houston Chronicle, July 9, 1991


Section: HOUSTON


Just Nicks and bruises/Fleetwood Mac's singer is a survivor in rock 'n' roll wars


MARTY RACINE

Stevie Nicks was all aflutter.

Her best friend of 12 years nearly killed himself in a motocross accident. Her guitarist, Les Dudek, broke his arm two weeks ago. She's so mad at Mick Fleetwood that she might not ever make another album with Fleetwood Mac. She's launching a tour "before" her new album comes out - and she's way behind in rehearsals.

"This has been the most intense two weeks since my mom had her open-heart surgery two years ago," Nicks said last week before dashing into rehearsal for her tour, which opens tonight at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands.

Nicks says she's one tough cookie. She's not so much jaded as she is a rock 'n' roll survivor who's come into her own since her solo career's tentative start eight years ago. At 43, the Phoenix native gets by with relentless energy.

Regarding her friend, L.A. band manager Glen Parrish, whose motocross spill almost left him a paraplegic, she shuddered and said, "Can you imagine? To me, that would be a death sentence. I would kill myself, because anybody who tells me to stay in bed longer than eight hours, if I've got the flu, is like talking to a brick wall.

"I can't sit still that long."

Then she cracked, "I'm gonna kill him, anyway. He has no business riding around like that in the desert."

Back in the early '70s Nicks was in the rock duo Buckingham Nicks, which had a pocket of support in Alabama. Lindsey Buckingham, born the son of a coffee plant owner in Northern California, was the guitarist.

The two met in high school when Nicks' father, a successful businessman, made yet another career transfer, to Northern California after stops in Texas, New Mexico and Los Angeles.

They again crossed paths in the minor Bay Area rock band Fritz, for whom Buckingham played bass and Nicks was the "girl singer." When Fritz broke up in '71, Nicks and Buckingham, who were romantically involved, continued as Buckingham Nicks.

They moved to Los Angeles, where they wrote, rehearsed and recorded a self-titled debut LP on Polydor Records. It fared poorly but got the duo on the road.

A planned second album never materialized, but in the meantime Nicks wrote "Landslide" and "Rhiannon", which were to be huge hits for Fleetwood Mac.

After Bob Welch left that band in '74, it was in need of new blood. Through chance and mutual acquaintances, Nicks and Buckingham were asked to join. It was not an easy decision.

"I said a lot of prayers for it to work out," Nicks said.

"Lindsey and I, 26, 27 years old, we had all the energy in the world, and we were hungry. We knew we were good as Buckingham Nicks but that it could have taken years to break out of the South.

"I pretty much made the decision for both of us. I said to Lindsey, `You know, we've worked awful hard since we were 18, and I'm kinda tired of (moonlighting as) a cleaning lady and a waitress. So I'm either going to go back to school or we should join Fleetwood Mac and give them everything that we can give them, put them back on the map.'

"I said, `Right now Fleetwood Mac needs us as much as we need them. Let's swallow our pride and join this band."'

So began the peak years for the legendary Mac, which was born a blues-rock band in England in 1967 and continues, off and on, to this day. The addition of Nicks and Buckingham completed its transformation into an L.A. pop-rock band, and the revamped lineup's first two albums, "Fleetwood Mac" and "Rumours", were monster hits.

Still, the Mac was (is) rock's longest running soap opera, where fame, money, drugs, interpersonal relationships and artistic temperament often boiled over with melodramatic results.

"If I hadn't been as strong as I was, I'd be long in a rest home by now, or dead," Nicks said.

"Sometimes rock 'n' roll is wonderful," she said. "What we do - you can't top it, it's so incredible. Then there are the times that you go, `Am I gonna make it through this?"'

Though the music business can be lucrative, she said, "in order to make that money, you're going to have to give up a lot."

Buckingham left Mac last year. For Nicks, who has had a concurrent solo career since 1983's "The Wild Heart" LP, some of the group bitterness remains. She hasn't yet read the tell-all "Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac" (Morrow, $17.95) by Mick Fleetwood.

"Three days before the book came out, he wouldn't let any of us in the band read it," she said. "That's valid to a point, but we didn't know what kind of book it was going to be."

Though Nicks is treated well in the book, her future Mac role is undecided.

"I'm having an intense argument with Mick right now, probably the worst argument we've ever had," she said. "It's not important why. He may be able to talk me out of it, but right now I don't know if I'll ever be able to record with him again."

For now, her time is filled with her own recording, "Time Space", a greatest hits package with two new songs.

"It should have been out three weeks ago," Nicks said, "but everybody in Europe goes on siesta until the end of August. I told the record company, `You're sending me out without an album.' They said, `If you don't want to miss Europe (touring), you've got to wait.' So we had to push it back."

One of the new songs will be the first single, due in August. It's the Jon Bon Jovi-penned "Sometimes It's a Bitch".

"It was a little bit difficult in the beginning for me to accept that title," Nicks said. "I don't swear, ever, in my songs. But when I listened to the song, basically it was a song about rock 'n' roll and survival.

"It's unusual coming from Jon, because his generation is so different than we were. There's no way he or anybody else under 28 could possibly understand what I've been through. I don't mean that in any egotistical way. I say it as, `If you'd have been through what I went through, you might be dead."'

[Steviefan49]

Originally Posted by michelej1

[even if he was her pill tester, Stevie doesn't like Glen to risk his life!]

Houston Chronicle, July 9, 1991


Section: HOUSTON


Just Nicks and bruises/Fleetwood Mac's singer is a survivor in rock 'n' roll wars


MARTY RACINE

Stevie Nicks was all aflutter.

Her best friend of 12 years nearly killed himself in a motocross accident. Her guitarist, Les Dudek, broke his arm two weeks ago. She's so mad at Mick Fleetwood that she might not ever make another album with Fleetwood Mac. She's launching a tour "before" her new album comes out - and she's way behind in rehearsals.

"This has been the most intense two weeks since my mom had her open-heart surgery two years ago," Nicks said last week before dashing into rehearsal for her tour, which opens tonight at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands.

Nicks says she's one tough cookie. She's not so much jaded as she is a rock 'n' roll survivor who's come into her own since her solo career's tentative start eight years ago. At 43, the Phoenix native gets by with relentless energy.

Regarding her friend, L.A. band manager Glen Parrish, whose motocross spill almost left him a paraplegic, she shuddered and said, "Can you imagine? To me, that would be a death sentence. I would kill myself, because anybody who tells me to stay in bed longer than eight hours, if I've got the flu, is like talking to a brick wall.

"I can't sit still that long."

Then she cracked, "I'm gonna kill him, anyway. He has no business riding around like that in the desert."

Back in the early '70s Nicks was in the rock duo Buckingham Nicks, which had a pocket of support in Alabama. Lindsey Buckingham, born the son of a coffee plant owner in Northern California, was the guitarist.

The two met in high school when Nicks' father, a successful businessman, made yet another career transfer, to Northern California after stops in Texas, New Mexico and Los Angeles.

They again crossed paths in the minor Bay Area rock band Fritz, for whom Buckingham played bass and Nicks was the "girl singer." When Fritz broke up in '71, Nicks and Buckingham, who were romantically involved, continued as Buckingham Nicks.

They moved to Los Angeles, where they wrote, rehearsed and recorded a self-titled debut LP on Polydor Records. It fared poorly but got the duo on the road.

A planned second album never materialized, but in the meantime Nicks wrote "Landslide" and "Rhiannon", which were to be huge hits for Fleetwood Mac.

After Bob Welch left that band in '74, it was in need of new blood. Through chance and mutual acquaintances, Nicks and Buckingham were asked to join. It was not an easy decision.

"I said a lot of prayers for it to work out," Nicks said.

"Lindsey and I, 26, 27 years old, we had all the energy in the world, and we were hungry. We knew we were good as Buckingham Nicks but that it could have taken years to break out of the South.

"I pretty much made the decision for both of us. I said to Lindsey, `You know, we've worked awful hard since we were 18, and I'm kinda tired of (moonlighting as) a cleaning lady and a waitress. So I'm either going to go back to school or we should join Fleetwood Mac and give them everything that we can give them, put them back on the map.'

"I said, `Right now Fleetwood Mac needs us as much as we need them. Let's swallow our pride and join this band."'

So began the peak years for the legendary Mac, which was born a blues-rock band in England in 1967 and continues, off and on, to this day. The addition of Nicks and Buckingham completed its transformation into an L.A. pop-rock band, and the revamped lineup's first two albums, "Fleetwood Mac" and "Rumours", were monster hits.

Still, the Mac was (is) rock's longest running soap opera, where fame, money, drugs, interpersonal relationships and artistic temperament often boiled over with melodramatic results.

"If I hadn't been as strong as I was, I'd be long in a rest home by now, or dead," Nicks said.

"Sometimes rock 'n' roll is wonderful," she said. "What we do - you can't top it, it's so incredible. Then there are the times that you go, `Am I gonna make it through this?"'

Though the music business can be lucrative, she said, "in order to make that money, you're going to have to give up a lot."

Buckingham left Mac last year. For Nicks, who has had a concurrent solo career since 1983's "The Wild Heart" LP, some of the group bitterness remains. She hasn't yet read the tell-all "Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac" (Morrow, $17.95) by Mick Fleetwood.

"Three days before the book came out, he wouldn't let any of us in the band read it," she said. "That's valid to a point, but we didn't know what kind of book it was going to be."

Though Nicks is treated well in the book, her future Mac role is undecided.

"I'm having an intense argument with Mick right now, probably the worst argument we've ever had," she said. "It's not important why. He may be able to talk me out of it, but right now I don't know if I'll ever be able to record with him again."

For now, her time is filled with her own recording, "Time Space", a greatest hits package with two new songs.

"It should have been out three weeks ago," Nicks said, "but everybody in Europe goes on siesta until the end of August. I told the record company, `You're sending me out without an album.' They said, `If you don't want to miss Europe (touring), you've got to wait.' So we had to push it back."

One of the new songs will be the first single, due in August. It's the Jon Bon Jovi-penned "Sometimes It's a Bitch".

"It was a little bit difficult in the beginning for me to accept that title," Nicks said. "I don't swear, ever, in my songs. But when I listened to the song, basically it was a song about rock 'n' roll and survival.

"It's unusual coming from Jon, because his generation is so different than we were. There's no way he or anybody else under 28 could possibly understand what I've been through. I don't mean that in any egotistical way. I say it as, `If you'd have been through what I went through, you might be dead."'

Thanks SO much for this article Michele!! I remember seeing Stevie at that time, at that venue.. "Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion"! She was AWESOME!