We have many heroines, but right now Stevie Nicks is especially resonant to us. Artist, musician, boys club conqueror, Nicks is a fury of raw emotions, and her refusal to apologize for her imperfections has made her one of the most distinctive female voices that came out of the sixties and seventies.
Not too long ago we found ourselves enthralled in a VH1 Classic Albums documentary on Fleetwood Mac’s infamous break-up album Rumours. Watching the doc’s interviews with Nicks, you’re reminded how interesting she is. She’s ultra feminine, but when you watch her interviews she’s a total badass. She doesn’t and never did suck up to the industry at all – she’s her own person. She has a unique delivery: rough around the edges, but she’s just so incredibly beautiful at the same time.
Onstage, she remains an aesthetic pioneer—her near-butt-length blonde hair, fingerless lace gloves, knee-high black suede platform boots, and finely tailored dress in tatters all adding up to what she herself calls “the Stevie Nicks thing.” Throughout Nicks’s long career — punctuated by high-profile, tumultuous romances, set in amber by her songs — lovers and love stories recur; fame is a dark certainty and emotions are layered on top of each other. There is always a sense that one’s destiny is a mix of pleasure and pain, but particularly shown through her mystical songwriting and swirly, shawl-based stage presence that has made her an icon in many regards.