Stevie Nicks

By Tom Kirvan

“Don’t be a lady. Be a legend,” said rock star Stevie Nicks, the singer-songwriter known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist.

Born on May 26, 1948 in Phoenix, Nicks proclaimed early in her musical career that, “I’m going to spend my life writing poems, turning them into music that will move people and touch their hearts.”

has done, first as a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1975, helping the band become one of the best-selling music acts of all time with more than 120 million records sold worldwide, and then as a solo artist who would earn the title of the “Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll” from Rolling Stone magazine.

As a member of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks took the lead on such hits as “Landslide,” “Rhiannon,” and “Dreams,” a trio of songs that helped catapult her to fame. In fact, she is the first woman to have been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – with Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and then as a solo artist in 2018.

“I have no fear, I have only love,” said Nicks, who continues to perform despite battling vision problems and a series of injuries in recent years.

Stevie Nicks*

“When you grow up as a girl, the world tells you the things that you are supposed to be: emotional, loving, beautiful, wanted,” Nicks reflected. “And then when you are those things, the world tells you they are inferior: illogical, weak, vain, empty.”

The 78-year-old Nicks has been a valued mentor to Taylor Swift, sharing a deep friendship rooted in mutual artistic respect. Their connection dates back to the 2010 Grammys, where they sang “Rhiannon” and “You Belong to Me,” cementing their musical lineage as superstars.

*Ralph Arvesen, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons