The Backstory: Stevie Nicks: Waitress to Rock Goddess to Taylor Swift Wedding Singer

Stevie Nicks has been in the spotlight this week after performing at the Madison Square Garden wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelcie. But . . that wasn’t just an entertainment decision on the bride and groom’s part. This is the behind the scenes story.
Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele

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Speaker 1: All right. Do big stars who fought to get recognized

Speaker 1: ever have a pinch me moment where they look in

Speaker 1: the mirror and say, how in the heck did I

Speaker 1: get here? Probably all the time, right, well. Perfect example

Speaker 1: is Stevie Nicks, a waitress at an La bar who

Speaker 1: became famous as part of Fleetwood Mac and who must

Speaker 1: have had a pinch me moment when she sang a

Speaker 1: few days ago at Taylor Swift's wedding at Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 1: But it wasn't an easy ride. I'm Patty Steele. Few

Speaker 1: artists have lived a life as magical and as turbulent

Speaker 1: as Stevie Nicks, the t Swift wedding singer that's next

Speaker 1: on the backstory. The backstory is back. She's been called

Speaker 1: the Queen of rock and roll, the high Priestess of rock,

Speaker 1: and one of music's greatest storytellers. We've seen her draped

Speaker 1: in flowing shawls, surrounded by mystery and moonlight. Stevie Nicks

Speaker 1: managed to create an image unlike anybody else, but before

Speaker 1: her bond with Taylor, before all of veldt in Lays

Speaker 1: is a woman who survived heartbreak, addiction, personal tragedy, not

Speaker 1: to mention as a star of one of the most

Speaker 1: dysfunctional bands in rock history. I mean, think about it.

Speaker 1: Almost fifty years after becoming a superstar, Stevie found herself

Speaker 1: on stage performing at one of the most talked about

Speaker 1: celebrity weddings in modern history, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelcey's wedding.

Speaker 1: It just goes to show that true legends never really

Speaker 1: leave the spotlight. Stephanie Lynn Nix was born in Phoenix, Arizona,

Speaker 1: in nineteen forty eight. Music was part of her life

Speaker 1: almost immediately. Her grandfather taught her country music and had

Speaker 1: her singing duets with him and writing songs by the

Speaker 1: time she was just four years old. She was a

Speaker 1: bit of a loner growing up because the family moved

Speaker 1: so much, from Phoenix to Albuquerque, OH Pass, Salt Lake City, LA,

Speaker 1: and San Francisco, where she went to high school. She

Speaker 1: got a guitar for her sixteenth birthday and says she

Speaker 1: lived in her own own little musical world. But everything

Speaker 1: changed in her senior year when she met a young

Speaker 1: guitar player named Lindsay Buckingham. It was a junior the

Speaker 1: chemistry was instantaneous. They became musical Partners, then Romantic Partners,

Speaker 1: then Artistic Soulmates. First she joined his band Pritz, even

Speaker 1: opening for Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix, but it went nowhere,

Speaker 1: and when Fritz busted up, the two formed their own

Speaker 1: band called Buckingham Nicks. At that point, her plans to

Speaker 1: finish college and become an English teacher got put on hold.

Speaker 1: Stevie and Lindsay got a deal with Polydor Records, and

Speaker 1: their nineteen seventy three album was a critical success. Problem is,

Speaker 1: nobody bought it and the record label dropped them. Money disappeared.

Speaker 1: They wrote songs at night, but during the day Stevie

Speaker 1: clean houses and waited tables at local bars and restaurants.

Speaker 1: They lived at a producer's house and started getting heavily

Speaker 1: into cocaine. When Lindsay got a touring job with the

Speaker 1: Everly Brothers, Stevie stayed behind to wait tables and write

Speaker 1: music by herself. That's actually when she wrote Rhiannon as

Speaker 1: well as Landslide. As a relationship with Lindsay started to

Speaker 1: fall apart. She was at rock bottom. Her dad was

Speaker 1: unwell and worried about her, so in October of nineteen

Speaker 1: seventy four. She promised him if nothing happened with her

Speaker 1: music career by the following January, she would come home

Speaker 1: and finish college amazingly. On December thirty first, Lindsay got

Speaker 1: a call from Mick Fleetwood, who had a band called

Speaker 1: Fleetwood Mac. He offered him a job as a guitarist,

Speaker 1: but Lindsay told him he and Stevie were a package deal.

Speaker 1: Fleetwood thought it over for a little while and then

Speaker 1: invited them to come rehearse. He says he immediately realized

Speaker 1: Lindsay and Stevie added something to the band that had

Speaker 1: been missing, especially if they wanted any pop success. One

Speaker 1: year later, they put out the album Fleetwood Mac. It

Speaker 1: went to number one on the Billboard charts and sold

Speaker 1: nine million copies. Then came nineteen seventy seven and Rumors,

Speaker 1: an album that has sold more than forty million copies worldwide.

Speaker 1: And what made Rumors legendary wasn't just the music, It

Speaker 1: was also the behind the scenes chaos. Every major relationship

Speaker 1: inside Fleetwood Mac was falling apart. Stevie and Lindsay had

Speaker 1: broken up, Christine and John McVie were divorcing, and Mick

Speaker 1: Fleetwood's marriage was deteriorating too. But here's the thing. Somehow

Speaker 1: all that pain turned into unforgettable music. Stevie wrote Dreams

Speaker 1: inspired by the emotional wreckage around her. It actually was

Speaker 1: Fleetwood Mac's only number one single in America. Lindsay answered

Speaker 1: right back, would go your own way. Night after night,

Speaker 1: the two stood just a few feet apart on stage,

Speaker 1: singing songs written about each other. Can you imagine that

Speaker 1: fans literally watched their breakup happen in real time. Stevie's

Speaker 1: songwriter became her signature, and this is where we see

Speaker 1: her influence years later on Taylor Swift. Stevie's songs like Rhiannon, Sarah,

Speaker 1: gold Dust Woman, and later Edge of seventeen mixed her

Speaker 1: real emotions and experiences with mythology, poetry, and mystery. Listeners

Speaker 1: never exactly knew where reality ended and fantasy began. That mystery,

Speaker 1: as it does with Taylor, became part of her legend.

Speaker 1: Despite all the turmoil, the nineteen eighties brought her even

Speaker 1: bigger success. Her first solo album, Bella Donna, debuted at

Speaker 1: number one, and the hits poured out. Stopped Dragging my

Speaker 1: Heart around Leather and Lace again, Edge of seventeen, she

Speaker 1: was dominating both a legendary band and a solo career

Speaker 1: at the same time. But all that success had our price,

Speaker 1: the constanturing, the pressure, the cocaine, then prescription drugs. Stevie

Speaker 1: later admitted that addiction stole years from her life and

Speaker 1: almost killed her. She made the tough decision to get treatment,

Speaker 1: and she was determined to win the battle. She said

Speaker 1: she didn't want to be just another rock star who

Speaker 1: died young and never got to keep creating her art.

Speaker 1: It was a battle she won, and as the years passed,

Speaker 1: Stevie transformed from rock superstar into a respected Elder stateswoman

Speaker 1: of music. Young artists didn't just admire her, they came

Speaker 1: to her for advice, especially Taylor Swift. Their friendship goes

Speaker 1: over sixteen years, beginning when they performed together at the

Speaker 1: Grammy Awards. Stevie became a mentor, praising Taylor's songwriting and

Speaker 1: defending her against public criticism. She even contributed a heartfelt

Speaker 1: poem to a special edition of Taylor's album, The Tortured

Speaker 1: Poets Department. Taylor has often talked about Stevie's influence on

Speaker 1: her life and her career, so it wasn't much of

Speaker 1: a surprise when Stevie was among the music icons invited

Speaker 1: to be a t Swift and Travis Kelsey's wedding guests say,

Speaker 1: in addition to the intimate personal ceremony, it was an

Speaker 1: unforgettable evening of music with Stevie Nicks performing alongside Paul McCartney.

Speaker 1: For Stevie, it was another full circle moment. Once she

Speaker 1: was a young dreamer hoping somebody would just give her

Speaker 1: a chance. Now she's a legend performing at the wedding

Speaker 1: of one of the biggest stars in the world. Stevie

Speaker 1: isn't just a singer. She's an icon who proved that

Speaker 1: sometimes the longest journeys from cleaning houses to selling out

Speaker 1: stadiums produces the most unforgettable stories. Her secret is being authentic.

Speaker 1: Stevie Nicks proved that vulnerability can be powerful, that heartbreak

Speaker 1: can become art if you're willing to share what's inside.

Speaker 1: I hope you like the backstory with Patty Steele. Please

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Speaker 1: and feel free to if you have a story you'd

Speaker 1: like me to cover. On Facebook It's Patty Steele and

Speaker 1: on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory

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Speaker 1: writer is Jake Kushner. New episodes are out every Tuesday

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Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening

Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history

Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.