Stevie Nicks and Chris Isaak "Cotton Candy Land" Clip from ELVIS Soundtrack

 1 Minute clip of Stevie Nicks and Chris Isaak "Cotton Candy Land" (From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ELVIS)

FLEETWOOD MAC'S CHRISTINE MCVIE ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS

As her solo material is compiled, the singer and writer of hits including Little Lies and Everywhere will take on your queries

The Guardian

Fleetwood Mac’s songs span the full range of human emotion and pop expression, but the chances are that if you’ve danced to one at a wedding, it was written by Christine McVie. Everywhere, Little Lies, Don’t Stop, You Make Loving Fun – the band’s greatest joie de vivre was invariably channelled by her. And as her solo material is reissued on a new compilation this month, she joins us to answer your questions about her remarkable career – post them in the comments below.

McVie was grounded in the British blues scene of the mid-60s, duetting with Spencer Davis while studying at art school in Birmingham and playing in a local band, Sounds of Blue. She had a Top 20 hit with her next group, Chicken Shack, singing a cover of I’d Rather Go Blind, and came into the orbit of another set of British blues stars, Fleetwood Mac.

She married bassist John McVie, and started to add details to the band’s recordings: piano, backing vocals, and even the cover art for their fourth studio album Kiln House. She became a full member with 1971’s Future Games, and – amid a period of both great productivity and flux for the band – started to point them towards the pop-rock for which they would become globally famous. Her signature bright poignancy lights up McVie-penned songs such as Spare Me a Little of Your Love from Bare Trees (1972), Remember Me from Penguin (1973), and Just Crazy Love from Mystery to Me (1973), and she took lead vocal duties alongside Danny Kirwan and Bob Welch during this period.

The band settled into their imperial phase with the inclusion of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks who would share lead vocals with McVie, though their early hits in this lineup were still coming from McVie herself: her songs Over My Head and Say You Love Me both reached the US Top 20. The band went supernova with 1977’s eternally popular Rumours, with four McVie numbers – Don’t Stop, Songbird, You Making Loving Fun and Oh Daddy, plus the co-written The Chain – appearing on what has become one of the 10 biggest-selling albums of all time.

She was embroiled in the notorious emotional upheavals around the album – You Make Loving Fun was about an affair she was having with the band’s lighting director – and she and John McVie divorced, though the band continued with the pair of them. McVie got engaged to Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, released a successful solo album in 1984, and then cemented Fleetwood Mac’s next superstar phase by writing two huge hit singles, Everywhere and Little Lies, for the 1987 album Tango in the Night, the latter with her new husband Eddy Quintela (they later divorced in 2003).

Aside from a brief mid-90s hiatus, the band have pressed ever onwards, though McVie took a long break between 1998 and 2014, before returning to a delirious reception for a Fleetwood Mac concert at London’s O2 Arena in 2015, and touring with the band ever since. Her solo material has sometimes been overlooked amid the stadium success of her main band, but gets a new outing this month with the compilation Songbird, which includes a new orchestral version of the title track, old solo tracks featuring Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton, highlights from 2004 album In the Meantime and two previously unreleased songs: Slow Down and All You Gotta Do.

Ahead of its release on 24 June, McVie, now 78, will answer your questions about her life and career – post them below and she’ll take on as many as possible. 

Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie: ‘Cocaine and champagne made me perform better’

As she releases a compilation of her solo work, the writer and singer of some of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits answers your questions on excess, infighting and Joe Cocker joining her wedding night

The UK blues and rock scene of the late 1960s was a very male-focused, testosterone-heavy environment. Did you ever consider yourself a groundbreaker for moving into that world? GeoffWhit

In those days, there were very few women, especially playing the blues, but I never felt singled out. It just all came very naturally to me when I was with Chicken Shack and things started happening for them. Shortly after that I met Fleetwood Mac. It just all fell into place and was really fantastic. Not too many women have said, “Thanks for groundbreaking”, to be honest. I’m sure I was appreciated, but it wasn’t hero worship or anything like that. Can you tell them to start [laughs]?

I first saw you with Chicken Shack at the Toby Jug at Tolworth in ’68/’69. Some astonishingly big names from rock and blues [among them Led Zeppelin, and David Bowie launching the Ziggy Stardust tour] appeared in the pub. Do you have any special memories from that small circuit? IDNumNoLongerWorks

I remember that place! We played there a few times and it was a pretty great gig. The atmosphere was phenomenal. In a small club, the sweat is palpable. It was such a great, friendly vibe and we thoroughly enjoyed playing in them. I wonder if we enjoyed it slightly less playing in much bigger places. Playing to thousands of people is more daunting, but you get used to it in the end. After the first 20 rows they all disappear anyway.

It wasn’t really a honeymoon. We just got married locally because my mother was sick. Oddly enough, there was that famously husky-voiced singer … Joe Cocker! He was staying at the same hotel and he got plastered with us, on our wedding night! Until we kicked him out [laughs].

What are your memories about joining Fleetwood Mac, after the departure of Peter Green? Skysaxon

Chicken Shack used to open for them. I got to know John, fell in love with him and it was just sensational and exciting. Fleetwood Mac were fantastic and really funny. The biggest joker was probably Peter Green, but they all had a very copacetic sense of humour with each other. It was heartbreaking for them when Peter left. They were rehearsing at Kiln House [Hampshire], and I was down there with all the wives. They came out of the rehearsal room and said: “Hey Chris, do you want to join?” I couldn’t believe my luck. I said: “Are you serious?! I’m just a girl who plays piano.” The style had to change because I was a keyboard player, and it developed a more commercial bent. It was thrilling, and I have to say to this day it still kind of is, knowing that I did that. Then it just got better.

What is your favourite period in Fleetwood Mac’s history and why? JohnB11

I would be silly not to say the Stevie [Nicks] and Lindsey [Buckingham] era, because that was pretty sensational. We had our fights here and there, but there was nothing like the music or the intensity onstage. We weren’t doing anything in Britain, so just decamped to America and fell into this huge musical odyssey. Stevie and Lindsey had been playing as a duo, made a great record [Buckingham Nicks], which to this day I really love, but hadn’t got very far. I think it was Mick [Fleetwood] who invited them to meet us. We all met in this Mexican restaurant, drank a few margaritas and decided to give it a go. We all got into this little rehearsal room and it just shot off like firecrackers.

What was it like being at the centre of the Rumours hurricane, with all the drug and relationship issues and stunning creativity? jimd

It’s hard to say because we were looking at it from the inside, but we were having a blast and it felt incredible to us that we were writing those songs. That’s all I can say about it, really.

Fleetwood Mac had a legendary alcohol and drug intake. In Keith Richards’ autobiography, he acknowledges some “blanks” in his memory. Is this the same for you? Mattyjj

No. I have to say I’m not guilt-free in that department but Stevie and I were very careful. The boys used to get provided with cocaine in Heineken bottle tops onstage, but Stevie and I only did the tiny little spoons. I suppose sometimes we got a bit out-there, but we were quite restrained, really. I always took fairly good care of myself. My drug of choice was cocaine and champagne. I didn’t use any other drugs at all. It’s easy for me to say, but I think it made me perform better. Maybe somebody could tell me different [laughs].

Which of the band’s glorious rock-star excesses (grand pianos in hotel suites, demands that hotel rooms be repainted) makes you smile or cringe the most? Mattyjj

I don’t think I ever had a piano in my room. Stevie always did, but she couldn’t play it [laughs]. So she’d have me come down and play. Nothing made me cringe. We all had definite images in the band. Stevie was the Welsh witch. I was mother nature. Mick was the raving lunatic. Everyone was very different, but we all got on, for the most part. In those days it was just all good clean fun. Well, fairly clean fun!

What are your memories of [late Fleetwood Mac guitarist] Danny Kirwan, and did you stay in touch with him over his many lost years? cymbula

No, not really. Danny and I didn’t really gel that well. Without wishing to offend anybody, we just didn’t click, but he was a knockout guitar player and he wrote some fantastic songs. So I do have a lot of respect for him.

Who or what was Sugar Daddy about? GeekLove

I don’t recall it being about anybody. I just dreamed it up. Most of my songs are based on truth, and real people, but a lot of them are just fantasies, really.

Do you regret your [16-year] hiatus [from Fleetwood Mac]? Or was it necessary for your mind and body? Did you think you would come back? Malaprop

I just wanted to embrace being in the English countryside and not have to troop around on the road. I moved to Kent, and I loved being able to walk around the streets, nobody knowing who I was. Then of course I started to miss it. I called Mick and asked: “How would you feel about me coming back to the band?” He got in touch with everybody and we had a band meeting over the phone and they all went: “Come baaaack!!” I felt regenerated and I felt like writing again.

How did you get over your fear of flying? Kmpmilano

One day I just decided not to be afraid of it any more, and that was it! I felt liberated. Then I thought: “I’m actually enjoying this.” Life’s too short to be afraid of things like flying. You’d never go anywhere. I love flying now.

It wasn’t until my 30s that I knew you grew up in the same village as me. Do you still consider yourself Cumbrian or is that a distant memory? GreenNick79

I was born in Greenodd and we lived there for three or four years before moving to Birmingham, where my father was a music teacher. Cumbria is a beautiful part of the world and we had a good time, but my distinct memory is of nearly drowning. I slipped in the mud and fell in the river, and they had to get me out using a fishing net.

Which of the songs that you have written are you most proud of? georgialh

I’ve got to say Songbird. I couldn’t sleep, started to get a song rolling around in my head and I wrote it in half an hour. “For you there’d be no more crying …” It’s sort of like a little prayer for everybody. We went into Zellerbach Hall studios [In Berkeley, California], they got me a bunch of red roses and I sang it alone on the stage.

What interests do you have outside music? appfree

Sailing. I have friends who have a yacht in Portofino, Italy, so sometimes go over there. I’m also a telly freak and like these long sagas. Narcos on Netflix is brilliant. It’s about Pablo Escobar and has a great plot.

Any thoughts on the Mac following in Abba’s footsteps and staging a virtual concert with your own avatars? Gauchiomurphio

I don’t think we’re doing it. It’s a novelty. People would rather see the real people, I’m sure.

Christine McVie’s Songbird (A Solo Collection), featuring two previously unreleased recordings, is released on 24 June and can be preordered now.

Stevie Nicks featured on the Elvis Soundtrack

Stevie Nicks is featured on the soundtrack to the new Baz Luhrmann-directed Elvis Presley biopic “Elvis” hitting theatres on June 24. Not sure what song she covered. The film is due in theatres on June 24th, presumably, the soundtrack drops the same day. 

Stevie back in 2002 performed "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" at Divas Las Vegas. Maybe that's her contribution. Who knows. 

3rd Show STEVIE NICKS Live at The Gorge Amphitheatre

Stevie Nicks Live at The Gorge Amphitheatre
May 14, 2022

IG Photos: sandymackx3, ashley_darlyne, sffthomas

Setlist:

Outside The Rain

Dreams

If Anyone Falls

Stop Dragging My Heart Around

Enchanted

Bella Donna / Wild Heart

Gypsy

Landslide

Soldiers Angel (played for the first time since 2013)

Stand Back

Gold Dust Woman

Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)

Free Fallin'

Edge of Seventeen

Rhiannon

ENCORE:

Rock N Roll

Show videos below

Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again" Certified GOLD in the UK

Fleetwood Mac's 'Never Going Back Again' was certified Gold in the UK on April 29, 2022, signifying sales of 400K units. Not officially released as a single, the song appeared as the b-side to the officially released 'Rumours' single 'Don't Stop' in 1977.

STEVIE NICKS LIVE AT RED ROCKS - MAY 11 2022 - Pics and Vids

Stevie Nicks Live at Red Rocks
Morrison, Colorado

May 11, 2022

Vanessa Carlton opened the show for Stevie.

A couple of setlist additions to the Red Rocks show. Moonlight (A Vampires Dream) and Soldiers Angel (with scenes of Ukraine on the backdrop). New Orleans wasn't performed for obvious reason. Videos below... She sounds and looks fantastic and looks happy to be back in her element, in front of thousands singing!  Red Rocks was a sold out show.

Photo Matt Ralston

Setlist:

Outside The Rain

Dreams

If Anyone Falls

Stop Dragging My Heart Around

Enchanted

Bella Donna / Wild Heart

Gypsy

Landslide

Soldiers Angel (played for the first time since 2013)

Stand Back

Gold Dust Woman

Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)

Free Fallin'

Edge of Seventeen

Rhiannon

ENCORE:

Rock N Roll

Photos Paola R.

VIDEOS BELOW

STEVIE NICKS 'Bella Donna' Re-enters Billboard Charts

Stevie Nicks' solo album debut, the 1981 'Bella Donna' album re-entered the Billboard Charts this week as a result of the 2LP vinyl release for Record Store Day (see tracklist)

The album sold 12,000 units for the week in the US, nearly all from the vinyl sales. 

Where it landed on the charts:

#2  - Billboard Top Vinyl Albums chart

#5  - Billboard Top Albums Sales chart (pure album sales)

#8  - Billboard Top Rock Albums chart

#12 - Billboard Top Catalog Albums chart

#52 - Billboard Top 200 Albums chart (pure album sales + streaming and digital sales combined)

Here's where Fleetwood Mac's mainstay 'Rumours' (which never seems to leave the charts) placed this week on the US charts. 

#3  - Rumours (Top Rock Albums chart)

#6  - Rumours (Top Catalog Albums chart)

#31 - Rumours (Billboard Top 200 Albums chart)

#33 - Rumours (Top 100 Canadian Albums chart)

#37 - Rumours (Top Album Sales chart)

#50 - Great Hits (Top Rock Albums chart)

STEVIE NICKS FIRST SHOW IN 3 YEARS - NEW ORLEANS REVIEW

Stevie Nicks made people cry as she topped a day heavy on female acts at Jazz Fest

By Keith Spera

Nola.com

Stevie Nicks opened her first show in nearly three years at the New Orleans Jazz Festival with "Outside the Rain." “I have been home watching miniseries, wearing really comfy pants and teaching my dog how to shake hands,” she said of her pandemic activities. “He doesn’t quite have it yet.”

Getting back to work, Nicks cruised through Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” and her own “Enchanted” and “Stop Dragging My Heart Around.” Between “Gypsy” and “Rhiannon” she showed off the original cape she wore on the cover of the 1981 album “Belladonna.”

A persistent “boom, boom” bedeviled and distracted her throughout the show. She couldn’t pinpoint the source, but it may have been the bass from Badu’s stage.

Nevertheless, she pressed on. She covered Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” another tribute to a fallen friend.

Her finale was a charge through Led Zeppelin’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll.” It had indeed been a long time since Nicks rocked and rolled.

“It was a journey,” a relieved Nicks said of her Saturday show. A journey that concluded in front of a staggering crowd at Jazz Fest.

Photo by Sophia Germer

(more photos here)

Variance Magazine:
Stevie Nicks plays 'Landslide' in tribute to late Taylor Hawkins at Jazz Fest

BY JONATHAN ROBLES

Variance Magazine

Stevie Nicks took the stage Saturday night at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, marking her first performance in nearly three years, she said.

Midway through her set, she told the crowd she was going to perform a song for a friend, the late Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters before she launched into a live rendition of her Fleetwood Mac hit "Landslide," joined by a sea of fans singing along every word.

Setlist and order

Outside The Rain

Dreams

If Anyone Falls

Stop Dragging My Heart Around

Enchanted

Gypsy

Bella Donna / Wild Heart

Rhiannon

Landslide

Stand Back

Gold Dust Woman

Free Falling

Edge of Seventeen

Encore:

New Orleans

Rock N Roll

STEVIE NICKS ADDS MORE SOLO TOUR DATES

4 more dates added to the list of shows for 2022. All in June.  More dates to come. I suspect July and August dates will follow and likely on the east coast since Stevie is touring into September. 

Pre-sale tickets go on sale April 27, 2022. General Public tickets on sale Friday. 

Check out Stevie's official website for the links to buy. 

MAY 7, 2022 - New Orleans, LA

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

MAY 11, 2022 - Morrison, CO

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

MAY 14, 2022 - George, WA

The Gorge Amphitheatre

JUNE 10, 2022 - Ridgefield, WA

RV INN Styles Resort Amphitheatre

JUNE 12, 2022 - Mountain View, CA

Shoreline Amphitheatre

JUNE 16, 2022 - Salt Lake City, UT

USANA Amphitheatre

JUNE 19, 2022 - Manchester, TN

Bonnaroo

JUNE 21, 2022 - Noblesville, IN

RUOFF Music Center

SEPT 2, 2022 - SEP 4, 2022 - Snowmass, CO

JAS Aspen Snowmass

with Chris Stapleton & Leon Bridges

SEPT 8 & 10 - Chicago, IL

The Ravinia Festival

SEPT 17, 2022 - Asbury Park, NJ

Sea Hear Now Festival

SEPT 24, 2022 - Bridgeport, CT

Sound on Sound Festival

CHRISTINE MCVIE SONGBIRD A SOLO COLLECTION

First Ever Compilation From Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer Highlights Songs From Her Solo Career, Newly Remastered By Glyn Johns, Along With Two Unreleased Studio Recordings

Also Features New Orchestral Version Of Fleetwood Mac Classic “Songbird”

Christine McVie was not only the songwriter and vocalist for many of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits (“Don’t Stop,” “Everywhere,” and “Little Lies”), but she also released some stunning solo albums during her Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame career. Rhino puts those recordings center stage on the very first compilation to spotlight McVie as solo artist.

SONGBIRD features songs that were remastered by legendary producer Glyn Johns, who worked closely with McVie on the project. It includes a selection of songs from two of her solo albums – 1984’s CHRISTINE MCVIE and 2004’s IN THE MEANTIME – plus two previously unreleased studio recordings including “Slowdown,” which was originally written for the 1985 film American Flyers.

Another song that has never been released is “All You Gotta Do,” a duet that Christine recorded with George Hawkins while making IN THE MEANTIME. The track was never finished and Johns added Ricky Peterson on Hammond and Ethan Johns on drums and guitar.

Another unreleased song is a new orchestral version of "Songbird" from Fleetwood Mac’s RUMOURS album, which has become one of McVie’s signature tracks. The new version pairs McVie’s iconic vocals from the original recording with a gorgeous new string arrangement by six-time Grammy Award winning composer and arranger Vince Mendoza.

SONGBIRD goes back to 1984 for a selection of tracks from Christine McVie, which find McVie joined by several legendary musicians. “The Challenge” includes backing vocals by her Fleetwood Mac bandmate Lindsey Buckingham and lead guitar by Eric Clapton. “Ask Anybody” is a song McVie co-wrote with Steve Winwood, who also adds backing vocals and piano to the track.

Most of SONGBIRD is taken from 2004’s IN THE MEANTIME. Highlights include the Top 40 AC hit, “Friend” and “Sweet Revenge,” one of several songs on the record that she co-wrote with her nephew Dan Perfect, who also helped produce the album.

The liner notes that accompany SONGBIRD find McVie paired with acclaimed English radio DJ and broadcaster Johnnie Walker for a conversation that touches on every song from the collection.

SONGBIRD (A SOLO COLLECTION)

Track Listing

“Friend”

“Sweet Revenge”

“The Challenge”

“Northern Star”

“Ask Anybody”

“Slowdown” *

“Easy Come, Easy Go”

“Giving It Back”

“All You Gotta Do” *

“Songbird” – Orchestral Version *

* previously unreleased

PRE-ORDER AT AMAZON OR AT RHINO.COM

CD

AMAZON | RHINO RECORDS

BLACK VINYL

AMAZON | RHINO RECORDS

GREEN VINYL

RHINO RECORDS

Album Chart Debuts:

Christine Album debuted in the UK on two charts, missing the main Top 100 Albums Chart, instead landing on the following charts:

#22 - Official Physical Albums Chart Top 100

#24 - Official Albums Sales Chart Top 100

The album also debuted at #15 in Scotland.

In the US, the album missed the Billboard Top 200 but did impact these two charts:

#49 - Top Current Album Sales

#83 - Top Album Sales

STEVIE NICKS 2022 CONCERT DATES

MAY 7, 2022 - New Orleans, LA
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

MAY 11, 2022 - Morrison, CO
Red Rocks Amphitheatre

MAY 14, 2022 - George, WA
The Gorge Amphitheatre

JUNE 19, 2022 - Manchester, TN
Bonnaroo

SEPT 2, 2022 - SEP 4, 2022 - Snowmass, CO
JAS Aspen Snowmass
with Chris Stapleton & Leon Bridges

SEPT 8 & 10 - Chicago, IL
The Ravinia Festival

SEPT 17, 2022 - Asbury Park, NJ
Sea Hear Now Festival

SEPT 24, 2022 - Bridgeport, CT
Sound on Sound Festival

STEVIENICKSOFFICIAL for tickets

REVIEW Lindsey Buckingham Live in Santa Barbara April 15, 2022

Review Lindsey Buckingham at the Lobero
Former Fleetwood Mac Star in Santa Barbara on April 15th

By Josef Woodard

Tue Apr 19, 2022 

Santa Barbara Independent

PHOTOS

What makes Lindsey Buckingham such a unique figure in pop history, even verging on the oft-misused superlative of “pop genius”? His generous and career-spanning concert at the Lobero on Friday, April 15, offered many clues. From early Fleetwood Mac hits “Go Your Own Way” and “Tusk” — highlights of this concert — up through last year’s impressive, eponymous solo album, Buckingham has deftly juggled hooks, polish, and also quirks. When he musters up grit in his vocal tone or takes off on distortion-laden guitar flights, we rarely get the sense that he’s baring his soul or channeling rock and roll angst; pop craft and artistic control trump sheer abandon.

Part of a run of smaller venue dates before heading to much larger venues in Europe, Buckingham’s Lobero concert also came equipped with extra layers of emotional underscoring. This was an eagerly awaited, pandemic-delayed tour. Additionally, since his 2018 Arlington concert with Christine McVie, Buckingham has been dismissed from Fleetwood Mac and endured emergency heart surgery and a near-divorce.

But at the Lobero, the lean and lithe Buckingham, now 72, delivered a powerful — and polished — show with his most excellent quartet. He tapped into his small but high-quality solo discography, firing up “Trouble,” “Soul Drifter,” and the new “I Don’t Mind” (a prime example of his artful way with a pop hook). Though mostly playing his delay-lathered acoustic-electric guitars, Buckingham took the occasion of the tune “I’m So Afraid” to lay out one of his tasteful, climactic, and epic electric solos towards the show’s end.

The concert also had two pivotal moments of particular poignancy. One came with his closing tune, the new “Time,” a lovely variation on the theme of Sandy Dennis’s mortality-wise anthem “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?” The other moving moment came with his slowed-down and radically reinvented version of the Mac tune “Never Going Back Again.” Suddenly, Buckingham seemed to pull away from the craft factor and bare his soul for a few minutes. A mid-show standing ovation was in order.