Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks (by Stephen Davis)
As an adolescent/teenager in the 1980’s, I spent a lot of time listening to music. And this was a great time for music with the truly talented artists; not like a lot of the garbage, pop music being produced today. I have fond memories listening to Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits and Stevie Nicks’ solo albums on CDs played through my treasured boom box.
Audible has awesome 2 for 1 credit sales. I usually find an audiobook book on my wishlist and another book grabs my attention. This is how I became aware of Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis. This is a very thorough biography that details Stevie’s upbringing and influential family members; mom, dad, grandfather, and uncle. Only knowing Stevie through her music, I learned so much about her. I was surprised she is originally from Phoenix. I love Arizona as I have spent time there visiting family in childhood and vacationing as an adult. The author follows Stevie’s family as they frequently move around the country for her dad’s career.
Stevie met Lindsey Buckingham briefly while they attended the same high school. They would later meet and create music together. The author describes the progression of their time together as the duo Buckingham Nicks, which produced one album. The album cover was quite controversial for Stevie. Lindsey and Stevie engage in a romantic relationship for years. Their relationship definitely doesn’t seem like an easy one with many moments of being off and on and them being in relationships with others.
Through Stevie’s career, she met many of the other great artists of the 1970’s: Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, and Don Henley, to name a few. Stevie had a very quiet intimate relationship with Don Henley as well as a professional relationship with him as they recorded the duet song, Leather and Lace.
Lindsey and Stevie took a leap of faith and joined the band Fleetwood Mac. The author spends a large portion of the book detailing how they joined the band, the relationships between members, the creation of their music, and time on tour. There is a perception that being a rich and famous rock star is the ideal lifestyle. I completely disagree. I respect how trying the lifestyle of a musician can be; complicated personal relationships, drugs, traveling the world for months, and the physical exhaustion. I imagine having a love for making music and wanting to share it with the world and also having to navigate the significant stressors that come along with it. This biography tells the whole story; the glitz and glamour as well as the tension and struggles.
The song, Gold Dust Woman, that this book is titled, is mentioned throughout the book. Its development and production was lengthy and seemingly a very important song to Stevie. In honor of the title, below is a video of Fleetwood Mac performing this song.
Around 1980, Stevie begins contemplating making a solo album. She begins working with Danny Goldberg. I perked up when Danny was introduced as I recently read Danny’s book, Serving the Servant, which is about his work with Kurt Cobain. You can check out my blog post about that book here. Stevie wants to meet and work with Tom Petty. Stevie is definitely a woman who makes things happen for herself.
Stevie later met more great musicians: Prince, Joe Walsh, Sheryl Crow, Sarah McClachan, and Dave Grohl. She developed good personal and professional relationships with a lot of the people she met.
The author describes Stevie’s progressive drug addiction and her subsequent enrollment at the Betty Ford treatment center. The band’s cocaine use spiraled out of control and Mick Fleetwood suffered significant financial consequences. The band reconvene a few years after Stevie took a break to work on her solo albums. Lindsey Buckingham was extremely difficult to get on board and a pretty explosive argument ensued.
Silver Springs is another song talked about throughout the biography. Stevie wrote this song at a very difficult time in her relationship with Lindsey. She also gifted this song to her mom as it was supposed to be on the album Rumors. The release of this song took a very long time to come to fruition. I found the lyrics video below on YouTube that shows footage of Fleetwood Mac’s time together back in the 1970’s. It’s quite nostalgic to see Lindsey and Stevie interact.
Following Stevie’s time at Betty Ford, her psychiatrist prescribed Klonopin in what appeared an effort to help her stay off of cocaine. Unfortunately, the psychiatrist didn’t truly have her best interests at heart and she was on the drug for eight years. The author relays Stevie’s process for getting off of Klonopin and her frustration with the impact it had on her life.
Stevie was on tour in New York City on 9/11. As with all Americans, this day deeply impacted Stevie. While on tour in Washington, D.C., Stevie was invited to visit patients at Walter Reed hospital. This is just one of the many stories in this book of Stevie’s generosity, kindness, and compassion toward others. She established the Stevie Nicks Soldier’s Angel Foundation in which she provided wounded soldiers with iPods loaded with music she loves.
Stevie continues to expand her career by being involved in television shows such as The Voice, American Idol, and America’s Got Talent. She makes solo albums and reconvened with Fleetwood Mac for a tour in 2013 that lasted more than two years. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, I love watching American Horror Story. My favorite season is The Coven. The inclusion of Stevie and the power of her songs was amazing. I had the episode in which Stevie performs The Seven Wonders saved on my DVR for a long time, just to re-watch her performance. I found it on YouTube and it’s below for your viewing pleasure.
This biography tells the comprehensive story of Stevie Nicks and all of the people close to her. I admire her decisions to not get married and have kids. While she often engaged in romantic relationships, she always put her love for music first and is completely happy with those decisions. I fell in love with this book for story of Stevie Nicks. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. I devoured it while also taking breaks to listen to songs mentioned in the book. It was a great opportunity to visit her early music that I fell in love with. It also encourages me to listen to her more recent albums.
I see that Stevie is currently touring and she will be in Louisville, Kentucky this summer. Who knows, I just may have to snag some tickets!
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