The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 707

Number 707

Stevie Nicks

"Leather & Lace"

(1981)
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Genre:Soft Rock

Wasn't it nice to see ole "Gazza" again? A huh. Now where was i ?..oh yes Miss Stevie Nicks (sigh). Hard to believe she is now in her mid 50s and it wouldn't surprise me if she is still as beautiful as ever. I think one of the reasons she was so liked by hordes of men was her hippy/goth clothing and the long blond frizzy hair. (Yes, i know the first photo she has straight hair)

Famed for her mystical chanteuse image, singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks enjoyed phenomenal success not only as a solo artist but also as a key member of Fleetwood Mac. Stephanie Lynn Nicks was born May 26, 1948 in Phoenix, Arizona; the granddaugher of a frustrated country singer, she began performing at the age of four, and occasionally sang at the tavern owned by her parents. Nicks started writing songs in her mid-teens, and joined her first group, the Changing Times, while attending high school in California.During her senior year, Nicks met fellow student Lindsey Buckingham, with whom she formed the band Fritz along with friends Javier Pacheco and Calvin Roper. Between 1968 and 1971, the group became a popular attraction on the West Coast music scene, opening for Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Ultimately, tensions arose over the amount of attention paid by fans to Nicks' pouty allure, and after three years Fritz disbanded; Buckingham remained her partner, however, and soon became her lover as well.

After moving to Los Angeles, the duo recorded their 1973 debut LP, Buckingham-Nicks. Despite a cover which featured the couple nude, the album flopped; however, it caught the attention of the members of Fleetwood Mac, who invited Buckingham and Nicks to join their ranks in 1974. In quick time, the revitalized group achieved unparalled success: after the LP Fleetwood Mac topped the charts in 1975, they recorded 1977's Rumours, which sold over 17 million copies and stood for several years as the best-selling album of all-time.Major hit singles like "Dreams" and "Rhiannon" made Nicks a focal point of Fleetwood Mac, and in 1981 she took time off from the group to record her solo debut, Bella Donna, which hit Number One on the strength of the Top 20 hits "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (a duet with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), "Leather and Lace" (a duet with Don Henley) and "Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove)." After a return to Fleetwood Mac for the 1982 album Mirage (which featured her hit "Gypsy"), Nicks released her second solo effort, The Wild Heart, highlighted by the Top Five smash "Stand Back." Rock a Little, which featured the single "Talk to Me," followed in 1985.

After a long hiatus (during which time Nicks was treated for a chemical dependency problem), Fleetwood Mac reunited for the album Tango in the Night; The Other Side of the Mirror, Nicks' first solo record in four years, followed in 1989. After a series of line-up changes and dropping sales figures, she left Fleetwood Mac in 1993, and issued Street Angel a year later. In 1997, she rejoined the reunited Fleetwood Mac on tour and on the album The Dance. A Nicks solo box set, Enchanted, followed in 1998.~ [Jason Ankeny]
For Jimi Hendrix see Number 718
For Tom Petty see Number 585
For Fleetwood Mac see Number 514, #547 & #591

What does Rolling Stone think about Stevie Nicks?
Bella Donna proves that Fleetwood Mac's blond priestess of the occult can stand on her own as a solo act. With the masterful aid of producer Jimmy Iovine, Stevie Nicks emerges as a tougher, more emotionally direct singer than in her work with Fleetwood Mac. Even though Bella Donna is awash with impenetrable poeticizing, Nicks' musical approach has shifted from folk music toward rock & roll, and this hardier balance – along with the star's hot, growling vocals–helps carry the burden of her rather strange lyrics. Bella Donna succeeds through the same sort of friction. The disparity between Stevie Nicks' rock & roll toughness and her literary ingenuousness leaves an enticing mystery: how can anyone so hip also be so incredibly silly? (RS 352)
Once again Rolling Stone Magazine firing with a loaded gun

Crowbarreds choice for Website to find more on Stevie Nicks ... Click on the address http://www.inherownwords.com/

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Did we mention we like Fleetwood Mac?) and the Album ranked at Number (Your not gonna crucify us cos we said "Silly" are you?)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 68.3 out of 108 pts

Stevie Nicks - Leather and Lace
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