Stevie Nicks

Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks is an American singer-songwriter widely recognized for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a successful solo artist. Rolling Stone named her the "Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll" and listed her among the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Nicks was born on May 26, 1948, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, to Barbara and Jess Nicks. She is of German, English, Welsh, and Irish ancestry. She acquired her nickname as a toddler by pronouncing her name as "tee-dee." Her grandfather taught her to sing duets at age four, and she received a Goya guitar on her 16th birthday, with which she wrote her first song. While attending high school in California, Nicks joined her first folk rock band, the Changing Times, and later joined the psychedelic rock group Fritz with Lindsey Buckingham, opening for artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. She attended San José State University to study speech communication before dropping out to pursue a full-time music career.

After Fritz disbanded in 1972, Nicks and Buckingham released the album Buckingham Nicks in 1973 as a duo. Although the record was commercially unsuccessful, drummer Mick Fleetwood invited the pair to join Fleetwood Mac in late 1974. Joining the group in 1975, Nicks and Buckingham helped transition the band's blues-based rock toward a pop-accessible style. Their 1975 self-titled album achieved global success and featured Nicks's hit compositions "Landslide" and "Rhiannon."

In 1977, Fleetwood Mac released Rumours, which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978 and became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Nicks contributed several tracks, including "Dreams," which became the band's only Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit single, as well as "I Don't Want to Know" and the acclaimed B-side "Silver Springs." During this period, Nicks developed her signature bohemian onstage aesthetic alongside clothing designer Margi Kent, featuring flowing skirts, shawls, and platform boots.

Nicks co-founded Modern Records and launched her solo career with the 1981 studio album Bella Donna, which topped the Billboard 200 chart. Supported by her long-term backup singers Sharon Celani and Lori Perry, she followed it with the successful solo studio albums The Wild Heart in 1983 and Rock a Little in 1985. She also recorded hit duets and backing vocals with artists such as Walter Egan, Kenny Loggins, and John Stewart while remaining a member of Fleetwood Mac for albums like Tusk and Mirage.

Throughout her career, Nicks has released seven studio albums with Fleetwood Mac and eight as a solo artist. She became the first woman inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, first as a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and later as a solo artist in 2019. Four of her compositions—"Landslide," "Rhiannon," "Dreams," and her solo single "Edge of Seventeen"—were included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. As a solo artist, Nicks has received eight Grammy Award nominations and two American Music Award nominations.