STEVIE NICKS IS the queen of rock ’n’ roll. Anyone questioning this fact should immediately Google the dressing room version of her song “Wild Heart.” The footage was recorded without Nicks’ knowledge while she was getting ready for her 1981 Rolling Stone photo shoot. It’s perhaps the most stunning performance of her careaer (that we know of), and a telling example of her magnetic energy and raw talent.
And that voice. With her drawling vibrato—possibly picked up from young years spent singing country duets with her grandfather—Nicks belts each line like she’s unleashing hurricane-force gusts of wild joy. Though she’s an incredible singer, let’s not forget that she’s also responsible for writing some of rock’s best lyrics.
Stevie Nicks will make you fall in love with words. Her emotionally complex lyrics often capture conflicting feelings, whether she was writing barbs about her tumultuous romance with fellow Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham, her abortion (“Sara”), or something as seemingly meaningless as wearing “boots all summer long” (“Nightbird”)—possibly a reference to her years spent addicted to cocaine, when she’d walk around with a gram in her boot. Her breakup songs became anthems for personal autonomy; even when she was caught in the throes of love or pain, Nicks never seems to have forgotten who she is.