Stevie Nicks’ amazing first album Bella Donna
Stevie Nicks is something of an enigma. She has been a permanent part of the rock and roll firmament since the early 1970s and shows no plans to become a shadow.
At 74 years of age and with the soul of the gypsy combined with the magic of the Welsh witch Rhiannon she still writes and performs regularly. Forty years ago in July 1981, however, when her first solo album Bella Donna was released, the other members of Fleetwood Mac were concerned. “When you’re in a band with three writers, three great writers, you only get one third of the writer thing. So that’s the whole reason that I did a solo career. And that’s, you know, when I told Fleetwood Mac I was going to do that, they were of course terrified that I would do that record and then that I would quit.”
Fleetwood Mac, of course, has a litany of comings and goings and perhaps it wouldn’t have been all that surprising if a solo project by Stevie would have set the wheels in motion for another change of line up for the legendary band, but it didn’t. Stevie explained in 1997 to Spin magazine that it was the physical nature of being in the band that kept it together during the recording and release of Bella Donna in 1981. “I think if I had just done my solo career and had been able just to be me, I probably would’ve been more ego’d out than I was. Being in a group of five really does keep your ego in place. It’s not as easy to get totally conceited when you’re in a band.”
Stevie Nicks had joined Fleetwood Mac together with Lyndsey Buckingham in 1975 and together they injected new fuel into the band. They’re song writing ignited a spark that set the gasoline ablaze and took the others in the band along with them. Success flowed like champagne with a cocaine chaser producing 1975s Fleetwood Mac record and the band’s ultimate collection of songs, the almost mystical Rumours in 1977. That the band had been sleeping around, taking drugs, and almost destroying themselves in the process is well known. But the legacy of those days can be heard in some of the best song writing of the 20th century. Tusk followed in 1979 which showcased some of the finest work from Stevie Nicks including Storms, Sisters of the Moon and the enchanting multi million selling Sara.
But being a group of three superb songwriters meant many of Stevie’s songs failed to make the cut for Fleetwood Mac projects. Being in such a creative cauldron for so long, competing even on a subliminal level with Lyndsey Buckingham and Christine McVie to write the best songs, must have been draining, but Stevie wasn’t totally prepared to let her song writing go to waste, after all three exceptional songwriters in one band can only get a third of the exposure. So, it didn’t take too much persuasion to convince Stevie to develop a solo project of her own. Looking back in 2016 Stevie commented on the album, “Bella Donna was really all about the love story of a songwriter and a producer. It’s not just a record. It’s a beautiful tale.”
The story of Bella Donna started in 1979 during breaks from recording Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk and would go on to sell over 4 million copies in the United States alone. Squeezing in song writing for the project during breaks in the Tusk tour, Stevie Nicks’ skill with lilting lyrics came to the fore as she laid down her first songs for the album in September 1980. Some of these songs never made it onto the release including Blue Lamp, Gold and Braid, Sleeping Angel, The Dealer, Belle Fleur and If You Were My Love. All would, eventually, seep out many years later, but as Bella Donna found its strength the songs that would make it an outstanding recording were coming together. The quality was heightened along with fans interest when it emerged that Stevie Nicks had persuaded friends Tom Petty and Don Henley to lend their considerable weight to her debut release. Under producer Jimmy Lovine four hit singles were put together: Stop Draggin’ My heart around with Tom Petty, Leather and Lace with Don Henley, the country tinged After the Glitter Fades and Stevie’s signature rock edged song ‘Edge of Seventeen’.
The calibre of the collaborators on Bella Donna was exceptional with session musicians Waddy Wachtel, Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band pianist Roy Bittan and Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn of Booker T & the MGs all laying down tracks for Stevie. Bella Donna also saw the start of a sisterhood of sorts with Stevie’s long-time backing vocalists, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry adding harmony and depth to her vocals. Sharon and Lori still record and tour with Stevie to this day.
In a 1979 interview with Jim Ladd, Stevie opened-up about her song writing, “I came here for a reason. I didn’t come here to be a mother. I didn’t come here to be nun. And I did not come here to be a cleaning lady. I came here to be a poet.” A poet is what she achieved as Bella Donna was released on July 27, 1981 to a world eager to hear what fresh sound Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks could create without the stifling atmosphere of a dysfunctional but hugely successful band surrounding her and clouding her creativity. Within three months in September 1981 Bella Donna went platinum and by 2004 it was certified quadruple platinum and would remain on the Billboard 200 from July 1981 to June 1984, not bad for a debut album. Helped in no small part by a sell-out ‘White Wing Dove’ tour.
Over the years the songs that never made it on to Bella Donna in 1981 emerged mostly on the 2016 Rhino released expanded version that encompassed three CDs. The first disc being the remastered original, the second disc containing outtakes, alternative versions, demos and more and the third consists of live tracks recorded at the live performance of the album at Los Angeles’ Fox Wiltshire Theatre on December 13, 1981. Remastered versions also appeared on the Enchanted box set released in 1998 including a longer version of Leather and Lace with Don Henley.
The lady herself has a clear vision of how she wants to be remembered. “Don’t be lady. Be a legend.” Stevie Nicks is, however, both!
