The queen of California rock and one of the most beloved figures in music history, Stevie Nicks is an eight-time Grammy winning and two time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, whose popularity and influence has not diminished since her chart-topping run with Fleetwood Mac began in the mid-1970s.

Stephanie Lynn Nicks was born in Phoenix, Arizona on May 26, 1948. She started her career in San Francisco as one half of Buckingham-Nicks, a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsay Buckingham. In 1975, the two singer-songwriters moved to L.A. and joined the already established blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac for their self-titled album, which featured the Nicks-penned classic “Rhiannon.” With 1977’s Rumours, the Mac created one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed rock albums of all time, packed with slick yet emotionally intense songs like “Dreams” and “Go Your Own Way,” which were fueled by the romantic turmoil at the heart of the band (Nicks and Buckigham’s relationship was deteriorating while they worked on Rumours, as was the marriage of bandmates Christine and John McVie). 1979’s double-LP Tusk had the Nicks standouts “Sara” and “Storms.” 1982’s Mirage contained another signature Nicks masterpiece, “Gypsy.” As Fleetood Mac became global superstars, Nicks’ smoldering voice, mysterious, enchanting songs, and California-goddess beauty made her the focal point of the band’s image as L.A. rock royals living a decadent fantasy. “All of us were drug addicts, but there was a point where I was the worst drug addict,” she later recalled. “I was a girl, I was fragile, and I was doing a lot of coke. And I had that hole in my nose. So it was dangerous.”

A prolific songwriter, Nicks made her solo debut in 1981 with Bella Donna, highlighted by the hits “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a collaboration with her close friends Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. 1983’s Wild Heart had the synth-driven smash ”Stand Back.” Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac in 1987. Nicks stayed through the band’s next album, 1990’s Behind the Mask. During this time she continued to release solo albums. The eternally chaotic Mac would form and re-form many times over the years; Nicks rejoined the group for 1997 LP The Dance and performed and toured as part of Fleetwood Mac intermittently for the next two decades while continuing to release solo music. Nicks’ most recent solo LP, her eighth, is 2014’s 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault. “At the ripe and totally young age of 70, my voice hasn’t changed,” she told Rolling Stone in 2019, the year she entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo act. “As long as I take care of myself, I am still going to be doing this when I’m 80.”

In the 2010s and 2020s, her influence on a younger generation of artists became almost universal. She befriended stars like Harry Styles, Lana Del Rey, HAIM, and Taylor Swift, who included a poem from Nicks in the physical version of her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department. Speaking to Rolling Stone about her lasting impact and guiding presence in rock, Nicks said, “That makes me happy because I didn’t ever have children, but I feel like I have a lot of daughters.”  In 2023 and 2024, she was back on the road with Billy Joel as part of the ‘Two Icons One Night’ tour. —Jon Dolan