Stevie Nicks Uncovered a 1973 Letter That Shows Her High Opinion of Lindsey Buckingham
Over 50 years after recording the Buckingham Nicks album, Stevie Nicks has unearthed a letter from that period of her life. Nicks and her then-boyfriend, Lindsey Buckingham, recorded an album together before they joined Fleetwood Mac. While they thought it would change their lives, the album flopped, and their label dropped them. Before this happened, though, Nicks’ letter proves how excited she was about her music and Buckingham.
Stevie Nicks revealed a letter from before she joined Fleetwood Mac
In 1973, Nicks and Buckingham were working on their album. In a letter Nicks shared on her Instagram, she told her family it wasn’t easy, but she felt confident.
“Well, here I am — once again at the ‘famous’ Sound City Recording Studio,” she wrote them. “I am getting very tired of sitting around listening to 12 hours of music per day. Oh well, I know it will pay off in the end, and when I am sitting in my small but luxurious Beverly Hills home overlooking my small but tasteful pool that is totally secluded, where I can sun in the nude and tan my entire fat body while waiting for my plastic surgery leg lift – it will all be worth it. Otherwise, everything here is just ‘peach-y.’”
She also told her family to start preparations for her 25th birthday. She planned to take the entire month of May to celebrate.
“Speaking of being almost 25 – I have decided that we should set aside the entire month of May to celebrate the fact that I am now 1 quarter of a century old,” she wrote. “A new landmark like this should not simply be passed over as yet another birthday, but should include a gala celebration. I shall leave it to the three of you to plan it. By the way, presents will be accepted any time after the first of May – no C.O.D’s please.”
She gave a bit of insight into the recording process, noting that Buckingham was proving to be very impressive as an artist.
“By the way – Dad and Chris – that rock and roll tune that you both liked (‘Baby Baby, don’t treat me so bad’) with the fancy guitar work is almost finished and Lindsey may go down in history as one of ‘greats’ in guitar playing,” she wrote. “It really is quite amazing.”
Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham recently released the album discussed in her letter
While Nicks had high hopes for the album at this point, it did not garner the results she’d hoped. The promotional staff at their label, Polydor, didn’t do much for the album, and it didn’t sell well. The label and their manager dropped them.
With Nicks and Buckingham’s immense success in Fleetwood Mac, however, came renewed interest in the album. They finally re-released it this year. Both Nicks and Buckingham, despite their storied and often troubled history, think highly of it.
“[We] knew what we had as a duo, two songwriters that sang really well together,” Nicks said, per Rolling Stone. “And it was a very natural thing, from the beginning.”
“It stands up in a way you hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work,” Buckingham added.
She said this period of her life was not easy
After the failure of Buckingham Nicks, the couple had to look outside the music industry for work. Nicks said Buckingham wanted to focus solely on music, so she supported them with a variety of jobs. She admitted that they began to fight more often, but realized they needed to pull it together when they got the opportunity to join Fleetwood Mac.
“I said, OK, this is what we’ve been working for since 1968,” Nicks told Buckingham, per the book Gold Dust Woman by Stephen Davis. “And so, Lindsey, you and I have to sew this relationship back up. We have too much to lose here. We need to put our problems behind us. Maybe we’re not going to have any more problems, because we’re finally going to have some money. And I won’t have to be a f***ing waitress.”
They broke up while recording their second album with Fleetwood Mac, Rumours.
