Editing Stevie Nicks (section)

=== Solo career ===
Nicks wrote and recorded demos for a solo project during ''Tusk'' sessions in 1979 and the ''Tusk'' world tour of 1979–80.<ref name="nicksfix1980" /> Nicks, Danny Goldberg, and Paul Fishkin founded [[Modern Records (1980)|Modern Records]] to record and release Nicks's material.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pzAdAAAAIBAJ&pg=5482%2C3389480 |title=The Tuscaloosa News&nbsp;– Google News Archive Search |access-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-date=December 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207203706/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pzAdAAAAIBAJ&pg=5482%2C3389480 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Nicks's first solo album, ''[[Bella Donna (album)|Bella Donna]]'', was released on July 27, 1981, to critical and commercial acclaim, reaching number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, with four singles making the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and ''Rolling Stone'' deeming her "the Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/bella-donna-mw0000191230/awards |title=Bella Donna |website=AllMusic |access-date=February 28, 2014 |archive-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116130855/http://www.allmusic.com/album/bella-donna-mw0000191230/awards |url-status=live }}</ref>

The day that ''Bella Donna'' reached number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, Nicks was told that her friend Robin Anderson had leukemia. Anderson was pregnant at the time and given only three months to live. She gave birth to a son, appointing Nicks as the child's godmother. "I never got to enjoy ''Bella Donna'' at all because my friend was dying. Something went out that day; something left."<ref name="robin">{{cite web |url=http://www.inherownwords.com/robin.htm |title=Stevie Nicks on Robin Snyder Anderson |publisher=inherownwords.com |access-date=September 30, 2012 |archive-date=June 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604020328/http://www.inherownwords.com/robin.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Following Robin's death in 1982, Nicks married Robin's widower, Kim Anderson, believing that Robin would want her to care for the baby. "We were all in such insane grief, just completely deranged," she told the ''Telegraph'' in 2007. They divorced three months later.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3667803/Stevie-Nicks-a-survivors-story.html |title=Stevie Nicks- A Survivor's Story |work=The Telegraph |date=September 8, 2007 |access-date=September 30, 2012 |archive-date=August 14, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814182335/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3667803/Stevie-Nicks-a-survivors-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/mar/25/stevie-nicks-interview|title=Stevie Nicks: The men, the music, the menopause|last=McLean|first=Craig|date=March 25, 2011|work=The Guardian|access-date=August 17, 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=August 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817164558/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/mar/25/stevie-nicks-interview|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Bella Donna'' introduced Nicks's permanent back-up singers, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry (now Nicks after marrying Stevie's brother Christopher), who have contributed vocals to all of Nicks's solo albums since then.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inherownwords.com/girls.htm|title=Stevie Nicks on the Girls: Sharon Celani & Lori Perry-Nicks|publisher=Inherownwords.com|access-date=October 6, 2014|archive-date=October 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012023559/http://www.inherownwords.com/girls.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In November 1981, Nicks embarked on her ''White Winged Dove'' tour, which she had to cut short to record ''[[Mirage (Fleetwood Mac album)|Mirage]]''.

Nicks released her second solo album, ''[[The Wild Heart (album)|The Wild Heart]]'', on June 10, 1983. The album went double platinum, reached number five on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart, and featured three hit singles. It also introduced songwriter and performer [[Sandy Stewart (musician)|Sandy Stewart]] as co-writer and vocalist.

Nicks performed at the second [[US Festival]] at [[Glen Helen Regional Park]] in [[San Bernardino]], California, and later toured the U.S. from June 1983 to November 1983. Nicks appeared on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' in December 1983, performing "[[Stand Back]]" and "Nightbird".

Following the tour for ''The Wild Heart'', Nicks commenced work on her third solo album. Originally titled ''Mirror Mirror'', Nicks recorded songs for the album during 1984. However, Nicks was unhappy with the album, and opted to record a new batch of songs in 1985.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inherownwords.com/rockalit.htm|title=Stevie Nicks on 'Rock A Little'|website=inherownwords.com|access-date=June 2, 2010|archive-date=October 8, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008041933/http://inherownwords.com/rockalit.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Rock a Little]]'', as it was retitled, was released November 18, 1985, to commercial success, supported by three successful singles. Nicks toured for ''Rock a Little'' until October 1986, and performed with [[Bob Dylan]] and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during their tour in Australia.

The tour marked a turning point in Nicks's life. The January before the tour was to begin, a plastic surgeon warned her of severe health problems if she did not stop using cocaine.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3667803/Stevie-Nicks-a-survivors-story.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=Stevie Nicks: a survivor's story |first=Mick |last=Brown |date=September 8, 2007 |access-date=June 3, 2010 |archive-date=August 14, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814182335/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3667803/Stevie-Nicks-a-survivors-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "I said, 'What do you think about my nose?{{'"}}, she recalled on ''The Chris Isaak Hour'' in 2009. "And he said, 'Well, I think the next time you do a hit of cocaine, you could drop dead.{{'"}} At the end of the Australian tour, Nicks checked herself into the [[Betty Ford Center]] for 30 days to overcome her cocaine addiction.<ref name="youtube1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR0--gXpJEU|title=Stevie Nicks 2009 - The Chris Isaak Hour 4|date=March 7, 2009 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=December 20, 2015|archive-date=December 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219184815/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR0--gXpJEU|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nicksfix.com/article_dailynews_sep7_2001.htm |title=Stevie Nicks in Her Own Words |publisher=ABC News |author=Cynthia McFadden |date=September 7, 2001 |access-date=June 3, 2010 |archive-date=August 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090807115347/http://www.nicksfix.com/article_dailynews_sep7_2001.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Recalling the strong influence of [[Janis Joplin]] and [[Jimi Hendrix]] on her music and life, she told a UK interviewer, "I saw how they went down, and a part of me wanted to go down with them&nbsp;... but then another part of me thought, I would be very sad if some 25-year-old lady rock and roll singer ten years from now said, 'I wish Stevie Nicks would have thought about it a little more.' That's kind of what stopped me and made me really look at the world through clear eyes."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVuEIQrVS34 |title=Stevie Nicks, The Other Side of The Mirror, UK Interview |access-date=October 14, 2012 |archive-date=November 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123205545/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVuEIQrVS34 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Later that year, on the advice of friends concerned that she might relapse, she visited a psychiatrist who prescribed the sedative [[Clonazepam|Klonopin]] to help her remain free from cocaine.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nicksfix.com/interview_chum_may6_2001.htm |title=Toronto Interview |publisher=CHUM Radio |author=Marilyn Dennis |date=May 6, 2001 |access-date=June 3, 2010 |archive-date=November 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117023836/http://www.nicksfix.com/interview_chum_may6_2001.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>