Stevie Nicks was born a music prodigy. She was singing before she could read and displaying her innate talent for music.
Everyone who met Nicks could see it, and like all child stars, it was up to her family to decide whether to develop this raw talent and lead her down the path of becoming a music star or let her lead a normal life. This decision was a tough one and an issue of contention in Nicks’s family. Her parents and grandparents argued endlessly about whether to promote her singing or not.
Eventually, the arguments went too far and damaged the family dynamic, which caused a two-year separation in her home. Here is a look at what happened to the Nicks family and her relationship with her family later.
Nicks Began Performing At Age Four
When Nicks was very young, she was close with her grandfather, Aaron Nicks. He was a musician but was unsuccessful in launching his music career. He played instruments such as the harmonica, guitar, and fiddle. He would often play around Nicks, and when he noticed she started singing with him, he realized that she could harmonize beautifully.
He began to test Nicks’s capacity to pick up harmonies by ear and realized that she could do so easily and without training. This was when he started to train her a bit and took her to perform at nearby small bars with him. Nicks learned to love performing with her grandfather and enjoyed charming the crowds at these bars.
In the book “Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams, and Rumours,” Nicks said, “I remember singing with my granddad and feeling even at that young age that music was definitely going to be a part of my life.”
Her Parents And Grandparents Fought About Her Performing
Aaron had success in those bars when Nicks performed with him. He instantly knew that his granddaughter was destined for great success in the music industry. So, he wanted to take her on tour with him. However, her parents outrightly refused.
Nicks’ parents supported their daughters’ talent but thought she was too young to go on road tours. They had also just given birth to her younger brother and were preparing to move to New Mexico.
Her grandfather was insistent, and when they refused to let Nicks go, he and her parents had a huge fight that led to him storming out of the house. This fight did more damage than the whole family thought as her grandfather alienated her and her parents for the next two years.
Aaron Nicks Went Away For Two Years
When the family had their huge fight, and her grandfather left home, he refused to speak to any of her family for the next two years, which hurt the family dynamic. It also hurt Nicks as she was so close to her grandfather.
MEGAIn an interview with Rolling Stone, Nicks said, “He went away for two years and we never saw or heard from him. I was very upset. I still have a cassette of him and me singing ‘Are You Mine.”
Eventually, the family made amends and reconciled. Nicks has reunited with her loving grandfather once again. She has credited him in several interviews as her earliest and one of her greatest inspirations.
She Wrote A Song For Her Grandfather That He Never Heard
After Nicks graduated from high school, she began her music career properly. About two years before her career took off and she joined Fleetwood Mac, she wrote a song dedicated to her grandfather. However, she never played it for him because it included lyrics that referenced his death.
MEGAShe spoke about it in the Rolling Stone interview, saying, “I knew he was going to die and I didn’t ever play it for him, because there was a line in it that said, ‘I can still hear him playing though he’ll soon be gone.’ I couldn’t change that line, and I couldn’t sing it to him. That was when I decided I would never write another song that I could not play or show to somebody, ’cause he should have heard that song.”
Years after her grandfather died, Nicks dedicated her first album, “Bella Donna,” to his memory.
