By THIRSTY
Stephen Davis is the preeminent
rock n’ roll biographer of our time. His books have focused on such iconic rock
bands as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac, to name only a
few. Stay Thirsty Magazine was pleased
to visit with him at his home in Massachusetts for this Conversation.
STAY THIRSTY: In your latest biography, Gold Dust Woman – The Biography of Stevie Nicks, you chronicle the
life and times of a rock n’ roll goddess. Why did you pick her as the next
subject in your series of books about music icons?
STEPHEN DAVIS: Thirty-two years ago, in 1985, I published a book
about Led Zeppelin called Hammer of the
Gods, and it has been in print ever since, and also has been translated
into about twenty languages. One reason for this, I think, is that the Zeppelin
fans identified with that band beyond the music itself. Led Zepp had this
quasi-occult mystique. The only other rock star that has this relationship with
her fans is Stevie Nicks, who see her as an angel in grace and the fairy
godmother of Rock. Hers is the perfectly receptive audience to try to tell her
story to.
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| Stephen Davis |
STAY THIRSTY: You dedicate this biography to the fans of Stevie
Nicks and to the band Fleetwood Mac, past and present, and you end your
dedication with two phrases in Latin that translate as “memory and faithful”
and “Not unto ourselves alone are we born.” The second phrase is a quotation
from a treatise by Cicero. How did you arrive at this dedication and what does
it mean to you?
STEPHEN DAVIS: I’m trying to echo the communitarian spirit of the massive
Rock audience, the largest audience in history if you think about it. Fleetwood
Mac, Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, etc., etc., are bands that have sold
hundreds of millions of records. There are religions out there in the world that
don’t have these kinds of numbers. “We are not born for ourselves alone” is a
means of calling the clans together so the elders (like, me) can instruct the
initiates in the lore of our tribe.
STAY THIRSTY: In the epigraph of this biography, you quote four
lines from W. H. Auden’s poem Hymn to St.
Cecilia and you also quote Stevie Nicks. As you did in the dedication, you
reference something contemporary and something classical. Why did you include
these particular quotations? How do they relate to the essence of this
biography and to you as a writer?
STEPHEN DAVIS: Well, St. Cecelia is the patron saint of music. This
epigraph calls on her for saintly muse-agency and inspiration. The Stevie Nicks
quote – “Chiffon lasts forever if you take care of it” – will hopefully point
the reader toward the ultimate meaning of the narrative – that a person can
survive the troubles and travails of this world if you take care of yourself.
STAY THIRSTY: In your Author’s Note at the end of the book, you
state that this is an unauthorized biography and before your Note, you quote
Stevie Nicks: “The fact is that nobody has a clue to what my life was really
like.” Do you feel that you were able to capture the true soul and character of
Nicks in this book? Did your research unearth the clues about her life that she
believes are hidden?
STEPHEN DAVIS: No biographer in their right mind would claim to
capture anything about their subject other than arranging established facts to
tell a story. The essence of Stevie’s life is in her music, not in a narrative.
But I do think this story reveals some of the hidden currents in Stevie’s
career, if not necessarily her life, which is (and always should remain) hers
alone. That said, the text is full of incident and adventure – to an extent
that surprised even myself.
STAY THIRSTY: You also quote from the poem, When We Two Parted by Lord Byron, that reads: “If I should meet
thee / After long years, How should I greet thee? – / With silence and tears.”
While Lord Byron is trapped in a state of grieving over a lost love and his
willingness to protect her identity with his silence, are you in fact in love
with Stevie Nicks but, unlike Byron, finding solace in the telling of her story
out loud?
STEPHEN DAVIS: It’s interesting (and gratifying) that you find the
epigraphs and invocations of Gold Dust
Woman worthy of comment. I am not now, nor ever have been, in love with
Stevie Nicks. But I’ve been writing about her since 1979. The quote from Lord
Byron is meant to be a memorial to the abandoned love between Stevie and
Lindsey Buckingham, which (to quote Scott Fitzgerald) has “some kind of epic
grandeur” that resonates with Stevie’s fans. (I thought that Byron in this poem
was writing about his wife, Lady Byron, who had driven him out of England with
accusations of incest, perversion, and insanity. So it wasn’t grief he was
expressing, but anger. Only the Lord knew for sure.)
STAY THIRSTY: You have written books on some of the music greats of
our age, including Bob Marley, Mick Fleetwood, Jim Morrison, Carly Simon and
Miles Davis. What are the common threads that ran through their lives that
allowed them to have such successful careers and to influence music for
generations?
STEPHEN DAVIS: Common threads: ambition, personal charisma, energy,
pacts with the Devil, neuroses, swing, contractual obligations (see Pacts with
the Devil).
STAY THIRSTY: After spending so much of your life writing
biographies, which of your subjects had the most profound impact on your life?
Who would you most like to spend time with next week, if you had the chance?
STEPHEN DAVIS: Only Jim Morrison’s disembodied poetics had a profound
impact on me, personally. But Levon Helm took me to Arkansas. Led Zeppelin took
me to California. Aerosmith took me around the world. Michael Jackson
introduced me to Bubbles, his chimpanzee. Mick Fleetwood introduced me to
Stevie Nicks. To answer your question, I’d love to spend time with Bob Marley,
just so he’d be alive and I could hear him laugh again. He had the best laugh –
ever.
STAY THIRSTY: For all the Stevie Nicks fans, what are the three most
important keys to understanding her, her life and her music?
STEPHEN DAVIS: First, Stevie Nicks was incredibly ambitious as a
young woman. Second, she believed she was on a mission to get on a stage and
sing for people to make them feel good. Third, by singing about Rhiannon she
was consciously taking her place in the ancient Welsh bardic tradition that is
part of the romantic cultural heritage of the West. Fourth, she got tired of
waiting tables wearing a Roaring Twenties flapper outfit in West Hollywood, so
she joined Fleetwood Mac instead. Fifth, many people she trusted and loved
either hurt or betrayed her, and she forgave (almost) all of them.
STAY THIRSTY: Do you think Stevie Nicks will like your book?
STEPHEN DAVIS: I don’t know, but I would not bet on it.
STAY THIRSTY: Who are you thinking of writing about next?
STEPHEN DAVIS: Somebody dead. Thanks for the great questions.
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