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With three songwriters in Fleetwood Mac, Nicks was frustrated as she was a prolific songwriter and many of her songs were not even considered for inclusion in their latest album Tusk. Over the previous six years with the band she had amassed an amazing amount of unused material. In an interview she spoke about the problems, "When we'd do an album, they'd hear fifteen of my songs and pick the two that were my least favourite. Some of my favourite songs wouldn't get used."
Following the release of Tusk in 1979 and the epic world tour that followed, Nicks returned to her Pacific Palisades home she shared with her new boyfriend, producer Jimmy Iovine. It was there that the seeds of a new album were sown.
By her own admission she was in a terrible shape following the tour. "I was so tired and sung out. I was so 'Landslide-ed' out and so 'Rhiannon-ed' out that I thought if I had to do that set one more time I was going to go nuts." It seemed the time was right to pursue a solo career.
Iovine agreed to produce her solo project and planned on a different approach to the one that Fleetwood Mac followed on their recordings. His idea was to go for a more live sound. He had previously worked with John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Meat Loaf. However, it was his work with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers that grabbed Nicks attention. She told Iovine that she wanted a 'girl version' of Petty's sound.
In September, at her house, Nicks and her girlfriends, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry, worked with Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, who Iovine had asked to act as musical director on the project.
They rehearsed for two months as Nicks recalled, "We were like Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills and Nash, living in this great house and making music. It was one of those real rock 'n' roll experiences that you can never forget."
Tench recalled the rehearsals, "It was song after great song. I think she had enough for her first three solo albums and beyond." He went on to talk about how the girls worked together, "Lori and Sharon were so instinctive and so intuitive. They were all so tuned in to each other. At the drop of a hat they'd break into a-cappella versions of old songs like Chapel Of Love. They loved each other and loved to harmonize. They stood behind me at the piano, and when I heard their three voices together it was just: 'Wow', goosebumps."
Sessions took place at Studio 55 in Los Angeles. Built in 1940 by Decca Records it was the studio where the classic Bing Crosby festive standard White Christmas was recorded.
Recording began in November 1980 and would continue through to Spring 1981.Produced by Jimmy Iovine, the sessions marked the start of Nicks trend of calling on her musician friends. There was Tom Petty and Don Henley, who contributed vocals on a few tracks, along with session musicians Waddy Wachtel, Davey Johnstone, Bob Glaub, Benmont Tench and Russ Kunkel. Additional support was provided by a number of players including Mike Campbell, Donald 'Duck' Dunn, Dan Dugmore, Roy Bittan and Don Felder.
The recordings would also be the first to feature Nicks close friends and backing vocalists, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry, both of whom had worked with Nicks during the rehearsals for the album and would record and tour with Nick's in the years to come.
Talking about the sessions, Tench recalled, "We recorded all the songs essentially live with the whole band cutting at the same time, and Stevie, Lori and Sharon singing with us on the floor. We captured a beautiful feel. The same mood that was in her house made it to the vocal booth."
Bella Donna was released on 27 July 1981 and would reach #1 on the Billboard 200 and number three on the Billboard Rock Albums chart. In the United Kingdom it peaked at #3 while in Australia it repeated the US success hitting the top spot. The album spent almost three years on the Billboard 200 between July 1981 and June 1984.
It took less than three months to reach platinum status by the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) and in 1990 was certified multi-platinum status for sales of over four million copies.
For the albums cover photo Nicks turned to Herbert Worthington III who had taken the photos for Rumours. Taking a series of photos he managed to capture Nicks as a mystical woman in chiffon.
Talking about the images to Rolling Stone, Nicks said, "What I'm wearing is the exact opposite of my black outfit on Rumours. Over that it says: 'Come in from the darkness...', which is the dark side of anyone, the side that isn't optimistic, that isn't strong."
Bella Donna was a strong debut featuring some of Nicks best material and there wasn't a bad track on the album.
The album opens with the title track, Bella Donna, a song she refused to give to Fleetwood Mac as she was saving it for herself. It meant so much to her that it became the title track of her debut solo album. As she told Rolling Stone in 1981, "Bella Donna is a term of endearment I use, and the title is about making a lot of decisions in my life, making change based on the turmoil in my soul. You get to a certain age where you want to slow down, be quieter. The title was basically a warning to myself and a question to others.
Co-written with Benmont Tench, Kind Of Woman actually had its roots back in 1973 during her time in Buckingham Nicks and around the same time she wrote Landslide. Apparently she wrote it while Lindsey Buckingham was touring with the Everly Brothers and how she imagined him meeting and getting involved with groupies while she was at home still doing her waitress job.
The only track on the album not written by Stevie Nicks was Stop Draggin' My Heart Around. Jimmy Iovine felt the album didn't have a hit single and through his work with Tom Petty asked him for a song she could include. At first she was annoyed about the thought of having somebody else's song on her album and she stormed out. She soon came back when she realised he was right. She apologised for being bitchy and knew that singing the song with Petty was something she couldn't turn down. Nicks knew how important the song was to the success of the album, "Had he not given me that song Bella Donna might not have been a hit. That song kicked Bella Donna right into the universe."
Think About It had been recorded during the sessions for Rumours but didn't make the final cut. That version was finally issued on the Rumours Deluxe Edition. It was written for Christine McVie when her marriage to John was falling apart.
With its country feel, After The Glitter Fades, dates back to the early-seventies and was written before she joined Fleetwood Mac and following her and Lindsey's move to Los Angeles. The lyrics referred to how bad it was going to be for them both in music and how hard the business was. However, they hadn't even made it that point, and she was still working as a waitress. It has been stated that Nicks wrote the song with Dolly Parton in mind.
The title Edge Of Seventeen was inspired by Tom Petty's wife Jane and something she said that Nicks misheard. She thought Petty's wife had said they had been together from the 'age of 17.' The lyrics are a tribute to John Lennon, who was shot during the recording of the album, and homage to her Uncle Jonathan who passed away suddenly from cancer. Edge Of Seventeen is the song Nicks closes all her concerts with.
Telling the story about a woman getting involved with a man nobody thinks she should be with, How Still Is My Love, was one of Nicks favourite songs on the album. It could have been written about any of her lovers, Mick Fleetwood, Jimmy Iovine, Don Henley... no one really knows.
Leather And Lace is performed as a duet with Don Henley and is a song she wrote in 1976 at the request of country star Waylon Jennings for him and his wife Jessi Colter. At the time they were close to splitting up and they didn't record it so she kept it for herself. She wanted a fellow artist to perform the song with her. "I felt in my heart that either I had to do the song with Don, or Waylon had to do it with Jessi, or Waylon and I had to do it. Those were the only three possibilities.
Outside The Rain is a song that Nicks feels has a connection to Fleetwood Mac and is a bookend to Dreams. She has often said it was a song that the band would have liked to have recorded. In her solo concerts the song would often be performed alongside Dreams.
The album closes with The Highwaymen which is apparently about the Eagles, the male members of Fleetwood Mac and the masculine rock-stars of the seventies. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1981 she commented, "They are the Errol Flynns and the Tyronne Powers of our day. So as long as I have to live with them, I try to make them into the most wonderful bunch of guys I can possibly think up."
A few weeks before the albums release Stop Draggin' My Heart Around b/w Kind Of Woman was released peaking at #3.
A further three singles were issued between October 1981 and April 1982. Leather and Lace b/w Bella Donna (October 1981) reached #6, Edge Of Seventeen b/w Outside The Rain (February 1982) peaked at #11 and After The Glitter Fades b/w Think About It (April 1982) stalled at #32.
Stevie Nicks headed out on a short promotional tour opening with a show at The Summit Arena, Houston, Texas on 28 November 1981 followed by shows in Dallas (Texas), Boulder (Colorado), Oakland (California) and Tempe (Arizona). The tour closed with five-nights at the Wilshire Fox Theater in Los Angeles, California.
Backing Nicks on the tour were many of the musicians who had worked on the album... Waddy Wachtel, Russ Kunkel, Roy Bittan, Benmont Tench and, of course, vocalists Sharon Celani and Lori Perry.
The final concert was recorded by HBO for a television special and would also be issued on VHS and Laser Disc as White Wing Dove - Stevie Nicks In Concert. Although the whole show was recorded only nine songs made it to the special and subsequent releases. Tracks included songs from Bella Donna - Outside The Rain (edited version), Stop Draggin' My Heart Around and Edge Of Seventeen along with Fleetwood Mac material - Rhiannon, Sara and Dreams. One additional track, Leather and Lace, appeared on the I Can't Wait video which featured six of Nicks promo videos from the years 1981 to 1985.
The apparent reason for the short tour was the need for Nicks to return to Fleetwood Mac where, at the Chateau D'Herouville near Paris, they were recording basic tracks for their next album, Mirage. From my own research it appears the sessions in France were held in May-June 1981 and it is more likely Nicks rejoined Fleetwood Mac at The Record Plant in Los Angeles for the Mirage sessions at the end of the tour.
In November 2016, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the albums release, Rhino issued the 3-CD Bella Donna Deluxe Edition.
Featuring a remastered original album on CD-1 with eleven bonus tracks on CD-2 and a third disc containing fourteen live recordings from 1981, the package also included an informative 24-page booklet with notes by Craig McLean, lyrics to the original album, credits and several photos.
The second disc, Bonus Tracks, included Think About It (alternate version), Bella Donna (demo), Edge Of Seventeen (early take) along with several tracks that didn't make the album, Gold And Braid, If You Were My Love and The Dealer. Two tracks, Blue Lamp and Sleeping Angel, had appeared previously on the Heavy Metal soundtrack and Fast Times At Ridgemont High soundtrack respectively.
The third disc, Live 1981, brought together the ten previously released on video live performances from the 1981 tour, including the restored full-length version of Outside The Rain, along with four previously unreleased performances of Angel, After The Glitter Fades, Bella Donna and How Still My Love.
Speaking to US Magazine about the album in 1981 she said, “It’s difficult to
be a girl in a big rock’n’roll group for six years. You’re very protected and
dependent. For so long you’re not allowed to make your own decisions, that
suddenly you don’t want to any more. Doing my solo album was the only step I
could take to show I still had control.”
