Stevie Nicks has revealed the inspiration behind the title track of her debut solo album ‘Bella Donna’ as the record turns 40.
The Fleetwood Mac star shot to the top of the US charts and the UK Top 20 with the LP, featuring Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Don Henley duet Leather and Lace.
In an excerpt from the singer’s journal, shared on social media, Stevie reflects on the album’s opening song Bella Donna and how it formed the basis of the record.
“The song was written about my boyfriend’s mother who was involved with a man in Chile during the coup that happened there in 1973,” she explains. “The man she loved was banished to France.
“Banished or imprisoned, that was the choice. The love story never really ended – but she never saw him again.
“I was so touched by this story of lost love that I wrote Bella Donna – the moment the poem and then the song was finished, I knew I had the basis for my first solo record.”
Admitting the track “defined how I would feel about love forever,” the Gypsy star added: “I never doubted for a moment that this song would be the title of the record and that it would change my life on so many levels.
“I could not have been more proud of those songs or the three months it took me, the girls [backing singers Sharon Celani and Lori Perry-Nicks] and [producer] Jimmy Iovine to craft it.
“It did not break up Fleetwood Mac. If anything, it kept us together.”
Stevie has since released eight solo albums, including her most recent release ‘24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault’ in 2014.
She has since dropped standalone tracks including the seven-minute epic Show Them the Way and Miley Cyrus collaboration Edge of Midnight.
