Buckingham Nicks

Buckingham Nicks (or, as it's sometimes written, Buckingham/Nicks) were a short-lived duo comprised of guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham (b. Palo Alto, CA, Oct. 3, 1948) and singer Stevie Nicks (b. Phoenix, AZ, May 26, 1948). Buckingham and Nicks had met at Menlo Atherton High School in Atherton, CA, where Nicks' family had moved after a time living in Los Angeles. Nicks, who had written poetry since childhood, began composing songs at 16, the year she had joined her first band, the Changing Times, whereas Buckingham had been interested in rock & roll -- especially the guitar-based sounds of artists such as Eddie Cochran, the Everly Brothers, and Buddy Holly -- since childhood, and had picked up his first instrument amid his youthful infatuation with the Kingston Trio. Their interest in music and each other pulled them in the same direction, and led Nicks to join Buckingham and some friends in a band called Fritz (originally the Fritz Raybyne Memorial Band, named for a fellow student), where he played guitar and sang and she sang and played a little guitar. Her sound in those days was reportedly influenced somewhat heavily by Buffy Sainte-Marie's work of the period, especially the song "Cod'ine." The two parted company for a time when her family moved to Chicago, but by the end of the 1960s she was back in California studying at San Jose State University in Redwood City, and back singing with Fritz, which was making some headway as an opening act for the likes of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, et al. Fritz could never quite break through to a recording contract of their own, however, or past opening-act status beyond their local area, and tensions also arose over Nicks becoming the focus of their performances. They lasted long enough to cut...