Bella Donna (album)
{{infobox Album
Name = Bella Donna | Type = Album | Artist = Stevie Nicks | Cover = Bella_donna.jpg | Background = orange | Released = July 27, 1981 | Recorded = 1980-1981 | Genre = Rock | Length = 41:57 | Label = Modern | Producer = Jimmy Iovine and Tom Petty | Reviews =
* AMG (4.5/5) link | Last album = | This album = Bella Donna
(1981) | Next album = The Wild Heart
(1983) | Color = orange
Stevie Nicks's debut solo effort Bella Donna was released in 1981, hitting #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts in September of that year and remaining in that place for one week. Bella Donna was awarded Platinum status by the RIAA three months after its release on October 7, 1981, and has sold over 5 million copies to date.
The album spawned such hits as "After the Glitter Fades" (which peaked at #32), the iconic "Edge of Seventeen" (#11), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-penned duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (#3), and Don Henley duet "Leather and Lace" (#6).
Bella Donna would mark the beginning of Stevie's trend of calling upon her many musician friends and connections to make her album a reality. Along with friends Tom Petty and Don Henley, Stevie brought in famed session musician Waddy Wachtel, Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band pianist Roy Bittan, and Duck Dunn of such bands as Booker T. & the MGs. Though Bella Donna's personnel list includes some 20 musicians, the album is very much Stevie's own work, with all but one of the songs on the record written or co-written by Nicks herself.#"Bella Donna" (Nicks) - 5:18#"Kind of Woman" (Nicks, Tench) - 3:08#"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" with Tom Petty (Petty, Campbell) - 4:02#"Think About It" (Nicks, Bittan) - 3:33#"After the Glitter Fades" (Nicks) - 3:27#"Edge of Seventeen" (Nicks) - 5:28#"How Still My Love" (Nicks) - 3:51#"Leather and Lace" with Don Henley (Nicks) - 3:55#"Outside The Rain" (Nicks) - 4:17#"The Highwayman" (Nicks) - 4:49*Stevie Nicks - vocals
*Tom Petty - vocals, guitar
*Don Henley - vocals, drums, backup vocals
*Sharon Celani - backup vocals
*Lori Perry - backup vocals
*Don Felder - guitar
*Waddy Wachtel - guitar
*Michael Campbell - guitar
*Davey Johnstone - acoustic guitar
*Bob Glaub - bass guitar
*Duck Dunn - bass guitar
*Tom Montcrieff - bass guitar
*Richard Bowden - bass guitar
*Dan Dugmore - pedal steel guitar
*Benmont Tench - organ, piano
*Bill Elliott - piano
*Russ Kunkel - drums
*Stan Lynch - drums
*Bobbye Hall - percussion
*Phil Jones - percussion
*Roy Bittan - piano
*Billy Payne - piano
*David Adelstein - synthesizer*Producer: Jimmy Iovine, Producer
*Producer: Tom Petty, Producer
*Engineer: Shelly Yakus, EngineerAlbum| Year | Chart | Position | | 1981 | The Billboard 200 | 1 | |
Singles| Year | Single | Chart | Position | | 1981 | "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" | Pop Singles | 3 | | 1981 | "Leather and Lace" | Pop Singles | 6 | | 1982 | "Edge of Seventeen" | Pop Singles | 11 | | 1982 | "After the Glitter Fades" | Pop Singles | 32 | |
Bella Donna's early success was soured for Stevie when, on the day the album hit #1, she learned her best friend since childhood, Robin Snyder Anderson, had been diagnosed with leukemia. Robin survived long enough to give birth to a son, Matthew. Robin's passing led to Stevie's first and only marriage, to Robin's widower Kim, in an attempt to console each other's grief and care for Robin's son. The marriage fell apart three months later.
*"Think About It" was written for Stevie's friend and Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie.
*The bird perched on Stevie's hand on the cover of the album is her brother Christopher's cockatoo Max.
*Waylon Jennings asked Stevie to write "Leather and Lace" for him and then-wife Jessi Colter. He and Colter's break-up led Stevie to record the song with Don Henley, but Jennings and Colter later recorded the song together despite their split.*The Official Stevie Nicks web site
*Stevie Nicks Underground
*AMG Entry for Stevie Nicks
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