Daisy Jones and The Six premiered on Amazon Prime back in March, based on a book of the same name that was loosely based on the members of Fleetwood Mac. It was a big moment for Riley Keough, who starred as the Stevie Nicks character, earning her a recent Emmy nomination (whenever they end up happening post-strike). I have a soft spot for inspired-by stories on musical artists—Grace of My Heart is an amazing take on Carole King’s life—but I admit that when it’s so obviously based on a real person, the lines get blurry with bio and fiction. Well, I’m not the only one who gets confused: this week Stevie Nicks took to Instagram to muse on the eerie experience of watching, in essence, her story:
For Stevie Nicks, the story of Daisy Jones & the Six hit very close to home.
The “Edge of Seventeen” singer, 75, revealed that she has streamed the Prime Video series based on the book, which is loosely inspired by her own band, Fleetwood Mac, twice.
“Just finished watching [Daisy Jones & the Six] for the 2nd time,” Nicks wrote on Instagram on Tuesday alongside a photo of the series’ titular band performing on stage.
“In the beginning, it wasn’t really my story, but [Riley Keough] seamlessly, soon became my story,” the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman wrote.
“It brought back memories that made me feel like a ghost watching my own story,” she continued. “It was very emotional for me.”
The “Landslide” singer added that she wishes her late bandmate and longtime friend, Christine McVie, was alive to watch Daisy Jones.
“I just wish Christine could have seen it,” she wrote, adding that “she would have loved it.”
Following McVie’s death in November, Nicks honored the legendary keyboardist with a handwritten note, which she signed: “See you on the other side, my love. Don’t forget me.”
I had forgotten that Christine McVie passed away just last November. For Riley Keough, promoting Daisy Jones came barely a month after she lost her mother. I wonder if Stevie and Riley have been able to connect and commiserate in grief. (Not that I want the details, that’s a private moment for them that I hope has happened.) While I think her post is genuinely Stevie writing about her own experience, the Hollywood business part of my brain can’t help but note that it’s a very nice bit of press for Emmy nominee Riley while the strike bars her from campaigning (as Kaiser noted, her recent Vanity Fair interview was conducted pre-strike).
I find it equal parts hilarious and glorious that Stevie is admitting she’s watched a show (essentially) about her—twice! Some people couldn’t get away with it (just imagine Gwyneth Paltrow posting about her second viewing of The Goop Story) but of course Stevie can. That’s what I love about a certain class of women rock & pop stars—I’m thinking Adele, Beyonce, Dolly Parton, Lady Gaga—they honor, if not celebrate their worth without being conceited. Something to aspire to! Like viewing your early seventies as your last youthful years.
photos credit: Michael Putland/Retna Ltd, Photoshot/Avalon, Lacey Terrell/Amazon Studios
This is so good to hear. The story is so obviously based on Stevie and Fleetwood Mac that I’m glad she doesn’t feel like it’s invading her privacy or stealing her experience. I recently saw Stevie in concert, which was amazing by the way, and she had a beautiful tribute to Christine McVie when she performed Landslide. Had me in tears.
@Pinkasaurus I was at Stevie’s concert in Austin on Tuesday. It was fantastic and the Landslide/tribute to Christine had e v e r y o n e in tears. I did not expect to end up crying at a rock concert but Stevie really brought so much emotion to it.
I’m a HUGE stevie fan and I avoided watching the series bc I disliked the book so much. (I hated how they portrayed Stevie and Lindsey’s relationship, with the cheating, and there were a few other things.) But maybe I should give the series a try, if Stevie loved it, lol. And Daisy Jones is so obviously Stevie, with the bracelets and the hairstyle and the shawls etc.
I do love that Stevie is just like “yes I watched it twice and loved it!” I would love for Stevie to authorize a biopic (maybe all of Fleetwood Mac) and I hope she doesn’t think its not necessary now.
Eh, it’s not that good. The music is like if you asked AI to write a Fleetwood Mac album.
I don’t disagree with you, but I think “Let Me Down Easy” and “The River” are bangers haha (the rest are just AI Fleetwood Mac tho).
I’m in the opposite camp, lol. I LOVED the book–so much that it’s probably in my all-time top five favorites. The author’s ability to make her characters feel like real people (she did the same thing with ‘Malibu Rising’ & “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’–characters loosely based on Mick Jagger, Liz Taylor, & Marilyn Monroe) blew my mind. I enjoyed the Daisy Jones series as well because I felt like they nailed the characters. Billy in particular looked exactly like I pictured him.
omg L84Tea I hated Malibu Rising. Well I liked it – I read it in two days lol – but when I was done I was like, that’s it? She kept playing fast and loose with timing and it was driving me crazy. Like she referred to it as the annual summer bash or whatever but it had actually only happened once before or something (I can’t remember now, but there were a bunch of things like that that were just so stupid.)
I LOVED Evelyn Hugo though. That’s one of my favorite books. and Maybe in Another Life does not get as much chatter as her others but it was really really good, definitely recommend that one.
Becks1, now that I know you’ve read all three, did you notice that the character of Mick Riva made an appearance in all three of these books–Malibu, Evelyn Hugo, and quickly in Daisy Jones despite being three separate stories? Malibu Rising was definitely not my favorite and it had nowhere near the effect on me that EH and DJ did, but I still thought it was an interesting story that sounded like it was written about real life people. DJ and EH however were two books that had me in tears and had my heart swelling. I haven’t read Maybe in Another Life, but I will add that to my list.
I didn’t notice that! I may have to go back and look for that, lol.
Maybe in Another Life is very different. I think she used to write more rom-coms and then switched to kind of fictionalizing famous stories. I’m currently reading Carrie Soto is Back, but I started it in January on a plane ride and never picked it up after that, mainly bc I know nothing about tennis, lol. But it was good when I was reading it.
I thought the Carrie Soto character was so nasty that I’ve already decided I have no interest in her story. I’ll probably skip that one, lol.
I was leery about the show too. Hadn’t read the book (since have, it’s just okay) but I was curious so I watched it.
I think the women on the show were well cast and all of the main female characters have compelling character arcs. But Riley knocked it out of the park and it’s not because she was just doing Stevie cosplay. She is a force of nature in this role: There’s a tremendous vulnerability in her performance that gives it a lot of soul, and there’s a magnetic quality about her too that makes her charming even when she is being a completely chaotic nightmare. Makes you root for her even though you know she’s a disaster.
Imo, Riley is what sells the show and she steals virtually every scene she is in—exactly like you’d expect the Stevie character to do. She’s like a coke-addled water nymph you can’t take your eyes off of and having Stevie come right out and say she nailed it solidifies it—Riley makes the show worth watching. She’s also just an actress to watch now; she’s not Elvis, but she definitely got some of that Presley stage charisma and it shows.
I just started watching this show and I am hooked. I like that the main characters are deep, not caricatures of a 70s rock band. The storytelling is a little slow, at least in the first few episodes but I k8nd of like it.
Stevie Nick is an empress. I am glad that she is enjoying seeing her story told (more or less since it’s supposed to be loosely based in Fleetwood Mac).
Did not read the book. I watched the series twice. Riley Keough did an excellent job but in my arrogant opinion, Suki Waterhouse stole the show. The size of Suki’s role makes no difference: watching the series the second time, I kept waiting and anticipating scenes with Suki Waterhouse.
I just want to second that Grace of My Heart was a wonderful film and Illeana Douglas was exceptional in it.
Team Grace of My Heart as well. Huge Alison Anders fan as well. Got to do an writing workshop with her ages ago. A truly inspirational woman. Track down all of her films if you can. Her 80s rock and roll nostalgia film Sugar Town stars John Taylor of Duran Duran and Rosanna Arquette as a couple navigating the post fame life when a one night stand from his touring days drops off a kid, saying it’s his. How did she get Taylor to star? He’s an ex boyfriend. Like I said, remarkable.
Don’t have prime, but I may have to figure out how to watch Daisy Jones.
Agreed—Grace was a terrific movie. Didn’t get the props it deserved.
I really enjoyed the book. I haven’t finished the series. Something was missing.
I discovered Taylor Jenkins Reid end of last year when a bookseller recommended the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo to me. Since, I have read all of her books and can only recommend her to everyone. No desire to watch the series though. Liked the book so much, I feel I would just be disappointed
Yessss. I needed a few days to recover from Evelyn Hugo after I read it. What a story that absolutely 100% needs to be made into a movie and win ALL the awards.
I always wonder if I read the same book as everybody else because I thought Seven Husbands was a steaming pile. She was a horrible character, the writing was terrible and everything was so predictable. I guess that’s why books are subjective though!
That’s what I love about books too. What I love, others might dislike, and what others dislike, I might cry and fawn over. I’m truly sad you hated Evelyn Hugo, though. That book broke my heart in a million pieces, but in the good sad kind of way. I didn’t see the ending coming at all.
My 21 year old daughter LOVED Evelyn Hugo. Just obsessed with it.
I LOVE TJR. I recently heard an interview with her on a podcast and it made me like her even more! Like, I wish I could be her friend IRL.
I adore Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors is one of my favorite albums. I can watch the performance where she sings Silver Springs with/at Lindsey Buckingham in 1997 on an infinite loop.
I’ve read a lot of TJR’s books but not Daisy Jones. I wasn’t really feeling like I wanted to read an inspired by story when the actual history of the band is so rich.
“A ghost watching my own story” god I love her.
Same, Stevie Nicks is a goddess. Her live show ranks among the very, very best I have ever seen.
Well if Stevie likes it enough to watch it twice & say Christine would have loved it — maybe I should check it out. I hated the book, but that was partly because of the narrative style, the interviews. I just found it hard to keep track of the characters, and the story was meh. Maybe my expectations were too high because I loved her 8 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo book so much.
Stevie Nicks was always such a beauty and so damn cool. I’ve seen pictures of her and George Harrison at a party and they are really hot together (unfortunately, he was married to his second wife, then). But Gorgeous George always gets to me. I like to view and listen to his song “Dark Horse,” which is SO damn good, even though he had laryngitis at the time and was lovesick over the break-up with Patti Boyd, whom Eric Clapton wooed, married and started cheating on with groupies ONE WEEK after the wedding. That’s some friend Eric Clapton was, huh?
Oh honey, George was no saint. He cheated on both of his wives. (His 2nd wife talked about his infidelity in that Scorcese documentary about George.) George even went after Ringo’s first wife!