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Flint’s Classic Rock – 103.9 The Fox

  • Writer: Stevie Nicks
  • Producer: Jimmy Iovine
  • Recorded: Early 1981 in Los Angeles
  • Released: February 4, 1982
  • Players:
    Stevie Nicks — vocals
    Bob Glaub — bass
    Waddy Wachtel — guitar
    Bobbye Hall — percussion
    Roy Bittan — piano
    Benmont Tench — organ
    Sharon Celani and Lori Perry Nicks — backing vocals
  • Album: Bella Donna (Atlantic, 1981)
  • Also On:
    Timespace: The Best Of Stevie Nicks (Modern/Atlantic, 1991)
    The Enchanted Works Of Stevie Nicks (Atlantic, 1998)
    and other compilations
  • The second single from Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks‘s first solo album, Bella Donna, “Edge Of Seventeen” hit Number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1982.
  • According to Nicks, “Edge Of Seventeen” was inspired by a visit with a sick uncle in Phoenix: “I sat at his bedside, while (his son) John sat on the floor beside him, and we stayed there. My father did not come, nor did my mother… nor my aunt… so I sat there and held his hand, and sometime right about sunset, he slightly turned his head to John, and then to me, and his hand slowly let go of mine. I did run out into the hallway, but no one was there… and the white-winged dove took flight.”
  • The title supposedly comes from Nicks asking Tom Petty’s wife when they had met. His wife said, “At the age of seventeen,” but she had a very strong Southern accent; Nicks thought she said “the edge of seventeen,” and liked the sound of the phrase. (Wikipedia)
  • The Bella Donna album reached Number One on the Billboard 200 and Number 11 in the U.K.
  • The album has sold more than four million copies, and remains the best-selling of her six solo albums.
  • The album also featured duets with Tom Petty and Don Henley.
  • “Edge Of Seventeen,” as well as the album, featured such ace players as Benmont Tench (of Petty’s Heartbreakers), Roy Bittan (of Bruce Springsteen‘s E Street Band), Waddy Wachtel (future member of Keith Richards‘s Xpensive Winos), and Bob Glaub (Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne).

FAST FORWARD:

  • The song’s title was used for the 1998 award-winning independent film Edge of Seventeen. The song itself appeared in the film’s soundtrack.
  • The song was featured in the 2003 comedy film School of Rock, which starred Jack Black. It was also covered by Lindsay Lohan on her sophomore album A Little More Personal.
  • The distinctive 16th-note guitar riff of the single was sampled in the Destiny’s Child song “Bootylicious.” Nicks made an appearance in the music video.
  • Nicks continues to work as a solo artist. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac.