The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

Jerry Wilkerson

It was the largest rock concert in Tucson history, with an estimated 67,000 in attendance at the University of Arizona football stadium. Fleetwood Mac, the hottest band in the country, along with Kenny Loggins, the Marshall Tucker Band, and the band Arizona, took the end zone stage 46 years ago, on Aug. 27, 1977. All the musicians performed for free. They raised $267,000 for the Arizona Heart Foundation with $8 tickets and indelibly crafted black letter rock and roll history in the Old Pueblo.

The genesis behind the show was a sweet-talking Irishman, a hard-driving international businessman from Phoenix named Jess Nicks, Stevie’s dad. She was a lead singer in the star-studded Fleetwood Mac band. Jess Nicks was President of Armour-Dial and Executive Vice President of Greyhound. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Heart Foundation for over 30 years and, as Chairman of the Board, tirelessly raised money to beat heart disease. Jess Nicks was a longtime sufferer of heart illness and underwent multiple heart operations.

The group’s record-setting album Rumors was released earlier in 1977 with the songs “Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,” and “You Make Loving Fun,” topping the charts as single hits. Rumors was Billboard’s No. 1 album for a whopping 31 weeks. In 1978, Rumors took home the coveted Grammy album of the year award. In 1998, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fleetwood Mac has sold more than 120 million records worldwide. Today, Stevie Nicks, the rock & roll senior, continues performing at sellout concerts countrywide and delights in being a bit of an enigmatic character.

Stephanie Lynn Nicks, born in Phoenix in 1948, turned 75 in May. As a toddler, she pronounced her name “tee-dee,” leading to the nickname Stevie. Her mother, Barbra, fostered in her daughter a fiercely independent spiritual awareness and a passion for fairy tales and folklore with happy-ending romance stories. Perhaps this explains Stevie’s artistically fascinating wardrobe, theatrical stage costumes, and famous hats. Her legendary, emotionally charged epic songwriting ability brings a magically enchanting “once upon a time” storyline approach to music that remains a classic. “My fantasy is giving a little bit of the fairy princess to all the people out there,” according to the fairy godmother of rock.

David Slavin, Sales Manager at KDRI radio in Tucson, was one of the U of A student producers of the Fleetwood Mac show at the stadium. A lifetime of concert promotion memories in Tucson fills the files he provided me for this story. “On the night before the show, I stood at the 50-yard line and was treated to a four-song sound check at 8 pm by Fleetwood Mac. It was a private show by the band, which had the country’s top-selling album. They sang four of their current hits. How lucky I was to be a part of this performance in my hometown. It was heaven, a dream come true,” Slavin recalled.

After more than six hours of music, the concert ended at about 11:30 p.m. It started with a magnificent late summer sun pouring down on the packed sports field crowd when the musicians began to play. An Arizona Daily Star reviewer said Stevie Nicks’ vocals and the guitar of her “part-time lover” Lindsey Buckingham stole the show.

Jess Nicks encouraged his daughter’s success, celebrating along the journey to fame and glory. He was a constant advocate of her career and the band. When he died, Stevie released a statement about her dad upon his passing. “He was a force of nature. He waited until the Fleetwood Mac Tour was over — I asked him for that. He waited until this summer tour was over — I asked him for that. He couldn’t leave us during a tour — he knew that. He waited for me.”

Jess Seth Nicks of Scottsdale, on Aug. 10, 2005. He was 80 years old.

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Jerry Wilkerson is a former press secretary for two members of Congress, a prior CBS Chicago Newsradio correspondent, and a correspondent for the Chicago Daily News. He is a former police commissioner and Navy veteran living in Saddlebrooke. franchise@att.net

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