{{Infobox settlement |name = City of Austin |settlement_type = City |nickname =Live Music Capital of the World |image_skyline = AustinWikiPic2.jpg |image_caption = Downtown skyline as seen from Lady Bird Lake |image_seal = Seal of Austin, TX.png |image_map = Travis County Austin.svg |mapsize = 250px |map_caption = Location in the state of Texas |pushpin_map = USA2 |pushpin_map_caption= Location in the United States |coordinates_display= inline,title |coordinates_region = US-TX |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = United States |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = Texas |subdivision_type2 = Counties |subdivision_name2 = TravisWilliamsonHays |government_type = Council–manager |leader_title = Mayor |leader_name = Lee Leffingwell |leader_title1 = City Manager |leader_name1 = Marc Ott |established_title = Settled |established_date = 1835 |established_title2 = Incorporated |established_date2 = December 27, 1839 |area_magnitude = 1 E8 |unit_pref = US |area_total_km2 = 704 |area_land_km2 = 686.1 |area_water_km2 = 17.9 |area_metro_km2 = 11099.91 |population_as_of = 2010 |population_metro = 1,716,291 (35th) |population_total = 790,390 (14th) |population_density_km2 = 1152.0 |population_blank1_title = Demonym |population_blank1 = Austinite |population_footnotes = it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in the nation from 2000 to 2006. Austin has a population of 790,390 (2010 U.S. Census). The city is the cultural and economic center of the metropolitan area, with a population of over 1,716,291 (2010 U.S. Census), making it the 35th-largest metropolitan area in the United States.

The area was settled in the 1830s on the banks of the Colorado River by pioneers who named the village Waterloo. In 1839, Waterloo was chosen to become the capital of the newly independent Republic of Texas. The city was renamed after Stephen F. Austin, known as the father of Texas. The city grew throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the construction of the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas. After a lull in growth from the Great Depression, Austin resumed its development into a major city in the 1980s and emerged as a center for technology and business. Austin is home to many companies, high-tech and otherwise: Fortune 500 corporations Freescale Semiconductor, Forestar Group, and Whole Foods Market, are headquartered there; Apple, IBM, Google ,ShoreTel, and Texas Instruments have prominent regional offices there. Also Dell's Worldwide Headquarters is located in nearby Round Rock, a suburb of Austin.

Residents of Austin are known as "Austinites". They include a diverse mix of government employees (e.g., university faculty & staff, law enforcement, political staffers); foreign and domestic college students; musicians; high-tech workers; blue-collar workers; businesspeople; and, a sizeable GLBT gay community. The city is home to development centers for many technology corporations; it adopted the "Silicon Hills" nickname in the 1990s. However, the current official slogan promotes Austin as "The Live Music Capital of the World", a reference to the many musicians and live music venues within the area, and the long-running PBS TV concert series Austin City Limits . In recent years, some Austinites have also adopted the unofficial slogan "Keep Austin Weird". This interpretation of the classic, "Texas-style" sense of independence refers to: the traditional and proudly eclectic, liberal lifestyles of many Austin residents; a desire to protect small, unique, local businesses from being overrun by large corporations; and, as a reaction to the perceived rise of conservative influences within the community. In the late 1800's Austin also became known as the City of the "Violet Crown" for the wintertime violet glow of color across the hills just after sunset. Even today, many Austin businesses use the term "violet crown" in their name. Lastly, Austin is known as a "clean air city" for the city's stringent no-smoking ordinaces thtat apply to all public places and buildings, and all restaurants.

History

Austin, Travis County and Williamson County have been the site of human habitation since at least 9,200 BC. The earliest known inhabitants of the area lived during the late Pleistocene (Ice Age), and are linked to the Clovis culture around 9,200 BC (11,200 years old) based on evidence found throughout the area and documented at the much-studied Gault Site, midway between Georgetown and Fort Hood.

When Europeans first arrived, the area was inhabited by the Tonkawa tribe, and the Comanches and Lipan Apaches were known to travel through the area as well. Spanish explorers, including the Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition, traveled through the area for centuries, though few permanent settlements were created for some time. In 1730, three missions from East Texas were combined and reestablished as one mission on the south side of the Colorado River, in what is now Zilker Park, in Austin. The mission was in this area for only about seven months, and then was moved to San Antonio de Béxar and split into three missions. In the mid-18th century, the San Xavier missions were located along the Colorado River, in what is now western Milam County, to facilitate exploration.

Early in the 19th century, Spanish forts were established in what are now Bastrop and San Marcos.

In 1835–1836, Texans fought for independence in the Texas Revolution and won. Texas thus became its own independent country with its own president, congress and monetary system. In 1839, the Texas Congress formed a commission to seek a site for a new capital to be named for Stephen F. Austin. Waterloo was selected and the name ''Austin'' was chosen as the town's new name. The location was seen as a convenient crossroads for trade routes between Santa Fe and Galveston Bay, as well as routes between northern Mexico and the Red River.

Edwin Waller was picked by Lamar to survey the village and draft a plan laying out the new capital. The grid plan Waller designed and surveyed now forms the basis of downtown Austin.

In 1840, a series of conflicts between the Texas Rangers and the Comanches, known as the Council House Fight and the Battle of Plum Creek, finally pushed the Comanches westward, mostly ending conflicts in Central Texas. Settlement in the area began to expand quickly. Travis County was established in 1840, and the surrounding counties were mostly established within the next two decades. The resident Black population listed in January of this same year was 176. The fear of Austin’s proximity to the Indians and Mexico, which still considered Texas a part of their land, created an immense motive for Sam Houston, the first and third President of the Republic of Texas, to relocate the capital once again in 1841. Upon threats of Mexican troops in Texas, Houston raided the Land Office to transfer all official documents to Houston for safe keeping in what was later known as the Archive War, but the people of Austin would not allow this unaccompanied decision to be executed. The documents stayed, but the capital would temporarily move from Austin to Houston to Washington-on-the-Brazos. Without the governmental body, Austin’s population declined to an alarming low of only a few hundred people throughout the early 1840s. The voting by the fourth President of the Republic, Anson Jones, and Congress, who reconvened in Austin in 1845, settled the issue to keep Austin the seat of government as well as annex the Republic of Texas into the United States.

In 1860, 38% of Travis County residents were slaves. In 1861, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, voters in Austin and other Central Texas communities voted against secession. The postwar period saw dramatic population and economic growth. The opening of the Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC) in 1871, turned Austin into the major trading center for the region with the ability to transport both cotton and cattle. The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (MKT) line followed close behind. Austin was also the terminus of the southernmost leg of the Chisholm Trail and "drovers" pushed cattle north to the railroad. Cotton was one of the few crops produced locally for export and a cotton gin engine was located downtown near the trains for "ginning" cotton of its seeds and turning the product into bales for shipment. As other new railroads were built through the region in 1870s, however, Austin began to lose its primacy in trade to the surrounding communities.

In September 1881, Austin public schools held their first classes. The same year, Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute (now part of Huston-Tillotson University) opened its doors. The University of Texas held its first classes in 1883, although classes had been held in the original wooden state Capitol for four years before.

During the 1880s, Austin gained new prominence as the state capitol building was completed in 1888, and claimed as the seventh largest building in the world. It was finally replaced in 1940 by a hollow concrete dam that formed Lake McDonald (now called Lake Austin) and which has withstood all floods since. In addition, the much larger Mansfield Dam was built by the LCRA upstream of Austin to form the flood-control lake, Lake Travis. In the early 20th century, the Texas Oil Boom took hold, creating tremendous economic opportunities in Southeast Texas and North Texas. The growth generated by this boom largely passed by Austin at first, with the city slipping from fourth largest to 10th largest in Texas between 1880 and 1920.

The 1970s also saw Austin's emergence in the national music scene, with local artists such as Willie Nelson, Asleep at the wheel, and Stevie Ray Vaughan and iconic music venues such as the Armadillo World Headquarters. The long-running television program Austin City Limits and the annual South by Southwest musical festival and the Austin City Limits Festival helped to solidify the city's place in the music industry.

Geography

Austin is located in Central Texas, along the Balcones Escarpment and Interstate 35, northeast of San Antonio. Its elevation varies from to approximately above sea level. As of 2010, the city occupies a total area of . Approximately of this area is water.

Austin is situated on the Colorado River, with three man-made (artificial) lakes within the city limits: Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as Town Lake), Lake Austin (both created by dams along the Colorado River), and Lake Walter E. Long that is partly used for cooling water for the Decker Power Plant. Additionally, the foot of Lake Travis, including Mansfield Dam, is located within the city's limits. Lady Bird Lake, Lake Austin, and Lake Travis are each on the Colorado River. Because the hills to the west are primarily limestone rock with a thin covering of topsoil, portions of the city are frequently subjected to flash floods from the runoff caused by thunderstorms. To help control this runoff and to generate hydroelectric power, the Lower Colorado River Authority operates a series of dams that form the Texas Highland Lakes. The lakes also provide venues for boating, swimming, and other forms of recreation within several parks on the lake shores.

Austin is located at the intersection of four major ecological regions, and is consequently a temperate-to-hot green oasis with a highly variable climate having some characteristics of the desert, the tropics, and a wetter climate. The area is very diverse ecologically and biologically, and is home to a variety of animals and plants. Notably, the area is home to many types of wildflowers that blossom throughout the year but especially in the spring, including the popular bluebonnets, some planted in an effort by "Lady Bird" Johnson, wife of former President Lyndon Johnson.

A popular point of prominence in Austin is Mount Bonnell. At about above sea level, it is a natural limestone formation overlooking Lake Austin on the Colorado River, with an observation deck about below its summit. From the observation deck, many homes are visible.

The soils of Austin range from shallow, gravelly clay loams over limestone in the western outskirts to deep, fine sandy loams, silty clay loams, silty clays or clays in the city's eastern part. Some of the clays have pronounced shrink-swell properties and are difficult to work under most moisture conditions. Many of Austin's soils, especially the clay-rich types, are slightly to moderately alkaline and have free calcium carbonate.

Climate

Austin has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa''), characterized by extremely hot summers with prevailing humid winds from the Gulf of Mexico and mild winters. On average, Austin receives of rain per year, with most of the precipitation in the spring, and a secondary maximum in the fall. During springtime, severe thunderstorms sometimes occur, though tornadoes are rare in the city. Austin is usually at least partially sunny, receiving nearly 2650 hours, or 60.3% of the possible total, of bright sunshine per year.

Austin summers are usually hot and humid, with average July and August highs in the mid-90s °F (34–36 °C). Highs exceed on 109 days per year, and on 12. The highest recorded temperature was occurring both on September 5, 2000 and also on August 28, 2011.

Winters in Austin are mild and relatively dry. For the entire year, Austin averages 88 days below and 18 days when the minimum temperature falls below freezing. The lowest recorded temperature was on January 31, 1949. Snowfall is rare in Austin, but approximately biannually Austin may suffer an ice storm that freezes roads over and affects much of the city for 24 to 48 hours. Monthly averages for Austin's weather data are shown in a graphical format to the right, and in a more detailed tabular format below.

:::Table Note: ''All temperature and precipitation normals were recorded at Camp Mabry from 1971–2000, and sunshine data were recorded from 1961–1990. Extremes are from Camp Mabry and previous stations, with the record spanning 1897 to present.''

2011 Drought

From October 2010 to August 2011, Austin has had the least rainfall ever in recorded history. This is a result of La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean where water turns unusually cooler than normal.

Government and politics

Law and government

Austin is administered by a city council of seven members, each of them elected at large. The council is composed of six council members, and by an elected mayor, accompanied by a hired city manager under the manager-council system of municipal governance. Council and mayoral elections are non-partisan, with a runoff in case there is no majority winner. Austin remains an anomaly among large Texas cities in that council members are elected on an at-large basis by all voters, as opposed to elections by districts.

Austin formerly operated its city hall at 128 West 8th Street. Antoine Predock and Cotera Kolar Negrete & Reed Architects designed a new city hall building, which was intended to reflect what ''The Dallas Morning News'' referred to as a "crazy-quilt vitality, that embraces everything from country music to environmental protests and high-tech swagger." The new city hall, built from recycled materials, has solar panels in its garage. The mayor of Austin is Lee Leffingwell. His first term ends in 2012.

Law enforcement in Austin is provided by the Austin Police Department, except for state government buildings, which are patrolled by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Austin was ranked the fifth-safest city in part because there are fewer than five murders per 100,000 people annually.

Fire protection is provided by the Austin Fire Department, and emergency medical services are provided by Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.

State and federal representation

The Texas Department of Transportation operates the Austin District Office in Austin.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Austin I and Austin II district parole offices in Austin.

The United States Postal Service operates several post offices in Austin.

Politics

Austin is known as an oasis of liberal politics in a generally conservative state -- so much so, that the city is sometimes sarcastically called the "People's Republic of Austin" by residents of other parts of Texas, and conservatives in the Texas Legislature.

As a result of the major party realignment that began in the 1970s, central Austin became a stronghold of the Democratic Party, while the suburbs tend to vote Republican. Opponents characterized the resulting district layout as excessively partisan gerrymandering, and the plan was challenged in court on this basis by Democratic and minority activists; of note, the Supreme Court of the United States has never struck down a redistricting plan for being excessively partisan. The plan was subsequently upheld by a three-judge federal panel in late 2003, and on June 28, 2006, the matter was largely settled when the Supreme Court in a 7–2 decision upheld the entire congressional redistricting plan with the exception of a Hispanic-majority district in southwest Texas. This later affected Austin's districting, as U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett's district (U.S. Congressional District 25) was found to be insufficiently compact to compensate for the reduced minority influence in the southwest district and so was redrawn so that it now takes in most of southeastern Travis County and several counties to its south and east.

Overall, the city is a blend of downtown liberalism and suburban conservatism but leans to the political left as a whole. In 2003, the city adopted a resolution against the USA PATRIOT Act that reaffirmed constitutionally guaranteed rights. In the 2004 presidential election, Senator John Kerry won a substantial majority of the votes in Travis County. Of Austin's six state legislative districts, three are strongly Democratic and three are swing districts, two of which are held by Democrats and one of which is held by a Republican. However, two of its three congressional districts (the 10th and the 21st) are presently held by Republicans, with only the 25th held by a Democrat. This is largely due to the 2003 redistricting, which left downtown Austin without an exclusive congressional seat of its own. Travis County was also the only county in Texas to reject Texas Constitutional Amendment Proposition 2 that effectively outlawed gay marriage and status equal or similar to it and did so by a wide margin (40% for, 60% against).

Austin is also an active area for the Libertarian Party.

Two of the candidates for president in the 2004 race call Austin home. Michael Badnarik, mentioned above as the Libertarian Party candidate, and David Cobb of the Green Party both have lived in Austin. During the run up to the election in November, a presidential debate was held at the University of Texas student union involving the two minor party candidates. While the Commission on Presidential Debates only invites Democrats and Republicans to participate in televised debates, the debate at UT was open to all presidential candidates. Austin also hosted one of the last presidential debates between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during their heated race for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

Environmental movement

The distinguishing political movement of Austin politics has been that of the environmental movement, which spawned the parallel neighborhood movement, then the more recent conservationist movement (as typified by the Hill Country Conservancy), and eventually the current on-going debate about "sense of place" and preserving the Austin quality of life. Much of the so-called environmental movement has matured into a debate on issues related to saving and creating an Austin "sense of place."

Economy

Austin is considered to be a major center for high tech. Thousands of graduates each year from the engineering and computer science programs at The University of Texas at Austin provide a steady source of employees that help to fuel Austin's technology and defense industry sectors. The metro Austin area has much lower housing costs than Silicon Valley, but much higher housing costs than many parts of rural Texas. As a result of the high concentration of high-tech companies in the region, Austin was strongly affected by the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and subsequent bust. Austin's largest employers include the Austin Independent School District, the City of Austin, Dell, the U.S. Federal Government, Freescale Semiconductor (spun off from Motorola in 2004), IBM, St. David's Healthcare Partnership, Seton Family of Hospitals, the State of Texas, Texas State University–San Marcos, and The University of Texas. Other high-tech companies with operations in Austin include Nvidia, 3M, Apple Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Google, AMD, Applied Materials, Cirrus Logic, Cisco Systems, eBay/PayPal, Bioware, Blizzard Entertainment, Hoover's, Intel Corporation, National Instruments, Samsung Group, Buffalo Technology, Silicon Laboratories, Oracle Corporation, Hostgator, and United Devices. In 2010, Facebook accepted a grant to build a downtown office that could bring as many as 200 jobs to the city. The proliferation of technology companies has led to the region's nickname, "the Silicon Hills", and spurred development that greatly expanded the city. The concentration of high-tech companies has led the former American Airlines flight between Austin and San Jose, California to be dubbed the "nerd bird."

Austin is also emerging as a hub for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; the city is home to about 85 of them. The city was ranked by the Milken Institute as the No.12 biotech and life science center in the United States.

Whole Foods Market (often called just "Whole Foods") is an upscale, national grocery store chain specializing in fresh and packaged food products -- many having an organic-/local-/"natural"-theme. It was founded and is headquartered in Austin.

In addition to national and global corporations, Austin features a strong network of independent, unique, locally-owned firms and organizations.

Cityscape

Buildings that make up most of Austin's skyline are modest in height and somewhat spread out. The latter characteristic is partly due to a restriction that preserves the view of the Texas State Capitol building from various locations around Austin (known as the Capitol View Corridor). However, many new highrise towers have been constructed and the downtown area is looking more modern and dense. The city's tallest building, The Austonian, was topped out on September 17, 2009. Austin is currently undergoing a skyscraper boom, which includes recent construction on the now complete 360 Condominiums at , Spring (condominiums),the Austonian at , and several others that are mainly for residential use. By 2015, the Frost Bank Tower could be the only skyscraper built before 2005 to remain in the ten tallest buildings in the city.

At night, parts of Austin are lighted by "artificial moonlight" from Moonlight Towers built to illuminate the central part of the city. The moonlight towers were built in the late 19th century and are now recognized as historic landmarks. Only 15 of the 31 original innovative towers remain standing in Austin, and none remain in any of the other cities where they were installed. The towers are featured in the 1993 film ''Dazed and Confused''.

Downtown

The central business district of the city is home to some of the tallest condo towers in the state, with the Austonian Condos topping out at 56 floors and the 360 Condos at 44 floors. The 360 Tower and the Four Seasons Condos are condo towers in Austin, opened in early 2008. Former Mayor Will Wynn set out a goal for having up to 25,000 people living Downtown by 2015, and the city provided incentives for building residential units in the urban core. Because of this, the city has been driven to increase density in Austin's urban core. The skyline has drastically changed in recent years, and the residential real estate market has remained relatively strong. Downtown growth has been aided by the presence of a popular live music and nightlife scene, museums, restaurants, and Lady Bird Lake, considered one of the city's best recreational spots. The 2nd Street District consists of several new residential projects, restaurants, coffee shops, record stores, upscale boutiques and museums, and the Austin City Hall. Under construction across 2nd Street from Austin City Hall will be the newly re-created TV set for the long-running PBS program Austin City Limits, which will be housed beneath the new W Hotel and residential tower. South by Southwest (SXSW) is hosted downtown and is one of the largest music festivals in the United States, with more than 2,000 performers playing in more than 90 venues around Downtown Austin over four days, in March. Though it is an industry-based event, SXSW Music links locally with events such as the annual Austin Music Awards show. SXSW is the highest revenue-producing special event for the Austin economy, with an estimated economic impact of at least $110 million in 2008.

Demographics

According to the 2010 Census, the racial composition of Austin is:

White (non-Hispanic): 48.7%

Hispanic or Latino: 35.1%

African American: 7.7%

Asian: 6.2%

American Indian: 0.2%

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.1%

Two or More Races: 3.4%

As of the census of 2000, there were 656,562 people, 265,649 households, and 141,590 families residing in the city (roughly comparable in size to San Francisco, USA; Leeds, UK; Ottawa and a bit less than Alaska). The population density was 2,610.4 people per square mile (1,007.9/km²). There were 276,842 housing units at an average density of 1,100.7 per square mile (425.0/km²). There were 265,648 households out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.7% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.5% under the age of 18, 16.6% from 18 to 24, 37.1% from 25 to 44, 17.1% from 45 to 64, and 6.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 105.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $42,689, and the median income for a family was $54,091. Males had a median income of $35,545 vs. $30,046 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,163. About 9.1% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.5% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over. The median house price was $185,906 in 2009, and it has increased every year since 2003.

In July 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area had 1,705,075 people (roughly comparable to the San Jose, California area in the U.S.; the West Yorkshire area in the U.K.; and the Marseille area in France).

Arts and culture

"Keep Austin Weird" has become a local motto in recent years, featured on bumper stickers and t-shirts. This motto has not only been used in promoting Austin's eccentricity and diversity, but is also meant to bolster support of local independent businesses. According to the 2010 book, ''Weird City'', the phrase was begun by a local Austin Community College librarian, Red Wassenich, and his wife, Karen Pavelka, who were concerned about Austin's "rapid descent into commercialism and over-development." The slogan has been interpreted many ways since its inception, but remains an important symbol for many Austinites who wish to voice concerns over rapid growth and irresponsible development. Austin has a long history of vocal citizen resistance to development projects perceived to degrade the environment, or to threaten the natural and cultural landscapes.

According to the Nielsen Company, adults in Austin read and contribute to blogs more than those in any other U.S. metropolitan area. Austin residents have the highest internet usage in all of Texas. Austin was selected as the No. 2 Best Big City in "Best Places to Live" by ''Money'' magazine in 2006, and No. 3 in 2009, and also the "Greenest City in America" by MSN. According to ''Travel & Leisure'' magazine, Austin ranks No. 1 on the list of cities with the best people, referring to the personalities and attributes of the citizens.

SoCo is a shopping district stretching down South Congress Avenue from Downtown. This area is home to coffee shops, eccentric stores, restaurants, food trucks, trailers and festivals. It prides itself on "Keeping Austin Weird", especially with development in the surrounding area(s).

Annual cultural events

The O. Henry House Museum hosts the annual O. Henry Pun Off, a pun contest where the contestants exhibit wit. Other annual events include Eeyore's Birthday Party, Spamarama, the Austin Reggae Festival and Art City Austin in April, East Austin Studio Tour in November, and Carnaval Brasileiro in February. Sixth Street features annual festivals such as the Pecan Street Festival and Halloween night. The three-day Austin City Limits Music Festival has been held in Zilker Park every year since 2002. Every year around the end of March and the beginning of April, Austin is home to "Texas Relay Weekend."

Austin's Zilker Park Tree is a Christmas display made of lights strung from the top of a Moonlight tower in Zilker Park. The Zilker Tree is lit in December along with the "Trail of Lights", an Austin Christmas tradition. In 2010, the Trail of Lights was canceled due to budget problems, but the city says they hope to have finances for the trail next year.

Music

As Austin's official slogan is ''The Live Music Capital of the World'', the city has a vibrant live music scene with more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film/music/interactive festival known as South by Southwest (SXSW). The longest-running concert music program on American television, ''Austin City Limits'', is recorded on the University of Texas at Austin campus. ''Austin City Limits'' and C3 Presents produce the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at Zilker Park in Austin based on the Austin City Limits television show. The festival and television show alike attract musical artists from around the world. Other music events include the Urban Music Festival, the Fun Fun Fun Fest, Chaos In Tejas and the Old Settlers Music Festival.

Austin Lyric Opera has, since its founding in 1986, provided area residents with performances of multiple operas each year (including the 2007 opening of Philip Glass's Waiting for the Barbarians, written by University of Texas alumnus J. M. Coetzee). Performances are held at the Long Center for the Performing Arts with outdoor performance at Zilker Hillside Theater.

The Austin Symphony Orchestra performs a range of classical, pop and family performances and is led by Music Director and Conductor Peter Bay.

Film

Austin hosts the annual Austin Film Festival, which draws films of many different types from all over the world. In 2004 the city was first in ''MovieMaker Magazine's'' annual top ten cities to live and make movies. The 2007 South by Southwest (SXSW) festival included Pete Townshend, Iggy Pop, Tom Morello, and Rickie Lee Jones.

Austin has been the location for a number of motion pictures, partly due to the influence of The University of Texas at Austin Department of Radio-Television-Film. Films produced in Austin include ''Man of the House'', ''Secondhand Lions'', ''Waking Life'', ''Spy Kids'', ''Dazed and Confused'', ''Office Space'', ''The Life of David Gale'', ''Miss Congeniality'', ''Doubting Thomas'', ''Slacker'', ''Idiocracy'', ''The New Guy'', ''Hope Floats'', ''The Alamo'', ''Blank Check'', ''The Wendall Baker Story'', ''A Slipping-Down Life'', ''A Scanner Darkly'', and most recently, the Coen Brothers' True Grit, ''Grindhouse'', ''Machete'', ''How To Eat Fried Worms'' and ''Bandslam''. In order to draw future film projects to the area, the Austin Film Society has converted several airplane hangars from the former Mueller Airport into filmmaking center Austin Studios. Projects that have used facilities at Austin Studios include music videos by The Flaming Lips and feature films such as ''25th Hour'' and ''Sin City''. Austin also hosted the MTV series, ''The Real World: Austin'' in 2005. The film review websites Spill.com and Ain't It Cool News are based in Austin. Rooster Teeth Productions, creator of popular web series such as ''Red vs. Blue'', is also located on Austin.

Media

Austin's main daily newspaper is the ''Austin American-Statesman''. ''The Austin Chronicle'' is Austin's alternative weekly, while ''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of the University of Texas. Austin's business newspaper is the weekly ''Austin Business Journal''. Austin also has numerous smaller special interest or sub-regional newspapers such as the ''Oak Hill Gazette'', ''Westlake Picayune'', ''Hill Country News'', ''Round Rock Leader'', ''NOKOA'', and ''The Villager'' among others. ''Texas Monthly'', a major regional magazine, is also headquartered in Austin. The ''Texas Observer'', a muckraking biweekly political magazine, has been based in Austin for over five decades. The most recent newspaper entrant is the weekly ''Community Impact Newspaper'' newspaper published by John Garrett, former publisher of the ''Austin Business Journal''. Community Impact has five regional editions and is delivered to every house and business within certain zip codes and all of the news is specific to those zip codes. The local PBS station KLRU produces several award winning locally produced programs. KUT is the leading public radio station in Texas and produces the majority of its content locally. KOOP (FM) is a volunteer-run radio station with more than 60 locally produced programs. Network television stations (affiliations in parentheses) include KTBC (Fox), KVUE (ABC), KXAN (NBC), KEYE-TV (CBS), KLRU (PBS), KNVA (The CW), KBVO (My Network TV), and KAKW (Univision). Also, subscribers to Time Warner Cable receive a 24-hour local news station, News 8 Austin. In some parts of Austin, Time Warner has cable competition from Grande Communications.

The most recent entrant on the Austin news scene is ''The Texas Tribune'', an on-line publication focused on Texas and Austin politics. The ''Tribune'' is "user-supported" through donations, a business model similar to public radio. The Editor is Evan Smith, former Editor of ''Texas Monthly''. Smith co-founded the ''Texas Tribune'', a nonprofit, non-partisan public media organization, with Austin venture capitalist John Thornton and veteran journalist Ross Ramsey.

Theater

Austin has a strong theater culture, with dozens of itinerant and resident companies producing a variety of work. The city also has live performance theater venues such as the Zachary Scott Theatre Center, Vortex Repertory Company, Salvage Vanguard Theater, Rude Mechanicals' the Off Center, Austin Playhouse, Scottish Rite Children's Theater, Hyde Park Theatre, the Blue Theater, the Hideout Theater, and Esther's Follies. The Victory Grill was a renowned venue on the Chitlin' circuit. Public art and performances in the parks and on bridges are popular. Austin hosts the Fuse Box Festival each April featuring international, leading-edge theater artists.

The Paramount Theatre, opened in downtown Austin in 1915, contributes to Austin's theater and film culture, showing classic films throughout the summer and hosting regional premieres for films such as ''Miss Congeniality''. The Zilker Park Summer Musical is a long-running outdoor musical.

The Long Center for the Performing Arts is a 2,300 seat theater built partly with recycled materials from the old Lester E. Palmer Auditorium.

Ballet Austin is the fourth largest ballet academy in the country. Each year Ballet Austin's twenty member professional company performs ballets from a wide variety of choreographers, including their international award winning artistic director, Stephen Mills. The city is also home to the Ballet East Dance Company, a modern dance ensemble, and the Tapestry Dance Company which performs a variety of dance genres.

The Austin improv comedy scene has several theaters: ColdTowne Theater, The Hideout Theater, The New Movement Theater, and Salvage Vanguard Theater. Austin also hosts the annual Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, which draws comedic artists in all disciplines to Austin. In 2010, Out of Bounds hosted over 400 U.S. and international improv, sketch, and stand-up comedy artists over 7 days in 7 different venues.

Entrepreneurship

Austin has an emerging entrepreneurial scene which supports multiple paths, including craft, bootstrap and funding-driven. The scene comes together every March at RISE Austin, an annual week-long conference around the city. However, part of Austin charm has been the unique enterprises by artists and poets since the late 1970s. Mexic-Arte Museum downtown, is one example started by a group of painters and sculptors from Mexico. Poet Hedwig Gorski invented the widespread term "pet sitting" in the early 1980s to describe one of the original in-home animal care services, Hyde Park Pet Sitting. A major entrepreneural landmark, The Armadillo World Headquarters, presented national musical rock and country acts as well as regional bands like Willie Nelson and Roky Erikson in the 1970s helping to build the city's reputation as a music capitol. The current scene has been featured in BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine (twice, and a THIRD time), GigaOm, Time, ABJ Entrepreneur, Kiplinger and CNN.

Sports

Austin is the largest city in the United States without a club in a major professional sports league. Many Austinites support the University of Texas Longhorns' sports programs. The University of Texas football and baseball teams each won their respective national championships during the 2005–2006 seasons. The Texas Longhorns play home games in the state's second-largest sports stadium, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, seating over 101,000 fans. Baseball games are played at UFCU Disch–Falk Field which underwent renovation in 1996 with an increased capacity to 6,756 seats plus 11 stadium suites.

Minor-league professional sports came to Austin in 1996, when the Austin Ice Bats began playing at the Travis County Expo Center. Since then, the Austin Ice Bats have been replaced by the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League, and many other teams have come to Austin including the Austin Toros">Austin Toros of the NBA Development League, and the Texas Stars. Austin is home to the 2010 U.S. Youth Soccer U19 Girls National Champion club Lonestar Soccer Club.

:{|class="wikitable" style="float:right;font-size:80%" border="1" |+ Austin area minor-league professional sports teams ! Club ! Sport ! Founded ! League ! Venue |- |Round RockExpress |Baseball |1999 |Pacific Coast League |Dell Diamond |- |Austin Outlaws |Football |2003 |National Women'sFootball Association |House Park |- |Austin Toros |Basketball |2005 |NBA D-League |Cedar Park Center |- |Texas Stars |Ice hockey |2009 |American HockeyLeague |Cedar Park Center |- |Austin Turfcats |Indoor football |2009 |Southern IndoorFootball League |Luedecke Arena |- |Austin Gamebreakers|AustinGamebreakers |Football |1998 |North American Football League |Yellow Jacket Stadium |}

Natural features like the bicycle-friendly Texas Hill Country, limestone rock formations, and generally mild climate work with the centrally located Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail, and local pools like Barton Springs to make Austin the home of several endurance and multi-sport races and communities. The Capitol 10,000 is the largest race in Texas, and approximately fifth largest in the United States. The Austin Marathon has been run in the city every year since 1992. The Austin-founded American Swimming Association hosts an open water swimming event, the Cap 2 K, and other closed-course, open water, and cable swim races around town. Austin is also the hometown of several cycling groups and the seven-time Tour de France champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, as well as environmentally and economically minded bicycle commuters. Combining these three disciplines is a growing crop of triathlons, including the Capital of Texas Triathlon held every Memorial Day on and around Lady Bird Lake, Auditorium Shores, and Downtown Austin.

In June 2010 it was announced by the Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone that the Austin area would host the Formula One, United States Grand Prix, from 2012 until 2021. The effort was aided by State Comptroller Susan Combs. The state has pledged to put up $25 million in public funds annually for 10 years to pay the sanctioning fees for the race. The event was last held in 2007 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A Formula One circuit will need to be built at an estimated cost of $250 to $300 million, paid for by private investors, and is expected to be located just east of the Austin Bergstrom International Airport. The Austin investor group is headed by Tavo Hellmund, President of Full Throttle Productions, LP. Hellmund, of Austin, is himself a former race car owner and driver.

Museums and other points of interest

Museums in Austin include the Texas Memorial Museum, the Blanton Museum of Art (reopened in 2006), the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum across the street (which opened in 2000), the Austin Museum of Art (AMOA), and the galleries at the Harry Ransom Center. The Texas State Capitol itself is also a major tourist attraction. The Driskill Hotel built in 1886, and located at 6th and Brazos, was finished just before the construction of the Capitol building. Sixth Street is a musical hub for the city. The Enchanted Forest, a multi-acre outdoor music, art, and performance art space in South Austin hosts events such as fire-dancing and circus-like-acts. Austin is also home to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, which houses documents and artifacts related to the Johnson administration, including LBJ's limousine and a recreation of the Oval Office.

Locally produced art is featured at the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture. The Mexic-Arte Museum is a Latin American art museum founded in 1983. Austin is also home to the O. Henry House Museum, residence of O. Henry in 1891. Farmers markets are popular attractions, providing a variety of locally grown and often organic goods.

Austin is also "weird" for its many statues and landmarks, such as the Hyde Park Bar & Grill fork, the Mangia dinosaur, the Loca Maria lady at Taco Xpress on South Lamar, the 'migrating' pink flamingos on the lawn in front of the Pots and Plants Garden Center, the Hyde Park Gym's giant flexed arm, and Daniel Johnston's ''Hi, how are you?'' frog mural.

Austinites often start tours for visitors with a pilgrimage to the statue of Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan on the south shore of Town Lake. The statue's 'shadow' is longer than its height, to symbolize Vaughan's wide influence on electric guitarists.

The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge houses the world's largest urban population of Mexican Free-tailed Bats. Starting in March, up to 1.5 million bats take up residence inside the bridge's expansion and contraction zones as well as in long horizontal grooves running the length of the bridge's underside, an environment ideally suited for raising their young. Every evening around sunset, the bats emerge in search of insects, an exit visible on weather radar. Watching the bat emergence is an event that is popular with locals and tourists, with more than 100,000 viewers per year. The bats migrate to Mexico each winter.

The Austin Zoo, located in unincorporated western Travis County is a rescue zoo that provides sanctuary to displaced animals from a variety of situations, including those involving neglect.

Parks and recreation

The Austin Parks & Recreation Department received the Excellence in Aquatics award in 1999 and the Gold Medal Awards in 2004 from the National Recreation and Park Association. Home to more than 50 public swimming pools, Austin has parks and pools throughout the city. There are several well-known swimming locations. These include Deep Eddy Pool, Texas' oldest man-made swimming pool, and Barton Springs Pool, the nation's largest natural swimming pool in an urban area. Barton Springs Pool is spring-fed while Deep Eddy is well-fed. Both range in temperature from about during the winter to about during the summer. Hippie Hollow Park, a county park situated along Lake Travis, is the only officially sanctioned clothing-optional public park in Texas. Activities include rockclimbing, kayaking, swimming, exploring, and hiking along the greenbelt, a long-spanning area that runs through the city. Zilker Park, a large green area close to downtown, forms part of the greenbelt along the Colorado River. Hamilton Pool is a pool and wildlife park located about 30 minutes from the city.

Transportation

Of all people work in Austin, 73% drive alone, 10% carpool, 6% work from home, 5% take the bus, 2% walk, and 1% bicycle.

Highways

Central Austin is essentially bracketed by two major North/South thoroughfares: Interstate 35 to the east and the Mopac Expressway (Loop 1) to the west. U.S. Highway 183 runs from northwest to southeast, and State Highway 71 crosses the southern part of the city from east to west, completing a rough "box" around the central and north-central city. Austin is the largest city in the United States to be served by only one Interstate Highway.

U.S. Highway 290 enters Austin from the east and merges into I-35. Its highway designation continues south on I-35 and then becomes part of Highway 71, continuing on to the west. Highway 290 becomes its own road again southwest of the city, when it splits from Highway 71 in a busy interchange in Oak Hill known as "The Y." Highway 71 continues as far west as Brady, Texas, and Highway 290 continues west to intersect Interstate 10 near Junction. Interstate 35 continues south through San Antonio, and continues to its culmination at Laredo, Texas, which is on the Texas-Mexico border. Interstate 35 is the highway link to the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex in northern Texas. There are two links to Houston, Texas (Highway 290 and State Highway 71/Interstate 10). Highway 183 leads northwest of Austin and is a route with other major highways to such cities as Abilene, San Angelo, Lubbock, Amarillo, Albuquerque and Denver.

In the mid-1980s, Austin completed construction on Loop 360, a scenic highway that curves through the hill country from near the 71/Mopac interchange in the south to near the 183/Mopac interchange in the north. The iconic Pennybacker Bridge, also known as the "360 Bridge", crosses Lake Austin to connect north and south Loop 360.

Tollways

In November 2006, Austin opened the first segments of its first-ever tollway system: State Highway 130 runs from just south of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to Interstate 35 just north of Georgetown. Highway 130 connects with Highway 45 in Pflugerville, Texas. The project, when completed, will end at Interstate 10 just east of Seguin, about east-northeast of San Antonio.

State Highway 45 runs east-west from just west of Highway 183 in Cedar Park to 130 inside Pflugerville (just east of Round Rock). The project also included a tolled extension to Mopac that allows direct access to I-35. A new southeast leg of Highway 45 has recently been completed, connecting US 183 and the current south end of TX-130 to I-35 at the FM 1327/Creedmoor exit near the south end of Austin and close to the town of Buda's northernmost interchange. The 183A Toll Road opened March 2007, providing a tolled alternative to 183 through the cities of Leander and Cedar Park. Despite the overwhelming initial opposition to the toll road concept when it was first announced, all three toll roads have improved mobility in and around the Austin area and are significantly exceeding their revenue projections.

Airports

Austin's airport is Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) (IATA code AUS), located southeast of the city. The airport is on the site of the former Bergstrom Air Force Base, which was closed in 1993 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process. Previously, Robert Mueller Municipal Airport was the commercial airport of Austin.

Intercity bus service

Greyhound Lines operates the Austin Station at 916 East Koenig Lane, just east of Airport Boulevard and adjacent to Highland Mall. Turimex Internacional operates bus service from Austin to Nuevo Laredo and on to many destinations in Mexico. The Turimex station is located at 5012 East 7th Street, near Shady Lane.

Public transportation

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) provides public transportation to the city, primarily by bus. Capital Metro is planning to change some routes to "Rapid Lines". The lines will feature long, train-like high-tech buses. This addition is going to be implemented to help reduce congestion. Capital Metro opened a commuter rail system known as Capital MetroRail on March 22, 2010. The system was built on existing freight rail lines and will serve downtown Austin, East Austin, North Central Austin, Northwest Austin, and Leander in its first phase. Future expansion could include a line to Manor and another to Round Rock. Capital Metro is also looking into a circulator system of streetcars to connect most of Downtown, the University of Texas, and the Mueller Airport Redevelopment. The streetcar system would help connect the new rail line to key destinations in Central Austin. An Amtrak ''Texas Eagle'' station is located west of downtown. Segments of the Amtrak route between Austin and San Antonio are under evaluation for a future passenger rail corridor as an alternative to the traffic congestion of Interstate 35. Austin is known as the most bike-friendly city in Texas and has a Silver-level rating from the League of American Bicyclists. Austin is also home to Car2Go, a carsharing program. Austin was chosen as the first city in the western hemisphere to host this company's business, which is based in Germany.

Walkability

A 2011 study by Walk Score ranked Austin 31st most walkable of fifty largest U.S. cities.

Pedicabs

Austin has a vibrant and large pedicab community of bicycle taxis that operate downtown during the evening hours and daytime during events.

Education

Researchers at Central Connecticut State University ranked Austin the 16th most literate city in the United States for 2008. The Austin Public Library operates the John Henry Faulk Library and various library branches. In addition, the University of Texas at Austin operates the seventh-largest academic library in the nation.

Austin was voted "America's No.1 College Town" by the Travel Channel. Over 43 percent of Austin residents age 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree, while 16 percent hold a graduate degree. As of 2009, greater Austin ranks eighth among metropolitan areas in the United States for bachelor's degree attainment with nearly 39 percent of area residents over 25 holding a bachelor's degree.

Higher education

Austin is home to The University of Texas at Austin, the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System with over 38,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 graduate students. In 2010, the university was ranked 45th among "National Universities" (13th among public universities) by ''U.S. News and World Report.'' UT has annual research expenditures of over $640 million and has the highest-ranked business, engineering, and law programs of any university in the state of Texas.

Other institutions of higher learning in Austin include St. Edward's University, Austin Community College, Concordia University, Huston-Tillotson University, the Seminary of the Southwest, the Acton School of Business, Austin Graduate School of Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Virginia College's Austin Campus, The Art Institute of Austin, Austin Conservatory and a branch of Park University.

Public primary and secondary education

Highly rated elementary and secondary schools contribute to both quality of life and the beginnings of exceptional labor pools to come. Austin area households enjoy diverse options in education, including 29 public school districts, 17 charter schools and 69 private schools. Most of the city is served by the Austin Independent School District. Some parts of Austin are served by other districts, including Round Rock, Pflugerville, Leander, Manor, Del Valle, Lake Travis, Hays, and Eanes ISDs. Four of the metro's major public school systems, representing 54% of area enrollment, are included in ''Expansion Management'' magazine's latest annual education quality ratings of nearly 2,800 school districts nationwide. Two districts—Eanes and Round Rock—are rated "gold medal", the highest of the magazine's cost-performance categories.

Private and alternative education

Private and alternative education institutions for children in preschool-12th grade include Regents School of Austin, Redeemer Lutheran School, Garza (public), Austin Jewish Academy, the Waldorf schools, The Griffin School, The Khabele School, Concordia Academy, St. Ignatius Martyr Catholic School, San Juan Diego Catholic High School, Brentwood Christian School, St. Austin Catholic School, St. Stephen's Episcopal School, St. Mary's, St. Theresa's, St. Michael's Catholic Academy, Saint Gabriel's Catholic School, St. Andrew's Episcopal School, St. Francis Episcopal School, Saint Paul Lutheran School, Trinity Episcopal School, Huntington-Surrey, Sri Atmanada, ACE Academy, Paragon Preparatory Middle School, Austin International School, and a number of Montessori schools.

Austin is also home to numerous child developmental institutions including the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, the Central Texas Autism Center, Autism Early Learning Center, Johnson Center for Child Health and Development and many more.

Sister cities

List of sister cities of Austin, Texas, designated by Sister Cities International.

Adelaide, Australia – since 1983 Porto Alegre, Brazil – since 2002 Koblenz, Germany – since 1991 Lima, Peru – since 1981 Maseru, Lesotho – since 1978 Ōita, Japan – since 1990 Saltillo, Mexico – since 1968 Taichung, Taiwan – since 1986 Orlu, Nigeria – since 2000 Gwangmyeong, South Korea Xishuangbanna, People's Republic of China – since 1997 Antalya, Turkey Fethiye, Turkey – since 2008

The cities of Belo Horizonte, Brazil and Elche, Spain were formerly sister cities, but upon a vote of the Austin City Council in 1991, their status was de-activated.

See also

List of Austinites

National Register of Historic Places listings in Travis County, Texas

Notes

References

Further reading

Long, Joshua (2010). ''Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas''. University of Texas Press.

Swearingen Jr., William Scott ''Environmental City: People, Place, and the Meaning of Modern Austin'' (University of Texas Press; 2010) 273 pages; traces the history of environmentalism in the Texas capital, which has been part of a larger effort to preserve Austin's quality of life and sense of place.

External links

City of Austin

Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau

Austin Chamber of Commerce

Historic photographs from the Austin History Center, hosted by the Portal to Texas History

Austin Category:Cities in Texas Category:Williamson County, Texas Category:Hays County, Texas Category:Travis County, Texas Category:Austin – Round Rock metropolitan area Category:Populated places established in 1839 Category:Planned cities in the United States Category:Academic enclaves

af:Austin ar:أوستن، تكساس az:Ostin zh-min-nan:Austin be:Горад Осцін be-x-old:Остын (Тэхас) bi:Austin, Texas bg:Остин (Тексас) ca:Austin cs:Austin cy:Austin da:Austin (Texas) de:Austin (Texas) et:Austin el:Ώστιν es:Austin eo:Aŭstino eu:Austin fa:آستین، تگزاس fo:Austin fr:Austin (Texas) ga:Austin, Texas gl:Austin, Texas ko:오스틴 (텍사스 주) hi:ऑस्टिन, टेक्सास hr:Austin, Teksas io:Austin, Texas id:Austin, Texas ia:Austin, Texas ie:Austin (Texas) os:Остин (Техас) is:Austin (Texas) it:Austin he:אוסטין pam:Austin, Texas ka:ოსტინი kw:Austin, Teksas sw:Austin, Texas ht:Austin, Texas ku:Austin (Teksas) mrj:Остин (Техас) la:Austinopolis lv:Ostina lt:Ostinas hu:Austin mk:Остин (Тексас) ml:ഓസ്റ്റിൻ (ടെക്സസ്) mr:ऑस्टिन, टेक्सास nl:Austin (Texas) ja:オースティン no:Austin oc:Austin pnb:آسٹن pl:Austin pt:Austin ro:Austin, Texas qu:Austin ru:Остин (Техас) sco:Austin, Texas sq:Austin simple:Austin, Texas sk:Austin (Texas) sl:Austin, Teksas sr:Остин fi:Austin sv:Austin, Texas tl:Austin, Teksas ta:ஆஸ்டின் th:ออสติน tr:Austin, Teksas uk:Остін (Техас) ur:آسٹن، ٹیکساس ug:Austin vi:Austin, Texas vo:Austin (Texas) war:Austin, Texas bat-smg:Ostins zh:奧斯汀

Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
Name	Trisha Yearwood
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Patricia Lynn Yearwood
Born	September 19, 1964Monticello, Georgia, U.S.
Genre	Country
Occupation	Singer, actress
Years active	1991–present
Label	MCA Nashville, Big Machine
Associated acts	Garth Brooks, Don Henley, Aaron Neville, Josh Turner
Spouse	Garth Brooks(2005–Present)
Website	Official Website }}

Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood (born September 19, 1964), is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."

Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA Records in 1990. She came to prominence with her debut single, "She's in Love with the Boy" which became a #1 hit on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1991. Her second album release, ''Hearts in Armor'' (1992) reflected Yearwood's own personal issues, which won her widespread critical acclaim among music critics and further success in country music. Her later album releases such as ''The Song Remembers When'' (1993), ''Thinkin' About You'' (1995) and ''Everybody Knows'' (1996) also demonstrated her creative control, featuring collaborations from Rodney Crowell, Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks.

Yearwood also found major success in country radio during much of the 1990s, including with the 1997 song "How Do I Live." Initially released on the soundtrack of the film, ''Con Air,'' the song was also issued on her "greatest hits" compilation entitled ''(Songbook) A Collection of Hits'' (1997) and would eventually win ''Best Female Country Vocal Performance'' from the Grammy Awards. In addition she would also win accolades from the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Awards in 1997 and 1998. Aside from her success in country music, she has also donated her time as a philanthropist, working with Habitat for Humanity and the Make a Wish Foundation. In addition she also set aside a project to release her first cookbook in April 2008 titled ''Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen,'' which consisted of southern cooking recipes from Yearwood, her mother and sister.

Early life

Yearwood was born in Monticello, Georgia, United States to Gwen Yearwood, a schoolteacher and Jack Yearwood, a local banker. As a child, she grew accustomed to listening to country artists Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells and Hank Williams. In elementary school, Yearwood sang in musicals, choir groups and talent shows. In high school, Yearwood and her sister Beth were A students, and Yearwood took a strong interest in becoming an accountant. After graduating, she enrolled at Young Harris College where she received her associates degree . She then attended The University of Georgia, however grew unhappy with the school's large campus, and transferred in 1985 to Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. At Belmont, Yearwood majored in the school's music business program, and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in business administration in 1987.

While in school at Belmont, Yearwood gained an internship with MTM Records, and was eventually hired as a full time employee following her graduation. With the help of the record label's resources, she recorded a series of demo tapes and also sang background vocals for new artists. One of the new artists Yearwood recorded with was Garth Brooks in 1989. The pair developed a friendship and Brooks promised to help Yearwood sign a recording contract, if his career succeeded. Brooks brought her to his producer, Allen Reynolds, who then brought her to Garth Fundis. Fundis and Yearwood soon began working together, and together they created a demo tape. In 1990, she sang background vocals on Brooks' second album, ''No Fences,'' and performed live at a label showcase. MCA record producer, Tony Brown was impressed by her vocal ability at the concert, and helped her sign a recording contract with MCA Nashville Records shortly afterwards. Following her signing with the label, she served as a the opening act on Brooks' 1991 nationwide tour.

Music career

1991: Debut album

Under MCA Nashville, Yearwood released her self-titled debut album in 1991. Its lead single titled "She's in Love with the Boy" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Chart in late 1991, bringing her national success. With "She's in Love with the Boy," Yearwood became the first female country artist in almost 20 years to reach #1 on the country charts with a debut single. The previous record had been held by Marie Osmond in 1973 with her single, "Paper Roses." Three other singles from her debut album also reached the Top 10 on the country chart — "Like We Never Had a Broken Heart" (co-written by Garth Brooks), "The Woman Before Me," and "That's What I Like About You." Her album eventually sold a million copies and was certified "Platinum" (and later on, "2× Multi-Platinum"), with Yearwood therefore also becoming the first female artist to sell a million copies of her first album. Allmusic reviewed the album and called the effort, "a very classy debut that stands the test of time," giving it four and a half out of five stars. It also received another positive review from ''Entertainment Weekly,'' who said that Yearwood's voice, "demonstrates technical and emotional authority at every turn." With success, Yearwood performed on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', as well as ''The Late Show with David Letterman.'' She was also the subject of the book, ''Get Hot or Go Home,'' a full length biography of Yearwood's life and career written by Lisa Gubernick.

Her debut album's popularity helped Yearwood win a series of major industry awards. In 1991, she was named "Top New Female Vocalist" by the Academy of Country Music Awards, and was also voted by the American Music Awards in 1992, "Favorite New Country Artist."

1992—1996: Career diversification

In 1992, Yearwood released her second studio album, ''Hearts in Armor,'' which was critically acclaimed. With her second album, Yearwood chose songs that came from her own emotional conflicts following her divorce from her first husband, Chris Latham. The album was a departure from her previous album, as it contained almost all ballads and some collaborations with other music artists, including Don Henley, Emmylou Harris and Raul Malo of the country music band, The Mavericks. Harris is featured singing background vocals on a song she previously recorded, "Woman Walk the Line." Music critics gave the album praise and some of the highest reviews of her career. Allmusic called ''Hearts in Armor'' "stunning" and "one of the best heartbreak records country music delivered in the '80s and '90s." ''About.com'' gave it five stars, and called ''Hearts in Armor'', "possibly Trisha’s best album ever." The album would spawn four singles. The first two reached the Top 10 — "Wrong Side of Memphis", which peaked at #5 and "Walkaway Joe" (a collaboration with Don Henley), which peaked at #2 — and the third and fourth singles ("You Say You Will" and "Down on My Knees") peaked within the Top 20, reaching #12 and #19 respectively. Like her previous effort, it certified "Platinum".

Yearwood released her third album in 1993 entitled, ''The Song Remembers When,'' with the title track reaching #2 on the Billboard Country Chart that year. ''The Song Remembers When'' contained a variety of different musical themes, including the Folk-styled "Hard Promises to Keep," Rock-inspired "If I Ain't Got You," and the Pop-themed "Lying to the Moon." The album was recorded in the same format as ''Hearts in Armor,'' with a more contemporary-styled music style. Like her second album, it included collaborations with artists Rodney Crowell and Willie Nelson. The album was later accompanied by a cable television concert special in 1993, where the title track's music video is derived from. Yearwood followed the studio album with her first Holiday compilation in 1994 titled, ''The Sweetest Gift,'' which included cover versions of Christmas standards, such as "Away in a Manger," "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!," and "The Christmas Song."

In February 1995, Yearwood issued her fourth studio album, ''Thinkin' About You,'' which was aimed more towards Adult Contemporary and Country pop music. The album was given a positive review by ''Rolling Stone Magazine,'' who compared ''Thinkin' About You'' to many of Linda Ronstadt's albums in the 1970s. The disc included a version of Melissa Etheridge's "You Can Sleep While I Drive" and Tammy Wynette's "Till I Get it Right." The album found widespread popularity, with its first two singles becoming Yearwood's first #1 singles since 1991: "XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)" and the title track. Its third single, "I Wanna Go too Far" would reach the Top 10 after its release at the end of 1995. Like its predecessors, ''Thinkin' About You'' eventually sold one million copies in the United States and certified "Platinum." At the 1995 Grammy awards, Yearwood's duet with R&B artist, Aaron Neville titled, "I Fall to Pieces" (a cover of the 1961 song by Patsy Cline) won in the category of ''Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.'' The award became Yearwood's first accolade from the Grammys.

In August 1996, she released her fifth studio album, ''Everybody Knows,'' which also was aimed in a country pop direction. The album mainly consisted of ballads and each song also contained larger melodies. The album was given mixed reviews. Allmusic gave the album three out of five stars, calling the songs "a little uneven." However, ''Entertainment Weekly'' praised the album, calling the title track an "emotional release of a pounding piano." ''Everybody Knows'' spawned the single, "Believe Me Baby (I Lied)," which became Yearwood's fourth #1 single on the Billboard Country Chart. The title track was released as the second single in 1996 and peaked within the Top 5 that year. In addition, Yearwood performed in the closing ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics, which were held in Atlanta, Georgia.

1997—2001: Late '90s success

Yearwood released her first "greatest hits" compilation in August 1997 titled, ''(Songbook) A Collection of Hits.'' The album overviews her Top 10 singles between 1991 and 1996, including "She's in Love with the Boy," "Walkaway Joe," and "Thinkin' About You." Unlike her previous album, ''Songbook'' was praised by most music critics, including Allmusic who called it, "a near-definitive collection." The compilation became Yearwood's first album to peak at #1 on the ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums chart, and also reach the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, reaching #4. The album included three new tracks that were eventually released as singles. The first single released was the Diane Warren-penned, "How Do I Live," which was included on the soundtrack of the film, ''Con Air,'' and was also nominated for Best Song at the Academy Awards. "How Do I Live" was originally recorded by teenage country music artist LeAnn Rimes for the film. Yearwood's manager at the time criticized Rimes's version as "too pop", and Rimes's version received little country airplay (only peaking at #43) and was not included in the film's soundtrack. Rimes's version became a major hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #2, while Yearwood's version peaked at #2 on the Hot Country Songs, and nearly made the Top 20 on Hot 100 as well, peaking at #23. Two of the other singles spawned from the album also became major hits on the Billboard Country Chart. The second single, "In Another's Eyes" (a duet with Garth Brooks) peaked at #2 on the country chart, and the third single, "Perfect Love" reached #1 in early 1998. In 1997 and 1998, she also won a series of accolades from the Grammy Awards, and also won "Female Vocalist of the Year" from the Country Music Association Awards and the Academy of Country Music. The album would become Yearwood's biggest selling album, selling four million copies in the United States, eventually certifying "4× Multi-Platinum."

In 1998 she released her first studio album in two years entitled, ''Where Your Road Leads.'' It was Yearwood's first album to be produced by Tony Brown, as her five previous albums were produced by Garth Fundis. The singles, "There Goes My Baby," "Powerful Thing," and "I'll Still Love You More" became Top 10 hits on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart between 1998 and 1999. The title track, a duet with Brooks reached the Top 20. The album also gained positive reviews. ''About.com'' reviewed the album, giving it four stars, calling it, "one of her best albums." It was also reviewed by Allmusic, which also gave the release four out of five stars. In the summer of 1998, she performed with singer, Luciano Pavarotti to benefit Liberian children. In 1999, she was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry by Porter Wagoner, performing a cover Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams (Of You)" the night of her induction. She is still a member.

Following a second divorce in 1999, Yearwood released her seventh studio album in March 2000 entitled, ''Real Live Woman.'' Like her second album, it contained her emotional conflicts following the separation, and therefore it gained critical praise. The album contained twelve tracks, and included covers of Bruce Springsteen's "Sad Eyes" and Linda Ronstadt's "Try Me Again." It was given high critical acclaim from Allmusic, quoting ''Real Live Woman'' as a "measured, deliberate record in the best possible sense." The album sold 500,000 copies in the United States and only spawned two singles.

In 2001, she released her next studio album, ''Inside Out.'' It was produced by Mark Wright and unlike her past albums, ''Inside Out'' contained love themes. The album included collaborations from Don Henley on the title track, Rosanne Cash and Vince Gill. Allmusic called the release, "bound to inspire fans and fellow artists alike," calling Yearwood's voice "timeless." ''Rolling Stone'' gave the album four out of five stars calling, "Love Alone" and "Melancholy Blue" the best songs on the record. The album spawned the single, "I Would've Loved You Anyway," which reached #4 on the Billboard Country Chart. Its two additional singles, the title track and "I Don't Paint Myself in Corners" only became minor hit singles between 2001 and 2002.

2005—2006: Return to music

In September 2005, Yearwood released her first album of new recordings in four years titled, ''Jasper County.'' Between 2002 and 2004, Yearwood took creative time out to record music as well as wed to Garth Brooks. ''Jasper County'' was produced by Garth Fundis and was named after the county Yearwood was raised in as a child. The album consisted of mainly upbeat Soul-styled songs, including "Sweet Love," and "Who Invented the Wheel." The album received many positive reviews by music critics, including Allmusic writer, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who called ''Jasper Country'', "an album that stretches further musically than most of her albums while being more cohesive than most of her records as well." It received five stars from ''about.com,'' who also gave the album a positive review, praising the songs, "Georgia Rain," "Who Invented the Wheel," and "Standing Out in a Crowd." The album became her third album to peak at #1 on the ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums Chart, while it also peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling 117,000 copies within its first week. Its first week sales eclipsed those of Paul McCartney's ''Chaos and Creation in the Backyard,'' which was also released within that same week. The first single released was the song, "Georgia Rain," which was about Yearwood's upbringing in Georgia, and peaked at #15 on the Billboard Country Chart, becoming her first major hit since 2002. The second single, "Trying to Love You" was released to radio October 31, however the single only reached #52. Within a month of the album's release, ''Jasper County'' certified "Gold" from the Recording Industry Association of America, becoming Yearwood's eleventh Gold certification of her career.

In October 2005, Yearwood participated in the "Broadway Goes Country" concert, a show that featured country artists performing songs from Broadway Musicals and Broadway performers singing country songs. During the concert, Yearwood performed the song, "For Good" from the musical, ''Wicked,'' along with original ''Wicked'' star, Idina Menzel. Other country artists that performed that night included Billy Currington, Jamie O'Neal and Carrie Underwood.

2007—present: Move to Big Machine records

In May 2007, Yearwood announced her departure from MCA Nashville Records, and signing with the independent label, Big Machine Records. Yearwood and Big Machine CEO, Scott Borchetta met when she originally worked for MTM Records in the late 1980s, and then worked together when Borchetta worked at MCA during the 1990s. Yearwood left the label after over sixteen years with them, and selling over ten million records. Following her separation, MCA released a ''Greatest Hits'' compilation in September, which included all of her Top 10 singles up until 2001.

After signing with Big Machine, Yearwood announced plans for the recording of her tenth studio album, which was originally planned for release in 2008. In November 2007, Yearwood released her tenth studio album titled, ''Heaven, Heartache, and the Power of Love.'' The album peaked at #10 on the ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums Chart while also reaching #30 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The album was given some of the highest reviews of her musical career, gaining even more praise then her 1992 effort, ''Hearts in Armor.'' Allmusic gave the album 4 and a half out five stars, and called it their "album pick." Reviewer, Thom Jurek praised the album highly, stating, "It's better than good, it's beyond expectation -- and it was high after ''Jasper County'' -- it's the best example of what a popular record -- not just a country one -- should aspire to be, period." ''Slant Magazine'' also reviewed the album, also giving it four and a half stars, calling it, "a testament to the vitality, intelligence, and soulfulness of modern country's best music." The title track was released as the first single July 16, 2007. where it debuted at #49 shortly afterward and peaked at #19 on Hot Country Songs chart at the end of the year. The second single, "This Is Me You're Talking To" was released to radio in January 2008, and was given high critical acclaim, including from ''The 9513,'' who called the song, "one of the best singles of the year." It eventually reached a peak of #25 in June 2008. In early 2009 Yearwood joined Chris Isaak on his show, ''The Chris Isaak Hour'', to promote a song they recorded on his latest album, ''Mr. Lucky'' called "Breaking Apart."

Musicianship

Yearwood has found major influences in a variety of musical artists. She grew accustomed to influence from Southern Rock bands, which include The Allman Brothers, Eagles, as well as Country rock artists such as Emmylou Harris, Elvis Presley and James Taylor. Yearwood stated that her primary musical influence is Linda Ronstadt, whom Yearwood had often been identified and compared with in her albums. Yearwood says, "She had a power and an emotion in her voice that made you believe every word she sang. My favorite song was probably "Love Has No Pride," but I listened to everything over and over. I knew the albums so well I knew which song it was from the first note." She had recorded some of Ronstadt's compositions, including, "Try Me Again" for her 2000 album, ''Real Live Woman.'' Yearwood said that she has never considered herself as a songwriter, but is precise about choosing songs that she can relate to. She stated, ""I always select music based on emotion, how it makes me feel, even before I made records. "My producer, Garth Fundis, and I have to catch ourselves if we begin to think about recording a song we don't believe in just because we think it might be a hit." She also stated that even though she does not record any of her own material, she has written music that still has yet to be recorded.

Other projects

Philanthropic activities

In 2001, in conjunction with the movie, ''The Tangerine Bear,'' Yearwood joined with the Children's Foundation and donated a mobile electronic fun center to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. In November 2008, Yearwood recorded a version of "My Favorite Things" for the Sears "Heroes at Home" program. The song was available for download via the Sears website. Yearwood has been an active member of the charity homebuilding group, Habitat for Humanity. Yearwood first joined along with husband, Garth Brooks in 2006 and partook in the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief by building flood walls in New Orleans and protective structures in Mississippi. Between May 2 to May 10, 2009, Yearwood participated in "National Women Build Week" near her home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The project saw two hundred crews of women learn to build houses in Atlanta, Georgia and Oklahoma. For the project Yearwood learned to construct and build simple and affordable houses for Habitat for Humanity construction sites nationwide. On Mother's Day, Yearwood, her sister, mother and niece joined the project as well.

Cooking

In April 2008, Yearwood released her first cookbook co-written with her mother, Gwen and sister, Beth entitled, ''Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen.'' The cookbook consists of southern recipes from Yearwood, her mother and sister. The cookbook includes other recipes passed down from her family and liner notes describing each recipe. It includes recipes for such food as fried chicken, ribs, meatloaf and cheesecake. Brooks wrote the book's foreword and has stated how he was always fond of her cooking style. Overall, 120 recipes were compiled from the family to create the cookbook, according to Yearwood. Yearwood stated that she planned to publish another cookbook, which would be expected near Mother's Day of 2010.

On April 6, 2010, Yearwood, again with her mother and sister, released a second cookbook entitled ''Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood''. The book consists of recipes passed down through her mother, aunts, cousins and longtime friends. Yearwood stated that she dedicated many of the cookbook's recipes to relatives, such as husband Garth Brooks, who also provided the foreword for the book. Yearwood's cookbook was the cover article for the April 2010 issue of ''Redbook Magazine'', where she explained that many of the recipes featured in the cookbook were "some of the best memories of her childhood." Later that year, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine included ''Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood'' on their list of the "The Five Worst Cookbooks of 2010", noting its recipes are "loaded with fat and cholesterol" and specifically citing one called "Garth’s Breakfast Bowl" which "includes eight large eggs, a pound each of bacon and sausage, cheese tortellini, cheddar cheese, tater tots, and butter."

Film and television

In 1997, Yearwood began playing a recurring role on the CBS military drama, ''JAG,'' where she played Lieutenant Commander Teresa Coulter, a Navy coroner and forensic specialist, who develops feelings for one of the main characters. She remained on the show sporadically until 2002. In addition, Yearwood also guest-starred in the television series ''Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman'' in 1994 as a choir director. Yearwood has also stated she is interested in performing in a Broadway musical, but not "anytime soon."

Personal life

Yearwood has been married three times. She married her first husband, musician Chris Latham, in 1987. They divorced in 1991. On May 21, 1994 she married Robert "Bobby" Reynolds, a bass player for the country music group The Mavericks. She divorced a second time in 1999. Yearwood and her current husband Garth Brooks had remained close friends over the years, even when they became nationally known in the 1990s. In 2000, after Brooks filed for divorce from estranged wife Sandy Mahl, they began dating. This led Yearwood to take a four-year hiatus from music. On May 25, 2005, Brooks proposed marriage in front of 7000 fans in Bakersfield, CA and Yearwood accepted without hesitation. On December 10, 2005, they were married in a private ceremony at the couple's home in Owasso, Oklahoma. Brooks has three daughters from his first marriage — Taylor, August and Allie.

In late August 2008, the plane Yearwood was aboard from Boston, Massachusetts to Oklahoma, made an emergency landing after one of its windows cracked and nearly broke open at 30,000 feet. The pilots safely landed in Baltimore, Maryland, before the window cracked even more.

Discography

;Albums

1991: ''Trisha Yearwood''

1992: ''Hearts in Armor''

1993: ''The Song Remembers When''

1994: ''The Sweetest Gift''

1995: ''Thinkin' About You''

1996: ''Everybody Knows''

1997: ''(Songbook) A Collection of Hits''

1998: ''Where Your Road Leads''

2000: ''Real Live Woman''

2001: ''Inside Out''

2005: ''Jasper County''

2007: ''Greatest Hits''

2007: ''Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love''

2008: ''Love Songs''

Filmography

! Year	! Name	! Role	! Other notes
1993	''The Thing Called Love''	Herself	cameo appearance
1996	''Ellen''	Herself	singer in a country bar
2000	''The Tangerine Bear''	The Narrator	voice
1994	''Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman''	Choir director	one episode: "A First Christmas"
1995	''Kenny Rogers: Keep Christmas with You''	Herself
1997–2002			seven episodes recurring role

Awards

Academy of Country Music awards

! Year	! Award
1991	Top New Female Vocalist
1997	Top Female Vocalist

Country Music Association awards

! Year	! Award	! Notes
1994	Album of the Year for ''Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles	Collaboration with various artists
1997
1998

American Music awards

! Year	! Award	! Notes
1992	Favorite New Country Music Artist	only American Music Award to date

Grammy awards

! Year	! Award	! Recording
1995	''Best Country Collaboration with Vocals'' (with Aaron Neville)	"I Fall to Pieces"
	''Best Female Country Vocal Performance''	"How Do I Live"
''Best Country Collaboration with Vocals'' (with Garth Brooks)	"In Another's Eyes"

References

External links

Trisha Yearwood's Official Website

Official UMG Nashville Artist Page

Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:American country singers Category:American female singers Category:Belmont University alumni Category:Musicians from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Young Harris College alumni Category:Big Machine Records artists

da:Trisha Yearwood pdc:Trisha Yearwood de:Trisha Yearwood es:Trisha Yearwood fr:Trisha Yearwood it:Trisha Yearwood pt:Trisha Yearwood ru:Йервуд, Триша simple:Trisha Yearwood fi:Trisha Yearwood sv:Trisha Yearwood

Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
name	Stevie Nicks
background	solo_singer
birth name	Stephanie Lynn Nicks
birth date	May 26, 1948
origin	Phoenix, Arizona, United States
genre	Pop, Pop Rock, Soft Rock
instruments	Vocals, Piano, Keyboard instrument
occupation	Singer-Songwriter, Musician, Performer
years active	1967–present
label	Modern, Atlantic, Reprise
associated acts	Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham Nicks, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, David A. Stewart, Sheryl Crow
website	}}

Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 140 million albums. She has been noted for her ethereal visual style and symbolic lyrics.

Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac on December 31, 1974, along with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. Fleetwood Mac's second album after the incorporation of Nicks and Buckingham, 1977's ''Rumours'', produced four U.S. Top 10 singles (including Nicks's song "Dreams", which was the band's first and only U.S. number one) and remained at No.1 on the American albums chart for 31 weeks, as well as reaching the top spot in various countries around the world. To date the album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the tenth highest selling album of all time.

Nicks began her solo career in 1981 with the 8 million selling album ''Bella Donna'', and she has produced six more solo studio albums to date. Her seventh solo studio album entitled ''In Your Dreams'', and her first in ten years, was produced largely by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame, and was released on May 3, 2011.

After the release of her first solo album, ''Rolling Stone'' deemed her "The Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll". Having overcome cocaine addiction, and dependency on tranquilizers, Nicks remains a popular solo performer. As a solo artist, she has garnered eight Grammy Award nominations and, with Fleetwood Mac, a further five, of which one was the 1978 award for Album of the Year for ''Rumours'', which they won. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

History

Early life

Nicks was born at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, to Jess Nicks, a corporate executive, and Barbara Nicks, a homemaker. Nicks's grandfather, Aaron Jess Nicks, a struggling country music singer, taught Nicks to sing, performing duets with her by the time she was four years old. Nicks's mother was very protective of her, keeping her at home "more than most people were" and fostering in her a love of fairy tales. As a young child, Nicks had difficulty pronouncing her given name Stephanie, instead pronouncing it "tee-dee", which became the nickname "Stevie". Nicks's father Jess's career as a food business executive necessitated frequent moves, and the family lived in Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco during Nicks's youth. With the Goya guitar that she received for her sixteenth birthday, Nicks wrote her first song called "I've Loved and I've Lost, and I'm Sad But Not Blue". She joined her first band "The Changing Times" while attending Arcadia High School in Arcadia, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.

Nicks first met her future musical and romantic partner Lindsey Buckingham during her senior year at Menlo Atherton High School. She attended a Young Life Christian social event, saw Buckingham playing "California Dreamin'", and joined in with the harmony. Buckingham contacted Nicks a few years later and asked her to join him and his bandmates Javier Pacheco and Calvin Roper in a band called Fritz. Fritz became popular as a live act from 1968 until 1972, opening for popular musicians Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, among others, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Both Nicks and Buckingham attended San Jose State University in Northern California, where Nicks majored in Speech Communication. They dropped out in 1968 and moved to Los Angeles together to pursue a career in music when Nicks's family moved to Chicago.

Buckingham Nicks: 1972–1974

After Fritz disbanded in 1972, Nicks and Buckingham continued to write and record as a duo, producing demo tapes at the coffee plant belonging to Buckingham's father Morris. They secured a deal with Polydor Records. Polydor used tracks from the demo tapes to release the album ''Buckingham Nicks'' in 1973. The album was not a commercial success, despite the live shows that Nicks and Buckingham performed together to support it, and Polydor dropped the pair from the label. To support herself and Buckingham, who wrote music while recovering from mononucleosis, Nicks worked a variety of jobs, which included waiting tables and a stint cleaning engineer/producer Keith Olsen's house, where Nicks and Buckingham lived for a time. Nicks says that she first used cocaine during this time.

Nicks and Buckingham briefly relocated to Aspen, Colorado. While there, Buckingham landed a guitar-playing gig with the Everly Brothers, and toured with them while Nicks stayed behind. During this time, Nicks wrote "Rhiannon" after seeing the name in the novel ''Triad'' by Mary Leader, unaware at the time of the Mabinogi legend of Rhiannon. She also wrote "Landslide", inspired by the scenery of Aspen and her inner turmoil over her decision to pursue music.

''Fleetwood Mac'' and ''Rumours'': 1975–1978

Nicks and Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac on December 31, 1974, after Keith Olsen played their track "Frozen Love" for drummer Mick Fleetwood, who had come to Studio City in California, in search of a studio to record Fleetwood Mac's next album. Fleetwood remembered Buckingham's guitar work after guitar player Bob Welch's departure to pursue a solo career. Initially extending the offer only to Buckingham, Fleetwood later included Nicks in the offer when Buckingham insisted that they were "a package deal".

In 1975 the band achieved success with the album ''Fleetwood Mac''. That same year, Nicks worked with clothing designer Margi Kent to develop Nicks's unique onstage look, with costumes that featured flowing skirts, shawls and platform boots.

Following the success of ''Fleetwood Mac'', increasing tension between Nicks and Buckingham began to take its toll on their creativity, and Nicks ended the relationship. Fleetwood Mac began recording their follow-up album, ''Rumours'', in early 1976 and continued until late in the year. Also, Nicks and Buckingham sang back-up on Warren Zevon's debut album.

Among Nicks's contributions to ''Rumours'' was "Dreams", which became the band's only Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hit single to date. Nicks had also written and recorded the song "Silver Springs", but it was ultimately not included on the album because of space limitations for studio albums on vinyl records, which were limited to 24 minutes per side. Instead, it was released as a B-side of the "Go Your Own Way" single, and would remain in some obscurity until it appeared on the 4-disc Fleetwood Mac retrospective ''25 Years – The Chain'' in 1992. The song, the rights to which are owned by Nicks's mother Barbara, has always been very special to Nicks, and she was devastated when told about the omission after the decision had been made.

In November 1977, after a New Zealand concert for the Rumours tour, Nicks and Fleetwood, who was married to Jenny Boyd, secretly began an affair. The pair mutually decided to end the affair, because, according to Nicks, "we knew it would be the end of Fleetwood Mac." Soon after, in October 1978, Mick Fleetwood left his wife for Nicks's best friend Sara Recor. After the success of the ''Rumours'' album and tour in 1977–78, Fleetwood Mac began recording their third album with Buckingham and Nicks, ''Tusk'', in the spring of 1978. That year, Nicks sang back-up on Walter Egan's "Magnet & Steel".

''Tusk'', ''Bella Donna'' and ''Mirage'': 1978–1982

By 1978, Nicks had amassed a large backlog of songs dating back to her Buckingham Nicks days that she had been unable to record and release with Fleetwood Mac because of the constraint of having to accommodate three songwriters on each album. Nicks wrote and recorded demos for the solo project during ''Tusk'' sessions in 1979 and the ''Tusk'' world tour of 1979–80. Nicks, Danny Goldberg, and Paul Fishkin founded Modern Records to record and release Nicks's material. Nicks recorded the hit duets "Whenever I Call You Friend" with Kenny Loggins in 1978, and "Gold" with John Stewart in 1979.

Fleetwood Mac's ''Tusk'' was released on October 19, 1979. During 1981, Nicks toured with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and New Zealand band Split Enz as a guest.

Nicks released ''Bella Donna'' on July 27, 1981 to critical and commercial acclaim. ''Bella Donna'' was the first album to feature Nicks's back-up singers, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry, who have contributed vocals to all of Nicks's solo albums since then.

The day that ''Bella Donna'' reached No.1 on the Billboard 200, Nicks's best friend Robin Anderson was diagnosed with leukemia. Robin gave birth to a son, appointing Nicks as the child's godmother. Following Robin's death in 1982, Nicks married Robin's widower Kim Anderson. They divorced eight months later.

In October 1981 Nicks embarked on the White Winged Dove tour, which she had to cut short to record the ''Mirage'' album with Fleetwood Mac. After the ''Mirage'' tour in 1982, Nicks prepared to record her second solo album.

''Wild Heart'' and ''Rock a Little'': 1983–1986

Nicks released ''The Wild Heart'' on June 10, 1983. The album introduced songwriter and performer Sandy Stewart as co-writer, vocalist, and musician. ''The Wild Heart'' went double platinum, reached No.5 on the Billboard album chart, and featured three hit singles. Nicks performed at the second US Festival at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, California, and later toured the U.S. from June 1983 to November 1983. Nicks appeared on ''Saturday Night Live'' in 1983, performing "Stand Back" and "Nightbird".

Following the tour for ''The Wild Heart'', Nicks commenced work on her third solo album. Originally titled ''Mirror Mirror'', Nicks recorded songs for the album during 1984. However, Nicks was unhappy with the title track, and opted to record a new batch of songs in 1985. ''Rock a Little'', as it was re-titled, was released November 18, 1985 to commercial success, supported by two hit singles.

Nicks toured in 1986 with Tom Petty and Bob Dylan. The tour ended on October 10, 1986 in Sydney when Nicks was threatened by Australian authorities with expulsion from the country for not carrying a work permit.

The tour marked a turning point in Nicks's career: although she had achieved significant critical acclaim, drugs were taking a toll on her performing, affecting her vocals and changing her on-stage persona. In 1986, a plastic surgeon warned her of severe health problems if she did not stop using cocaine. At the end of the Australian tour, Nicks checked herself into the Betty Ford Center to overcome her cocaine addiction. Later that year, a doctor prescribed the sedative Klonopin to help her avoid a cocaine relapse.

''Tango in the Night'' and ''The Other Side of the Mirror'': 1987–1990

In 1985, Fleetwood Mac began work on ''Tango in the Night'', which was released in April 1987. Nicks joined in the later stages of production in late 1986 after her stay in at the Betty Ford Clinic.

Creative differences and unresolved personal issues within the band led Buckingham to quit the group right before their world tour. According to bassist John McVie, a "physically ugly" confrontation between Nicks and Buckingham ensued when Nicks angrily challenged Buckingham's decision to leave the band.

The band embarked on the ''Shake the Cage'' tour in September 1987, with Buckingham replaced by Rick Vito and Billy Burnette. The tour was suspended during Nicks's bout with chronic fatigue syndrome and developing addiction to tranquilizers, though it resumed in 1988. ''Tango in the Night'' met with commercial success and was followed in 1988 by Fleetwood Mac's ''Greatest Hits'' album in November 1988.

Also in 1988, Nicks began work on a fourth solo album with British producer Rupert Hine. ''The Other Side of the Mirror'' was released on May 11, 1989 to commercial success. Nicks became romantically involved with Hine.

Nicks toured the U.S. and Europe from August to November 1989, the only time she has toured Europe as a solo act. She has famously been quoted since as stating that she has "no memory of this tour" due to her increasing dependancy on the tranquillizer Klonopin, prescribed in ever increasing amounts by a psychiatrist between 1987 and 1994 in an attempt to keep Nicks from regressing to her former abuse of cocaine.

In 1989, Nicks set to work with Fleetwood Mac on a new album, ''Behind the Mask'', which was released in 1990 to moderate commercial success in the U.S. In the UK, however, the album entered the chart at No.1 and has been certified Platinum there. The band went on a world tour to promote the album, on the last night of which Buckingham and Nicks reunited on stage to perform "Landslide". After the tour concluded, Nicks left the group over a dispute with Mick Fleetwood, who would not allow her to release the 1977 track "Silver Springs" on her album ''Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks'', because of his plans to release it on a forthcoming Fleetwood Mac box set.

''Timespace'' and ''Street Angel'': 1991–1996

On the tenth anniversary of her solo career debut, Nicks released ''Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks'' on September 3, 1991.

Fleetwood Mac also released a four-disc box set, ''25 Years – The Chain'', which included "Silver Springs".

During the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign, Bill Clinton used the Fleetwood Mac hit "Don't Stop" as his campaign theme song, and Nicks joined her band mates to perform the song at Clinton's 1993 Inaugural Gala. No plans for an official reunion were made at that time. Nicks was criticized for her weight gain.

In late 1993, while Nicks held a baby shower at her house, she tripped and cut her forehead near a fireplace. Not feeling any pain from the injury, Nicks realized she needed help and endured a painful 47-day detox from Klonopin in a hospital. Her weight had also reached a peak at 175 lb (79.4 kg).

Nicks used material written mostly in previous years to record a solo album in 1992 and 1993 entitled ''Street Angel'', which was ultimately released following her detox in May 1994. Nicks has expressed major disappointment with the album, claiming that a lot of production work took place during her second stint in rehab, meaning she had little to no say over the final product.

Released May 23, 1994, ''Street Angel'' was poorly received. Despite praise from critics and fans for her vocals on the three-month ''Street Angel'' tour, Nicks was crushed by the focus on her weight and the poor reception of the album itself. Disgusted by the criticism she received during the tour for being overweight, Nicks vowed to never set foot on a stage again unless she slimmed down.

In 1995, Nicks was reunited with Lindsey Buckingham and contributed the duet "Twisted" to the ''Twister'' movie soundtrack, while in 1996 the Sheryl Crow penned "Somebody Stand By Me" featured on the ''Boys on the Side'' soundtrack, and Nicks also remade Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" for Fox's TV hit ''Party of Five''.

''The Dance'': 1997–1998

In 1996 Lindsey Buckingham, working on a planned solo album, enlisted the help of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, which eventually led to a reunion of the entire band. A newly invigorated and slimmed down Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac for ''The Dance'', a highly successful 1997 tour that coincided with the 20th anniversary of the release of ''Rumours''. Prior to the tour, Nicks started work with a voice coach, to lend her voice more control and protect it from the stress of lengthy touring schedules.

The live CD release, ''The Dance'', was released to commercial and critical acclaim, earning the group several Grammy nominations. In 1998, Nicks joined the group for its induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This same year, she won the Outstanding Contribution at the BRIT Awards.

Nicks put work on a new solo album on hold when she was approached by Warner Music to release a solo career-spanning box set, to finish her contract with Atlantic Records in the US. After the culmination of the Fleetwood Mac reunion tour, Nicks settled down in Los Angeles and Phoenix with close friends and colleagues to devise a track list for this three-disc collection.

''Enchanted'' and ''Trouble in Shangri-La'': 1998–2001

The box set ''Enchanted'' was released to acclaim on April 28, 1998 with liner notes from Nicks, as well as exclusive rare photographs, and pages from her journals. Nicks supported the box set with a successful US tour. In 1998, Nicks contributed to the ''Practical Magic'' soundtrack and performed in Don Henley's benefit concert for the Walden Woods Project.

Nicks had begun writing actively for ''Trouble in Shangri-La'' in 1994 and 1995 as she came out of her Klonopin dependency. According to Nicks, friend and former musical partner Tom Petty was responsible for convincing her to write music again when he rebuffed her request that he write a song with her. Nicks resumed recording songs for the ''Trouble in Shangri-La'' album with Sheryl Crow, who produced and performed on several tracks. When a scheduling conflict forced Crow to drop out of the project, Nicks first approached R&B producer Dallas Austin, but these sessions have never surfaced. Nicks finally called on John Shanks to produce the remainder of the album, with additional contributions from David Kahne, Rick Nowels, Pierre Marchand, and Jeff Trott. Artists Natalie Maines, Sarah McLachlan, and Macy Gray contributed to some of the tracks.

Released May 1, 2001, ''Trouble in Shangri-La'' restored Nicks's solo career to critical and commercial success. "Planets of the Universe" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and Nicks was named VH1's "Artist of the Month" for May 2001. Nicks was named one of ''People'' magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People, was featured in a well-received ''Behind The Music'' episode, and performed an episode of the VH1 Storytellers Concert Program. Nicks made several television appearances in support of the album and performed at the 2001 Radio Music Awards.

Nicks supported the album with a successful tour, although some shows were canceled or postponed because of Nicks's bout with acute bronchitis. Shows were also canceled because of the September 11 attacks in the U.S.

''Say You Will'': 2001–2004

In 2001, Fleetwood Mac began work on a new studio album. After the end of her solo tour, Nicks convened with the other members of the band for recording during 2002.

''Say You Will'' was released in April 2003 and met with commercial success but mixed reviews. Nicks joined the group to support the album with a world tour lasting until September 2004.

Nicks has subsequently stated in several interviews that she was not happy with the album or the successful world tour that followed, citing production disputes with Buckingham as a core factor, as well as the absence of fellow female band member Christine McVie. A documentary of the making of the album, ''Destiny Rules'', was released on DVD in 2004 and chronicles the sometimes turbulent relationships between band members, especially Buckingham and Nicks, during that time in the studio.

''Crystal Visions'' and ''Soundstage Sessions'': 2007–2009

On March 27, 2007, Reprise Records released ''Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks'' in the U.S. The album debuted at No.21 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart.

The compilation includes her hit singles, a dance remix, and one new track, a live version of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll". There are two versions of this album, one with just the audio CD and another version with an included DVD featuring all of Nicks's music videos with audio commentary from Nicks, as well as rare footage from the ''Bella Donna'' recording sessions.

A tour with Chris Isaak, opening in Concord, California on May 17, 2007 supported the release.

Reprise Records initially released two radio only promos, the live version of "Landslide" with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and "Rock and Roll". Both tracks failed to garner much airplay and made no impact on the charts. Reprise Records released "Stand Back" (issued with club mixes) on May 29, 2007. "Stand Back", which peaked at No.5 on the pop singles chart in 1983, reached No.2 on the "Billboard Club Chart". Nicks previously reached No.1 on this chart, with "Planets Of The Universe" (from ''Trouble in Shangri-La'') in 2001. The remix single of "Stand Back" debuted on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales Chart on September 15, 2007 at No.10 peaking at No.4 the following week. It also debuted on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales Chart at No.3 peaking at #1.

On March 31, 2009, Stevie released the album, ''The Soundstage Sessions'', via Reprise Records. The album debuted at No.47 on the ''Billboard'' 200 Albums Chart. The first single from the album was "Crash Into Me" and was released as a digital download, along with "Landslide" (orchestra version) as a B-side, on March 17, 2009.

Along with the CD, Nicks also released a DVD titled ''Live In Chicago''. Both are of her October 2007 ''Soundstage'' performance which was filmed and recorded before an intimate audience at Grainger Studio in Chicago. The DVD features special guest Vanessa Carlton.

''In Your Dreams'': 2010–present

After completing the Unleashed Tour with Fleetwood Mac, Stevie began work on her first solo album in a decade with David A. Stewart (musician and record producer, best known for his work with Eurythmics), who announced this via his Twitter in February 2010. During 2010, Dave used Twitter to confirm various facts about the album; In one of the tweets, Stewart stated that he, Nicks, Waddy Wachtel, Mike Campbell (of the Heartbreakers), Mike Rowe, and Steve Ferrone were all working on the album, and that Mick Fleetwood has also contributed drums to at least one track. Waddy Wachtel has been Nicks's lead guitarist for most of her solo career, featuring prominently on all of her albums to date. It was also later confirmed that Lindsey Buckingham would appear on the track “Soldiers Angel”.

Stevie performed in a series of shows she did in August ("it's not really a tour," she said). They did not contain any of her new music, because she doesn't want it to end up on YouTube. The Santa Barbara show will benefit a little girl she knows in Los Angeles with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer.

On January 13, 2011, Reprise announced Stevie's upcoming album ''In Your Dreams'' would be released on May 3, and the lead single, "Secret Love", would be released on February 8. Reprise provided a free download of the single to fans who pre-ordered the album via certain websites. Nicks originally wrote "Secret Love" in 1976 and recorded a demo of it for Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album, ''Rumours''. It did not make the final cut for the album. The demo version had been circulating among fans for many years prior to its inclusion on ''In Your Dreams''. Nicks promoted the song with a video directed by Dave Stewart. Nicks' goddaughter Kelly appears in the video wearing a vintage dress that Nicks wore on stage in 1976. According to Nicks, Kelly portrays the young Stevie Nicks blending with the soul of Nicks' 62 year-old self. On the U.S. Billboard Charts, "Secret Love" was a modest hit on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, peaking at #20, and at #25 on the Triple A Singles Chart.

''In Your Dreams'' received overwhelmingly positive reviews, rivaling that of Stevie's 1981 debut. Rolling Stone commented "It's not just her first album in 10 years, it's her finest collection of songs since the Eighties", which mirrored the reception from most other critics and music industry members. The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 giving Nicks her fifth top ten album on that chart, with 52,000 copies sold in the first week. Elsewhere, the album has made numerous Top 50 debuts, including #24 on the Australian ARIA Chart and #22 in Canada.

The same day that Nicks' new album was released, Fox Network broadcast the ''Glee'' episode (Season 2, Episode 19) "Rumours" that featured six songs from Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album, including Stevie's song ''Dreams'' (the band's only #1 song on the US charts). The show sparked renewed interest in the band and its most commercially successful album, and ''Rumours'' reentered the Billboard 200 chart at #12, the same week that ''In Your Dreams'' debuted at #6. (Nicks was quoted by ''Billboard'' saying that her new album was "my own little ''Rumours''.").

Stevie has recently contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" for the upcoming tribute album, ''Listen to Me: Buddy Holly'' to be released in September 2011.

Tours

After a few months' respite from the ''Say You Will'' tour, Nicks did a four-night stint in May 2005 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and then did a 10-show tour with Don Henley. During the summer of 2005, Nicks continued the tour solo with pop singer Vanessa Carlton as the opening act, playing over 20 dates nationwide.

In October 2005, she attended the Melbourne Cup Week in Australia, and one of the horse racing stakes was named after her: ''The Stevie Nicks Plate''. She used this opportunity to launch her promotion of an Australian/New Zealand extension to her ''Gold Dust Tour'' in February and March 2006. Nicks toured in Australia and New Zealand with popular Australian performer John Farnham. She also appeared in concert with Tom Petty in June near Manassas, Virginia and at the Bonnaroo Music Festival that same month.

In 2006, Nicks performed with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the first leg of their tour in the summer, and later in the year returned as a guest performer for a number of songs on the tour celebrating Petty's 30th anniversary since his debut album. Tom Petty's Homecoming Concert in Gainesville, FL, which contained performances with Stevie Nicks, was filmed for PBS ''Soundstage'' as well as DVD release for March 2007. Nicks was also the featured performer for Bette Midler's benefit function, Hullaween, in October 2006.

Beginning in May 2007, Nicks began touring with pop/rock artist Chris Isaak. The last Stevie Nicks/Chris Isaak show was June 17, 2007 at the Tweeter Center in Boston, MA. Nicks continued the tour solo, with Vanessa Carlton opening on some dates. The tour finished at The Borgata in Atlantic City on August 24, 2007.

In 2009, Fleetwood Mac embarked on a global hits tour. The ''Unleashed Tour'' took place in arenas on multiple continents. The tour ended in December with two sell-out shows of 35,000 people at the New Plymouth TSB Bowl of Brooklands in New Zealand.

Rod Stewart and Nicks will be co-headlining The Heart & Soul Tour. Launching March 20, 2011 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the tour will unite the two singers for a series of arena concerts throughout North America – with performances already confirmed in New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Tampa, Montreal and more.

A solo tour for ''In Your Dreams'' begins August 9, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Stevie announced on her July 27 appearance on ''America's Got Talent'' that Michael Grimm will be going on tour with her.

Solo tours

Buckingham Nicks Tour: 1974–1975 (with Lindsey Buckingham)

White Winged Dove (Bella Donna) Tour: 1981

The Wild Heart Tour: 1983 (with Joe Walsh)

Rock A Little Tour: 1986

The Other Side of the Mirror Tour: 1989

Whole Lotta Trouble (Timespace) Tour: 1991

Street Angel Tour: 1994

Enchanted Tour: 1998

Holiday Millenium Tour: 1999–2000

Trouble In Shangri-La Tour: 2001 (on select dates with Sheryl Crow)

Two Voices Tour: 2005 (with Don Henley)

Gold Dust Tour: 2005–2006 (with Vanessa Carlton)

Highway Companion Tour: 2006 (on select dates as guest of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)

Crystal Visions Tour: 2007–2008

Soundstage Sessions Tour: 2008 (with Chris Isaak)

Heart & Soul Tour: 2011 (with Rod Stewart)

In Your Dreams Tour: 2011

Stevie Nicks's Band of Soldiers

In late 2004, Nicks began visiting Army and Navy medical centers in Washington, D.C. While visiting wounded service men and women, Nicks became determined to find an object she could leave with each soldier that would raise their spirits, motivate, and give them something to look forward to each day. She eventually decided to purchase hundreds of iPod Nanos, load them with music, artists, and playlists which she would hand select, and autograph them. She now regularly delivers these tokens of her appreciation, bringing her closest friends to share the experience.

In 2006, Nicks held a get-together to raise money for her charity work. Many of her peers made contributions. Nicks continues to develop this philanthropic endeavor.

Influence

Courtney Love, Michelle Branch, Belinda Carlisle, the Dixie Chicks, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Nadia Ali, Taylor Swift, Laura Branigan, Sarah McLachlan, Kelly Clarkson, Vanessa Carlton, Georgi Cussick, Tori Amos, Michelle Hotaling, Jennifer Hanson, Ruston Taylor and Delta Goodrem have all cited Nicks as an inspiration. She has participated in duets or provided guest vocals for several of their albums and some have returned the favour, notably Crow and the Dixie Chicks. The Dixie Chicks covered her 1975 classic "Landslide", which became a Top 10 hit (#1 on the Adult Contemporary chart) and a No.1 Hit on the Country Chart. Alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins made an acoustic cover of the song that was featured on their 1994 B-side collection ''Pisces Iscariot''. The cover was a hit and made it to the top three on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S. that year. She recorded a duet of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with Chris Isaak on his 2004 Christmas album ''Chris Isaak Christmas'' and sang with Isaak on his PBS Christmas television special. Other successful covers have included The Corrs' "Dreams", and Courtney Love's band Hole with "Gold Dust Woman". "Edge Of Seventeen" was sampled on Destiny's Child's 2001 No.1 single "Bootylicious". Nicks appeared in the video for "Bootylicious" and in an episode of MTV's ''Making The Video'' that featured it, in which she expressed her admiration for both the song and the group. Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys has expressed extreme interest in working with Nicks. Lindsay Lohan covered "Edge of Seventeen" on her 2005 album, ''A Little More Personal''. Deep Dish fulfilled their "Dreams" of working with Nicks in 2005 when Nicks offered to re-record vocals on a remix of her No.1 penned song, "Dreams". The Deep Dish version went on to reach No.2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Airplay Chart, as well as providing Nicks with her third UK top 40 hit. Nicks provided additional vocals and writing on Vanessa Carlton's 2007 album ''Heroes and Thieves''. Carlton had previously been on tour with Nicks in 2005 and 2006.

The Dixie Chicks' cover of Nicks's 1975 song "Landslide" also earned her a BMI Songwriters Award in 2003 when it won "Song of the Year" (the award is given to the songwriter of the track, regardless of the performer). According to BMI, "Landslide" also earned Nicks the 35th Robert J. Burton Award as "Most Performed Country Song of the Year". This distinction is given to the song tallying the most feature US broadcast performances during the eligibility period. Included on the Dixie Chicks' platinum Monument album ''Home'', "Landslide" was a Country, Adult Top 40, Hot 100 and AC Billboard charts smash. Nicks previously collected a Pop Award in 1998 for Fleetwood Mac's recording of the song, which has achieved Million-Air status with over three million airplays.

On January 31, 2010, Nicks performed with Taylor Swift at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Swift, who describes Nicks as one of her childhood heroes, introduced her to the audience by saying "It's a fairy tale and an honor to share the stage with Stevie Nicks."

Personal life

During the ''Rumours'' tour, Nicks had a relationship with singer/songwriter Don Henley of the Eagles. Nicks ended her relationship with Henley at the beginning of the Tusk tour in 1979.

Her only marriage was to Kim Anderson, the widower of her friend Robin Anderson, soon after Robin died of leukemia while ''Bella Donna'' was on the top of the charts. Stevie and Kim were soon divorced: "We didn't get married because we were in love, we got married because we were grieving and it was the only way that we could feel like we were doing anything."

Until July 2007 Nicks lived in Paradise Valley, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix in a home she had built in 1981 and shared with brother Chris, his wife Lori and their daughter Jessica. She announced in mid-2007 that her Paradise Valley home would be put up for sale, citing her aspirations to "downsize" and focus more on her charity work, and the fact that in the last year she had only "spent about two weeks there." The house was put on the market for a reported $3.8 million, and many fans, feeling it was the end of a major era in her life and career, tagged it as a "Kingdom Up For Sale", a line from the song "Gold Dust Woman". She also owns a home in Pacific Palisades, California.

According to a September 2007 article in the ''Daily Telegraph'', Nicks says she is again selling her home, her recently purchased Pacific Palisades home (purchased two years before by Nicks, right down the street from a rental home she had for years in Pacific Palisades). She has said it is a "house for adults", "And even though I'm pushing 60 I don't feel that I'm that old yet." She will be moving to a penthouse apartment on the beach and the old house is already on the market.

Beginning in 2007, reports surfaced concerning Lindsay Lohan's interest in buying the rights to Nicks's life story and developing a motion picture in which she planned to play Nicks. In March 2007, while promoting her album ''Crystal Visions'', Nicks was asked about this rumor. Nicks told ''Access Hollywood'', "That is completely insane and crazy. There is no movie in the works on my life. Nobody can do a movie about my life without me being involved, because nobody knows what really happened in my life until I tell them. So, nobody can make a movie about my life. And if anybody ever went and made a movie about my life without my permission and my being involved, I would slam it so hard to the press that it would never do anything." Nicks has gone on record to the ''New York Times'' as being strongly opposed to the prospect, and was quoted in 2009 as saying "Over my dead body. She needs to stop doing drugs and get a grip. Then maybe we'll talk."

Image

Stevie Nicks is known for her mystical image, her billowing chiffon skirts, shawls, layers of lace and long blonde hair. Margi Kent, a designer from California, has worked with Nicks since the 1970s to perfect her style. Perhaps the most famous part of Nicks's wardrobe is her platform boots. Nicks has worn suede platform boots in various colors, usually black, cream, tan or maroon in almost all of her performances since 1975. Standing at , Nicks has stated she felt a little ridiculous standing next to the much taller Mick Fleetwood. For this reason she developed a penchant for platform boots. "Even when platforms went completely out of style, I kept wearing them because I didn't want to go back to being in heels", she told ''Allure'' magazine in 1995. Over the years, Nicks has developed a style which she calls her "uniform", which is best exemplified by the outfit worn on the cover of Fleetwood Mac's ''Rumours'', perhaps the base inspiration for many of her costumes. Another trademark of Nicks's is a Dickens-style gentleman's formal top hat, which she began wearing in the late 1970s. During the early 1980s she wore Renaissance poets' velvet berets with plume feathers (as shown in the vintage photo used on the cover of her March 2007 CD release ''Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks''). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she wore fashionable ladies hats on stage and to this day, often still sports a black top hat adorned with giant plumes.

Many of Nicks's shawls and capes also have an association with her songs in her live performances, many becoming as signature in live performances as the songs themselves. These include a red/crimson shawl for "Sara", white for "Edge of Seventeen", gold for "Gold Dust Woman" and black with round gold circles for "Stand Back". One of her trademarks is twirling across the stage with shawls flying during the interlude of her classic songs, notably "Stand Back" and "Gypsy".

Nicks has said that her vocal style and performance antics evolved from female singers like Grace Slick and Janis Joplin. She admitted inspiration when she saw Joplin perform live (and opened for with her first band "Fritz") shortly before Joplin's death. Nicks owns a strand of Joplin's stage beads. She also commented that she once saw a woman in her audience dressed in dripping chiffon with a Gibson Girl hairstyle and big boots and Nicks knew she wanted something similar. She took the look and made it her own. Another important part of Nicks's image is her jewelry. Nicks typically introduces one signature piece of jewelry during each tour. Such items have included silver bracelets, crescent moon pendant, pyramid-shaped pendant, winged-heart pendant, gold crosses and, most recently, a Tiffany pendant with diamonds meaning "longevity." The crescent moon pendant is arguably the most iconic of all Nicks's jewelry – the original was bought while she was in England on tour with Fleetwood Mac during the ''Tusk'' era. Nicks then had her personal jeweler, Henri David of Philadelphia, make replicas of the moon pendant which have become treasured gifts to her friends. In recent years, celebrity pals such as Bette Midler and ice-skating star Tai Babilonia have been photographed wearing their "Stevie moons".

Nicks has even commented in interviews recently that she never would have dreamed that her trademark "Bella Donna/Witchy Woman" image would have been taken so seriously by her fans, often joking that she doesn't live her private life in her stage clothes and "Stevie garb" as many people seem to think. However, she greatly credits her career/stage image for its role in giving her a trademark that has made her unique and "timeless."

Microphone and tambourine

Stevie Nicks is known for her use of the Sennheiser MD-441-U5 microphone. It was a frequent sight in Nicks's early tours. Also synonymous with Nicks's microphone are the items with which she chooses to decorate her microphone stand. Over the years, such items have included roses, ribbons, chiffon, crystal beads, scarves and small stuffed toys.

Upon being asked in a question forum on her official website about playing the tambourine, Nicks stated that she began playing the tambourine upon joining Fleetwood Mac in 1975, feeling the need to do something onstage during songs that featured Lindsey or Christine. Like her microphone, her tambourine usually features scarves and/or streamers. Nicks's trademark tambourine since the early 1980s is in the shape of a black half-moon. The tambourine is sometimes silenced using tape. She has spoken of being embarrassed about handing President Bill Clinton a silenced tambourine when he joined Fleetwood Mac on stage.

Rumors of witchcraft

A rumor that has trailed Nicks through the years is that she is a witch and is heavily involved in Wicca. While she admits to having a high regard for the mythic and gothic, she denies any solitary dedication to any one religion, including Wicca. She speaks about this erroneous image in a 2006 interview. Nicks's music is copyrighted under the name Welsh Witch Music, a reference to her song ''Rhiannon'', which she introduced as "a song about a Welsh witch" in concerts between 1975 and 1978. In a ''Yahoo!'' interview on April 28, 1998, Nicks said of the rumor: "I have no idea what precipitated those rumors… I am not a witch. Get a life!" Nicks also stated in a 1983 ''Entertainment Tonight'' interview: "I spent thousands of dollars on beautiful black clothes and had to stop wearing them for a long time because a lot of people scared me. And that's really unfair to me, I think, for people – other people – to conjure up their ideas of what I am or what I believe in." In a 1998 ''Redbook'' magazine article, Nicks spoke of her faith, stating that she believes in angels and knows that she is alive today because "there was a God looking out" for her during her years of addiction.

Discography

Solo

Studio albums

''Bella Donna'' (1981)

''The Wild Heart'' (1983)

''Rock a Little'' (1985)

''The Other Side of the Mirror'' (1989)

''Street Angel'' (1994)

''Trouble in Shangri-La'' (2001)

''In Your Dreams'' (2011)

Live album

''The Soundstage Sessions'' (2009)

Compilations

''Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks'' (1991)

''Enchanted'' (3 CD box set) (1998)

''Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks'' (2007)

Solo videos and DVDs

''Stevie Nicks: Live in Concert'' (VHS) (1984)

''I Can't Wait: The Music Video Collection'' (VHS) (1986)

''Live at Red Rocks'' (VHS) (1986)

''Crystal Visions - The Very Best of Stevie Nicks (Deluxe Edition with DVD)'' (2007)

''Soundstage: Stevie Nicks Live (Sears-exclusive Blu-Ray)'' (2008) (later released on DVD as ''Live in Chicago'' in 2009)

As Buckingham Nicks

''Buckingham Nicks'' (1973)

With Fleetwood Mac

''Fleetwood Mac'' (1975)

''Rumours'' (1977)

''Tusk'' (1979)

''Live'' (1980)

''Mirage'' (1982)

''Tango in the Night'' (1987)

''Greatest Hits'' (1988)

''Behind the Mask'' (1990)

''25 Years – The Chain'' (2 CD & 4 CD Boxset) (1992)

''The Dance'' (1997)

''The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac'' (2002)

''Say You Will'' (2003)

''Live in Boston'' (2004)

Awards & Nominations

Grammy Awards

Solo: Stevie has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards as a solo artist, holding the record for most nominations for Best Female Rock Vocal without a win. Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Best Album of Original Score written for a Motion Picture or Television Special Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Best Performance Music Video Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Best Female Rock Vocal Performance

Year !! Category !! Recording !! Result
1982	Best Rock Vocal Performance By a Duo or Group	Stop Dragging My Heart Around (with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
1982	|	Edge of Seventeen	Nominated
1984	|	Stand Back	Nominated
1985	|	Against All Odds (with Various Artists)	Nominated
1987	|	Talk To Me	Nominated
1988	|	Stevie Nicks: Live At Red Rocks	Nominated
1991	|	Whole Lotta Trouble	Nominated
2002	|	Planets of the Universe	Nominated

With Fleetwood Mac: Stevie has been nominated for nine competitive Grammy Awards as a member of Fleetwood Mac, winning the 1978 Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Rumours, and received the 2003 Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Best Engineered Recording Best Arrangement of Voices Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group Best Album Package Best Album Package Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy Hall of Fame Award

Year !! Category !! Recording !! Result
1978	Album of the Year	Rumours
1978	|	Rumours	Nominated
1978	|	Rumours	Nominated
1978	|	Rumours	Nominated
1981	|	Tusk	Nominated
1991	|	Behind The Mask	Nominated
1998	|	The Chain	Nominated
1998	|	Silver Springs	Nominated
1998	|	The Dance	Nominated
2003	|	Fleetwood Mac	Won

See also

List of number-one dance hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

External links

The Nicks Fix: The Official Stevie Nicks Website

Reprise Records

Five audio interview segments with Stevie Nicks discussing her Bella Donna Album

Category:1948 births Category:American contraltos Category:American dance musicians Category:American diarists Category:American female singers Category:American rock singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Female musicians Category:Female rock singers Category:Fleetwood Mac members Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Arizona Category:People from Phoenix, Arizona Category:People from Paradise Valley, Arizona Category:San Jose State University alumni Category:Living people Category:People with chronic fatigue syndrome

ca:Stevie Nicks cs:Stevie Nicks da:Stevie Nicks de:Stevie Nicks es:Stevie Nicks eo:Stevie Nicks fr:Stevie Nicks ga:Stevie Nicks hr:Stevie Nicks it:Stevie Nicks nl:Stevie Nicks ja:スティーヴィー・ニックス no:Stevie Nicks pl:Stevie Nicks pt:Stevie Nicks ru:Никс, Стиви sc:Stevie Nicks simple:Stevie Nicks fi:Stevie Nicks sv:Stevie Nicks tr:Stevie Nicks