August 7, 2005

As I’m sure you must know by now~ Peter Jennings died today. The night he told us on his news show that he had cancer~ I went straight to my desk and wrote him this letter. I thought I would share it with you.

Dear Peter Jennings~

My name is Stevie Nicks. Tonight I listened to you tell the world that you had lung cancer. As a studied singer – I heard your golden voice sound a little hoarse. I also heard in your voice that you were ready to go to war with it. That is good~ because cancer~ waits for no one. And you must win this battle, you see, because in many ways you are the soft reassuring voice that tells us everyday what is going on in our troubled world. We are not ready to give that voice up, and I feel that you are not ready to take it from us.

I don’t like the news very much. I was in New York on 9-11. I flew in from Toronto that Monday night to do a show in Rochester on Wednesday and Radio City on Friday. I went to sleep at 7:30am, and was awakened at 11am. The towers had fallen, no cars on the street, the world was changed, the angels cried. My shows were cancelled due to an act of war. (Not since Pearl Harbor…) Along with all the broken hearted I watched you and listened to you. I thought “this is the worst thing that happened in my whole life~” We were in classic ‘lock-down’ – at the Waldorf=Astoria, and your voice sang on. I marveled at your strength. You walked me through it.

I wanted to go home. I called my friend, Don Henley. He said, “If you can stand it, stay out there, take people’s minds off this tragedy, if just for a moment.” I called my parents. My mother said, “This is what you can do for your country, sing your songs to them, give them a little peace.” So I did- I stayed on the road until October~ The “Trouble in Shangri-La” Tour. The summer of 9-11~ and the voice of Peter Jennings. I would say, Peter is my favorite.

So, having said all that, I know that going through chemotherapy is a lot of time on an I.V.~ so I am sending you some music. The last CD~ Trouble in Shangri-La (oh yes…) being, I think, my little masterpiece. I think some of my songs might help you pass this time (and keep you dancing). Writing my songs is the first great love of my life, giving them to someone I think needs them~ is the second great love of my life.

…And even if at some point, you have to wear that fabulous~ Versace Bandana, you’ll still be the handsomest guy on T.V.

      Thanks for all that you do~

                 Love,
                        Stevie Nicks

Last night, was the last night of my tour. We have been working since May~nonstop. We started in Las Vegas~ and we ended in Las Vegas. My father has been very ill for weeks. He fell the day after Reno~ and broke his leg. They were able, finally, to go in and fix it yesterday. Thank goodness~ he lived through the surgery. In all honesty, we didn’t think he would. So going on stage for the last 3 shows has been extremely difficult for me, Rise above it~ the show must go on~ or so say the circus people. Be positive. Believe in the angels. Believe he will get well. Believe that all those injured boys at Walter Reed will get well~ and believe that Peter Jennings and his golden voice will fight through his cancer and come back to us~ and make some sense out of this crazy world~ Well, sometimes things just aren’t meant to be. He was one of those special beings~ rare and beautiful~ one of the great ones~

I am so sad about this~
           I simply ~
                    Adored him…

And~
       If you smoke~
                 Please stop