Ella Hooper says a conversation with Stevie Nicks helped her decide to go solo. In a wide-ranging interview, Hooper confirmed Nicks’s advice played a part, though she was already weighing what to do musically. Nicks’s message was simple and generous: “you can always go back to bands. It doesn’t have to be a closed door.”
Hooper met Nicks when her band, the Verses, supported Fleetwood Mac. The band watched the group night after night and got to talk with its members. Hooper said she loved Nicks and had listened to her solo songs “Stand Back” and “Edge of Seventeen.” Nicks had done folk and rock, Hooper said, and “she’s not been afraid to try anything.” That conversation helped Hooper give herself permission to do the same. Her new album, Overnight Success, is Americana and “is out now.”
A Second Act, With Support
Hooper’s career has taken several turns. Killing Heidi returned to performing in 2016, 10 years ago, after the band had broken up or gone on hiatus with no plans to play again. Hooper admitted she was nervous. The response was “fantastic,” with big sold-out shows.
One night, she spotted a girl holding a sign: “I’m Ella too, I was named after you.” Since then, Hooper has met plenty of “little Ellas” whose parents tell her, “She’s an Ella because of you!” Asked if she felt responsible for them, she joked, “To lead them astray? Yes!”
She also reflected on the songs. It’s taken time, she said, to give herself grace about the music she wrote when younger, instead of saying, “Oh god, I hate this shit.” She tries to remember what worked and what listeners liked at the time, “because they probably still do!”
The Physical Cost of the Road
Hooper spoke candidly about what long tours demand of a body. She sometimes takes steroids to keep singing if she’s losing her voice toward the end of a run. Steroids are “very activating,” she said, which can make winding down tricky.
Her routine begins as soon as she walks off stage. She aims to be asleep by 2am or 3am, gets warm, and travels with incense, lavender oil, a steamer and scarves to cover lamps. Lately, she’s made herself put down her phone and read a book instead. “It does work. It’s so annoying. I want the phone, the phone is so delicious! But no.”
Friends, Fans and Funny Moments
The interview had lighter moments, too. Hooper once threw a silver boot into the crowd at an outdoor festival in Darwin after getting “so into the moment.” She never saw it again and hobbled home barefoot. “There was something crazy in the air – there’s always something crazy in the air in Darwin,” she said. It happened “a few years ago,” she added, and she might be “slightly less silly now.”
About 10 years ago, Hooper ran into Billy Bragg outside the Rolling Stone offices and told him, “Oh my god, my mum loves you.” Bragg replied with something like, “If I had a dollar for every time that a young lady said that to me ... ” Hooper said she answered, “Oh yeah, sorry. I love you too.” Young people now say the same thing to her. “It’s just part of the journey!”
Hooper called herself a good friend and good in a crisis. She’s kept the same friendship group since high school. Her one flaw: “I’m a shit secret keeper! I’ll listen, but I’ll repeat it.” For her funeral playlist, she chose Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing,” with perhaps the Kinks’ “Lola” to keep everyone from getting too emotional.
Why This Matters: Hooper’s account shows how much an artist’s working life depends on other people. Encouragement from a fellow musician helped shape her solo turn. A fan base spanning generations brought her back to the stage. Old friendships keep her steady. Her description of steroids and a strict wind-down routine also shows what touring can demand of a performer’s health. That’s her account, and she draws no wider conclusions. But it points to the physical work behind a sold-out show. Nicks’s reminder that a door doesn’t have to close offers a small example of the mentorship that lets women in music take creative risks and rebuild careers on their own terms.