JennyBoyd with "Icons of Rock" talking about being creative

Jenny Boyd, 1960's fashion model, ex-wife of Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood and popular session drummer Ian Wallace, and former sister-in-law of George Harrison and Eric Clapton, spent much of her life in the proximity of musical and cultural influencers. Her access allowed her to interview some of the world's most recognizable musicians regarding their thoughts about the creative process. Her new book Icons of Rock-In Their Own Words from Mango Publishing  is a compendium that provides an intimate insight into how some the world's greatest musicians and producers created some of their greatest work.  

Boyd originally conducted and compiled most of these revealing interviews as part of her Ph.D dissertation some 30 years ago. She talked with dozens of artists about how they made music and whether natural talent or external influences were the key factors in their work.

She carefully guarded 75 cassettes of interviews with these unique talented people for years. Some particular phrases that icons shared:

Don Henley of the Eagles “Songs just keep us company, that’s all”

Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac-”There is some tie between religion and art”

Peter Gabriel of Genesis-”Everyone has the potential to be creative”

Eric Clapton—”Music is transcendent”

Huey Lewis of The New--”Songwriters have to get away from society so they can reflect on society”

Many of the great musicians mentioned family members who were musicians, like Stevie Nicks’ grandfather who sang country & western, Michael McDonald’s dad was an Irish tenor, and Randy Newman the great film composer had two uncles who wrote music for movies.

In the interviews with Ringo Starr, Graham Nash, and David Crosby, they were a lot more introspective and deep than their cheery public persona.

And Jenny includes some new faces in music plus legendary Blues musicians.