Is Daisy Jones & The Six Based on a True Story?
She may be a fictional character, but the free-spirited singer-songwriter has a lot in common with the ultimate California girls of the 1970s.
Adapted from the bestselling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid — which she wrote as an oral history — the Daisy Jones & the Six television series is constructed like a music documentary with interviews and flashbacks that detail the titular band’s rise to fame and how they combusted spectacularly at the height of their popularity. Cue the sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll excess.
Daisy Jones & the Six may be fictional, but not since the mop-topped foursome of the Monkees were cast by TV execs to resemble the Beatles has a fake band felt this real. For starters, they’re releasing Aurora, a full-length album of original songs, to coincide with the premiere of the Prime Video series of the same name on March 3. The record features the songwriting talents of Phoebe Bridgers, Marcus Mumford, and Madison Cunningham alongside actual ’70s singer-songwriter Jackson Browne and, yes, it will be available on vinyl to cherish as fans eagerly anticipate a concert tour. The first two singles, “Regret Me” and “Look at Us Now (Honeycomb),” have already had millions of streams on Spotify, which is only adding to the illusion.
So many stars’ qualities can be seen in Daisy: the alt-country of early Linda Rondstadt (on her way to arena-class rock diva); the raw electricity of Carly Simon; the otherworldly stylings of Marianne Faithfull. All three were also tabloid lightning rods who suffered in the macho era, relegated to the role of the “girl singers” whenever the rock ’n’ roll dudes were hogging the spotlight — much like Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin) feels he deserves. As Rondstadt lamented to Crawdaddy magazine in 1974: “People are always taking advantage of you; everybody that’s interested in you has got an angle.”
With all of this real world appeal to the series, however, one question remains: Is Daisy Jones based on a real person? We investigate, below — be aware of some spoilers!
Daisy Jones is a Fictional Character
The character, played by Riley Keough, may be fictional, but she shares a resemblance to many other female troubadours of the era. Of course, the first chanteuse who jumps to mind is Stevie Nicks, the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. It’s no coincidence that the ultimate California girl of the 1970s — a hyper-romantic pop songstress known equally for her volatile relationships, substance abuse, chiffon flamboyance, and mystical excess — would offer a template for Daisy.
As Jenkins explained, that was intentional. “A lot of our rock goddesses are very messy people,” she told Rolling Stone in 2019. “You know, Courtney Love, that is a messy person; Stevie Nicks, there’s messiness there. And I wanted Daisy to feel that way.”
The fact that Keogh possesses her own rock royalty pedigree, as the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, adds to the mystique. Amid the power twirls, it’s also impossible to overlook her resemblance to Florence Welch, with her fiery red hair and flowing costumes, further proving that the legacy of ’70s pop rock continues to be a huge influence on today’s creators.
So Is the Rest of the Six, Mostly
The Fleetwood Mac that most people know was composed of three Brits and two flower children. Lindsey Buckingham was invited into the band after Peter Green quit and the Mac cycled through guitarists. And it was Buckingham who insisted that he’d only do it if his girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, could join as well. That was a momentous shift for the period since it was the talent of two women — Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks — that made the band unique. The idea of one woman in a band was radical enough in the extremely male world of ’70s L.A. rock, but to have two was unthinkable.
In another twist that seems to mimic reality, the keyboardist of the Six is British-born Karen Sirko (played by singer-model-actress Suki Waterhouse), who seems to be a stand-in for McVie. Those attempting easy parallels with Fleetwood Mac, however, should be aware that, not only was McVie the stable backbone of the band, she penned some of its classics, including “Say You Love Me,” “Over My Head,” “Oh Daddy,” “Little Lies,” and “Why.” But just as Karen and Daisy share a sisterly bond, McVie was Nicks’ friend and confidant up until she died last year.
Another fun analog: The fictional band released Aurora in 1977, the same year Fleetwood Mac released their landmark Rumours. Of course, unlike Daisy Jones & the Six — which broke up after releasing a single album and embarking on an arena tour together — Fleetwood Mac spent 50 years releasing music and breaking up over and over and over again.
Daisy’s Gardeners
In 1968, Joni Mitchell bought a home in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles with the royalties from her first album, Song to the Seagull. It’s where she began hosting creative get-togethers with her friends, such as Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, The Doors, and Judy Collins. She released Ladies of the Canyon in 1970.
Although it’s not directly referenced in the TV show, Joni Mitchell’s 1971 Blue is considered by many to be one of the most influential albums of all time (a reason that Brandi Carlile has performed it in its entirety five decades later to universal acclaim), and in 1974 she released Court and Spark, a record that Nicks has said changed her life.
When the Six hit the road, leaving Pittsburgh to hopefully catch a break in L.A., they sublet a big rambling house in Laurel Canyon. It’s the same bucolic neighborhood with a hippie vibe that nurtured the fabled California Sound of Jackson Browne, the Eagles, Bonnie Raitt, and many more.
In the first episode, Daisy buys Carole King’s Tapestry and is blown away by the confessional songs. King was already successful for her phenomenal R&B hits that she wrote with her husband Gerry Goffin. After they divorced, she moved to Laurel Canyon with her two daughters, where she met Mitchell and James Taylor. King’s bold decision to record her 1971 solo album, revealing her private agonies, inspired many young women to pick up a guitar (or piano) and follow their muse. In fact, Nicks has said that King was a huge influence on her when she was growing up.
Rock Star Resemblances
“I’m not the muse, I’m the somebody,” Daisy tells a boyfriend who wants to use her as inspiration for a song. That statement resonates clearly since too many women were relegated to the background by men in the music industry who assumed it was their privilege to siphon off the talents of women without giving them the credit they deserved.
We see this repeated in a different way when Simone Jackson (a stunningly talented Nabiyah Be) takes Daisy under her wing and introduces her to influential hitmaker Teddy Price (Tom Wright). While Price possesses integrity and mentors Daisy, eventually introducing her as the missing element that the Six need to achieve superstardom, Simone has a less savory encounter with a different record producer.
“I took a little bit from Loleatta Holloway’s experience,” Be has said, explaining that she “felt really responsible to be truthful to so many women, so many background artists and vocalists that were fundamental to the disco genre.”
After laying down tracks for a group, the man sexual harasses her, and she rebuffs his advances. Later, she discovers her vocals are being used without proper attribution. It’s eerily reminiscent of how Darlene Love and the voices of Black women were essential to music producer Phil Spector’s wall of sound, but they often experienced manipulation, erasure, and were treated like interchangeable cogs.
Luckily, Simone leaves L.A. and finds success at the forefront of New York’s underground disco scene. Overall, it’s one of the happier stories — and worthy of a spinoff of its own.
A version of this story was originally published in Town & Country.
