Riley Keough Says 3 Singers Inspired Her Character

Daisy Jones & The Six has become quite the phenomenon since its March 3 premiere. Within its first 24 hours of streaming on Amazon, the show and its accompanying album topped television and music charts.

Within hours of their respective releases, the series hit No. 1 on Amazon Prime Video’s Top 10 list in the U.S., and the show’s coinciding debut album Aurora made it to No. 1 in the U.S. on iTunes (and it keeps charting). The album’s vinyl version also nabbed the No. 1 slot on Amazon. There are 11 original songs on the Aurora album, produced by Blake Mills, with additional production by Tony Berg.

Daisy Jones & The Six is the first fictional band to hit No. 1 (more than once), and the show’s popularity has continued to grow each week as episodes drop, leading up to this week’s highly-anticipated finale on Friday, March 24.

The 10-episode series is based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which climbed to No. 1 on Amazon’s bestsellers list following the show’s premiere.

There are a lot of similarities between Daisy and her bandmates and Fleetwood Mac. Stars-slash-lead-singers Riley Keough and Sam Claflin portray two feuding lead singers, Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, respectively. Though their personalities clash, their voices blend beautifully and together, they create magic.

The pair brings to mind Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who famously fought behind the scenes. Their chemistry created some of the best music of all time.

In a recent interview, Keough explained that Daisy is an amalgamation of three incredible female artists. Nicks is undoubtedly in the mix, but Keough said Linda Ronstadt and Cher equally inspired her.

“There was some inspiration from Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks,” said Keough. “Certainly, there are a lot of similarities in that there is a male and female vocalist that end up in this love triangle situation.”

Keough said she and Claflin took their first singing lesson together. “We were both starting from scratch,” she recalled. “I will say we came a long way. Now we have a record! They are incredible songs. The songwriters are incredible.”

As the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, musical talent is in her blood, but still, Keough said she wasn’t sure she could pull off the singing required of her. “I was surprised, to be honest,” she laughed. “I sing with my husband (Ben Smith-Petersen) sometimes. But I certainly didn’t think I could play a singer in a show.”

Though there are parallels between Fleetwood Mac and Daisy Jones & The Six, those behind the series say the story is not based on the famously feuding band. However, the dynamics within Fleetwood Mac served as an inspiration for this 1970s-based musical story.

Suki Waterhouse, who portrays band member Karen Sirko, confirmed Fleetwood Mac inspired her. “For me, having Christine McVie as someone to draw influence from was significant. There are a lot of similarities between Karen and Christine.”

With so much written about Daisy Jones & The Six and Fleetwood Mac, it was interesting when other cast members were asked who they were inspired by for their respective roles.

Nabiyah Be, who portrays Disco pioneer Simone Jackson, said she was influenced by Donna Summer, Chaka Khan and Diana Ross. Tom Wright, who plays manager Teddy Price, researched extensively for his role. Teddy is the genius who puts Daisy and Billy together on a hunch that the two will create magic onstage.

Wright told me he based his character on record producers Quincy Jones and Al Bell. Motown record label founder Berry Gordy also inspired him. He also read books on journalist-turned-music producer Jerry Wexler and record producer and songwriter-turned-convicted-murderer Phil Spector to create his character.

Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber co-created Daisy Jones & The Six for Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. Here’s how husband and wife duo Scott and Lauren Neustadter discovered Reid’s book pre-publication and sans publisher in 2017.

The cast includes Camila Morrone, Will Harrison, Josh Whitehouse, Sebastian Chacon, and Timothy Olyphant, with James Ponsoldt, Nzingha Stewart, and Will Graham directing.