fleetwood mac tour christine mcvie

Fleetwood Mac Announce Reunion Tour Dates With Christine McVie

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

A little over a year ago, Stevie Nicks told Rolling Stone there was “more of a chance of an asteroid hitting the Earth” than Christine McVie returning to Fleetwood Mac . Well, it might be time to prepare for armageddon because the Mac’s keyboardist and singer – who quit the band in 1998 after a three-decade stint in the group – is returning for a world tour beginning this September and a possible new album. 

Q&A: Christine McVie Can’t Wait for Fleetwood Mac World Tour

The tour, entitled On With the Show , will kick off on Tuesday, Sept. 30 in Minneapolis, Minn. at the Target Center, with the band performing 34 shows in 33 cities across North America. American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Monday, March 31 at 10 a.m. through Sunday, April 6 at 10 p.m. Tickets go on sale beginning Monday, April 7 through the Live Nation mobile app and Live Nation’s at  website.

McVie says that her decision to leave the band was very simple. “I had some deluded idea that I wanted to live the ‘country lady’ life,” she tells Rolling Stone . “But I went through a divorce and I felt isolated in the country. I grew quite ill and depressed.” McVie realized the best way to fix her life was to rejoin Fleewood Mac, though Lindsey Buckingham admits he had some reservations when he first heard she wanted back in. “I wanted to make sure she grasped the weight of would it would entail,” he says. “She also had to understand that if she was coming back that, basically, she has to stay. She wants to do it.”

With McVie back in the band , the group will be able to perform songs like “Little Lies,” “You Make Loving Fun,” “Everywhere” and many other songs they haven’t been able to play in nearly 20 years. “Being back is really a time warp,” she says. “The tour is going to be great fun. I feel like a pig in poo right now.”

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Fleetwood Mac toured last year without Christine, though they had to stop short after bassist John McVie’s cancer diagnosis . “His health is on the up,” says Christine. “He’s still doing chemotherapy. He just came in to do his bass parts, so everyone is real excited about that. He gets tired quickly, but he’s definitely been on the mend. He’s been such a man about this whole thing. I have renewed respect and love for him.” McVie reunited with the band last year to perform “Don’t Stop”  in London.

The group spent time in mid-March working on new songs, though they don’t plan on releasing anything until after the world tour. They have yet to sketch out an exact setlist, though Buckingham has a good idea of what they’ll play. “It won’t be too hard to figure out,” he says. “Stevie and I both have songs we pretty much have to play. When you add in Christine’s hits, you pretty much have a set, though that’s not to say there won’t be a few little surprises around the edges.”

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Fleetwood Mac On With the Show Tour Dates

9/30 Minneapolis, MN – Target Center 10/2 Chicago, IL – United Center 10/6 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden 10/10 Boston, MA – TD Garden 10/11 Newark, NJ – Prudential Center 10/14 Pittsburgh, PA – Consol Energy Center 10/15 Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center 10/18 Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre  10/19 Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena  10/21 Indianapolis, IN – Bankers Life Fieldhouse   10/22 Auburn Hills, MI – The Palace of Auburn Hills  10/26 Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre  10/31 Washington, DC – Verizon Center 11/1 Hartford, CT – XL Center  11/10 Winnipeg, MB – MTS Centre  11/12 Saskatoon, SK – Credit Union Centre 11/14 Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome   11/15 Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place  11/18 Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena  11/20 Tacoma, WA – Tacoma Dome  11/22 Portland, OR – Moda Center 11/24 Sacramento, CA – Sleep Train Arena   11/25 San Jose, CA – SAP Center   11/28 Inglewood, CA – The Forum   11/29 Inglewood, CA – The Forum   12/2 San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena   12/3 Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena   12/10 Phoenix, AZ – US Airways Center   12/12 Denver, CO – Pepsi Center   12/14 Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center 12/15 Houston, TX – Toyota Center 12/17 Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena 12/19 Ft. Lauderdale, FL – BB&T Center 12/20 Tampa, FL – Tampa Bay Times Forum

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Cause of death revealed for Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie

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Christine McVie died of an “ischemic stroke” in November, according to a report citing her death certificate.

The British vocalist and keyboardist, who was best known for bringing her talents to Fleetwood Mac, died on Nov. 30 at a hospital after a “short illness.” She was 79.

The certificate, obtained by the Blast on Monday, listed the stroke as the primary cause of death. The Mayo Clinic says, “An ischemic stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted or reduced, preventing brain tissue from getting oxygen and nutrients.”

Fleetwood Mac honors ‘one-of-a-kind’ Christine McVie: ‘Talented beyond measure’

Fleetwood Mac singer and keyboardist Christine McVie died Wednesday at 79 after a ‘short illness,’ her family said. Tributes are coming in.

Nov. 30, 2022

The secondary cause of death listed on the certificate was “metastatic malignancy of unknown primary origin.” According to the Blast, “Cancer had spread in her body where the primary source or tumor is not detected.”

McVie, according to her death certificate, also had “atrial fibrillation” (a common type of irregular heartbeat) and “large atrial thrombus.”

At the time of her death, McVie’s family said she “passed away peacefully” but did not reveal additional details. Months before, in June, the singer told Rolling Stone that she was in “quite bad health,” describing a chronic back problem that made it difficult for her to stand.

In a band of tempestuous geniuses, Christine McVie was every bit their equal, minus the drama

McVie sang and wrote or co-wrote such Fleetwood Mac classics as ‘Don’t Stop,’ ‘Say You Love Me,’ ‘You Make Loving Fun,’ ‘Hold Me’ and ‘Little Lies.’

“There are no words to describe our sadness at the passing of Christine McVie,” Fleetwood Mac said in a joint statement following her death.

“She was truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure. She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life. We were so lucky to have a life with her. Individually and together, we cherished Christine deeply and are thankful for the amazing memories we have. She will be so very missed.”

Drummer Mick Fleetwood and singer Stevie Nicks paid tribute to their late collaborator with separate Instagram posts . In a handwritten letter shared on social media, Nicks mourned her “best friend in the whole world.”

Mick Fleetwood says Fleetwood Mac likely won’t perform as a band after McVie’s death

At Sunday’s Grammys, Mick Fleetwood said the band no longer plans to perform together as Fleetwood Mac after longtime member Christine McVie’s death.

Feb. 5, 2023

“Since Saturday, one song has been swirling around in my head over and over and over. I thought I might possibly get to sing it to her, and so, I’m singing it to her now,” she wrote. “I always knew I would need these words one day (written by the Ladies Haim).”

Nicks then shared lyrics to Haim’s “Hallelujah.”

“I had a best friend / But she has come to pass / One I wish I could see now / You always remind me / That memories will last / These arms reach out / You were there to protect me / Like a shield / Long hair running with me / Through the field / Everywhere / You’ve been with me all along,” Nicks wrote.

Times staff writers Mikael Wood and Christi Carras contributed to this report.

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Alexandra Del Rosario is an entertainment reporter on the Los Angeles Times Fast Break Desk. Before The Times, she was a television reporter at Deadline Hollywood, where she first served as an associate editor. She has written about a wide range of topics including TV ratings, casting and development, video games and AAPI representation. Del Rosario is a UCLA graduate and also worked at the Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap.

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Fleetwood Mac announce North American tour with Christine McVie

Fleetwood Mac have announced a new North American tour , on which they will reunite with Christine McVie for the first time in 16 years.

"I'm a pig in a pile of poo really," McVie told Rolling Stone . "It is a time warp; it is very, very happy. None of the nonsense with the drink and the nasty stuff. We're all grown up, of course."

For now, Fleetwood Mac have scheduled 34 concerts across the United States and Canada, spanning 30 September to 20 December 2014. "[We'll] pick up end of January [2015] and complete America, and we can do the world, really," McVie said. "And there's a studio album somewhere in the mix too … We're all committed to keep on going until one of us says 'stop it'."

This will be McVie's first Fleetwood Mac tour since 1998. "She had us all seriously convinced that she would never come back," Stevie Nicks said on NBC's Today show. McVie claims she quit the band for a number of reasons – fear of flying, burn-out from touring, and a desire "to live the 'country lady' life" in England. "I had some deluded idea that I wanted to … basically hang out with my Range Rover and my dogs and bake cookies or something," McVie said.

Flash forward to "about five years ago" and McVie, recently divorced, found that she had become "very isolated" at her home in Kent. "I was spending a lot of time in the country on my own, and it started to play tricks on me and made me quite ill and depressed," she said.

Around 2012, McVie finally had the "epiphany" that she wanted to rejoin the band. "I started to think, 'What am I doing? I really miss that camaraderie with those four people. I miss everything about it.'" She went to therapy for her flying phobia and finally flew to Hawaii, performing with Mick Fleetwood his Maui cabaret show. Then came Fleetwood Mac's gig in London in September 2013, when McVie joined them on stage for Don't Stop , which was like "looking over at my family again".

Now, with concert rehearsals scheduled for July, Fleetwood Mac are "running through" McVie's demos for a possible new record. "I'm fit as I've ever been," McVie said. "[And] I belong here."

Fleetwood Mac's On With the Show tour dates

30 September 2014 Minneapolis, MN – Target Center

2 October 2014 Chicago, IL – United Center

6 October 2014 10/6 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

10 October 2014 Boston, MA – TD Garden

11 October 2014 Newark, NJ – Prudential Center

14 October 2014 Pittsburgh, PA – Consol Energy Center

15 October 2014 Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center

18 October 2014 Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre

19 October 2014 Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena

21 October 2014 Indianapolis, IN – Bankers Life Fieldhouse

22 October 2014 Auburn Hills, MI – The Palace of Auburn Hills

26 October 2014 Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre

31 October 2014 Washington, DC – Verizon Center

1 November 2014 Hartford, CT – XL Center

10 November 2014 Winnipeg, MB – MTS Centre

12 November 2014 Saskatoon, SK – Credit Union Centre

14 November 2014 Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome

15 November 2014 Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place

18 November 2014 Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena

20 November 2014 Tacoma, WA – Tacoma Dome

22 November 2014 Portland, OR – Moda Center

24 November 2014 Sacramento, CA – Sleep Train Arena

25 November 2014 San Jose, CA – SAP Center

28 November 2014 Inglewood, CA – The Forum

29 November 2014 Inglewood, CA – The Forum

2 December 2014 San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena

3 December 2014 Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena

10 December 2014 Phoenix, AZ – US Airways Center

12 December 2014 Denver, CO – Pepsi Center

14 December 2014 Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center

15 December 2014 Houston, TX – Toyota Center

17 December 2014 Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena

19 December 2014 Ft. Lauderdale, FL – BB&T Center

20 December 2014 Tampa, FL – Tampa Bay Times Forum

• Fleetwood Mac
• Stevie Nicks
• Pop and rock

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Christine McVie on Fleetwood Mac Tour: ‘I Want to Enjoy This’

We only have a few weeks to go before Christine McVie embarks on her much-anticipated reunion tour with Fleetwood Mac , and anticipation is running high -- particularly with McVie herself.

She talked about her hopes for the tour during a recent interview with Elle , reliving the fear of flying that drove her out of the spotlight years ago, as well as the therapy sessions that helped bring her back to music.

"If I don’t do anything about this flying business, I’m never going to go anywhere or do anything," she recalled telling herself, and talked about finally getting back on a plane with Mick Fleetwood by her side. "We took off, and the feeling was, ‘God, I’m free!'"

Now, McVie says, she's working out in order to make sure she's in peak shape for the tour, as well as writing new songs for an upcoming Fleetwood Mac LP (although there's no word yet on a possible release date). Freshly recommitted to her art and reunited with the lineup responsible for the band's best-selling releases, she's ready to, as she put it, "kick-start my life again."

"I feel like I know where I’m going now," McVie stated simply. "I want to enjoy this."

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Christine McVie, Hitmaker for Fleetwood Mac, Is Dead at 79

As a singer, songwriter and keyboardist, she was a prolific force behind one of the most popular rock bands of the last 50 years.

By Jim Farber

Christine McVie, the singer, songwriter and keyboardist who became the biggest hitmaker for Fleetwood Mac, one of music’s most popular bands, died on Wednesday. She was 79.

Her family announced her death on Facebook. The statement said she died at a hospital but did not specify its location or give the cause of death. In June, Ms. McVie told Rolling Stone that she was in “quite bad health” and that she had endured debilitating problems with her back.

Ms. McVie’s commercial potency, which hit a high point in the 1970s and ’80s, was on full display on Fleetwood Mac’s “Greatest Hits” anthology, released in 1988, which sold more than eight million copies: She either wrote or co-wrote half of its 16 tracks. Her tally doubled that of the next most prolific member of the band’s trio of singer-songwriters, Stevie Nicks. (The third, Lindsey Buckingham, scored three major Billboard chart-makers on that collection.)

The most popular songs Ms. McVie wrote favored bouncing beats and lively melodies, numbers like “Say You Love Me” (which grazed Billboard’s Top 10), “ You Make Loving Fun” (which just broke it), “Hold Me” (No. 4) and “Don’t Stop” (her top smash, which crested at No. 3). But she could also connect with elegant ballads, like “Over My Head” (No. 20) and “Little Lies” (which cracked the publication’s Top Five in 1987).

All those songs had cleanly defined, easily sung melodies, with hints of soul and blues at the core. Her compositions had a simplicity that mirrored their construction. “I don’t struggle over my songs,” Ms. McVie (pronounced mc-VEE) told Rolling Stone in 1977. “I write them quickly.”

In just half an hour, she wrote one of the band’s most beloved songs, “Songbird,” a sensitive ballad that for years served as the band’s closing encore in concert. In 2019, the band’s leader, Mick Fleetwood, told New Musical Express that “Songbird” is the piece he wanted played at his funeral, “to send me off fluttering.”

Ms. McVie’s lyrics often captured the more intoxicating aspects of romance. “I’m definitely not a pessimist,” she told Bob Brunning, the author of the 2004 book “The Fleetwood Mac Story: Rumours and Lies.” “I’m basically a love song writer.”

At the same time, her words accounted for the yearning and disappointments that can lurk below an exciting surface. “I’m good at pathos,” she told Mojo magazine in 2017. “I write about romantic despair a lot, but with a positive spin.”

‘That Chemistry’

Ms. McVie’s vocals communicated just as nuanced a range of feeling. Her soulful contralto could sound by turns maternally wise and sexually alive. Her tawny tone had the heady effect of a bourbon with a rich bouquet and a smooth finish. It found a graceful place in harmony with the voices of Ms. Nicks and Mr. Buckingham, together forming a signature Fleetwood Mac sound.

“It was that chemistry,” she told Mojo. “The two of them just chirped into the perfect three-way harmony. I just remember thinking, ‘This is it!’”

A sturdy instrumentalist, Ms. McVie played a range of keyboards, often leaning toward the soulful sound of a Hammond B3 organ and the formality of a Yamaha grand piano.

With Fleetwood Mac, she earned five gold, one platinum and seven multiplatinum albums. The band’s biggest success, “Rumours,” released in 1977, was one of the mightiest movers in pop history: It was certified double diamond, representing sales of over 20 million copies.

In 1998, Ms. McVie was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with various lineups of Fleetwood Mac, reflecting the frequent (and dramatic) personnel shifts the band experienced throughout its labyrinthine history. Ms. McVie served in incarnations that dated to 1971, but she also had uncredited roles playing keyboards and singing backup as far back as the band’s second album, released in 1968. Before joining Fleetwood Mac, she scored a No. 14 British hit with the blues band Chicken Shack on a cover of Etta James’s “I’d Rather Go Blind” for which she sang lead.

Christine Anne Perfect was born on July 12, 1943, in the Lake District of England to Cyril Perfect, a classical violinist and college music professor and Beatrice (Reece) Perfect, a psychic.

Her father encouraged her to start taking classical piano lessons when she was 11. Her focus changed radically four years later when she came across some sheet music for Fats Domino songs. At that moment, she told Rolling Stone in 1984, “It was goodbye Chopin.”

“I started playing the boogie bass,” she told Mojo. “I got hooked on the blues. Even today, the songs I write use that left hand. It’s rooted in the blues.”

Ms. McVie studied sculpture at Birmingham Art College and for a while considered becoming an art teacher. At the same time, she briefly played in a duo with Spencer Davis , who, along with a teenage Steve Winwood, would later find fame in the Spencer Davis Group. She helped form a band named Shades of Blue with several future members of Chicken Shack.

After graduating from college in 1966, Ms. McVie moved to London and became a window dresser for a department store. One year later, she was asked to join the already formed Chicken Shack as keyboardist and sometime singer. She wrote two songs for the band’s debut album, “40 Blue Fingers, Freshly Packed and Ready to Serve.”

She was twice voted best female vocalist in a Melody Maker readers’ poll, but she left the band in 1969 after marrying John McVie, the bassist in Fleetwood Mac, which had been formed in 1967 and had already recorded three albums. That same year, she recorded a solo album, “The Legendary Christine Perfect Album,” which she later described to Rolling Stone as “so wimpy.”

“I just hate to listen to it,” she said.

Joining the Band

Her disappointment in that record, combined with her reluctance to perform, caused Ms. McVie to put music aside for a time. But, in 1970, when Fleetwood Mac’s main draw, the guitarist Peter Green , suddenly quit the band after a ruinous acid trip, Mick Fleetwood invited her to fill out their ranks.

Initially, she found the invitation to join her favorite band “a nerve-racking experience,” she told Rolling Stone. But she rose to the occasion by writing two of the catchiest songs on her first official release with the band, “Future Games” (1971). That release found the band leaning away from British blues and toward progressive Southern Californian folk-rock, aided by the addition of an American player, the singer, songwriter and guitarist Bob Welch.

The band fine-tuned that sound on its 1972 set “Bare Trees,” which sold better and featured one of Ms. McVie’s most soulful songs, “Spare Me a Little of Your Love.” The band’s 1973 release “Penguin” went gold. The 1974 album “Heroes Are Hard to Find” was the band’s first to crack the U.S. Top 40. But it was only after the departure of Mr. Welch and the hiring of the romantically involved team of Ms. Nicks and Mr. Buckingham, for the 1975 album simply called “Fleetwood Mac,” that the band began to show its full commercial brio.

Ms. McVie‘s song “Over My Head” began the groundswell by entering Billboard’s Top 20; her “Say You Love Me,” reached No. 11. After a slow buildup, the “Fleetwood Mac” album eventually hit Billboard’s summit.

Just over a year and a half later, the group released “Rumours,” which generated outside interest not only for its four Top 10 hits (two of them written by Ms. McVie) but also for several highly dramatic behind-the-scenes events within the band’s ranks, which they aired out in the lyrics and openly discussed in the press.

During the creation of the album, the two couples in the band — Ms. Nicks and Mr. Buckingham and the married McVies — broke up. Ms. McVie’s song “You Make Loving Fun” celebrated an affair she was then having with the band’s lighting director. (At first, she told Mr. McVie that the song was about her dog.) The optimistic-sounding “Don’t Stop” was intended to point her ex-husband toward a new life without her.

“We wrote those songs despite ourselves,” Ms. McVie told Mojo. “It was a therapeutic move. The only way we could get this stuff out was to say it, and it came out in a way that was difficult. Imagine trying to sing those songs onstage with the people you’re singing them about.”

It helped dull the pain, she told Mojo, that “we were all very high,” adding, “I don’t think there was a sober day.” And the album’s megasuccess gave the members a different high. “The buzz of realizing you’ve written one of the best albums ever written; it was such a phenomenal time,” Ms. McVie told Attitude magazine in 2019.

But the group yearned to stretch creatively. The result was the less commercial sound of the double-album follow-up, “Tusk,” released in 1979. Though not a success on anything near the scale of “Rumours,” it sold more than two million copies and produced three hits, including Ms. McVie’s “Think About Me.”

Into the ’80s

The group moved smoothly into the new decade with the 1982 release “Mirage,” which hit No. 1 aided by Ms. McVie’s “Hold Me,” a Top Five hit that was inspired by her tumultuous relationship with the Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson . Two years later, Ms. McVie issued a solo album that made the Top 30, while its strongest single, “Got a Hold on Me,” broke the Top 10.

In 1987, the reconvened Fleetwood Mac issued “Tango in the Night,” which featured two hits written by Ms. McVie, “Everywhere” and “Little Lies.” (“Little Lies” was written with the Portuguese musician and songwriter Eddie Quintela, whom she had wed the year before. They would divorce in 2003.) Mr. Buckingham left the group shortly afterward, shaking the dynamic that had made their recordings stellar. The 1990 album “Behind the Mask” barely went gold, producing just one Top 40 single ( “Save Me,” written by Ms. McVie), while “Time,” issued five years later, was the band’s first unsuccessful album in two decades.

Ms. McVie didn’t tour with the band to support “Time.” But the early 1990s brought broad new attention to her hit “Don’t Stop” when it became the theme song for Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign. In 1993, Mr. Clinton persuaded the five musicians who played on that hit to reunite to perform it at an Inaugural ball.

They came together again in 1997 for a tour, which produced the live album “The Dance,” one of the top-selling concert recordings of all time. Yet by the next year a growing fear of flying, and a desire to return to England from the band’s adopted home of Los Angeles, inspired Ms. McVie to retire to the English countryside.

Five years later, she agreed to add some keyboard parts and backing vocals to a largely ignored Fleetwood Mac album, “Say You Will,” and in 2004 she produced a little-heard solo album, “In the Meantime,” which she recorded and wrote with her guitarist nephew Dan Perfect.

Finally, in 2014, driven by boredom and a growing sense of isolation, she reunited with the prime Mac lineup for the massive “On With The Show” tour. In its wake, Ms. McVie began to write lots of new material, as did Mr. Buckingham, resulting in an album under both their names in 2017, as well as a joint tour. The full band also played shows that year; even though Mr. Buckingham was fired in 2018, Ms. McVie continued to tour with the group in a lineup that included Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. In 2021, Ms. McVie sold publishing rights to her entire 115-song catalog for an undisclosed sum.

Information on her survivors was not immediately available.

Throughout her career, Ms. McVie took pride in never being categorized by her gender. “I kind of became one of the guys,” she told the British newspaper The Independent in 2019. “I was always treated with great respect.”

While she always acknowledged the special chemistry of Fleetwood Mac’s most successful lineup, she believed her role transcended it.

“Band members leave and other people take their place,” she told Rolling Stone, “but there was always that space where the piano should be.”

An earlier version of this obituary misspelled the given name of a member of Fleetwood Mac. He is Lindsey Buckingham, not Lindsay.

An earlier version of this obituary referred incorrectly to the 1973 Fleetwood Mac album “Penguin.” It did not contain the song “Hypnotized”; that song was on the group’s album “Mystery to Me,” released the same year. The earlier version also misstated the number of Top 10 singles on the Fleetwood Mac album “Rumours.” It was four, not three.

An earlier version of this obituary misstated when the Fleetwood Mac album “Heroes Are Hard to Find” was released. It was after “Mystery to Me,” not after “Penguin.” The earlier version also misstated the year Ms. McVie’s album “In the Meantime” was released. It was 2004, not 2006. And an earlier version of a picture caption with this obituary misstated the year Ms. McVie joined Fleetwood Mac. It was 1970, not 1969.

How we handle corrections

Christine McVie’s Finest Moments in Song, Solo and With Fleetwood Mac

A selection of 15 of her best tracks, from her pre-Fleetwood Mac days as Christine Perfect to 'Rumours' to a final appearance in 2020.

By A.D. Amorosi

A.D. Amorosi

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When Christine McVie died Wednesday at age 79, the membership of Fleetwood Mac lost a crucial component within its sound – an old soul, a sweetly world-weary vocalist and a subtly romantic songwriter whose haunted tones were both a complement to, and opposite from, the vibes of fellow singer-songwriters Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

Her low voice and lovelorn lyricism (to say nothing of her taut, bluesy piano and organ styling) have been part of McVie’s kitbag since before she married Mac bassist John McVie and was, instead, Christine Anne Perfect – her real, befitting last name. 

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“Let Me Go (Leave Me Alone)” (1970) From that same debut solo effort, “Let Me Go (Leave Me Alone)” is but one of five Perfect tracks written or co-written for this album, and marks the start of the vocalist and pianist writing with a pop-R&B edge, something that would put in her good stead when it came to Fleetwood Mac.

“Spare Me a Little of Your Love” (1972) The “Bare Trees” album is the real turning point in Fleetwood Mac’s move far past psychedelic blues origins. McVie’s heartbroken, radio-friendly pop , on this track, probably helped its leader, drummer and namesake Mick Fleetwood see the writing on the wall as to where his ensemble should go. Nice heavy organ work, too.

“World Turning” (1975) McVie might have been moving toward sweet, summery pop with tracks such as “Warm Ways,” but, together with new guy Buckingham, she proved she had not lost her bluesy edge. This is in tribute to Mac’s first firebrand guitarist Peter Green who, in 1968, wrote “The World Keeps on Turning.” Re-worked with hints of Green’s fingerpicking influence in its mix, this song is a dark gem. 

“Over My Head” (1975) With 1973’s “Mystery to Me,” McVie became one of Fleetwood Mac’s two principal songwriters, with Welch. However, once Welch was gone — to be replaced by Nicks and Buckingham — the pianist -vocalist upped her ante on the jaunty pop side of the ledger and spun spidery webs of bliss with this gauzy tune.

“Over & Over” (1979) It said a lot that Fleetwood Mac chose to lead off their sprawling double album “Tusk” – the followup to “Rumours” – with a slow McVie song. Especially one as swaggering and heartbroken yet hopeful as this with its “Could you ever need me” and “All you have to do is speak out my name… And I would come running anyway” start.

“Only Over You” (1982) McVie pens a flat-out, straight-ahead, breezy love song for her then-boyfriend, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, and on the sleeve to its “Mirage” album, she thanks Wilson for inspiration. Of course, McVie’s ex-husband John was in the band and had to play that bass line. So much for Nicks and Buckingham being the only jealous loves in Fleetwood Mac.

“The Challenge” (1984) The singer-pianist released her second solo album, “Christine McVie,” in 1984, and had one lovely song, “The Smile I Live For,” as its sole track penned by McVie alone. It is, however, a co-write with guitarist Todd Sharp, “The Challenge” – featuring Eric Clapton on guitar – that brings her gently around to her bluesy roots with sleek ’80s pop as its guide. Plus, Stevie Winwood helps to keep the blue flames burning throughout this glossy album on keyboard.

“Everywhere” (1997) McVie wrote and sang the lustrous and lusty “Everywhere” for the Mac’s 1987 album “Tango in the Night.” But this 1997 live album’s cascading version shows off the vocalist’s cooing vocals at their most tactile. During the 15-year period she subsequently left the band, before her mid-2010s return, hearing Fleetwood Mac without her was not the same. 

“You Are” (2004) By 2004 and McVie’s last solo album, “In the Meantime,” she had settled into a low-key, slow-grooving mood far sparer and less complex than the grandeur (and complicated relationships) of Fleetwood Mac. “You Are” is the most delightful, elegant and earnest of those “Meantime” moments.

“Carnival Begin” (2017) Back in 2017, on the occasion of McVie and one-time Mac mate Lindsay Buckingham making their first and only duets album, “Christine McVie/Lindsey Buckingham,” she told this writer how their work together “was easy, with no melodramas, and just fun… these songs gave us goose bumps.” One track that McVie said stood out for her was the cool breeze of “Carnival Begin,” a song that McVie had penned alone. No wonder. Listening to it now, “Carnival Begin” sings sweet and low of fresh beginnings, all the “colors and swings and new merry-go-rounds” life can offer. 

“Stop ‘Messin ‘Round” (2020) Once the blues, always the blues. For what turned out to be her last concert appearance, McVie sang and played in tribute to the late great Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green at the London Palladium in February of 2020, a show osted by Mick Fleetwood and co-starring McVie along with Steven Tyler, Noel Gallagher, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend and Kirk Hammett. She performed the Green-penned Mac blues “Stop Messin’ Round” in duet with Tyler, along with Green’s “Looking for Somebody,” both from Fleetwood Mac’s 1968 eponymous debut album. McVie was flawless – that old soul’s voice, and a churning, mournful blues melody from Green. Two masters at work. Sweet.

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Remembering Christine McVie Of Fleetwood Mac Through Her GRAMMY Triumphs, From 'Rumours' Onward

Unflashy and undramatic, McVie's contributions to Fleetwood Mac led to some of their greatest contributions to popular song — with two GRAMMY wins to boot.

In an acclaimed career that spanned more than half a century, Christine McVie staked her claim as one of the most potent singer-songwriters of her generation. A beloved original member of the seminal rock group Fleetwood Mac , with whom she sang, wrote and played keyboard, she and her bandmates catapulted to fame in the early ' 70s, scoring GRAMMY gold and influencing generations of musicians.

"As a GRAMMY Award winner and 2018 Person of the Year honoree, the Recording Academy has been honored to celebrate Christine McVie and her work with Fleetwood Mac throughout her legendary career," Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. stated. In an announcement of her death, the remaining members of Fleetwood Mac mourned her passing by saying "She was truly one-of-a-kind, special, and talented beyond measure."

McVie, who passed away Nov. 30 at 79 after a brief illness, may have not been as flashy, or as dramatic, as fellow Fleetwood Mac members Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. But McVie's contributions to the band led to some of their greatest contributions to popular song, with two GRAMMY wins among seven nominations.

The tour de force that is Rumours is one of the most acclaimed and best-selling albums of all time and an inductee into GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. The masterpiece earned McVie her first GRAMMY (for Album of the Year no less) at the 20th Annual Ceremony in 1978, also earning a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Group.

Fleetwood Mac's 11th studio album, Rumours was actually McVie's 7th album with the band after making her name in the English blues scene, rising through the ranks as part of the band Chicken Shack, and even releasing a solo album.

In 1971, McVie joined Fleetwood Mac alongside her then-husband John McVie. The potent combination of the McVies, along with Mick Fleetwood, Buckingham and Nicks, catalyzed and detonated into the stratospheric Rumours .

"It's hard to say (what it was like) because we were looking at it from the inside," McVie said about the iconic album earlier this year.  "We were having a blast and it felt incredible to us that we were writing those songs. That's all I can say about it, really."

McVie's coyness may stem from the fact that prior to its production, Christine and John divorced after eight years of marriage. Meanwhile, Buckingham and Nicks were having a tumultuous relationship themselves. 

McVie is credited as sole songwriter on a handful of instant-classic Rumours tracks, all written during a perilous moment. "I thought I was drying up," explained McVie. "I was practically panicking because every time I sat down at a piano, nothing came out. Then, one day,  I just sat down and wrote in the studio, and the four-and-a-half songs of mine on the album are a result of that."

That includes "Don't Stop," an ironically peppy ode considering the turmoil McVie and her bandmates were grappling with at the time. With lyrics that staunchly proclaim "Yesterday's gone!," the song was reportedly written as a plea from Christine to John to move on from their relationship.

"I dare say, if I hadn't joined Fleetwood Mac, we might still be together. I just think it's impossible to work in the band with your spouse," McVie later said . John, meanwhile, was oblivious to the song's message during its production and early acclaim. He revealed in 2015: "I've been playing it for years and it wasn't until somebody told me, 'Chris wrote that about you.' Oh really?"

John was also equally ignorant to the source inspiration of "You Make Loving Fun" ; McVie told him the joyful song ("Sweet wonderful you/ You make me happy with the things you do") was about her dog. In reality, it was about an affair with the band's lighting designer.

"It was a therapeutic move," McVie later mused of her lyrical penchant for hiding brutal honesty in plain sight. "The only way we could get this stuff out was to say it, and it came out in a way that was difficult. Imagine trying to sing those songs onstage with the people you're singing them about."

When McVie was asked earlier this year what song she written she was most proud of, it was an easy answer: the Rumours track "Songbird."

"For some peculiar reason, I wrote "Songbird" in half an hour; I've never been able to figure out how I did that," she told People . "I woke up in the middle of the night and the song was there in my brain, chords, lyrics, melody, everything. I played it in my bedroom and didn't have anything to tape it on. So I had to stay awake all night so I wouldn't forget it and I came in the next morning to the studio and had (producer) Ken Callait put it on a 2-track. That was how the song ended up being. I don't know where that came from."

McVie's most recent GRAMMY nominations were for her contributions to The Dance, Fleetwood Mac's 1997 live album that featured her stand-outs from Rumours along with the McVie penned-tracks "Say You Love Me" and "Everywhere."

The album earned McVie and the band GRAMMY nominations for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (for the Lindsay Buckingham-written "The Chain") and  Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (for "Silver Springs," penned by Stevie Nicks). It also landed a nomination for Best Pop Album. It was her final album with the band before a 15-year self-imposed retirement.

In her final years, McVie was a vital member of Fleetwood Mac, including in 2018 when they became the first band honored as MusicCare's Person of the Year.

Speaking to the Recording Academy before the ceremony, Nicks expressed that her initial goal upon joining the group was a humble one: "Christine and I made a pact. We said we will never, ever be treated as a second-class citizen amongst our peers."

Lindsey Buckingham Holds Forth On His New Self-Titled Album, How He Really Feels About Fleetwood Mac Touring Without Him

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15 Must-Hear Albums This July: Taylor Swift, Dominic Fike, Post Malone, NCT Dream & More

From the highly anticipated 'Barbie' soundtrack to a celebration of Joni Mitchell's iconic Newport Folk Festival return, check out 15 albums dropping this July.

The first half of 2023 is already behind us, but July gives us much to look forward to. The warm sun, tours and festivals abound, and a heap of exciting releases — from Colter Wall's country music to NCT DREAM 's K-pop — will surely make this season even more special.

We start it off with Taylor Swift and her third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) on July 7, the same day Pitbull returns with his twelfth studio album, Trackhouse . Post Malone will deliver his fourth LP, AUSTIN , and Blur returns with their first album in eight years. And for the classic music lovers, folk legend Joni Mitchell will release At Newport — a recording of her first live performance since 2015 — and rock maven Stevie Nicks will drop her Complete Studio Albums & Rarities box set.

To welcome the latter half of a year filled with great music so far, GRAMMY.com offers a guide to the 15 must-hear albums dropping July 2023.

Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor's Version)

Release date: july 7.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

Taylor Swift fans are used to gathering clues and solving puzzles about the singer's intricate, ever-expanding discography. Therefore, in her hometown of Nashville concert last May, when she announced that Speak Now (Taylor's Version) would come out on July 7, it was not much of a surprise to the audience, but rather a gratifying confirmation that they had followed the right steps.

"It's my love language with you. I plot. I scheme. I plan. And then I get to tell you about it," Swift told them after breaking the news. "I think, rather than me speaking about it ... I'd rather just show you," she added, before performing an acoustic version of Speak Now 's single, "Sparks Fly." 

Shortly after, she took it to Instagram to share that "the songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing … and living to speak about it."

Speak Now (Taylor's Version) is Swift's third re-recorded album, following 2021's Red (Taylor's Version) . It will feature 22 tracks, including six unreleased "From the Vault" songs and features with Paramore 's Hayley Williams and Fall Out Boy . "Since Speak Now was all about my songwriting, I decided to go to the artists who I feel influenced me most powerfully as a lyricist at that time and ask them to sing on the album," she shared on Twitter . Swift is currently touring the U.S. with her acclaimed The Eras Tour, which will hit Latin America, Asia, Australia, UK, and Europe through August 2024.

ANOHNI and the Johnsons, My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross

"I want the record to be useful," said ANOHNI about her upcoming sixth studio album, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross . The English singer says she learned with her previous LP, 2016's HOPELESSNESS , that she "can provide a soundtrack that might fortify people in their work, in their activism, in their dreaming and decision-making," therefore aiming to make use of her talents to further help and inspire people.

Through 10 tracks that blend American soul, British folk, and experimental music, ANOHNI weaves her storytelling on inequality, alienation, privilege, and several other themes. According to a statement, the creative process was "painstaking, yet also inspired, joyful, and intimate, a renewal and a renaming of her response to the world as she sees it."

My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross "demonstrates music's unique capacity to bring harmony to competing, sometimes contradictory, elements" — qualities that can be observed in the album's contemplative pre-releases "It Must Change" and "Sliver Of Ice."

Pitbull, Trackhouse

GRAMMY-winning singer/rapper Pitbull has recently broadened his reach into an unexpected field: stock cars. Together with Trackhouse Entertainment Group founder Justin Marks, he formed Trackhouse Racing in 2021, an organization and team that participates in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Now, to unite both passions, the Miami-born singer is releasing Trackhouse , his twelfth studio album and first release since 2019's Libertad 548 . "In no way, shape, or form is this some kind of publicity stunt," said Mr. Worldwide of the upcoming album during a teleconference in April. "This is real. This is all about our stories coming together, and that's why the fans love it. […] This right here is about making history, it's generational, it's about creating a legacy."

Preceded by singles "Me Pone Mal" with Omar Courtz and "Jumpin" with Lil Jon , it seems that Trackhouse , despite its innovative inception, will continue to further Pitbull's famed Latin pop brand. This fall, he will also join Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin on The Trilogy Tour across the U.S. and Canada.

Dominic Fike,  Sunburn

Multitalented singer, songwriter and actor Dominic Fike also joins the roll of summer comebacks. His second studio album, Sunburn , comes out July 7, and follows 2020's acclaimed What Could Possibly Go Wrong.

In recent years, the Florida star found great exposure after landing a role in the HBO hit series "Euphoria" as well as the upcoming A24 drama Earth Mama , which is slated to release on the same day as Sunburn . The past three years were also marked by collaborations with a handful of artists, from Justin Bieber ("Die For You") to Paul McCartney ("The Kiss of Venus") to his Euphoria co-star Zendaya on "Elliot's Song" from the show's soundtrack.

Sunburn marks Fike's joyful return to music, aiming to portray "the aching and vulnerable revelations of a young artist still growing and putting their best foot forward," according to a press release. Through 15 tracks, including singles "Dancing in the Courthouse," "Ant Pile," and "Mama's Boy," Fike will explore themes of "heartbreak and regret, addiction, sex, and jealousy." 

One week after Sunburn 's arrival, Fike will embark on a tour across North America and Canada, starting July 13 in Indianapolis.

Lauren Spencer Smith, Mirror

Release date: july 14.

Lauren Spencer Smith said on TikTok that she's been working on her debut album, Mirror , for years. "It has been with me through so much in my life, the highs and the lows, and it means more to me than I can put into words. It tells a story of reflection, healing and growth," she added.

The 19-year-old, British-born Canadian singer is unafraid to dive deep into heartbreak and sorrow — as she displayed on her breakthrough hit "Fingers Crossed" —  but offers a way out by focusing on her growth. "I went through a hard breakup, and the album tells the story of that all, the journey of that and now being in a more happy relationship. The title comes from the one thing in my life that's seen me in every emotion through that journey — my bedroom and bathroom mirror."

Like a true Gen Zer, Smith has been teasing the 15-track collection and its upcoming world tour all over social media . On July 14, the day of the album release, she kicks off the North American leg of the tour in Chicago, before heading to the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Colter Wall, Little Songs

"You might not see a soul for days on them high and lonesome plains/ You got to fill the big empty with little songs," sings Colter Wall on the titular track off his fourth studio album, Little Songs . The Canadian country star says in a press release that he wrote these songs over the last three years, and that "I penned most of them from home and I think the songs reflect that."

Born and raised in the prairies of Battle Creek, Saskatchewan, Wall found inspiration in the stillness of his surroundings. With this album, he bridges "the contemporary world to the values, hardships, and celebrations of rural life" while also opening "emotional turns as mature and heartening as the resonant baritone voice writing them," according to a press release.

Little Songs is composed of 10 tracks — eight originals and two covers (Hoyt Axton's "Evangelina," and Ian Tyson's "The Coyote & The Cowboy.") He'll celebrate the album's release with a performance at Montana's Under The Big Sky festival on the weekend of the LP's arrival.

Mahalia, IRL

British singer Mahalia celebrated her 25th birthday on May 1 by announcing IRL , her sophomore album. Out July 14, the R&B star claims the album to be "a real reflection of the journeys I've had, what actually happened, and a celebration of everyone who got me there."

The 13-track collection will feature names like Stormzy and JoJo , the latter of whom appears on the single "Cheat." Before the release, Mahalia also shared "Terms and Conditions," a self-possessed track that pairs her silky voice with delightful early-aughts R&B.

"I'm so proud of this album, and so proud of how much I challenged myself to just let those stories out," she said in a statement. "We're all fixated on how we can make ourselves better but I want people to also reminisce on lovely or painful situations they've lived through and how they've helped shape the people they are now."

IRL is Mahalia's follows 2019's highly-acclaimed Love and Compromise . In support of the release, she has announced UK and Europe tour dates from October through November.

NCT DREAM, ISTJ

Release date: july 17.

The Myers-Briggs Personality Test (also known as MBTI) is a current craze in South Korea, therefore, it was only a matter of time until a K-pop group applied its insights on their music. Although none of NCT DREAM's seven members has the ISTJ personality type, that's what they decided to call their upcoming third studio album, out on July 17.

The 10-track collection comes in two physical versions: Introvert and Extrovert, the first letters and main differentiators in any MBTI personality. Spearheaded by the soaring "Broken Melodies," where they display an impressive set of vocals, their comeback announcement on Twitter promises "The impact NCT DREAM will bring to the music industry."

Since September, the NCT sub-group embarked on The Dream Show 2: In A Dream World Tour, which crossed Asia, Europe, North America. The group will wrap up July with four concerts in Latin America.

Blur, The Ballad of Darren

Release date: july 21.

"The older and madder we get, it becomes more essential that what we play is loaded with the right emotion and intention," said Blur 's guitarist Graham Coxon in a statement about The Ballad of Darren , the band's ninth studio album set to arrive on July 21.

Maybe that explains why The Ballad is their first release in eight years, and represents "an aftershock record, reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now," according to frontman Damon Albarn . During a press conference in May, bassist Alex James reinforced the positive moment that they find themselves in, stating that "there were moments of utter joy" while recording together.

Produced by James Ford, the album contains 10 tracks, including the wistful indie rock of lead single "The Narcissist." On July 8 and 9, Blur is set to play two reunion gigs at London's Wembley Stadium, followed by a slew of festivals across Europe, Japan and South America.

Barbie: The Album

The most-awaited summer flick of 2023 also comes with a staggering soundtrack. Scored by producers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt , Barbie: The Album features songs by hot stars like Dua Lipa , Lizzo , and Ice Spice, as well as some surprising additions, such as psychedelic star Tame Impala and K-pop rookie sensation Fifty Fifty .

As undecipherable and alluring as the actual movie plot, the album tracklist only increases expectations for Greta Gerwig's upcoming oeuvre. Is it all a satire? Is it a serious take on "life in plastic" and consumerism? Is it about nothing at all? You can try to find some clues through pre-release singles "Dance the Night" by Dua Lipa, "Watati" by Karol G, and "Angel" by PinkPantheress.

Greta Van Fleet,  Starcatcher

Fans who attended the three final shows of Greta Van Fleet 's Dreams in Gold Tour this March already got a sneak peek of the band's upcoming third studio album, Starcatcher . Among their most popular hits, the quartet played five new songs — or half of Starcatcher — including singles "Meeting the Master," "Sacred the Thread," and "Farewell for Now."

In a statement about the album, drummer Danny Wagner said that they "wanted to tell these stories to build a universe," and that they wanted to "introduce characters and motifs and these ideas that would come about here and there throughout our careers." Bassist Sam Kiszka adds: "When I imagine the world of Starcatcher , I think of the cosmos. It makes me ask a lot of questions, like 'Where did we come from?' or 'What are we doing here?' But it's also questions like, 'What is this consciousness that we have, and where did it come from?'"

Just a few days after release, Greta Van Fleet will embark on a world tour. Starting in Nashville, Tennessee on July 24, they will cross the U.S. and then head over to Europe and the UK in November.

Post Malone, AUSTIN

Release date: july 28.

In a shirtless, casual Instagram Reel last May, hitmaker Post Malone announced his upcoming fourth studio album, AUSTIN , to be released on July 28. Titled after his birth name, the singer shared that "It's been some of the funnest music, some of the most challenging and rewarding music for me, at least" — a very different vibe from the more mellow, lofi sounds of 2022's Twelve Carat Toothache — and that the experience of playing the guitar on every song was "really fun."

Featuring 17 tracks (19 on the deluxe version), AUSTIN is preceded by the dreamy "Chemical" and the angsty "Mourning," and sees Malone pushing his boundaries in order to innovate on his well-established sound. The album will also be supported by a North American 24-date trek, the If Y'all Weren't Here, I'd Be Crying Tour, starting July 8 in Noblesville, Indiana and wrapping up on August 19 in San Bernardino, California.

Stevie Nicks: Complete Studio Albums & Rarities box set

To measure Stevie Nicks' contribution to music is an insurmountable task. The Fleetwood Mac singer and songwriter has composed dozens of the most influential, well-known rock classics of the past century ("Dreams," anyone?), also blooming on her own as a soloist since 1981, when she debuted with Bella Donna .

In the four decades since, seven more solo albums followed, along with a trove of rarities that rightfully deserve a moment in the spotlight. Enter: her upcoming vinyl box set, Stevie Nicks: Complete Studio Albums & Rarities . The 16xLP collection compiles all of her work so far, plus a new record with the aforementioned rarities, and is limited to 3,000 copies. It's also the first time that Trouble in Shangri-La , In Your Dreams , and Street Angel are released on vinyl. For those who can't secure the limited set, a version of Complete Studio Albums & Rarities with 10xCDs will be available digitally.

Joni Mitchell, At Newport

Last year's Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island was one to remember. During one evening of the fest, a surprise guest graced the " Brandi Carlile and Friends" stage: it was none less than legendary folk star, Joni Mitchell. And what's more? It was her first live appearance since 2015, when she suffered a debilitating aneurysm.

During that time, the 79-year-old singer quietly held "Joni Jams" at her home in Los Angeles — inviting musicians that ranged from Elton John to Harry Styles to participate — with organizational support offered by Carlile. With Mitchell's special appearance at Newport, the coveted experience of a Joni Jam was available for thousands of fans.

This month, the release of At Newport eternalizes the headlining-making moment, bringing her talents to an even bigger audience. Among the classics in the tracklist are "Carey," "A Case of You," and "The Circle Game," proving that Mitchell is still as magical as when she stepped on the Newport Folk Festival stage for the first time, in 1969.

Jennifer Lopez, This Is Me… Now

Release date: tbd.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo)

In 2002, J.Lo was everywhere. Her relationship with actor Ben Affleck ensued heavy attention from the media, and her This Is Me… Then album — which featured hits like "Jenny from the Block" — was a commercial success, with over 300,000 first-week sales in the U.S.

How funny is it that, 20 years later, the singer and actress finds herself in a similar situation. After rekindling with Affleck in 2021, she announced the sequel to her 2002 release, This Is Me… Now , and stated in an interview with Vogue that the album represents a "culmination" of who she is.

A press release also describes This Is Me… Now as an "emotional, spiritual and psychological journey" across all that Lopez has been through in the past decades. Fans can also expect more details on the new-and-improved Bennifer, as many of the titles among its 13 tracks suggest, especially "Dear Ben Pt. II."

Although an official release date has not yet been revealed, on June 29, Lopez posted a cryptic image on social media with the caption "album delivery day" — suggesting that the highly anticipated This Is Me update may not be far away.

Everything We Know About Olivia Rodrigo's New Album 'Guts': Release Date, New Songs & More

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10 Albums On Divorce & Heartache, From Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' To Kelly Clarkson's 'Chemistry'

Divorce albums have been a staple of the music industry for decades. Take a look at some of the most notable musings on a breaking heart, from Kacey Musgraves, Kanye West and more.

Divorce can be complicated, messy, and heartbreaking. But those feelings are prime fodder for songwriting — and it's something that artists of all genres have harnessed for decades.

Writing through the pain can serve many benefits for an artist. Marvin Gaye used Here, My Dear as a way to find closure in the aftermath of his divorce. Adele told Vogue that her recording process gave her somewhere to feel safe while recording 30 , a raw account of the aftermath of her marriage ending. And Kelly Clarkson 's new album, c hemistry, finds her reclaiming herself , while fully taking stock of everything that happened in her marriage, good and bad. 

As fans dive into chemistry , GRAMMY.com has compiled a list of 10 divorce albums from all walks of music. Whether you need to cry, vent, or maybe even laugh, there's a divorce album that has what you need.

Tammy Wynette,  D-I-V-O-R-C-E (1968)

During her life, Tammy Wynette was a prolific country songwriter and singer, releasing numerous albums exploring all aspects of love. She was also deeply familiar with divorce, with five marriages throughout her adulthood.

The most intimate album on the topic is her bluntly titled 1968 project D-I-V-O-R-C-E , which explores how sensitive the topic was to speak about. The title track is a mournful tune about hiding a separation from her children, but also conveys the general difficulty of discussing the topic with anyone. Elsewhere on the album, "Kiss Away" is a longing ballad about wishing for a more tender resolution when words have failed.

Fleetwood Mac,  Rumours (1977)

After recording 10 albums together, Fleetwood Mac were in disarray. During the recording of their eleventh record, the members of the band were going through affairs, divorces, and breakups, even some with each other. Against all odds, they created Rumours — and it became the band's most successful and iconic album.

The spectrum of emotions and sounds on the album is wide. "The Chain" is all fire and bombast, while the laidback acceptance of "Dreams" seeks to find peace in the storm. Fleetwood Mac sorted out their issues and are still going strong to this day, but their heartbreak created something special in Rumours .

Beck,  Sea Change (2002)

Beck has had a prolific career, with 14 studio albums to his name. One of his most affecting is 2002's Sea Change , written in the aftermath of his engagement and nine-year relationship ending.

It's a deeply insular album, even by Beck's standards. Tracks like "Already Dead" are slow and mournful, while standout "It's All In Your Mind" finds him burrowing deep into his own thoughts to parse out how exactly he's feeling with his new life.

Open Mike Eagle, Anime, Trauma, and Divorce (2020)

Divorce isn't a topic that immediately brings laughter, but rapper Open Mike Eagle seemed to find humor in his personal story with his album Anime, Trauma, and Divorce . The album title gives a pretty good rundown of what inspired the project, and Mike's laidback rapping sells how silly the aftermath of pain can be.

"Sweatpants Spiderman" finds him trying to become a functional adult again, and discovering the various ailments of his aging body and thinner wallet that are getting in the way. The fed-up delivery on standout track "Wtf is Self Care" is a hilarious lesson on how learning to be kind to yourself post-breakup is harder than it sounds.

Carly Pearce,  29: Written In Stone (2021)

Heartbreak is a common topic in all genres, but country has some of the most profound narratives of sorrow. Carly Pearce added to that legacy with 29: Written in Stone , her 2021 album centered around her 29th year — a year that included both a marriage and a subsequent divorce.

The emotional whiplash of such a quick change can be felt all over the project, from an upbeat diss track like "Next Girl" to more poignant pieces like the title track, which finds Pearce reflecting on her tumultuous year. Her vulnerability resonated, as single "Never Wanted To Be That Girl" won Pearce her first GRAMMY, and her latest single, "What He Didn't Do," scored the singer her fourth No. 1 at country radio. 

Kanye West,  808s & Heartbreak (2008)

Kanye West 's fourth album 808s & Heartbreak came from a deep well of pain. Besides the end of his relationship, West was also in turmoil from the death of his mother, Donda. The result is one of the bleakest sounding records on this list — but also one of West's most impactful.

808s & Heartbreak is minimalistic, dark, and brooding, with a focus on somber strings and 808 drum loops (hence the album's title). West delivers most of his lyrics in a monotone drone through a thick layer of autotune, a stylistic choice that heightens the sense of loss. Besides being a testament to West's pain, the electronic sound pioneered on 808s & Heartbreak would serve as a foundational inspiration for the next several years of hip-hop.

Toni Braxton & Babyface, Love, Marriage, & Divorce (2014)

Toni Braxton and Babyface are two stalwarts of R&B in their own rights, and in 2014, the pair connected over their shared experiences going through divorce. Their bond sparked Love, Marriage, & Divorce , a GRAMMY-winning album that intended to capture the more universal feelings the life of a relationship conjures up.

Each artist has solo tracks on the record — Babyface wishing the best for his ex on "I Hope That You're Okay" and Braxton sharing her justified anger on "I Wish" and "I'd Rather Be Broke" — but where they shine is on their collaborations. The agonizing "Where Did We Go Wrong?" is heartbreaking, and the album ends with painful what-ifs in the soulful "The D Word."

Adele,  30 (2021)

Divorce is hard no matter the circumstances, but it gets even more complicated when children are involved. That was the reality for Adele , and it served as major inspiration for her fourth album, 30 .

Like every album on this list, there's plenty of sorrow on the record, but what really sets it apart is just how honestly Adele grapples with the guilt of putting her son Angelo through turmoil as well. The album's GRAMMY-winning lead single "Easy On Me" addresses it in relation to her son, and standout track "I Drink Wine" is a full examination of the messy feelings she went through during her divorce.

Kacey Musgraves,  star-crossed (2021)

As many of these albums prove, divorce triggers a hoard of emotions, from anger to sadness to eventual happiness. On star-crossed , Kacey Musgraves goes through it all.

There's the anthemic "breadwinner" about being better on her own, "camera roll" looking back on happier times with sorrow, and "hookup scene" about the confusion of adjusting back to single life. Star-crossed sees Musgraves continue to evolve sonically — incorporating more electronic sounds into her country roots — but ultimately, she comes out the other side at a place of renewed acceptance and growth.

Kelly Clarkson,  chemistry (2023)

Kelly Clarkson 's tenth album chemistry was born out of her 2020 divorce. In true Kelly fashion, she addresses the subject with thoughtful songwriting and a pop-rock vibe fans have adored for 20 years on.  

Chemistry focuses not just on the pain of divorce, but on the tender feelings that many couples still have for each other even after the end. Tracks like "favorite kind of high" mirror the euphoria of love, juxtaposed with ballads like "me," in which Clarkson finds comfort in herself and her inner strength — an inspiring sentiment for anyone who has had their heart broken.

Kacey Musgraves' Road To 'Star-Crossed': How The Breakup Album Fits Right Into Her Glowing Catalog

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Watch The 2023 GRAMMYs Star-Studded Tribute To Lost Legends Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie & Takeoff | 2023 GRAMMYs

The moving GRAMMY Awards segment featured friends, family and bandmates honoring their departed loved ones in song — including tributes from Kacey Musgraves, Quavo, and Sheryl Crow, Mick Fleetwood, and Bonnie Raitt.

A moving 2023 GRAMMYs segment featured friends, family and bandmates honoring their departed loved ones in song — including tributes from Kacey Musgraves , Quavo , and Sheryl Crow , Mick Fleetwood , and Bonnie Raitt .

The GRAMMY Awards' annual tribute to music industry icons who passed in the preceding year is always a bittersweet highlight of the ceremony — and this year's moving edition was certainly no exception.

In addition to honoring the many artists, producers, executives, and more who we lost, three legendary musicians received individual recognition from their close friends, collaborators, and loved ones.

A longtime admirer of Loretta Lynn , Kacey Musgraves became friends with the late country legend after opening for Lynn's 2012 tour — and thus was the perfect person to honor the four-time GRAMMY-winner.

Surrounded by a spray of red flowers and wearing a red dress that would've suited the Songwriter Hall of Fame honoree, Musgraves delivered a sterling rendition of Lynn's autobiographical "Coal Miner's Daughter."

With each strum of her guitar — with Lynn’s name inlaid on the neck in enamel — Musgraves brought more of her hero's trademark warmth and country legacy into fuller bloom, the names and images of other lost legends materializing behind her.

The rap world was stunned when it lost Migos member Takeoff in a tragic shooting in November, and his uncle and bandmate Quavo paid tribute with the elegiac "Without You." The rapper's soulful delivery was rounded out by the rich harmonies of gospel group Maverick City Music , the pain evident in his face as he sat next to an empty stool, his nephew’s chain hanging from a tragically unused mic stand.

As the song concluded, Quavo rose, holding that chain up to the heavens, his hope to see Takeoff again ringing out.

While clips of heroes like Jeff Beck and David Crosby surely brought tears to many an eye, the heartfelt tributes were rounded out by the trio of Sheryl Crow , Bonnie Raitt , and Fleetwood Mac 's Mick Fleetwood. Together, they honored Christine McVie with a poignant rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird."

While Fleetwood stood with a resonant hand drum, Crow took to the piano with Raitt seated at her side. "And the songbirds are singing/ Like they know the score," they sang: "And I love you, I love you, I love you/ Like never before."

The crystalline performance immaculately suited the songwriter's immense spirit and unparalleled writing, with Fleetwood’s somber hand drum lending a beautiful final note.

Check out the complete list of winners and nominees at the 2023 GRAMMYs.

Head to live.GRAMMY.com  all year long to watch all the GRAMMY performances, acceptance speeches, the GRAMMY Live From The Red Carpet livestream special, the full Premiere Ceremony livestream, and even more exclusive, never-before-seen content from the 2023 GRAMMYs.

Photos: Jeff Hahne/Getty Images; Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Erika Goldring/WireImage

2023 GRAMMYs To Pay Tribute To Lost Icons With Star-Studded In Memoriam Segment Honoring Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie, And Takeoff

The GRAMMY Awards segment will feature Kacey Musgraves in a tribute to Loretta Lynn; Sheryl Crow, Mick Fleetwood and Bonnie Raitt honoring Christine McVie; and Maverick City Music joining Quavo as they remember Takeoff, airing live on Sunday, Feb. 5.

The lineup for the 2023 GRAMMYs on Sunday, Feb 5, will include an In Memoriam segment paying tribute to some of those from the creative community that were lost this year with performances by GRAMMY-winning and -nominated artists.

The segment will feature Kacey Musgraves performing "Coal Miner's Daughter" in a tribute to three-time GRAMMY winner and 18-time nominee Loretta Lynn ; Sheryl Crow , Mick Fleetwood and Bonnie Raitt honoring three-time GRAMMY winner Christine McVie with "Songbird"; and Maverick City Music joining Quavo for "Without You" as they remember the life and legacy of Takeoff .

The 2023 GRAMMYs, hosted by Trevor Noah , will broadcast live on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on the CBS Television Network live from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Viewers will also be able to stream the 2023 GRAMMYs live and on demand on Paramount+.

Before, during and after the 2023 GRAMMYs, head to  live.GRAMMY.com  for exclusive, never-before-seen content, including red carpet interviews, behind-the-scenes content, the full livestream of the 2023 GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony , and much more.

Where, What Channel & How To Watch The Full 2023 GRAMMYs

• 1 Remembering Christine McVie Of Fleetwood Mac Through Her GRAMMY Triumphs, From 'Rumours' Onward
• 2 15 Must-Hear Albums This July: Taylor Swift, Dominic Fike, Post Malone, NCT Dream & More
• 3 10 Albums On Divorce & Heartache, From Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' To Kelly Clarkson's 'Chemistry'
• 4 Watch The 2023 GRAMMYs Star-Studded Tribute To Lost Legends Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie & Takeoff | 2023 GRAMMYs
• 5 2023 GRAMMYs To Pay Tribute To Lost Icons With Star-Studded In Memoriam Segment Honoring Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie, And Takeoff

"I'm sure I was appreciated, but it wasn’t hero worship or anything like that": Christine McVie, the calm eye of the Fleetwood Mac storm

Christine McVie brought elegance and soul to Fleetwood Mac through her voice, keyboard playing and some of rock’s most enduring hits

Mick Fleetwood once called her “the steadying presence” of Fleetwood Mac . And in the days following her death a year ago, tributes to Christine McVie often reached for similar phrases – the hidden strength, the cornerstone, the heart and soul – to describe the role she played for more than 50 years in rock’s most tempestuous soap opera. 

“I don’t like being centre stage, I never have,” she told Uncut in 2022. “I like to be part of a group.” 

Watching her in concert, whether during the band’s heady late-70s era or what would be their final tour, in 2019, she was all business, more serious musician than rock star. Blue-grey eyes peering out from behind blonde fringe, swaying and singing confidently at her keyboards, aligning herself with the rhythm section of Fleetwood and ex-husband John McVie, while Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham basked in the spotlight. 

But that cool reserve couldn’t alter the fact that Christine was the group’s most dependable and successful songwriter. When you look at their worldconquering statistics – eight multi-platinum albums, more than 130 million copies sold (the perennial Rumours alone responsible for 40 million) – at the centre are her evergreen hits like Over My Head, You Make Loving Fun, Don’t Stop, Little Lies and Everywhere . 

“I suppose I must be good with hooks,” she once reasoned modestly.

For all her success, it was always art and music that drove McVie. Born Christine Perfect in Bouth, a Lake District village, in 1943, she was the younger of two children. Her father was a violinist and college music professor, her mother a psychic healer. She began classical piano lessons at 11. 

A few years later she discovered her elder brother’s Fats Domino songbook inside the piano seat. “It was goodbye Chopin,” she said. She got hooked on the New Orleans-style boogie-woogie blues, and at 16 wrote her first song. That rolling-river left-hand feel would stay with her, lending a funky current to many of her best songs in the years ahead. “It always comes back to the blues,” she would often say of her writing style. 

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On a scholarship, she studied sculpture, needlecraft and dress design in art college. “Perfect for a future career in Fleetwood Mac,” she joked. But her heart wasn’t in it. Meanwhile, she was playing first gigs around Birmingham, becoming part of what she called the city’s “punchy, kick-ass” blues scene, alongside people such as Spencer Davis, Steve Winwood and Savoy Brown. She moved to London in 1966, and after working briefly as a department store window dresser, was asked to join Chicken Shack. 

Although they didn’t rise to the heights of their British blues-boom contemporaries, the group gave McVie a professional entry point. Twice voted best female vocalist in Melody Maker readers’ polls, she sang on the band’s only major hit, a version of Etta James’s I’d Rather Go Blind – an understated, simmering performance that foreshadowed the maturity of her work in her next band. 

In the late 60s, Chicken Shack often opened for Fleetwood Mac. And even when they didn’t, Christine was often at their shows, eyeing their “shy, but funny” bass player John McVie. She soon fell in love and left Chicken Shack, with the intention of just being a wife. But then guitarist-vocalist Peter Green suddenly quit Fleetwood Mac, after a mind-wrecking acid trip. 

“It was heartbreaking for them when Peter left,” Christine told The Guardian in 2022. “They were rehearsing at Kiln House, and I was down there with all the wives. They came out of the rehearsal room and said: ‘Hey Chris, do you want to join?’ I couldn’t believe my luck. ‘Are you serious? I’m just a girl who plays piano.’” 

Ten days later, the new line-up was on the road in America. “In those days, there were very few women, especially playing the blues, but I never felt singled out,” she said. “It just all came very naturally to me. Not too many women have said, ‘Thanks for ground-breaking,’ to be honest. I’m sure I was appreciated, but it wasn’t hero worship or anything like that."

With the five albums released between ’71 and ’74, Fleetwood Mac began to evolve away from their strict blues pedigree. 

“The style had to change because I was a keyboard player,” McVie told the Sunday Express in 2004. “And it developed a more commercial bent. It was thrilling, and I have to say to this day, it still kind of is, knowing I did that.” 

Mick Fleetwood recognised McVie’s gifts, and encouraged her to “launch out and do something a bit commercial” with her songwriting. On her early compositions like Morning Rain, Remember Me and the shoulda-been-a-hit Just Crazy Love , she kept one foot – or hand – in her formative boogie blues and let her inherent feel for pop melody bloom.

McVie also credited guitarist Bob Welch’s time in the band for inspiring the vocal harmonies that became a signature part of their classic sound. 

In 1975, after Welch quit, that harmony found its full expression when Mick Fleetwood invited musical couple Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks into the fold. The chemistry was there from the start. When they layered their voices with McVie’s, it created a profound fourth thing all its own – a thrilling blend that rivals The Beatles and Crosby, Stills & Nash. In the 2019 BBC documentary Fleetwood Mac’s Songbird , McVie recalled the moment of discovery: “We all got into this little rehearsal room and it just shot off like firecrackers. I started playing a song I’d just written, Say You Love Me , and when the chorus came they came in immediately with this incredible three-part harmony. We all got goose bumps.” 

Along with that harmonic convergence came a new songwriting gauntlet for McVie. She said: “I remember hearing their Buckingham Nicks album and thinking: ‘Right, I better pull something out of the bag here and write some songs. I wanted to impress them!’” 

That three-way creative competition was at its most fertile on 1975’s self-titled ‘White’ album and the landmark Rumours (1977), with McVie conjuring up Say You Love Me, Over My Head, Don’t Stop and You Make Loving Fun . While you got the sense that Nicks and Buckingham depended on melodrama and painstaking process to unearth their best songs, McVie always seemed to pluck hers out of the ether, fully formed. “I don’t struggle over my songs, I write them quickly,” she told Rolling Stone in 1977. It’s a testament to her melodic prowess and the power of her dusky, piercing voice that she could make a potentially trite couplet like ‘ Sweet wonderful you, you make me happy with the things that you do ’ sound like it was a freshly minted sentiment. 

And then of course there was Songbird . McVie’s graceful, for-the-ages ballad fell like a well-placed balm in Rumour s’ couples therapy sequence. She dashed it off in 30 minutes, then recorded it live the same night in the small hours in an empty auditorium. An ethereal flash of lightning in a bottle, it had the power to reduce grown men to tears, not the least John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. “I think it was about nobody and everybody,” she said in the Classic Albums documentary series. “In retrospect, it seemed to me more like a little anthem than anything else. It was for everybody. It was like a little prayer almost.”

Through the late 70s into the 80s, that prayer would close the band’s shows each night, with McVie again providing a guiding hand during their worst days of drugs and drink excess. “I always took fairly good care of myself, but I was no angel,” she told The Guardian , adding: “But I think it made me perform better.” 

It’s worth noting that on stage, Fleetwood Mac was a different animal – a lot more aggressive and primal than on their pristine recordings. “The albums are a lot cleaner in general, they’re well thought out,” McVie told Sounds in ’82. “I figure there’s definitely two sides to Fleetwood Mac; the live side is a lot more rock’n’roll than people think we are. We’re not so clean-cut.” 

In 1979, Lindsey Buckingham steered the band away from a Rumours redux with the fractured, cubist pop of Tusk . But their biggest-selling album still loomed large, continuing to cast a long shadow through the 80s. That could be what drove Nicks, Buckingham and McVie to make their first solo albums. 

The two Fleetwood Mac records from that decade – Mirage (1982) and Tango In The Night (1987) – received mixed reviews at the time but have improved with age. It was the harrowing sessions for the latter, with Nicks, Fleetwood and John McVie all spiralling in their addictions, that finally splintered the band. Amid the chaos, Christine delivered two of her brightest singles – Little Lies and Everywhere – but it would be the last studio album with the line-up she called “the Rumours five”. 

Buckingham quit shortly after. Both Nicks and McVie departed after 1990’s Behind The Mask . McVie would later dismiss that album and its follow-up, 1995’s Time , as “terrible”.

Meanwhile, Presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s use of her Don’t Stop in the early 90s prompted a one-off reunion of the classic line-up at his inaugural ball. And that paved the way for their 1997 world tour, which produced the multi-platinum live album The Dance . But Christine decided that after 28 years of “living out of a suitcase” she’d had enough. She told the Sunday Express : “Towards the end of that tour I found it very overwhelming being on stage. The lights were hot and it was deafening. I was getting disoriented."

Talking to Classic Rock about her post-Mac retirement in Canterbury , she sounded like she was enjoying an idyllic existence – taking long walks with her Lhasa Apsos, restoring her 17th-century red-brick house, watching cooking shows and ER, and always in bed by nine. “When I still drank, I’d wind down at the end of the day with a glass of good champagne, but now I find that a cup of tea and a chocolate Hobnob does the trick,” she said. 

In 2004, McVie released In The Meantime , an overlooked solo album, made at home with her musician nephew Dan. It was mostly therapeutic, to get over the end of her second marriage, to Portuguese musician Eddy Quintela. Each time Fleetwood Mac would come through for a London date, she’d attend, watching from the wings, thinking: “Thank god, I made the right decision.” 

But then in 2013, she changed her mind, and hopped on stage for a version of Don’t Stop at London’s O2. She told The Guardian : “After, I called Mick and asked: ‘How would you feel about me coming back to the band?’ He got in touch with everybody and we had a band meeting over the phone and they all went: ‘Come baaaack!’ I felt regenerated, and I felt like writing again.” 

In 2014-15, the On With The Show tour took the reunited Mac around the world for 78 sold-out shows. With that momentum, the plan was to make a new studio album. In a Classic Rock interview in 2021 , Lindsey Buckingham told me: “Christine had a bunch of song ideas and I helped her with those. We eventually went in the studio with John and Mick. And we were still hoping to make that a Fleetwood Mac album, but Stevie wouldn’t do it. That became the duets album that Christine and I did in 2017.”

And then 2018 delivered one of the most shocking twists in the Fleetwood Mac saga, when Buckingham was fired, without a clear explanation. Nicks gave her bandmates a “him or me” ultimatum. Later that year, on what would be their final world tour, Buckingham was replaced by Mike Campbell and Neil Finn. 

In 2021, as Mick Fleetwood was pushing for the classic line-up to reunite for a farewell tour, McVie revealed that her ongoing back problems, caused by scoliosis, had worsened. It had become difficult for her to stand, much less sit, over a piano for any length of time. “Some days are better than others, but it’s not much fun,” she told Rolling Stone some time later. “I’ll be eighty next year. So I’m just hoping for a few more years.” 

On November 30 2022, McVie died “peacefully” in hospital, surrounded by family. Her death certificate, obtained by US media months later, stated that she'd suffered a stroke, with a cancer of unknown origin a secondary cause. 

On social media, Buckingham called her death “profoundly heartbreaking,” describing her as “a musical comrade, a soul mate, a sister”. Nicks said: “A few hours ago I was told that my best friend in the whole world since 1975 had passed away. See you on the other side, my love. Don’t forget me.” 

The band’s official statement, which described Christine McVie as “truly one of a kind, special and talented beyond measure,” went on to say: “We were so lucky to have a life with her.” 

Grief for our rock stars is difficult to measure. Popularity doesn’t always mean that a passing will feel personal. It comes down to connection. And the outpouring of love and memories on social media for Christine McVie shows how deeply her voice, her songs and “that steadying presence” connected with so many. 

" I wanna be with you everywhere ," she sang on one of her best-loved hits. She will be for a long time to come.

Bill DeMain is a correspondent for BBC Glasgow, a regular contributor to  MOJO, Classic Rock  and  Mental Floss , and the author of six books, including the best-selling  Sgt. Pepper At 50 . He is also an acclaimed musician and songwriter who's written for artists including Marshall Crenshaw, Teddy Thompson and Kim Richey. His songs have appeared in TV shows such as  Private Practice  and  Sons of Anarchy . In 2013, he started Walkin' Nashville, a music history tour that's been the #1 rated activity on Trip Advisor. An avid bird-watcher, he also makes bird cards and prints.

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Christine McVie’s Genius Made Fleetwood Mac Concert Film ‘The Dance’ Sing

Ryan lattanzio, deputy editor, film.

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Fleetwood Mac lost one of its leading lights on November 30 with the passing of vocalist Christine McVie at age 79 after a short illness. She joined the band under the name Christine Perfect in 1968 and was the vocal and lyrical force behind hits like “Don’t Stop,” “Everywhere,” “You Make Loving Fun,” and “Little Lies,” each an all-time earworm in rock music history.

Fleetwood Mac was fractious with break-ups (including McVie’s divorce from the band’s bassist, John McVie, in 1976), shake-ups, and diva personalities to spare, but none of that can touch half a century’s worth of brilliant music. It defined their legacy back to the late-1960s with albums like their self-titled release, “Rumours,” and “Tusk,” which made the band iconic.

In recent decades, McVie appeared on stage in different iterations of the band’s lineup. Her penultimate appearance alongside her bandmates in full form — before their 2015 reunion — was in 1997, when Fleetwood Mac memorialized its performance with the live album and concert film, “The Dance.”

Filmed on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, “The Dance” spans Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits, including early McVie classics like “Say You Love Me” and “You Make Loving Fun.”  The band — including Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks — does what they do best, which is to put aside their differences (Stevie Nicks’ ego rivaled only by Lindsey Buckingham’s) and deliver an iconic show.

The Fleetwood Mac drama is the fascinating Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame gift that keeps on giving. It’s hard to keep track of who remains, even for the most ardent fans. Lindsey Buckingham was ousted in 2018 and filed a breach of contract lawsuit. Guitarist Daniel Kirwan died that same year. Founding member Peter Green died in 2020. The addition of new members in 2018 — Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and Crowded House’s Neil Finn — heralded some kind of rebirth. But how can they exist without Christine McVie?

She was a key factor in the band’s success, and while Nicks was undeniably the female-fronting face of the group, McVie was no one’s second fiddle. A few years older than most of her bandmates, McVie brought candor and grounding to the group with lyrically warm offerings that contrasted the caustic push-pull behind the words and music of Nicks, Buckingham, and Mick Fleetwood. There’s still a legion of Nicks fans who worship her manic pixie witch persona, but when Fleetwood Mac started to climb the charts, McVie was the voice you heard coming out of your speakers, from “Over Your Head” to “Say You Love Me.”

The “Rumours” album remains a time capsule of relationships disintegrating, with Nicks and Buckingham breaking up and the McVies’ marriage falling apart. “The Dance” includes many of those hits with “You Make Loving Fun” and “Don’t Stop.” McVie also contributed to singing and writing the all-time classic “The Chain,” which the band members performed in a rare moment of harmonic collaboration.

McVie’s legacy is inseparable from Fleetwood Mac’s, and I’ll take the liberty of speaking for all Fleetwood Mac fans when I say that for a band that treated enormous, irreplaceable losses as a personal signature, losing her is truly enormous and irreplaceable. If you want to experience her brilliance up close, you can stream the live concert film of “The Dance” on Amazon here .

“We would like everyone to keep Christine in their hearts and remember the life of an incredible human being, and revered musician who was loved universally. RIP Christine McVie,” her family said in a statement upon her passing on Wednesday. Not a hard thing to do when there was so much genius on display.

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Christine McVie Rejoins Fleetwood Mac: Official

Christine McVie is back with Fleetwood Mac -- officially. The band's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, has confirmed to Billboard that McVie has rejoined the band after departing the group in 1998.

By Keith Caulfield

Keith Caulfield

Christine McVie is back with Fleetwood Mac — officially.

The band’s publicist, Liz Rosenberg, has confirmed to Billboard that McVie has rejoined the band after departing the group in 1998.

Rosenberg says that McVie “has indeed re-joined Fleetwood Mac and we are hoping to make an announcement about a possible tour for the full tilt Macsters some time in 2014.”

McVie joined the band in 1970 after marrying the group’s bassist, John McVie. She continued on with the group for the next 28 years as a principle songwriter, vocalist and keyboardist.

McVie wrote some of the act’s biggest Billboard Hot 100 chart hits, including “Say You Love Me” (No. 11 peak, 1976), “Don’t Stop” (No. 3, 1977), “You Make Loving Fun” (No. 9, 1977), “Hold Me” (No. 4, 1982), “Little Lies” (No. 4, 1987) and “Everywhere” (No. 14, 1988).

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Fans of Fleetwood Mac have been teased with a possible McVie reunion since last September, when word first broke that McVie was going to rejoin her bandmates for a couple concerts in London. She appeared with the band — for just one song each night — on Sept. 25 and 27 at the O2 Arena, to sing “Don’t Stop.”

(Fleetwood Mac’s 2013 tour incidentally, was the 17th biggest tour of 2013, according to Billboard Boxscore, grossing $62 million from 45 shows reported.)

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Fleetwood mac.

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• Christine McVie to Rejoin Fleetwood Mac For Live Shows

Soon after guesting with the band at the O2, McVie told the Guardian that she would be “delighted” if the band were to “ask” her to play with them again. “But it hasn’t happened, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

When Billboard caught up with Stevie Nicks late last year, while promoting her new “In Your Dreams” film and appearance on “American Horror Story: Coven,” Nicks said “If Chris wants to come back to the band, I said to her, ‘It’s your band. I don’t really think you have to ask. Because it’s your band. McVie. Fleetwood Mac-vie? So, it all depends, Chris, on you. How you feel. Do you want to take this on again?'”

Finally, over the last weekend, the band’s Mick Fleetwood reportedly told a crowd at a Maui, Hawaii show that McVie had indeed rejoined the group.

Undoubtedly, devotees of Fleetwood Mac are hoping for a new album from the famed “Rumours”-era lineup of the band, with singer/songwriters Nicks, McVie and Lindsey Buckingham. Together, the three were the principle writers of five studio albums from the group: “Fleetwood Mac” (released in 1975), “Rumours” (1977), “Tusk” (1979), “Mirage” (1982) and “Tango In the Night” (1987).

Following McVie’s departure, Fleetwood Mac has released one new studio set, 2003’s “Say You Will.” The band also issued a four-song EP, “Extended Play,” in 2013.

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Seth macfarlane hosts kamala harris and doug emhoff for $1.5 million biden campaign fundraiser, christine mcvie dies: fleetwood mac singer-songwriter was 79.

By Greg Evans

NY & Broadway Editor

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Christine McVie , the honey-voiced singer, songwriter and keyboard player of the massively popular Fleetwood Mac , died today following a short illness. She was 79.

Sharing both vocal duties and hit-writing with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham during the band’s 1970s and ’80s heyday, McVie carved out a niche for herself with such songs as “Don’t Stop,” “Over My Head” and “Say You Love Me.”

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Her death was announced by her family and the band.

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Fleetwood Mac’s statement said: “There are no words to describe our sadness at the passing of Christine McVie. She was truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure. She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life. We were so lucky to have a life with her. Individually and together, we cherished Christine deeply and are thankful for the amazing memories we have. She will be so very missed.”

Born Christine Anne Perfect on July 12, 1943, in England’s Lake District village of Bouth, Lancashire, McVie studied music in school and by the 1960s was singing in various groups and for band leader Spencer Davis. In 1967 she joined a blues band called Chicken Shack, playing piano and singing backup. Her vocal talents soon took a central place with the band, and in 1969 she received the first of her awards from the influential UK music periodical Melody Maker.

RELATED: Peter Green Dies: Fleetwood Mac Co-Founder & Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Was 73

The band relocated to the United States in 1974, sans Welch, and within a year was joined by two relatively unknown singer-songwriters who had recorded an album under the band name Buckingham Nicks. With McVie, Nicks and Buckingham in place alongside John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac soon would emerge as one of the most popular pop-rock bands of the 1970s, and one of the best-selling recording artists of all time.

In 1975, the retooled group released the album Fleetwood Mac , which featured such McVie standouts as “Over My Head” and “Say You Love Me”, both hitting the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

A year-plus later, with the band members personal lives in utter disarray — McVie, still married to the bassist, had begun an affair with the group’s lighting director, while Buckingham and Nicks were going through the romantic upheavals that would become rock ‘n’ roll legend — the group recorded and released Rumours . Filled with the tension and heightened emotion of the musicians’ personal lives, the album was a masterpiece and global smash. McVie’s contributions included “You Make Loving Fun” — an ode to her new lover — as well as “Don’t Stop,” which Nit No. 3 in the U.S. and later became the theme song for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. Rumours also included McVie’s lovely piano ballad “Songbird.”

Rumours held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 for an amazing 31 nonconsecutive weeks, and is tied for No. 11 in all-time U.S. album sales with 20 million-plus. It won the Album of the Year Grammy in 1978 and is in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Driven by the classic ’70s lineup, Fleetwood Mac is the 22nd-best-selling act ever in U.S., with more than 54.5 million albums sold.

By the end of the mega-successful Rumours tour, Christine and John McVie had divorced, and Buckingham and Nicks no longer were an item. The group remained together as a band, though, and in 1979 released the double album Tusk , featuring Buckingham’s title song, Nicks’ “Sara” and McVie’s “Think About Me.” Although generally well-received, and held in even higher esteem in subsequent decades, Tusk — which was said to be the most expensive rock album to date with a $1 million production cost — could not match commercial success of the landmark Rumours . It topped the UK album chart but only hit No. 4 stateside.

The band’s popularity continued well into the MTV era, however, and in 1982 Fleetwood Mac released Mirage , which featured Nicks’ smash hit “Gypsy” and McVie’s “Hold Me.” The disc was No. 1 in the U.S. for five weeks. The LP topped the U.S. chart for five weeks and went double platinum.

McVie released a self-titled solo album in 1984, which included hits “Got a Hold on Me” and “Love Will Show Us How,” and Fleetwood Mac’s Tango in the Night arrived in 1987, and the McVie co-penned “Little Lies” was another Top 5 single in the U.S. and UK.

After years of separation and solo projects, Fleetwood Mac famously reunited for the 1997 live album The Dance. Fueled by live versions of their most beloved songs, the album was a chart-topping smash and spawned a successful tour and DVD. The album also earned the group its second Grammy for the live version of “Silver Springs,” originally a B-side to Rumours ‘ single “Go Your Own Way.”

In 1998, Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and later that year McVie announced her exit from the group for semiretirement. She released a solo album in 2004, and nine years later joined her ex-bandmates for a reunion concert at he O2 Arena in London. She occasionally performed with Buckingham in subsequent years.

A 2019 BBC documentary directed by Matt O’Casey titled Fleetwood Mac’s Songbird – Christine McVie chronicled her life and career.

Ten years after her divorce from John McVie in 1976 — unlike Buckingham and Nicks, they remained friends — McVie married Portuguese keyboardist and songwriter Eddy Quintela, divorcing in 2003.

Information on survivors was not immediately available.

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"The first one's not necessary": Why Peter Green dismissed his greatest blues-rock Fleetwood Mac song as a mere intro to a greater piece – one that would later intimidate even David Gilmour

The late guitar great believed his superior work was Oh Well Pt. 2 – an instrumental Fleetwood Mac never played live but the Pink Floyd legend honored decades later

The Peter Green story is one of greatness and what could have been, but investigating the musical legacy of one of the finest guitar players and blues songwriters the world has seen unearths some surprises. At the top of the pile is the fact he dismissed one of his greatest achievements… or at least the first half of it.

Fleetwood Mac 's Oh Well (Pt. 1) has recently been revisited by Slash with Chris Stapleton – a timely reminder that it houses not just an all-time great riff from Green, but the dynamics of a truly great songwriter. However, just as its name suggests, its blues-rock greatness is only half the story. 

Oh Well was never included on a Fleetwood Mac UK studio album – the single release appeared on the US version of 1969's Then Play On album, though later became a staple of Mac compilations. It followed the release of another Green single-only classic; the meditative Man Of The World that showcased just how rapidly the guitarist and vocalist was developing as a musician with ambitions that transcended his blues roots

Green had never intended the first part of Oh Well to be the main event or even a single at all – when it became clear the band wanted to put it out its songwriter envisioned it as the b-side to the very different second half, Oh Well Pt.2. 

"The first one's not necessary," the guitarist reflected in the interview footage above. "The first one did almost get to number one, Part one, Part two is the only real offering. On a compilation, I wouldn't put part one on. I call it packing to know how to get to that second one – to how to start it off maybe.

This may come as a shock to the many guitarists who were inspired by one of the greatest blues-rock compositions of all time, including a perhaps unlikely candidate.

He's the best British blues guitarist out of them all Noel Gallagher

"On Grenada television in Manchester, they used to have these things on at about 2 in the morning that were called Five Minute Profile of all these artists like Bowie and T-Rex and all that," Noel Gallagher recalled to the BBC about discovering his favourite blues player. "And because we were all on the dole [we'd put it on] and get stoned. I remember there was one on Fleetwood Mac and right at the beginning of the five minutes, it was maybe a 30-second thing that Fleetwood Mac [then] was born out of the ashes of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and they showed some black and white footage of him playing Oh Well. I remember the guitar riff and thinking, fucking hell that's amazing!"

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As Gallagher dug deeper, he was taken with the emotive dimension of Green's playing.

"For my mind anyway he's the best British blues guitarist out of them all. And I'm not a wizard on the guitar and I don't know any of the technical terms and all that but his guitar playing, it fucking blows me away. Not in the same way as Hendrix . You listen to Hendrix and you go, 'The guy's a wizard', Peter Green's guitar, it weeps almost."

But the second part of Oh Well doesn't even feature any of that. It showcases a different side to Green's compositional talent; a musician seeing a broader sonic picture outside of rock conventions.  

"I listen to a lot of classical music, Vaughan Williams, Gustav Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Parudin, and I like Stravinsky very much," Green told the NME in 1970. But when asked if any of this listening had surfaced in his own music, the musician named only one example: "It showed up in the second part of Oh Well", noted Green. "Parts of that I suppose are classical." 

Perhaps this is why he was so keen to showcase the instrumental over the more commercially viable first part; it reflected a passion he hadn't been willing or able to capture before. Mick Fleetwood himself would later describe his bandmate's piece to Rolling Stone as a "classical-esque escapade."

Guitars still form an important part of the 5:39 minute piece that; beginning with a mournful Ramirez nylon-string guitar chord part, then accompanied by low notes of an electric guitar before cello and recorder played by then-girlfriend Sandra Elsdon and piano from Fleetwood Mac bandmate Jeremy Spencer . All other instrumentation was tracked by Green.

One of the best, if not the best John McVie

The result has a cinematic scope that isn't as unexpected as one would imagine in the context of the instrumental Albatross the year before, but further enhances the view that Green was coming into his own as a musician with grander ambitions than sateing the blues guitar crowd. 

"One of the best, if not the best," reflected bandmate and Fleetwood Mac co-founder bassist John McVie. "That's why it's such a tragedy that it all went where it did. He could have been so much more." 

Despite Green's dismissal of Oh Well Pt. 1, it continues to resonate and fascinate. And even the guitarist himself admitted revisiting the track as a listener gave him a new appreciation of its lyrics. 

"This is to do with Jesus, the Jesus thing," Green reflected in the top video above regarding the song's second verse. "Because he says, 'We all fall short of the glory of god. The pamphlets that they hand out – 'We've all sinned and we all fall short of the glory of god'. That's what that bit means – that's quite good, quite clever. It's nice to revisit yourself."  

I never really intended Oh Well to have the first section Peter Green

The title itself though was a reference to Muddy Waters. "I took the idea for the lyrics from that old blues song by Muddy Waters about, ‘Oh well, if I was a catfish’, Green told Julian Piper for Guitar magazine back in 2007.

In that same interview Green reiterated his disappointment that Pt.1 would always be the better-known work. “I never really intended Oh Well to have the first section,” he complained, “I just wanted it to be the classical second side." 

Nevetheless that first part stands as a brilliantly realised song, but while it's still been covered countless times by artists, the second part would never even be performed by Fleetwood Mac during or after Green's tenure with the band. 

That was finally addressed at the Fleetwood Mac & Friends celebration of Peter Green that his close friend and bandmate Mick Fleetwood organised on 25 February 2020 in London. It was David Gilmour who took on the challenge of performing the instrumental as part of a collective of musicians including Fleetwood.

Gilmour added his own melodic touch on the Black Strat in place of Spanish guitar, but is Green's stature in the pantheon of players, even the Pink Floyd legend had his doubts before the performance.

David Gilmour said, 'At the moment I’m sort of passing on the idea' Mick Fleetwood

"He initially got cold feet," Mick Fleetwood revealed to Rolling Stone in 2021 about the London Palladium performance and the long build up of calls and approaches that ensured an all-star cast of musicians would appear on the night. "He was like, 'I don’t know if I can interpret Peter’s work. It’s so amazing. Maybe I can’t do that.'

"I said, “What are you talking about? Of course you can,'" added Fleetwood. "He said, 'At the moment I’m sort of passing on the idea because of what I’m discussing with you here. But later on, if this happens, I may gather enough courage.' And at least a year and a half later, I called him back and he said, 'I’m ready and I really want to do this.' Which was huge."

Gilmour delivered on the night, as if there was ever any doubt. He interpreted Green's two most-loved instrumentals with Albatross and Oh Well Pt.2

"Peter never played it. Fleetwood Mac never played it," added Fleetwood. "That was really special that David picked that to do. I was overjoyed."

"When he felt the spirit, he was untouchable" – the story of the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton and Peter Green

The first part isn't strictly true. A condensed version of both parts was 'performed' by Fleetwood Mac on iconic British TV music chart show Top Of The Pops in 1969 . But it barely does any justice for Green's remarkable vision for the two linked pieces. 

The question of what Green could have done next with Fleetwood Mac if he hadn't left in 1970 hangs in the air. But so too does the question of who Peter Green was; as much as we try to push him into the spotlight as a player, it was something he possibly never wanted.

"Personally, Peter was good friend," Mick Fleetwood reflected with Rolling Stone in 2021. "And musically, he’s beyond reproach in terms of what he meant to me and John [McVie] and the original band. No doubt, as much as he tried to waylay and not be responsible for leading the band, the truth was, as much as he turned away from things, he could have been a Jeff Beck . He could have been a Jimmy Page . He could have been Eric Clapton .

"But right from the beginning, he wanted to be part of the band."

• Peter Green classic interview: "I'm only Eric Clapton's replacement, I'm not Eric Clapton"

I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.   

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