Fleetwood Mac: a band synonymous with rock n' roll, has entertained fans with their iconic music and infamous drama for over five decades. The band was formed in 1967 and has undergone many lineup changes.
Drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, and vocalists/guitarists Jeremy Spencer and Peter Green make up the band's original lineup. In 1968, Danny Kirwan became the group's third artist.
In 1970, Christine McVie joined Fleetwood Mac as a keyboardist and vocalist. And in 1974, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the band.
After multiple members left and joined the group, the lineup, who wrote and performed on their number one—and potentially most well-known—album Rumours consisted of Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, and John McVie—the core five.
But, when looking back on the band's stardom, Nicks' is considered the most successful, so why did Christine McVie's star not rise in the same way?
Christine McVie's Contribution To Fleetwood Mac
When asked how McVie's "contribution stacks up against her bandmates," Katz said: "As far as songwriting, you look at it as a three-legged stool. When you take one of those legs away, the whole thing collapses."
He continued, "'Collapse' is too strong a word in the case of Fleetwood Mac, as they were all talented. But I think the magic of Fleetwood Mac was that you had Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and Christine McVie, three strong songwriters, three strong personalities, who were very different and yet complementary. A big part of their appeal was that you've got three great songwriters for the price of one when you bought a Fleetwood Mac record."
Katz believes having three strong songwriters in one band "trimmed down the fat."
Saying, "With Fleetwood Mac, if you've got four songs each from three great songwriters, you got their four best songs, and it really trimmed down the fat. I think that was what made them such a powerful group."
"In the old days, if you bought an album by one person, there were like 12 songs on it, and maybe four or five of them are great, and the other ones are good but not quite as exciting," Katz said.
Millions of people surely felt McVie's contribution to music, and Katz can't limit her legacy to just one thing. He said, "I hate to limit an artist by just saying it's all about one particular song. To me, that group of those five people, when they had their outsized success, it was this kind of magical combination of personalities that came together and produced this group."
Why Christine McVie Got Less Attention Than Stevie Nicks
Music Journalist Larry Katz revealed why Christine McVie is believed to have gotten less attention than Nicks'. A 1987 interview by Katz was digitized in 2022 at Northeastern University as part of a larger collection of interviews known as the "Katz Tapes."
When Katz interviewed McVie, Fleetwood Mac had just released their album Tango in the Night, which featured the hit single "Little Lies," co-written by McVie and her then-husband, Eddy Quintela.
Northeastern interviewed Katz about his time speaking with McVie, and they asked him why he thought McVie got less attention than Nicks. Katz said:
"Stevie Nicks had by far the bigger solo career; Stevie Nicks became a solo star on her own. [Recently] she said the initial single she made with Tom Petty was what kind of propelled her solo career, and she suddenly had this existence apart from Fleetwood Mac."
He continued, "That was never the case with Christine McVie, who did release a few solo albums. And I think she probably toured solo. So that was one obvious thing, that she didn't have these huge pop hits on her own."
Katz also believes it has to do with the two women's personalities and public personas: "But I also think it had to do with her personality, that she was just a quieter, more low-key person. If you saw Fleetwood Mac in concert, Stevie Nicks was dressed in her scarves and floated; she didn't play an instrument, so she was kind of floating around the stage and dancing, whereas Christine was trapped behind the keyboard off to the side."
"So, it wasn't like she got up and danced around or anything like that," Katz said. "I think it was just her personality, too, that she was more comfortable in that role. But as the obituaries pointed out, she was responsible for quite a lot of the band's popular songs."
Remembering Christine McVie Who Passed Away At 79
In November 2022, Christine McVie sadly passed away at 79 after suffering a "short illness."
Katz states McVie was fundamental to the group. Saying, "People will listen to Fleetwood Mac's songs and realize just how—not that she was unappreciated—but that she's just an irreplaceable part of that group. One of the first things I thought of is that Fleetwood Mac is unlikely to ever tour again, even though they kept on putting out these patchwork touring units of the group with one or another member missing."
He continued, "But I think without her now and the fact that Lindsey Buckingham is estranged from the other members, this spells, I believe, the end for Fleetwood Mac as a live group."
With the loss of McVie, Mick Fleetwood says there's no chance of a reunion for the iconic group.
"I truly think the line in the sand has been drawn with the loss of Chris," he explained. "I'd say we're done, but then we've all said that before," Fleetwood stated.
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