Fleetwood Mac star Christine McVie has died following a short illness at the age of 79, her family confirmed today…
OBITUARY by Ian Woolley
Born in the Lake District village of Bouth in Lancashire, Christine Perfect spent her early life living in Birmingham. Born into a musical family, McVie’s father, Cyril Perfect, was an accomplished violinist and music lecturer at St Peter’s College of Education, and at 11 years of age, she was encouraged to learn music.
Early Chicken Shack
Meanwhile, led by guitarist Stan Webb, Andy Silvester, Stan Webb, and Christine Perfect were beginning to make blues waves with their band Chicken Shack which was suggested to them by American blues pianist Champion Jack Dupree.
It was black slang for a road-house blues venue. In 1967 they scored a hit with a cover of Etta James’s I’d Rather Go Blind.
Perfect met John McVie when the two bands would often meet up and being a big fan of Fleetwood Mac, the writing was on the wall. She married John McVie and decided to leave the band a year later to join her husband in Fleetwood Mac.
When the band’s early success dried out, the couple moved to the US in 1974, where both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who became two of the band’s most iconic singers, joined the band and the rest is history.
With Fleetwood Mac, 8 of her songs appeared on their 1988 Greatest Hits album, and singles like Don’t Stop, Everywhere, and Little Lies cemented the group firmly in the UK charts during the next two decades. To date, over 100 million records have been sold worldwide and Fleetwood Mac to this day is one of rock’s biggest venue fillers.
In 1998, Christine McVie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac but chose to leave the band after 30 years to live in semi-retirement in Kent. She released a solo album in 2004 and 9 years later appeared on stage with the band in London. The next year, she joined them on their ‘On with the Show’ tour.
A statement from her family said: “It is with a heavy heart we are informing you of Christine’s death.”
“She passed away peacefully at the hospital this morning, Wednesday, November 30th, 2022, following a short illness. “She was in the company of her family. We kindly ask that you respect the family’s privacy at this extremely painful time and 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.”
Two years ago, Fleetwood Mac’s founder Peter Green died.
Christine McVie was 79 years of age.