KWXY Presents ● The Music of Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac in 1977. From left to right: Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham. Group advertising photograph of Fleetwood Mac for their album Rumours, published on the June 25, 1977 p.86, issue of Billboard magazine.
Fleetwood Mac is a rock band which begun as a British blues band in 1967. Their biggest successes were during the mid-1970s, and the band continues to tour and record with the lineup formed in 2018.
The original July 1967 lineup as The Bluesbreakers was guitarist Peter Green, drummer Michael “Mick” Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and singer/songwriter/instrumentalist John Mayall. The group recorded five songs in London thanks to free recording time provided by Mayall. One was an instrumental which Green named “Fleetwood Mac” after Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, with “Mac” being short for “McVie.”
In 1974, in need of a new lead vocalist and guitarist, Fleetwood heard the folk-rock duo, Lindsey Adams Buckingham and Stephanie Lynn “Stevie” Nicks in 1974. Buckingham agreed to join the band if Nicks could join as well.
With new players and a new sound, Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled 1975 album reached number one in the US, went seven times platinum and produced the Top 20 singles, “Over My Head,” “Say You Love Me” and “Rhiannon.”
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours / Station Album Cover. Rumours is the eleventh studio album by Fleetwood Mac, released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records.
An album which would go on to be among the best-selling in history was released in 1978. Rumours produced four Top 10 singles (“Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Loving Fun”) remained number one on the US album charts for thirty-one weeks, sold over 10 million copies within a month of its release and won the Grammy for Album of the Year. It has since been considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time, was deemed worthy of preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2003 and ranked the seventh-greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone in 2020.
Lindsey Buckingham wanted to record something more experimental for their next album, working on some tracks at home. Tusk was a twenty-track double album released in 1979; the title track featured the USC Trojan Marching Band and was a Top 10 US hit. Nicks’s “Sara” also became a hit when its original album length of six and a half minutes was cut down by two minutes for airplay and release as a single.
After 1982’s Mirage which was more in line with their original sound, Fleetwood Mac went on a temporary hiatus with Nicks, Buckingham and John McVie’s wife, singer Christine McVie each releasing successful solo albums. However, a meeting at Christine McVie’s house led to a major disagreement, leading to the departure of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The 1990 release, Behind the Mask featured new members Billy Burnette and Rick Vito.
Fleetwood Mac - Billboard Magazine May 14,1977 trade ad for Rumours album with Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks
In 1997, the original Rumours lineup reunited and released a live album, The Dance, recorded on a Warner Bros. soundstage. Christine McVie left the band in 1978 and in 2009, the band embarked on their “Unleashed” tour, again without McVie.
McVie returned in 2014, only to have Buckingham depart for a second time. The current lineup is Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, lead guitarist Mike Campbell and vocalist/rhythm guitarist Neil Finn.
KWXY Presents ● “The Music of Fleetwood Mac” today at 5pm hosted by Louie Comella, on KWXY Music Radio 92.3FM ● 1340AM ● streaming at kwxy.com and ivoxradio.com