Happy 65th Birthday Christine McVie!! (July 12)

Happy Birthday Christine

July 12, 2008

An English songwriter, vocalist, pianist, and synthesizer player who has worked both in bands and as a solo artist, McVie is one of the most highly regarded female musicians in the genres of pop/rock and blues/rock. She is considered a pioneer, and was one of the first female musicians to enter the British blues scene of the 1960s, as well as one of the first to release a solo album. Her soulful alto, keen melodies, sensitive lyrics, and grounding presence were a focal point for nearly 30 years in Fleetwood Mac, a blues band that became a highly successful mainstream rock act.

The Heart of the Group

Christine McVie played keyboards and sang background vocals (sometimes uncredited) on several records by Fleetwood Mac, and she even painted the cover for their album Kiln House (1970). In August of 1970 she was asked to join as a permanent member, replacing guitarist Peter Green as the band's main songwriter. The early 1970s was a difficult period for Fleetwood Mac: they lost several band members and released critically acclaimed but generally unsuccessful records. In addition, John McVie had begun to drink heavily, and his behavior strained his marriage.

In 1974 Fleetwood Mac relocated to Los Angeles. After Fleetwood heard a recording by the California duo Buckingham Nicks in a Los Angeles studio, he invited the pair---guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and vocalist Stephanie "Stevie" Nicks---to join his band. The quintet's first recording, Fleetwood Mac (1975), was a huge success, becoming the top-selling album produced by Warner Brothers up to that point. Three of the four songs that Christine wrote for the record---"Over My Head," "Say You Love Me," and "Warm Ways"---were hit singles, and she also began a fruitful collaboration with Buckingham with "World Turning." Writing in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Colin Larkin called Fleetwood Mac "a promise fulfilled. The newcomers provided easy, yet memorable compositions while the British contingent gave the group its edge and power." The rest is history... [musicianguide.com]