CHRISTINE MCVIE DIED of a stroke and cancer according to death certificate

Christine McVie Died of a Stroke and Metastasized Cancer: Report

The Fleetwood Mac star told Rolling Stone last June that she had been suffering from a "chronic back problem that debilitates me"

BY TOMÁS MIER

APRIL 3, 2023

Rollingstone

CHRISTINE MCVIE DIED of a stroke and cancer, a death certificate obtained by The Blast revealed Monday.

McVie suffered an ischemic stroke, meaning that the blood supply to part of the brain was interrupted or reduced, preventing brain tissue from getting oxygen and nutrients, according to the Mayo Clinic. The new information about the Fleetwood Mac member’s cause of death arrives more than three months after she died at age 79 on Nov. 30.

Per the death certificate, McVie had also been diagnosed with “metastatic malignancy of unknown primary origin,” indicating that cancer cells had been found in her body, but it was unclear where they had originated from.

McVie’s family had originally said that McVie died at the hospital “following a short illness” while surrounded by her family. “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,” her family wrote.

Fleetwood Mac also confirmed her passing in a social media statement, writing “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.”

The band added, “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.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone back in June 2022, McVie acknowledged that she was in “quite bad health.” She said she was struggling with a “chronic back problem,” though didn’t offer any further details.

“I don’t feel physically up for it,” she said about going on tour with the band. “I’m in quite bad health. I’ve got a chronic back problem, which debilitates me. I stand up to play the piano, so I don’t know if I could actually physically do it. What’s that saying? The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The death certificate was revealed in court documents filed to settle to singer’s massive estate. Christine was not married and never had any children. So, according to the filing, the singer’s brother and his children are the sole heirs of her musical fortune. Also, several charities are going to be the recipient of some of her assets, but it’s unclear how much.

The filing indicates that McVie’s fortune was in excess of $50 Million. Most of her assets are in the United States, but a bit of her liquid money was in the UK.

It should be noted, the singer’s longtime business manager is named as the executor of her estate. The documents reveal the estate has an urgent tax bill due, and it asking a judge to intervene. “It is urgent that this matter be heard as soon as possible, on an Ex Parte basis, due to the impending tax liability in the amount of £31,000,000 which must be paid on or before May 31, 2023. As mentioned above, the UK estate is subject to interest in penalties at a rate of 6.5% if such tax liability is not timely paid,” it states.

Christine McVie believed in true love, but she also believed in Fleetwood Mac

Christine McVie brought romantic optimism to Fleetwood Mac

Annie Zaleski - NPR

December 5, 2022

The song "Everywhere," a frothy pop hit found on Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night that's been covered by Vampire Weekend and Paramore, might be Christine McVie's most optimistic moment. As spine-tingling synths and undulating rhythms swirl around like glittery fairy dust, McVie, who died Nov. 30 at the age of 79 after a short illness, raves about a partner, alternating between wanting to shout about her new love and being left speechless by their beauty. "I want to be with you everywhere," she coos atop a slick of glacial harmonies. It's that extra word that makes a difference. She doesn't just want to be with someone, in general — she wants to be with them everywhere. The first points to making a connection; the second implies deeper pride and commitment and being all-in with your heart.

As a keyboardist, sometimes lead vocalist, and frequent principal songwriter for Fleetwood Mac from 1971's Future Games onward, McVie consistently embraced this type of deep, romantic optimism, comparing love to sunshine (1972's "Spare Me a Little of Your Love"), documenting flashes of unabashed flirting (1982's "Hold Me") and extolling the virtues of true love (1995's "I Do").

Such precision was a hallmark of this West Midlands-raised musician, whose father taught violin and grandfather played the organ at Westminster Abbey. Long before "Everywhere," McVie had been fond of stretching out words and syllables to emphasize poignant themes — as heard on 1975's slinky "Warm Ways," which amplifies "dream," "morning" and "light" to illuminate the coziness of sleeping by a beloved. McVie's busy, bluesy keyboard style, informed by piano lessons but also Fats Domino, Otis Spann and Freddie King, paired well with a soulful alto.

McVie's talent coalesced perhaps most strikingly on the tender piano ballad "Songbird," a highlight of Rumours. Heartfelt and gentle, the song describes the solace of being with someone whose love just feels right. "Songbird" was a piece dusted with magic: Written during a middle-of-the-night session, it was more like she channeled it from another dimension, as she once described to The Guardian. "I sang it from beginning to end: everything. I can't tell you quite how I felt; it was as if I'd been visited – it was a very spiritual thing."

It's a notable reminder that Fleetwood Mac's catalog isn't all bitter and beautiful breakup songs, though romantic tension will always be central to the band's appeal (and something of an albatross, too). On one hand, the band's complicated entanglements and tenuous relations led to creative genius, as with Rumours. More than 35 years after its release, the album remains an astonishing sales juggernaut, in no small part because of its nuanced depictions of stormy relationships. The songs function like conversations in a crowded room; Lindsey Buckingham tells one-time partner, Stevie Nicks, she can "go your own way" and "call it another lonely day," while Nicks in turn volleys back, "Listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness."

On the other hand, Fleetwood Mac's narrative is still dominated by the push-and-pull between Buckingham and Nicks, even though the couple broke up in the mid-'70s. Despite the passage of time, their up-and-down relationship remains a subject of fascination, most recently when personal disagreements played out in the press after Buckingham was reportedly fired from the group in 2018.

Not that McVie was immune to the intra-band romantic tumult: Then named Christine Perfect, she married bassist John McVie in 1968 and joined Fleetwood Mac a few years later. The couple divorced in 1976, and their post-breakup years dovetailed with the band's rise to superstardom, which McVie acknowledged could be difficult. "Both Stevie and I, we were married to Fleetwood Mac," she told Guitar World in 1997, as quoted in the 2016 book Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters. "That was what we did and it was a harsh marriage." McVie did remarry for real — to Eddy Quintela, her co-writer on multiple songs from 1987 onward — but that marriage also eventually ended.

Despite the real-life romantic disappointments, McVie's music wasn't diaristic. Speaking to The Guardian earlier this year, she was ambiguous about her inspirations: "Most of my songs are based on truth and real people, but a lot of them are just fantasies, really." That perhaps explains why McVie's songs maintain so much optimism despite lyrics that often express uncertainty.

Her narrators often aren't sure where they stand in a relationship or put up with challenging behaviors: indifference, moodiness, and emotional distance. On Tusk's brooding "Brown Eyes," the protagonist reveals her desire for someone right away, in the first verse. Only later do doubts creep in about their long-term chances: "And are you just another liar?"

The main characters of two other Tusk highlights — the languid, twangy album-opener "Over & Over" and the rocker "Think About Me" — ask for clarity point-blank. The latter's narrator justifies the ask by pointing out how much leeway she gives the other person: "I don't hold you down / And maybe that's why you're around."

But McVie's songs saw that admitting vulnerability could also be a strength. Even if a relationship wasn't perfect, better days might still be around the corner. Her protagonists might be insecure, but they didn't come across as meek — as in 1975's "Over My Head," in which things aren't necessarily going well with a moody partner: "Sometimes I can't help but feel / That I'm wasting all of my time" — and they weren't afraid to assert themselves. On the piano-driven "Prove Your Love," she explicitly says: "If you want to please me, baby / Then don't act like a child." There's pragmatism at the heart of her quest for silver linings.

In interviews, McVie frequently downplayed or understated her approach to songwriting. "I'm a pretty basic love-song writer," she told Guitar World. "Pretty basic relationship writer. I'd be the last one to say it for myself, but I've been told that I have a way of saying the obvious in a non-obvious way." McVie knew her strengths and stuck to them. "I stayed with songs that are simple and unpretentious," she told the Los Angeles Times while promoting her second solo album, a 1984 self-titled affair. "That's what I do best."

That consistency grounded Fleetwood Mac as the band's music evolved from snaky blues jams to polished pop-rock and into more experimental territory, before settling into an adult contemporary groove. McVie's melodies stood out like polished gems sifted out of an archaeological dig; early compositions like the pastoral folk of "Show Me a Smile" or the barnstorming boogie "Just Crazy Love" gave way to sleeker, polished fare on the Buckingham-less 1990 LP Behind the Mask and Nicks-free 1995 album Time. The former's title track, written by McVie, is especially haunting in the way it calls someone out for their two-facedness and says in no uncertain terms there are no second chances.

"We all just complement each other, because we're such different writers," McVie told me in 2017, in reference to Fleetwood Mac. "My contribution is the romance and the warmth. The love songs."

McVie only released three solo albums in her career (though earlier this year she released a compilation, Songbird, which featured two unreleased solo songs) and ended up taking a 16-year break from Fleetwood Mac, between 1998 and 2014. The time away rekindled McVie's enthusiasm for music. Decades after joining Fleetwood Mac, she never lost the romantic notion of being in a band. "Carnival Begin," recorded for her joint 2017 album with Lindsey Buckingham, details her feelings about jumping back into the chaos of touring and the Fleetwood Mac machine: "I want it all / All the sparkling things / A new merry go round."

McVie believed in true love, but she also believed in Fleetwood Mac. Talking to Rolling Stone in 1997, she shared one potential inspiration she thought of while conjuring "Songbird": "I think I just was thinking of all the band members – 'God, wouldn't it be nice just to be happy?' " That insight brings new meaning to one of the most touching lines on "Songbird": "I wish you all the love in the world / But most of all, I wish it from myself."

A life of music, laughter and ‘fantastic friends’

FLEETWOOD MAC SINGER-SONGWRITER WAS SIMPLE, DIRECT AND CONFESSIONAL IN HER SONGS — AND IN HER LIFE

WHEN I REACHED THE CHORUS THEY STARTED SINGING WITH ME AND FELL RIGHT INTO IT. I HEARD THIS INCREDIBLE SOUND — OUR THREE VOICES — AND  SAID TO MYSELF: ‘IS THIS ME SINGING?’ I COULDN’T BELIEVE HOW GREAT THIS THREE-VOICE HARMONY WAS. — CHRISTINE MCVIE

Christine Mcvie, who has died aged 79, was a singer and songwriter with Fleetwood Mac. She saw the band through their first incarnation as a British blues band and was part of the successful lineup during the subsequent years in the U.S., when her writing and singing formed the backbone to the highly personal album Rumours (1977), a musical autobiography cataloguing the emotional and drugfuelled lives of the band’s five members.

A classically trained pianist with a warm and smoky alto singing voice, she joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970, a year after her marriage to the band’s bass player, John Mcvie. At this stage based in Britain and still very much part of the British blues scene, Fleetwood Mac had just lost their founding member, Peter Green.

Mcvie was to become a key member (and initially the only female) of the group. She recorded three albums with them before agreeing, reluctantly, to move to the U.S. with her husband and the band’s drummer, Mick Fleetwood, in an attempt to revive Fleetwood Mac’s waning popularity.

Within a year they had recruited two American musicians, Lindsey Buckingham, an established guitarist and singer-songwriter, and his girlfriend and musical partner, Stevie Nicks. Buckingham and Nicks became, alongside Mcvie, the band’s principal singers and songwriters.

From the start, Mcvie realized that they had found a distinct new sound. “I started playing Say You Love Me,” she recalled, “and when I reached the chorus they started singing with me and fell right into it. I heard this incredible sound — our three voices — and said to myself: ‘Is this me singing?’ I couldn’t believe how great this three-voice harmony was.”

The three singers also complemented each other in terms of their songwriting and performing styles. Mcvie was the most understated, and when on stage she would always remain seated at her keyboards. Her songs were simple, direct and confessional, usually about the joy and heartache of love. Her fellow singer-songwriters were in turn mystical and ethereal (Nicks) and highly strung but technically controlled (Buckingham).

The new lineup released the album Fleetwood Mac in 1975. In addition to hit songs written and performed by Buckingham and Nicks, the album included Over My Head and Say You Love Me, by Mcvie, both of which reached the Top 20. But it was Rumours, which, two years later, was to become one of the biggest selling albums of all time.

Christine McVie appeared to maintain a cosmic serenity through it all

Voice of composure

Christine Mcvie helped hold Fleetwood Mac together with cosmic calm

CHRIS RICHARDS

The Washington Post

Love songs can be quaint little things or wild metaphysical proclamations, and it's so nice when they can be both, like in the case of Fleetwood Mac's Everywhere.

The year is 1987. The place is in the song's title. Christine Mcvie, her band's sturdiest yet somewhat stealthiest member, soars into the refrain on a rising melody that feels like a heart being released from gravity. Then comes a line as casually wonderful as a scribbled love note. “I wanna be with you everywhere.”

Here's the small way to hear it: I want you by my side when I wake up, when I walk the dog, when I do the grocery shopping.

Here's the big way to hear it: I want to experience the entirety of space-time with you, the sheer immensity of our love permeating every moment and location in this known universe, including the produce aisle.

In the turbulence of the Fleetwood Mac universe, it's also easy to hear Everywhere as a sort of culmination.

Mcvie, who died Wednesday at 79, wrote the song for the band's last great album, Tango in the Night, and it contains so many of the group's paradoxical magic tricks — vocal harmonies that sound both dreamy and in-your-face; a groove that lands pillowy and taut; that twitchy yearning beneath an overall sheen of calm that makes so many Fleetwood Mac songs feel effortless, urgent, fragile and expensive.

Famously, Mcvie was the voice of composure in her historically tumultuous crew. She married Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie in 1968, then joined the group a few years later, only to divorce in 1976 — a separation outshone by a concurrent split between bandmates Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. A year later, the gang released their planeteating Rumours album and became the biggest rock stars drawing breath.

McVie appeared to maintain a cosmic serenity through it all. This year, in an interview with Rolling Stone, she described herself as “the Mother Teresa who would hang out with everybody or just try and (keep) everything nice and cool and relaxed” — additionally noting, “Even though I am quite a peaceful person, I did enjoy that storm.”

Was she talking about her role in the band's dramarama or her place in their music?

Focus your attention on Mcvie's voice during the finest songs that she wrote, co-wrote, sung and co-sung — Don't Stop, You Make Loving Fun, Hold Me, Little Lies, Everywhere — and you can hear the durability of her singing as a form of peacekeeping, imbuing Fleetwood Mac's opulence with a sense of consistency, continuity and equanimity.

In that same interview, when asked in which era of the band she felt most happy, Mcvie said, “I think I was happy pretty much all the time.”

Christine McVie's music so powerful, so meaningful

Christine McVie

Spotify Playlist

1

At least today, in their grief, everybody can listen to Christine McVie's music.

It didn't used to be this way. First and foremost because the record stores immediately ran out of inventory, and it would take weeks for new records to be pressed and shipped.

But that makes the point that we owned a limited number of records in the pre-internet, pre-Spotify era. Which is all to say there were groups we were aware of that we owned no albums of, like Fleetwood Mac.

Of course I knew "Oh Well," it was an FM staple when most people were still listening to AM. FM addicts were hipper, clued-in on certain tracks and bands that were unknown to the hoi polloi.

And ultimately "Oh Well" was stripped into the band's 1969 album "Then Play On," which I saw all the time in the bins, it had that unique cover.

And then Santana had a huge hit with "Black Magic Woman," which the same FM acolytes knew was written by Peter Green and done by Fleetwood Mac, even though in many cases we'd never heard the original, which we eventually did, you'd think it would have gained contemporaneous airplay on these same FM stations, but it did not. But eventually we were at somebody's house who had "Then Play On." That was a feature of going to a friend's domicile, to not only comb through their albums, but to play certain tracks you loved that you didn't own and probably never would.

And then Peter Green left the band and not only was there an endless succession of guitarists, one left the group to join the Children of God, and then there was that fake band put out by the manager and...

This was all news, I knew all this, but most of the music meant nothing to me, I'd never even heard it.

And then came "Station Man." Christine McVie neither wrote it nor sang the lead vocal, after all she wasn't even a band member, but she was unmistakable in the background vocals, it was the first Fleetwood Mac track I cottoned to, that I wanted to hear again, that I turned up every time I heard it on the radio.

And then Christine joined the band. I read that she'd been in Chicken Shack, but that band meant absolutely nothing in the U.S. Cool that she was married to the group's bass player, John McVie, but...

It was the early seventies. You could make a number of albums for a major label and never have a hit. Which was the case with Fleetwood Mac. They'd promote the records, you'd see them in ads, in the store, but chances are you never bought them. I certainly did not.

And then, five albums after "Kiln House," which contained the aforementioned "Station Man," came "Heroes Are Hard to Find."

I'm talking the single, the opening cut, not the entire album. Like "Station Man," you heard "Heroes Are Hard to Find" on the radio and continued to hear it. There was that groove, but even more there was that recitation of the title in the chorus that was so magical, actually the same magic Christine brought to subsequent Fleetwood Mac albums, but this was the first time I remembered it shining, hearing it shine on the radio.

And then came "Over My Head."

2

"You can take me to the paradise

And then again you can be cold as ice"

Let's see, it was my second year in Utah. At the end of which I realized I had to leave or else I'd be there forever.

You see I'd made friends with the freestylers the previous May in Mammoth, we were all gonna compete on the tour the following year. Jimmy Kay had competed the year before.

But Jimmy got aced out the following December, I choked and Jimmy went back to New Jersey to lick his wounds with his family, Al went back to L.A. and I stayed in the apartment with "Chang," a Vietnamese student who hadn't heard from his family in years.

This is when it hit me, what was I doing here? I didn't even want to ski. It made no sense. When I was in college skiing was part of my overall life, now it was everything and I needed more.

Jimmy said I could sleep in his bed while he was gone (I'd been sleeping on the couch before this). And therefore I could play his 8-tracks, he had two brand new ones, that he'd recorded from albums he bought, "Fleetwood Mac" and "A Night at the Opera." This is when I fell in love with "I'm in Love With My Car." And "39." My favorite song on the album was and probably still is "Your My Best Friend," but when listening to the album these two tracks surfaced. As for "Bohemian Rhapsody," it was just a cool novelty song, a track dedicated radio listeners knew, not a classic on the level of "Stairway to Heaven," that would take years, really it was the "Wayne's World" movie that made it iconic, the same way "Don't Stop Believin'" was made iconic by its inclusion in the finale of "The Sopranos."

Now I first heard "Over My Head" on the radio, I found it infectious, because contrary to seemingly everything else, it was understated, a track that set your mind free. You know, the kind that made you think you too could be in love, maybe even with Christine McVie.

Yes, I knew who she was. Stevie Nicks was just another woman in the band, one who did not play an instrument, Christine's single came out first. And I'd say Christine was the star, but that's just the point, she was an anti-star, she wasn't dolled up to look like a model, she wasn't asked twenty questions in a dumb magazine article, she was one of the guys, a boys' girl, and there were very few of those in rock and roll. Bonnie Raitt is the only other one that comes to mind. You felt like you could hang with both of them, that there was something below the surface, that they spoke your language, that they weren't prissy, you didn't have to be on guard the entire time, you could just be yourself. and isn't that what we're all looking for?

And on Christmas Day, my parents called. Jews do this, even though the holiday does not apply. Usually we eat Chinese food and go to the movies, maybe two, at least that's what we used to do, well, when I moved to L.A. But before that, every Christmas Day I went skiing, and my parents were in Vermont doing same and I told my mother I was at loose ends and she castigated me and told me to get a job. My father said he didn't know what was going on, but he was gonna send me twenty bucks and I should go for a good meal, that I'd figure it out.

And then I got back into Jimmy's bed and fired up "Over My Head," listened to it over and over again, which ain't that easy to do on an 8-track.

There’s much to applaud about the multitalented Christine McVie

Farewell to Christine McVie, who gave us music for all time

Barbara Ellen

Dec 4, 2022

The Guardian

The Fleetwood Mac singer songwriter, who died last week, is among a select group whose music is culturally indelible

Most of us have our favourite musical artists, the ones we deliberately seek out, but what about the other kind, the ones who wriggle in through the trapdoor of your mind? That, in the sweetest, strangest way, gatecrash your cultural consciousness when you’re not quite paying attention, then embed there. Forever.

When news came of the death of Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie at age 79, the internet did one of its loving, sorrowful double-takes. Of course it did. There’s much to applaud about the multitalented McVie: those scuffed-velvet vocals; the chilled charisma of a woman who truly knew herself; that decades-spanning rock’n’roll sisterhood with fellow band member Stevie Nicks laying waste to the sexist fiction that two highly creative women always have to end up in a catfight.

And, of course, McVie’s songwriting: Little Lies, Songbird, Don’t Stop, The Chain – the last three all from a single album, Fleetwood Mac’s 1977, 45m-selling Rumours. This is where the reaction to McVie, and more generally to Fleetwood Mac, starts to splinter. On the one hand, the many devotees, the Mac-heads. On the other, people, hazy on details, but who realise they know more Mac-songs than they thought. And who mentally flash on to the Rumours album cover (Mick with his ponytail; Nicks arching in shadowy robes) as easily as recalling the face of a childhood friend.

None of which is remotely surprising. What McVie’s passing brings home is that, somewhere along the way, she and Fleetwood Mac near as dammit became their own genre. That they’re part of a relatively select canon of artists who have not only been enjoyed for decades, but have become culturally indelible, like a tattooing of the collective psyche.

There’s nothing new about this or about monetising it. It’s why companies such as Hipgnosis have been paying out billions on back catalogues, to older and younger artists (with McVie and certain other members of the band signing up). The companies know certain artists have an impact far beyond music platforms. That it’s not just about what people choose to hear through their headphones or speakers, it’s also about musical osmosis: background sounds swirling around us. The idea that, to a certain extent, the soundtrack of your life is decided without you.

This is how songs from rock, pop, and every other genre become as immortal as Christmas carols. How Elton John can announce that next year’s headlining Glastonbury slot will be his last, but we all know Goodbye Yellow Brick Road isn’t going anywhere. It’s where Madonna will always be vogueing and the Beatles eternally walk barefoot across the Abbey Road crossing. It’s also where Christine will be playing synth and singing into her mike, alongside Stevie, John, Mick and Lindsey forever.

Isn’t this the sweet spot in which Fleetwood Mac find themselves? They’re woven into the tapestry of life in a way beyond mere commercial longevity, rather a blend of talent, magnetism and cultural immersion. I like to think the famously modest McVie was privately thrilled this is where her musical contribution ended up. She did the work, she paid her dues and now all those songs – those California-soaked hymns to dreams and nightmares – are just “there”, part of the collective memory; music society has decided it just can’t shake.

McVie forged a legendary history on the Billboard Hot 100 with Fleetwood Mac

Christine McVie’s Top 10 Biggest Hot 100 Hits

McVie forged a legendary history on the Billboard Hot 100 with Fleetwood Mac & as a soloist.

By Keith Caulfield

Billboard

Photo Randee St. Nicholas

Late singer-songwriter Christine McVie, who died Nov. 30 at age 79, left a great impression on Billboard’s charts through the decades, thanks to her pure pop/rock sensibility that often lifted Fleetwood Mac, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band in which she was a longtime member, to incredible heights.

For most of Fleetwood Mac’s hitmaking career, McVie was one of its three primary singers and songwriters, alongside Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Notably, McVie wrote and sang lead vocals on three of the band’s top four biggest hits on the Billboard Hot 100 – including the group’s biggest song, “Hold Me.”

Billboard has exclusively compiled McVie’s top 10 biggest hits on the Hot 100 chart, based on actual performance on the weekly survey. Included were any charted songs by Fleetwood Mac that McVie wrote and on which she sang lead vocals, as well as her solo recordings outside the band.

McVie’s biggest Hot 100 hit is the 1982 Fleetwood Mac song “Hold Me,” which was released as the first single from the band’s Mirage album. It spent a staggering seven weeks at its peak of No. 4 on the weekly Hot 100 chart – a then-record for that peak rank. McVie sang lead vocals on “Hold Me,” and it was written by McVie and Robbie Patton. (Overall, “Hold Me” is Fleetwood Mac’s biggest Hot 100 hit, while the group’s No. 2 hit is its lone chart-topper on the weekly Hot 100 – 1977’s “Dreams,” penned by Nicks, who also sang its lead vocal.)

McVie’s second-biggest all-time Hot 100 hit is “Little Lies,” which was released in 1987 as the third single from Fleetwood Mac’s Tango in the Night album. McVie had lead vocal duties on the cut, and she co-wrote it with her then-husband Eddy Quintela.

Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” – which was solely written by McVie, who shared lead vocals with Buckingham – is her third-biggest Hot 100 hit. The track became one of four top 10-charting singles from the mega-successful Rumours album. The set spent 31 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 – still a record for any album by a group.

Fleetwood Mac’s “Say You Love Me” and “You Make Loving Fun” (both singularly written by McVie, who sang lead) round out McVie’s top five biggest Hot 100 hits. The former was released in 1976 as the final single from the band’s self-titled album. That album was the first to feature the lineup of Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Nicks, Christine McVie and her first husband John McVie.

The Buckingham/Fleetwood/Nicks/McVie/McVie lineup would release five studio albums (from 1975’s self-titled set through 1987’s Tango In the Night) and two live albums (1980’s Live and 1997’s The Dance). All four of the act’s No. 1 albums were by that famed lineup, with the self-titled set, Rumours, Mirage and The Dance all topping the Billboard 200.

Christine McVie’s 10 Biggest Billboard Hits recap is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. To ensure equitable representation of the biggest hits from each era, certain time frames were weighted to account for the difference between turnover rates from those years.

10. Fleetwood Mac’s “Think About Me,” from Tusk, peaked at No. 20 in 1980.

09. Fleetwood Mac’s “Love In Store,” from Mirage, peaked at No. 22 in 1983.

08. Fleetwood Mac’s “Over My Head,” from the band’s self-titled 1975 album, peaked at No. 20 in 1976.

07. Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere,” from Tango in the Night, peaked at No. 14 in 1988.

06. Christine McVie’s “Got a Hold On Me,” from her self-titled second solo album, peaked at No. 10 in 1984.

05. Fleetwood Mac’s “You Make Loving Fun,” from Rumours, peaked at No. 9 in 1977.

04. Fleetwood Mac’s “Say You Love Me,” from Fleetwood Mac, peaked at No. 11 in 1976.

03. Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop,” from Rumours, peaked at No. 3 in 1977.

02. Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies,” from Tango in the Night, peaked at No. 4 in 1987.

01. Fleetwood Mac’s “Hold Me,” from Mirage, spent seven weeks at No. 4 in 1982.

Christine McVie staked her claim as one of the most potent singer-songwriters of her generation

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.

ROB LEDONNE

GRAMMYS - DEC 2, 2022

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."

Album Sales Jump In Response To Christine McVie's Death

UK Album Sales

 

The death, at the age of 79, of Fleetwood Mac legend Christine McVie was announced on Wednesday (30 November). In apparent response, the band’s most celebrated album, Rumours, bounces 42-24, achieving a 31-week high on consumption of 3,585 units, while the most recent compilation of the band’s work, 50 Years: Don’t Stop holds at No.23 (3,667 sales). In reality, Rumours was already at No.28 on Wednesday’s sales flashes before McVie’s death, while 50 Years was at No.24. They therefore secured only minor improvements after her demise – partly because, as is most frequently the case, streaming data was not available from most major players for Thursday, with the week’s data to that point being upweighted to compensate. However, sales of CD & vinyl editions of Rumours were up 56.36% week-on-week from 848 to 1,326, while digital downloads were up 2045.45% from just 22 to 472.

iTunes Charts November 30th, December 1, 2, 3

Wed November 30, 2022, 23:30

ALBUMS CHART

18 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

27 Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits

28 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (Deluxe Edition)

38 Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac (Remastered)

SONG CHART

Thu December 1, 2022, 10:47

20 Fleetwood Mac - Songbird

33 Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere

34 Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

35 Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies

73 Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

86 Eva Cassidy - Songbird

ALBUMS CHART

6 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

11 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (Deluxe Edition)

15 Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits

17 Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac (Remastered)

22 Christine McVie - Songbird (A Solo Collection)

29 Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night (Remastered)

51 Christine McVie - Christine McVie

59 Lindsey Buckingham / Christine McVie - Lindsey Buckingham / Christine McVie

60 Fleetwood Mac - 50 Years - Don't Stop

SONG CHART

Fri December 2, 2022, 02:22

3 Fleetwood Mac - Songbird

16 Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere

19 Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies

21 Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Blind

27 Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

30 Fleetwood Mac - Dreams

31 Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

32 Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop

47 Eva Cassidy - Songbird

49 Christine McVie - Songbird (Orchestral Version)

51 Fleetwood Mac - You Make Loving Fun

55 Fleetwood Mac - Songbird (2002 Remastered)

71 Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

74 Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies (2002 Remastered)

75 Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon

80 Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere (2002 Remastered)

83 Fleetwood Mac - Dreams

89 Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way (2002 Remastered)

99 Fleetwood Mac - Say You Love Me

ALBUMS CHART

3 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

8 Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits

9 Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac (Remastered)

12 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (Deluxe Edition)

13 Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night (Remastered)

14 Christine McVie - Songbird (A Solo Collection)

21 Fleetwood Mac - 50 Years: Don't Stop

29 Lindsey Buckingham / Christine McVie - Lindsey Buckingham / Christine McVie

30 Fleetwood Mac - The Dance (Live)

40 Chicken Shack - The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions

44 Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac

46 Christine McVie - Christine McVie

57 Fleetwood Mac - Tusk (Remastered)

91 Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night (Deluxe)

The Warner family has lost a dear friend of many decades with the passing of Christine McVie

CHRISTINE MCVIE,

1943-2022

Hits Daily Double

Keyboardist, singer and songwriter Christine McVie, a key member of Fleetwood Mac during its commercial peak in the 1970s and '80s, died on 11/30 after a short illness. She was 79.

The surviving members of Fleetwood Mac issued a statement that reads: “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.”

McVie, who used her maiden name, Christine Perfect, as a solo artist and member of Chicken Shack in the 1960s, married Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie and joined his band as a permanent member in 1971. (She was a guest on two of their '60s albums.) As the group evolved from its blues-rock roots with a revolving cast of guitarists and singers, McVie blossomed as a songwriter and lead singer on such albums as Mystery to Me and Heroes Are Hard to Find; a contribution to 1972's Bare Trees, "Spare Me a Little of Your Love," demonstrated the unique soulfulness that would become her vocal trademark.    

Even after Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band and gave it a new look and pop spin, McVie was on equal footing as a writer and singer: She had two Top 20 hits, “Over My Head” and “Say You Love Me,” on Fleetwood Mac's self-titled 1975 breakthrough album and for its follow-up, 1977’s era-defining Rumours, wrote and sang “Don’t Stop,” “You Make Lovin’ Fun,” “Oh Daddy” and “Songbird.”

Following the Buckingham/Nicks-dominated Tusk, which featured McVie’s “Think About Me,” she provided the band’s late-era hits “Hold Me,” “Little Lies” and “Save Me.” Her voice has lately been used to sell Chevrolets, with “Everywhere,” from 1987’s Tango in the Night, revived thanks to the oft-played commercial.

McVie chose to stop playing live with the band following a 1990 tour and sat out a 1994 reunion with Buckingham, Nicks, John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood, performing with the group a handful of times through 1998. The standout gig during that period was the televised 1997 special that became the multimillion-seller The Dance.

McVie rejoined Fleetwood Mac for a 2014 tour and a 2018 run with Neil Finn and Mike Campbell replacing Buckingham.

As a solo artist, McVie released three albums—1970’s Christine Perfect, 1984’s Christine McVie, which cracked the Top 30, and 2004’s In the Meantime—and, most recently, an eponymous 2017 album with Buckingham.

McVie was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac. 

"The loss of Christine McVie is not only devastating to all of us in her Warner Music family across the globe but to the entire music community and her countless millions of fans," reads a quote from WMG Recorded Music chief Max Lousada. "From her early days with Chicken Shack to her phenomenal time with Fleetwood Mac to her brilliant solo work, Christine has been in our collective musical consciousness for nearly six decades. Her voice was unmistakable and indelible, her songwriting beautiful and peerless and her live performances powerful and entrancing. She was, and is, a musical icon for the ages, and she will be deeply missed. Our condolences go out to her family, friends and bandmates."

"The Warner family has lost a dear friend of many decades with the passing of Christine McVie," added President of Global Catalog, Recorded Music Kevin Gore. "She was an exceptionally gifted musician, with her signature vocals and impeccable songwriting front and center on many of Fleetwood Mac’s most beloved hits. I had the honor of spending time with Christine a few years ago to discuss how to best present her solo work, and I’m so pleased with the collection she produced, which recently earned a Grammy nomination. Our deepest condolences go out to Christine’s family, bandmates and friends, along with her legions of fans around the world. Warner Music will continue to honor and preserve Christine’s unparalleled legacy and, though she may no longer be with us, we will all, like the songbird, keep singing her songs."

"We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Christine McVie," reads a statement from the Eagles. "Hers was a vibrant, soulful spirit, and her music was, and will remain, a gift to the world. We had the utmost admiration and respect for Christine. We send our heartfelt condolences to her family, her bandmates and her legions of fans." 

Stevie Nicks once said from the stage that McVie was her “mentor, big sister, best friend”

‘I would probably be delighted’ – how Christine McVie opened up about wanting to rejoin Fleetwood Mac

For a fan, interviewing the late musician was like a surreal dream. Better still was the privilege of hearing about her lifelong friendship with Stevie Nicks

By Tim Jonze

The Guardian

Dec 2, 2022

For a fan, interviewing the late musician was like a surreal dream. Better still was the privilege of hearing about her lifelong friendship with Stevie Nicks

It was strange enough being in Christine McVie’s flat – high up and hovering over a stretch of the River Thames in Battersea with an upright piano in the corner of the room (oh, to be her neighbour). But it was stranger still hearing what she had to say. As we sat together on her light grey sofa in December 2013, McVie told me how she had left Fleetwood Mac in 1998 thinking that she wanted a quiet life in the Kent countryside with her dogs and Hunter wellies. But that hadn’t been what she had wanted at all. Fifteen years on, McVie was restless, isolated, a little lonely … and wouldn’t it be nice if she could be back playing with the band? “If they were to ask me, I would probably be very delighted,” she ventured nervously.

What was I supposed to say to this? It seemed obvious to me that they would take her back in a flash. Earlier that year, Stevie Nicks had said she’d “beg, borrow and scrape together $5m and give it to her in cash if she would come back. That’s how much I miss her!” And just two months before, McVie had even appeared on stage with Fleetwood Mac to thrill the crowd with a surprise encore of her hit Don’t Stop.

Of course, it’s eminently possible that this was all stage-managed by the band: ask McVie to sound reticent in front of a journalist in order to build the hype around her grand return. But this was also a genuinely dysfunctional band that revolved around the careful massaging of male egos. Communicating their deepest desires to each other via the press was equally likely. I think McVie was being genuine in her cautious approach, not just because I like to pretend I played a key role in getting the classic lineup of Fleetwood Mac back together, but because everything about her seemed genuine.

When I told McVie how excited I was to meet her – a rare bit of fanboying that I would normally steer well clear of – she looked uncertain how to respond, a tad embarrassed. While Nicks, who I had met a few weeks earlier in Paris, had spoken fantastically about fate and celestial beings and communicating with her late mother through her jewellery, McVie told me tales about mastering blues bass lines with her left hand and how she supposed she must be “good with hooks”. (“Oh, do you think so?” I had to hold myself back from replying to the woman who had written Say You Love Me, Over My Head, You Make Loving Fun, Songbird, Don’t Stop, Over and Over, Hold Me, Little Lies and Everywhere.)

The difference between the two female members of the band played out in the music, too, where McVie, with her optimistic songs about falling head over heels in love and moving on from broken hearts, complemented Nicks’s more mystical and poetic output. In a way, McVie was the McCartney to Nicks’s Lennon; each was stronger for having the other by her side.

The same was true, I discovered, about them as people. It was a privilege to hear the story of their friendship, something that can get lost beneath the wreckage of the affairs and cocaine-fuelled rows that serve the Fleetwood Mac myth. Because what really kept the band afloat during their most tumultuous period was the bond that these two sisters of the moon shared from the moment they first met up – for Mexican food in 1974.

Back then, McVie was given the final say on whether Nicks could join the band. She admitted that she might have felt threatened by another woman, five years younger and from glamorous Los Angeles, competing with her for songwriting space. But she liked Nicks instantly – and from there the band’s music blossomed. There were still plenty of tantrums, of course, and lots of bitchy infighting – only it was the men providing all that. Whenever tensions simmered too high between the guys, Nicks and McVie would seek solace in each other: sharing Dunkin’ Donuts, doing each other’s makeup, rolling their eyes at the bad behaviour of their male counterparts.

There were double standards galore. After the splits – between Christine and John McVie, and Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham – the two women were discouraged from bringing their subsequent partners on tour. What would be the point when their exes would just glare at them and start fights? But the men would happily bring their new girlfriends along. “Oh, it was all right for them,” said McVie. “But whatever keeps the lads happy, I suppose.”

They might have been pragmatic but they were no pushovers. “We made a pact, probably in our first rehearsal, that we would never accept being treated as second-class citizens in the music business,” Nicks told me. “That when we walked into a room we would be so fantastic and so strong and so smart that none of the uber-rockstar group of men would look through us. And they never did.”

Nicks once said from the stage that McVie was her “mentor … big sister … best friend”. I was probably only in her London flat for an hour or so, but I left feeling that if I were ever in a globe-straddling rock band, dealing with the many madnesses of the music industry, there would be few better people to have on your side than Christine McVie.

Fleetwood Mac Band Members Statements on the Passing of Christine McVie

Stevie Nicks Memorializes Christine McVie, Her ‘Best Friend in the Whole World’
by Devon Ivie
Vulture

Christine McVie, the prolific soul of Fleetwood Mac, died November 30 at the age of 79 following a short illness. Stevie Nicks, her songbird in music and life for nearly five decades, released a statement to honor their relationship, which began when Nicks joined the band for their Fleetwood Mac album. “A few hours ago I was told that my best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975 had passed away. I didn’t even know she was ill until late Saturday night,” Nicks wrote on social media. “I wanted to be in London. I wanted to get to London. But we were told to wait. So, 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. I always knew I would need these words one day.” Nicks included a page of handwritten lyrics to Haim’s “Hallelujah” as the mentioned song, which recounts the death and legacy of a friend. “See you on the other side, my love,” she added. “Don’t forget me.”

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Mick Fleetwood, the band’s drummer, wrote on social media that “memories abound” when thinking of McVie. She joined Fleetwood Mac as a full member in 1971, with Future Games serving as her official debut as a singer and songwriter, although she worked as a session musician for the band starting with 1968’s Mr. Wonderful. “This is a day where my dear sweet friend Christine McVie has taken to flight and left us earthbound folks to listen with bated breath to the sounds of that ‘song bird,’ reminding one and all that love is all around us to reach for and touch in this precious life that is gifted to us,” he said. “Part of my heart has flown away today.”

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Guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham posted a handwritten note on Instagram calling McVie’s death “profoundly heartbreaking.” “Not only were she and I part of the magical family of Fleetwood Mac, to me Christine was a musical comrade, a friend, a soul mate, a sister,” he wrote. “For over four decades, we helped each other create a beautiful body of work and a lasting legacy that continues to resonate today. I feel very lucky to have known her.” The final classic lineup member of Fleetwood Mac, McVie’s ex-husband and bassist John McVie, has yet to speak publicly about her death.

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A post shared by Lindsey Buckingham (@lindseybuckingham)

 Statement from Fleetwood Mac

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