Q&A with Christine McVie on her return to performing with Fleetwood Mac

Christine McVie on rejoining Fleetwood Mac
CBSNews.com

Born in England, singer, songwriter and keyboardist Christine Perfect joined the band Fleetwood Mac in 1970, after marrying the band's bass player John McVie. She performed with the group through it's most successful years, which saw the release the such top-selling albums as the 1975 "Fleetwood Mac," "Rumours, " "Tusk," and "Mirage."

She left the group in 1998, but this year has rejoined Fleetwood Mac, recording songs for an upcoming album and heading out on tour with her bandmates -- Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and ex-husband John McVie -- for the first time in 17 years.

Correspondent John Blackstone recently talked with McVie about her return to performing with Fleetwood Mac.

John Blackstone: On that rehearsal stage, does it seem like you were never gone? Or-- or is it a struggle sometimes?

Christine McVie: I thought it was gonna be a struggle, to be honest. I was a little anxious. But actually walking onto the stage, I mean, we started off in a smaller room that didn't have a stage, that was just one big flat room all on the same level. And it was much more of a laid-back rehearsal atmosphere.

But the moment you find yourself playing with these fantastic musicians and friends, it just melted away. And now I feel completely comfortable, really, surprisingly so.

Blackstone: Surprised yourself?

McVie: I surprised myself, indeed. I thought I was gonna be much more nervous. And we did a bit of recording beforehand as well earlier this year, which I had a little trepidation about. But that ended up being a magical time for us all. And hopefully, we'll finish the album next year. And now looking forward to the tour. (laughs) It's gonna be fantastic.

Blackstone: This all started with you climbing on a plane to Hawaii, having the nerve to climb on a plane to Hawaii.

McVie: Well, yeah. I've told quite a few people this story. But still, I mean, it's worth a tell. I did have a phobia about flying. And I had the phobia when I left Fleetwood Mac. It was a multiple of different reasons that led me to leave -- my father had died in England, and I wanted to be close to my own family there. So I bought a house.

Q&A Stevie Nicks talks about her relationships with members of Fleetwood Mac

Stevie Nicks on Mick Fleetwood
CBSNews.com

Singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks began performing in bands in high school in California, and later joined Lindsey Buckingham's band, Fritz, opening for such artists as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane. After three-and-a-half-years Fritz disbanded, and in 1973 Nicks and Buckingham recorded the album, "Buckingham Nicks."

Soon after, they joined Mick Fleetwood and Christine and John McVie's band on their eponymous 1975 album, "Fleetwood Mac." Nicks would continue with the group to this day, recording eight albums, while also recording eight solo albums, including the 2014 release, "25 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault."

CBS News correspondent John Blackstone recently talked with Nicks about her relationships with members of Fleetwood Mac, who are regrouping with former member Christine McVie for a new album and tour.

John Blackstone: You're a better singer now than you were in the 1970s, Stevie.

Stevie Nicks: So much better. So much better. I'm really trained. I could teach voice now.

Blackstone: Mick said, "As much as Stevie said she'd like time off, that girl just keeps workin'." You got a new album comin' out. You're doin' this tour. You can't stop. You don't wanna stop.

Nicks: You know what? It's kind of like, what else would you do? This is my job. This is what I've been doing since I was a senior in high school, and I joined my first band with, you know, three girls and five guys [singing] Bob Dylan songs.

And I learned to play the guitar, not very well, but well enough to play for my mom and dad and convince them that I was gonna be a singer. And so it's what I do. I enjoy it. I think I would be probably better served to take a little bit of a break once in a while. The last time I actually had a real vacation was 2008. And I went to Mexico for three months. And I should do that every once in a while.

But it seems that every time I almost get to booking that trip -- we were not supposed to come back out on the road this year. And then Christine called and said, 'I'm back.' And then all of a sudden, shows went on sale and sold out in the beginning of February. So there was no time for that. So I kind of look at it as, well, I guess it's better to have a job than to not have a job!

Christine McVie: Why she quit and rejoined the band

by Jon Bream
Star Tribune

Photo: Danny Clinch

On why she left

“I’d developed a dreadful fear of flying. I was fed up with the travel and all the schlepping. I think I got burned out with that. Then my father died. I bought a house in England. I wanted to spend more time with my family in England after the big earthquake we had; I wanted to get out of L.A. I was a country lady, living in a big house with the dogs and cooking. I just wanted to calm down and breathe and lead a normal life for a bit. I told the guys when we were doing the last tour [in 1998], and they accepted it. It wasn’t ever anything personal.”

On her music career

“I did make a solo album with my nephew in my studio. But I was still afraid of flying, so I didn’t want to tour.”

On why she came back

“I think it came to a point where I said: ‘What am I going to do? I can’t sit here and watch my dogs get old. I’ve got to do something.’ I wanted to play music. But I couldn’t fly. So I went to a therapist and got myself sorted out. It so happened that Mick [Fleetwood] was coming into London to promote Fleetwood Mac’s upcoming tour in Europe. He called me. I said, ‘I’m going to try to get to Maui’ [where he lived]. He said: ‘You’ll get on a plane? You come with me. We’ll go back together.’ That’s what I did. I got on the plane, and I never thought about it again. I [later] went all over Africa on this tiny 12-seater plane and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I said to Mick: ‘What would you do if I were to rejoin the band?’ ”

On preparing for the tour

“Mick and I are sharing this house in L.A., and we have a terrific friendship. It’s like a health farm. We work out separately with a trainer. She also cooks for us.”

On her voice

“We have the same chap [vocal coach] we had before I left the band. He’s fantastic. My voice is holding up really well. They say I’m singing like a bird.”

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

Pre-Order from Stevienicksofficial.com Available October 7th.

Fleetwood Mac's famously fractured family is together, including Christine McVie

Photo: Danny Clinch

by: Jon Bream
Star Tribune 

Christine McVie is back in the picture after a 16-year separation. Fleetwood Mac talks about their oft-fractured ties and the reunion tour opening in Minneapolis Tuesday.

She’s back! Finally. After a 16-year retirement, singer/keyboardist Christine McVie has returned to Fleetwood Mac.

The “Rumours” lineup is intact. The band can perform “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Lovin’ Fun” the way they were meant to be played. Fleetwood Mac will be whole once again.

Wait a minute, sister. It’s not that simple.

This is Fleetwood Mac, rock’s famously fractured family. You can’t just write McVie — one of the group’s three singer-songwriters — back into rock’s longest-running soap opera.

It’s a process. You need meetings, and maybe a little therapy, and more discussions. It wasn’t enough that McVie sat in with the Rock Hall of Fame band for one song in London last year.

“There were conversations,” McVie said before a recent rehearsal for the band’s On With the Show Tour that opens Tuesday in Minneapolis. “And we had conference calls, and everybody thought it was a great idea and asked, was I committed seriously? I couldn't go in and out. I said: ‘I don’t have a problem with that.’ So next thing you know I was sending my demos to Lindsey [Buckingham] and he was sending them back with his guitar and his voice.”

Book excerpt: "Play On" by Fleetwood Mac Drummer Mick Fleetwood

Mick Fleetwood, the drummer and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, has written a new autobiography about his music-filled life.

The following is an excerpt from the introduction of "Play On: Now, Then and Fleetwood Mac" by Mick Fleetwood & Anthony Bozza. Copyright © 2014 by Constant Endeavor LLC.

If Music Be The Food Of Love . . .

Play on. Two words, no more, but they've said it all to me.

They've been, at different times, a simple direct order, a call to action, a mantra and a comforting concept that promised rebirth. I first read them in the most beautiful and romantic couplet in "Twelfth Night," my favourite of Shakespeare's works. I've never forgotten it; in fact I took it to heart immediately because it spoke to me. When things have moved me so profoundly in this life, be they people, places or things, no matter how they've come to me, I've made them forever a part of me. I've signed countless autographs with the phrase "Play on." I've said it to many people in many contexts. As I've made my way through life, as intricate and difficult as it has often been, as ecstatic and debauched as it has too often been, those words have always been with me. What they've come to mean to me has been a rock when the rest of my world was set adrift.

The entire couplet is the inspiration behind the title of Fleetwood Mac's fourth studio album, "Then Play On," released in 1969, which I still count as my favourite record. My second favourite is easy to choose: it's "Tusk," released ten years later by a very different incarnation of the band -- the only one that many of our fans are familiar with. To those fans reading these words, please do stick around, you'll be amazed to learn how many roads we travelled before we met you.

On the surface, "Then Play On" and "Tusk" have little in common sonically, but listen deeper and you'll hear a band with its back against the creative wall, recording music at the brink of its existence. Both of those albums were made when we would either play on or cease to be, and when the idea of overcoming the insurmountable through creating anew was the only way out for us. I can't say that I saw it as a solution, but I felt it as my faith, and I preached to my compatriots to play on -- and that's what we did.

I'm still here, lucky enough to be partnered with the greatest musical comrades I could ever hope to have. We have been through so many ups and downs, and though I denied it for years, particularly to my loved ones, I know now that since this band began, I have devoted my entire life to it. In every incarnation Fleetwood Mac has brought me so much joy that I hope whatever our fans have taken from the music is a fraction of what I've got from it. I've also realized, through trial, lots of error, growing older and hopefully wiser, how much that choice has weighed on my family. It's hard to devote yourself to a musical family of our magnitude while trying to nurture one of your own; it's an unfair tug-of-war I am still working out.

Source: CBSNews.com

• "Play On: Now, Then and Fleetwood Mac" by Mick Fleetwood & Anthony Bozza will be published in hardcover by Little, Brown on Oct. 28. It will also be available in Hardcover Large Print, e-Book, Audio Download and Audio CD formats.
• Pre-order via Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
• Mick Fleetwood's Official Site
• Follow Mick Fleetwood on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
• fleetwoodmac.com

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

Pre-Order from Stevienicksofficial.com Available October 7th.

LISTEN: "Twisted" the NEW version from Stevie Nicks "24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault"

via Warner Bros. Records here's "Twisted" from Stevie's new album "24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault".  I like it!  It'll take me a bit to get used to, I'm so used to the duet version she sang back in 1996 with Lindsey on the "Twister" soundtrack... But this is good!  It's a great song.

[UPDATE] Warner Bros. removed "Twisted" and replaced it with Watch Chain.

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

Pre-Order from Stevienicksofficial.com Available October 7th.