American Mcvie Mac Research Paper

Amber Miller
ENGL 1301-S73
Professor Gilleylen
May 8, 2012
Go Your Own Way They have been called blues, rock, pop, and folk, but one title that goes without question is legendary. Fleetwood Mac has been through many changes both personally and professionally through the years. Officially, it has been forty five years since the band was formed in London, England in 1967 although, if you were to view a concert of the original lineup, you would think that your eyes were deceiving you (fleetwoodmac.com). The original lineup of the band that has become so loved and well known around the world consisted of four men. They were a group formed at the dawn of the second “Blues Boom” to sweep over England (Evans 11). Mick Fleetwood, John McVie,
The concert made the band an overnight success and their debut album, aptly titled, “Fleetwood Mac” was released on February 24th, 1968. It peaked at number four on the UK charts and stayed in the top ten for seventeen weeks, prompting Melody Maker magazine to call it “the best English blues LP ever released here” (Evans 33). It was in a flurry of following tour dates that John McVie met a pianist from fellow blues outfit called Chicken Shack. Christine Perfect was born July 12th, 1944 in Birmingham, England (Furman 20). Christine was never a stranger to music as her father was a professional violinist in the Birmingham Symphony (Furman 20). Her introduction John McVie soon proved to be another pivotal piece in the making of Fleetwood Mac. The two began dating and were married in August of 1968 (fmlegacy.com). It was because of her marriage that Christine decided to quit Chicken Shack, despite being named Female Vocalist of the Year in 1969 and 1970 by Melody Maker magazine (fmlegacy.com). It was domesticity that Christine desired, but being married to John McVie left the music industry knocking at her door. She was constantly playing guest piano spots on their albums and even designed the cover of the album entitled “Kiln House” (fmlegacy.com). Peter Green’s departure in 1970 prompted Mick Fleetwood to ask Christine to join the band on a full time basis, - to which she
The band could now seemingly afford anything they wanted and what most of them wanted was an escape. Unfortunately for many of the band members, this came in the form of cocaine, as it seemed that the coffee was no longer effective against their grueling work schedule. When speaking of the bands past abuse, Christine McVie told Rolling Stone “it was quite natural to walk around with a great sack of cocaine in your pocket,” Stevie Nicks agreed in Spin magazine saying that drugs were “just the friendly, fun thing to do” (Furman 101). The band’s breakups and make ups, combined with everyone’s drug seemed to be leading to an unavoidable end. The absolute breaking point appeared to come after the Tusk tour of 1979-80. A month after the tour concluded, the band sat down with their respective attorneys and accountants (Fleetwood, Davis 238). It seemed as though the thirteen month long effort had hardly been worth it. After all of the work and travel, the tour had netted next to nothing for the band members. All fingers seemed to point at Mick as he was acting manager and it appeared as though there were large sums of cash that were simply unaccounted for (Evans 181-82). It was at this point in the words of Christine McVie that the band, “…felt that we deserved a break, and we took that break. We took a long break!” (Evans 182). The turn of the decade also allowed members Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, and Lindsey Buckingham