As we Boomers age, we’re going to suffer the loss of many musical idols of our youth. The latest was Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac fame, who passed away on Wednesday. She was 79, which is close to a reasonable life expectancy, but still. . .
From the NYT:
Her family announced her death on Facebook. The statement said that she died at a hospital but did not specify its location. The statement also did not give the cause of her death. In June, Ms. McVie told Rolling Stone that she was in “quite bad health” and that she had endured debilitating problems with her back.
From the band:
— Fleetwood Mac (@fleetwoodmac) November 30, 2022
Here’s the group performing a song she wrote (my favorite of hers), and she sings lead:
OMG. That’s so sad. What a wonderful singer. I was (and still am) a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, so this is particularly sad news.
I’m not a boomer and I know exactly McVie’s sound!
It’s sad, these things… at least I heard her voice in my mind just now… the tune I remember…
I’m not liking this getting old business.
As my mom told me when she was in extremis, growing old ain’t for sissies, son. (I think she may have borrowed that line from Bette Davis.)
Too bad about Ms. McVie.
That’s a good line. My mom says: “getting old is the pits.” ‘Bout right.
But better than the alternative
I was in the process of creating a Christine McVie playlist on Spotify when your post appeared in my email. Her songs bring back good memories of my college years.
Sad to hear this news. I was in the audience at the concert shown in that video clip. She was a true talent.
She wrote so many great songs. RIP.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vf4_hKIOb50
A great talent. Sad to see another rock legend go, but 79 is a long trek.
Her voice was one of my favorites. I used to sing her songs years ago. And you’re right…losing comedians, musicians, actors, etc that I enjoyed in my youth makes me more aware of the ticking of my own clock. 🙁
Such sad news to hear her last years brought ill health and much pain. She’ll be sorely missed. I was listening to Fleetwood Mac songs just last night.
Here’s an old favorite “Remember Me” from their Penguin album, well before Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours lineup. Simple, pure, and heartfelt.
Has it really been over 45 years since Rumours was released? Loved the songs and bought the record when it came out, as did a few others. My wife, on the other hand, wasn’t familiar with the group at all. I played her a couple of the hits (Dreams, Go your own way) from the internet but drew a blank. I probably hadn’t heard those songs in decades, yet they were immediately familiar to me. Memory is an amazing thing.
I was once in a car with my boss and at the time I was not at all familiar with Fleetwood Mac. His CD player played three of their songs that I knew in a row so I asked him if this was “The Best of Fleetwood Mac”. He said, “well, it’s Rumours, so yeah.”
And yet, during the period where they were led by their actual founder, Peter Green (who was so shy he didn’t want to be frontman and insisted the group be called after the other two that he invited in), they sold more records than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined! Green’s was a very sad story, going from being the man John Mayall chose to replace Eric Clapton as he was a better guitarist, to a brain destroying acid trip, nine years of in-patient schizophrenia, ECT, and then music that was still good but had lost its spark. He died in relative poverty in a shack in Essex in 2020.
Oh Well
Thanks for the short history even though it’s sad. I didn’t know any of this backstory.
Listening to “Fleetwood Mac” and “Rumours”, and particularly Christine’s contributions to both, is bittersweet to me. They were the soundtrack when I was dating my first wife, who our two sons and I lost to cancer in 2006. Nearly 50 years later, the music remains sublime. RIP, Christine.
She was Perfect !!!
Oh Well.
Bill Clinton Tw3373d his respect and condolences and noted how his campaign used the original studio recording of “Don’t Stop”.
I’m not criticizing this, I’m just noting it.
I’m not sure I recall McVie’s voice as lead in that (going from memory…)… I start to confuse Lindsey Buckingham, who I think is Jefferson Airplane …
Anyway…
I loved her.