How many members have Fleetwood Mac had?
The inter-band dramas of Fleetwood Mac are well-chronicled, and the greatness of the band’s seminal album Rumours is deeply embedded in their real-life soap opera. Infidelity, betrayal and forbidden lust are all woven into the narrative thread of the record, with the ever-present question of ‘why are these people together?’ looming over its runtime.
It was a toxic relationship vindicated by the subsequent success of the album. As long as the artistic output is as nuanced and compelling as it was on Rumours, their futures remained in the hands of one another, and their suffering would continue in the name of art.
As raw and confronting as the album recording process would have been for the band, its fearless leader, Mick Fleetwood, believes its success is rooted in the catharsis of its performance. Appearing on Apple Music 1 with Zane Lowe, Fleetwood said, “The five of us were in a state of flux…a lot of pain. And this creature known as Fleetwood Mac and what we were doing became the safe harbour in a way, I believe,” Mick noted. “Was it a complete healing? No, but it has those elements to it, certainly in the complete chaos.”
Of course, there’s an element of duty within Fleetwood’s omission that, if anything, that record was an exercise in therapy. The band’s flag flew under his name; it was his baby and it was ultimately in his best interests to overlook the individual struggles that prefaced the recording of the album’s timeless catalogue.
Because at the point of Rumours, Fleetwood had seen several members come and go. While undoubtedly interesting and successful in their own right, the previous incarnations of the band weren’t as artistically crystallised or commercially successful as the line-up that delivered their 1977 opus.
So, how many members have there been?
So, let’s go back. In case you haven’t heard, Mick Fleetwood was the drummer of Fleetwood Mac, and the simple inclusion of his surname lends itself to the band name. As for the ‘Mac’ well that similar comes from the name of his engine room partner, bassist John McVie. Together they started the band in 1967, in a bid to become the next big blues rock band.
To their credit, they ran the bright lights of the genre pretty close, as the line-up they formed that year was undoubtedly stellar. At that point, they shared the stage with Jeremy Spencer and Peter Green, the latter being the brilliant and enigmatic frontman responsible for their sleeper hit ‘Oh Well’.
Guitarist Danny Kirwan was briefly introduced to add another layer of guitar following the release of Mr Wonderful in August 1968, providing an exciting addition for the band, but it was soon halted after Green left in 1970 due to problems with substance abuse and mental health. So McVie introduced his wife and soon-to-be iconic member of the band, Christine, to play on keys and provide vocals.
During a tour of America in the following year, guitarist Jeremy Spencer left the band to join the Children of God organisation. Green recovered and made a return to the band, but fan excitement was soon tempered as he once again left and was replaced by Bob Welch.
When Kirwan and Welch had a backstage spat, Kirwan was fired by Mick Fleetwood who then replaced him with Bob Weston who was soon followed by vocalist Dave Walker. After the release of their 1973 album Penguin, Weston and Walker left, with the latter being fired for having an affair with Fleetwood’s wife Jenny Boyd Fleetwood.
At this point, Fleetwood would be forgiven for feeling some despondency over his personal and professional life. But it was in the following year when a certain Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band, thus changing the course of music history altogether.
Despite all of the inter-band conflict, this core group that has gone on to cement the legacy of the band stayed together for twelve years before Buckingham left in August 1987, being replaced by two guitarists: Billy Burnette and Rick Vito.
When ‘Don’t Stop’ became the anthem for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, the band performed a string of shows in 1993 to inaugurate his election success, but that proved to be the last for Nicks at the time, who left along with Billy Burnette. The two were replaced by Bekka Bramlett and Dave Mason, who stuck around until 1995 before the band dissolved and didn’t return until 2014 when the full Rumours recording line-up returned.
Since Buckingham was removed from the band once again in 2018 and Christine McVie passed away in 2022, Mike Campbell and Neil Finn have joined the fold as touring members, who, if included, would bring the band’s final member tally to 17.
