The moment Christine McVie fell in love with Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac’s dominance began
They may have had their foundations firmly cemented in the macho-laden blues rock of the day, but it took two women to lift Fleetwood Mac into the stratospheric heights it has since permanently resided in. Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks, with their duelling songwriting and bookending style, would allow the band to deliver some of the most beloved music of the 1970s and beyond.
Sure, other group members would certainly play their part, and it would be remiss not to acknowledge Lindsey Buckingham’s addition to the band as part of their upswing, but it was on the shoulders of McVie and Nicks that the group really soared. And it all started with one song and one rehearsal.
McVie joined the group long before Nicks stumbled upon greatness in 1975. The keyboardist was a part of Chicken Shack and while touring with the band was suggested by the label the band shared with Fleetwood Mac as a potential addition to the group when they required some piano work and backing vocals for albums Mr Wonderful and Kiln House, with McVie, then Christine Perfect, providing some uncredited sounds for the band.
Marrying bassist John McVie in 1969, Christine found her spot in the band as Peter Green left, and the need for a keyboardist became more apparent than ever. She joined the band in 1970 and became a vital part of their set-up. But where McVie really shone was songwriting. While she may not have gathered the same plaudits as others, her songwriting is behind some of the band’s biggest hits.
‘Hold Me’, ‘Little Lies’ and ‘You Make Loving Fun’ are just three of which that stack up among the best the group ever produced. But without her partner-in-crime, Stevie Nicks, there’s a chance that the outfit couldn’t have flourished the way it did, and it almost never happened.
The story goes that while Mick Fleetwood selected Buckingham as a potential new guitarist for the band, Nicks was only brought along as per Buckingham’s request, as he attempted to shoehorn his talented girlfriend into his new set-up with the group. It worked, and Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac to begin an era of dominance alongside Christine McVie. Just like her, she would deliver some of the band’s most beloved hits, with ‘Dreams’, ‘Gypsy’, and so many more among her best.
But there was another song which could be considered even more pivotal, and that is ‘Say You Love Me’. Written by McVie for the Fleetwood Mac self-titled LP from 1975, as what Mick Fleetwood would call an “interesting way to say ‘I love you'”, the tune is perhaps best noted as the crucial bridge between the two eras of the band. It was this song that the group were rehearsing when Nicks and Buckingham first joined the band, and it was love at first sound.
During an episode of Desert Island Discs, McVie remembered the moment: “We all just got goose bumps. It was a thrill. That first album we made, I remember [it] being the most fantastic time.” It would kick off not only an era of huge success for Fleetwood Mac, with Nicks and McVie at the forefront, but also start a beautiful friendship.
As Nicks noted of McVie following her passing in 2022, “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,” Nicks wrote in the letter posted on social media. “Until late Saturday night. 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.”
“I had a best friend but she has come to pass / One I wish I could see now / You always remind me that memories will last / These arms reach out / You were there to protect me like a shield / Long hair, running with me through the field / Everywhere, you’ve been with me all along,” Nicks wrote, in reference to Haim song ‘Hallelujah’.
While the ending of a friendship like this is always painful, Nick and the world can look back at their moments together in the spotlight and be thankful for the genuine talent and skill they brought to their work. There is no doubt that without each other they would not have achieved as much as they did with Fleetwood Mac, and even more certain is the fact that without those harmonies McVie heard on the first day of rehearsal they would have even got the chance to try.
