Remembering Christine McVie: Groundbreaker for Women in Rock

Music fans across the world were devastated to hear about the passing of Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie on November 30th, following a brief illness at the age of 79. Although age 79 represents a long life lived, I still am saddened by this loss since Christine was such a groundbreaking individual, not only in my favorite band, but for women in rock as a whole.

Christine McVie originally began playing with Fleetwood Mac in 1968 only as a session player without the intentions of becoming a permanent member, however, that quickly changed when she became an official member in 1970 following her marriage to John McVie, bassist for Fleetwood Mac. Prior to joining Fleetwood Mac, Christine was the pianist for the blues band, Chicken Shack, which she decided to leave after her marriage to John McVie. Because she was already a fan of Fleetwood Mac’s work with founding member Peter Green, she was able to sort of step into his spot once he left the band due to her knowing most of the songs. Once she became an official member of Fleetwood Mac, she quickly proved just how integral she was through her keyboard playing and position as a lead vocalist.

Christine continued to perform as a member of Fleetwood Mac throughout the early 1970s and even moved to the United States with the rest of the band in 1974. Following the band’s move to the United States, they welcomed two more members to the band, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. Once the Buckingham-Nicks duo joined the band, their success practically skyrocketed with the success of their 1975 album, Fleetwood Mac, and then the infamous Rumours, now considered one of the best selling albums of all time. While many fans look at the Rumours album and think of the drama between Lindsey and Stevie, Christine and John McVie were also dealing with their own relationship problems. John McVie developed a heavy drinking problem and Christine had an affair with one of the lighting directors which lead to her writing the well loved song, “You Make Loving Fun.” The band continued to tour and make new music, which included their 1979 album, Tusk and 1981 album, Mirage. After these releases, many of the members chose to focus on their solo work. As one of the band members focusing on their solo work, Christine released a solo album titled, Christine McVie.

Fleetwood Mac reunited again to release their 1987 album, Tango in the Night. Many of the hits on that album were songs she wrote alongside her then husband and fellow keyboardist, Eddy Quintela. These hits included “Little Lies” and “Everywhere”. After the success of Tango in the Night, she would continue to make more music with Fleetwood Mac, as well as help Lindsey Buckingham with some of his solo projects. In 1997, the original Rumours line up reunited for a live album titled The Dance. Honestly, this is my absolute favorite live album to exist. The Dance received much praise and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Following the successes of Fleetwood Mac in the late 1990s, Christine chose to take a hiatus, and somewhat of a retirement, from the band until 2014.

In 2014, Christine re-joined the band after making a few appearances with the band before then. After she re-joined the band, she also collaborated with Lindsey Buckingham to create an album of the duo, titled Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie. After much drama and back and forth with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, the band chose to fire Lindsey and replace him with Mike Campbell and Neil Finn for a 2018-2019 Fleetwood Mac Tour that Christine was a part of, despite her close friendship with Lindsey. As an example of her impact with Fleetwood Mac, a total of eight songs from the 1988 Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits album were Christine’s original songs.

My recap of Christine’s career is obviously very brief compared to the magnitude of it, however, anyone could see that she was such a profound presence in everything that is Fleetwood Mac. But something that may not be so obvious is the type of standard she set for women in rock bands at that time.

During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, women in rock bands typically consisted of backup singers and occasional musicians. It wasn’t as common at that point for a band to have lead vocalists and lead musicians as women that were given the same priority as the men. Upon joining Fleetwood Mac, Christine demanded equal respect as a member of the band, despite being a woman, and the best part was that she barley had to demand it because her talent basically spoke for itself. Because she had set that standard for herself in the band, Stevie Nicks was also able to join the band with the same level of respect for her work as Christine. Christine also advocated for Stevie joining the band because instead of seeing her as competition, she thought that playing with Stevie, who was so different than her, would be fun. Truly a great example of women supporting women. Stevie Nicks has previously stated in interviews that she was so grateful to have Christine there, not only as a fellow female companion, but as an example of the standard for women in the band. In an interview with the New Yorker, Stevie Nicks said “We made a pact, in the very beginning, that we would never be treated with disrespect by all the male musicians in the community. I would say to her, ‘Together, we are a serious force of nature, and it will give us the strength to maneuver the waters that are ahead of us.’” Never once did Stevie or Christine feel like they could easily be replaced because they absolutely could not and the band wouldn’t be the same without them. Christine McVie is the one who set that standard and made that possible for her, and later Stevie. After the announcement of her passing, many musicians and artists shared their thoughts on her passing, however, Stevie’s statement really touched my heart when she described Christine as “my best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975.”

Not only did Christine cultivate a new standard for women in rock bands, she also upheld such integrity with her fellow and past bandmates. It is no secret that Fleetwood Mac has had its share of trouble and drama, but Christine had continued to remain friends with each of the members of Fleetwood Mac, including her ex-husband, despite all the drama between them all. Without even knowing the inner workings of the band, her ability to maintain those friendships, and also continue to work on various projects with them, gives an insight into the incredible type of women, friend, and artist she was. Honestly, the best way to sum up Christine’s legacy as an artist and person is the official statement made by Fleetwood Mac on her passing: “She was truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure. She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life. We were so lucky to have a life with her. Individually and together, we cherished Christine deeply and are thankful for the amazing memories we have. She will be so very missed.”

I was lucky enough to see Fleetwood Mac during their 2019 tour and that show continues to remain one of my favorite concerts I have ever attended. To have been able to experience not only a Fleetwood Mac show, but to have witnessed such talent is seriously something special. Christine McVie will forever be remembered as Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird.”