The devastating news of Christine McVie’s death broke on Wednesday afternoon and we’re still processing it with Fleetwood Mac fans around the world. “We were so lucky to have a life with her,” Fleetwood Mac said in a group statement. “Individually and collectively, we treasured Christine immensely and are grateful for the amazing memories we have. She will be missed so much.”
When Rolling Stone spoke to McVie in June, she was excited about her new LP, Songbird (A Solo Collection), but was very skeptical about ever returning to the streets with Fleetwood Mac. “I don’t feel physically ready for that,” she said. “My health is pretty bad. I have a chronic back problem that is debilitating. I get up to play the piano, so I don’t know if I could physically. what does that say The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
McVie’s last tour with Fleetwood Mac was between 2018 and 2019, although Lindsey Buckingham was no longer in the band by that point, with Neil Finn and Mike Campbell playing in his place. Just a year earlier, McVie recorded an album with Buckingham and took it on tour. “I had a blast traveling with him and making this record,” she told Rolling Stone in 2018. “I was surprised to hear the news [Buckingham was leaving the band] for it was after I returned to London that the decision was made. But life goes on and I wanted to continue with these guys.”
The tour was a huge financial success and McVie grew closer to the band’s new members. “These guys were great,” she said earlier this year. “We had a great time with them, but we kind of broke up now, so I hardly see them anymore.”
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McVie’s only appearance on stage since the final date of the recent Fleetwood Mac tour was at the London Palladium on February 25, 2020. It was a tribute to Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist Peter Green, featuring Pete Townshend, Noel Gallagher, David Gilmour, Kirk Hammett, Steven Tyler, Billy Gibbons, Bill Wyman, Jeremy Spencer, Neil Finn and Mick Fleetwood. In a video from the performance, McVie sings the 1968 Fleetwood Mac classic “Stop Messin’ Around” with Tyler, Fleetwood and several other guests of the night.
Little did McVie know that this concert would mark the end of her career as a performer, but it seems fitting that she honors the early days of Fleetwood Mac. She’s been a huge part of their sound for the last five decades and it’s hard to imagine them going on without her.