Mick Fleetwood shared a touching tribute to Christine McVie today (July 12) on what would have been her 80th birthday.
Fleetwood wrote via Instagram, “For Christine, Here we are thinking of you on your heavenly 80th birthday! For me, although missing you on this celebration of your 80th birthday…I like so many have the greatest memories in plenty!”
He continued, “And most of all, your songs are lighting up the world on this your birthday. Chris, Happy Birthday. You are loved and dearly missed. Love, Mick Fleetwood and Fleetwood Mac.”
McVie died suddenly on November 30, 2022 at age 79. In April, it was revealed her main cause of death was due to a massive stroke. The singer-songwriter was also dealing with Atrial Fibrillation, a type of heart arrhythmia. On her death certificate, it was also noted a secondary cause of death was cancer. It was listed as “Metastatic Malignancy of Unknown Primary Origin.” In layman’s terms, this means whatever cancer McVie had spread throughout her body. Whoever performed McVie’s autopsy couldn’t determine the origin location of her cancer.
With the passing of McVie, it appears Fleetwood Mac, as an active band, is over. In February while at the 2023 Grammy Awards to honor McVie, Fleetwood said about the future of Fleetwood Mac, “I think right now, I truly think the line in the sand has been drawn with the loss of Chris. I’d say we’re done, but then we’ve all said that before. It’s sort of unthinkable right now.”
5 Great Fleetwood Mac Songs Written by Christine McVie
When Fleetwood Mac is mentioned, many immediately think of the contributions of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. However, Christine McVie is responsible for writing some of the band’s best songs.
That’s something Mick Fleetwood recognized in a sweet tribute to McVie in honor of what would have been her 81st birthday. He wrote, “For Christine McVie… First, you are missed by me and your band, Fleetwood Mac. This being your birthday serves as a reminder for SO many … that our blessing is your music lives on!! You are our forever ‘Song Bird!’ Happy Birthday, Christine.”
In honor of her birthday on July 12, here are just five classic Fleetwood Mac songs that McVie wrote/co-wrote.
But First, Watch Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks Effortlessly Handle a Sexist Question in a Video From 1977
Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks undoubtedly dealt with a lot of sexism in the ’70s, as evident by this interview clip from 1977. However, they had no problem shutting down a journalist’s incredibly sexist question.
In the clip below, an off-screen reporter asks Lindsey Buckingham, “It must have been one of the first bands to incorporate ladies and use them as such. Any problems as far as credibility of ladies in rock ’n’ roll when the band first hit the road with the girls?”
Buckingham responded awkwardly, “I don’t think so,” while looking over at McVie and Nicks. McVie drolly says, while Nicks giggles, “Well, I’d already been in the band for a good while, as a lady, and as a musician. I’d been primarily a musician rather than a backup singer, in any case. And then, when Stevie joined the band, she was also a frontline singer and writer.”
McVie continued, “And I think in that way, I guess, we were the innovators of that kind of thing because it was more or less to my knowledge prior to us girls would be in rock bands, but would be backup singers and…”
“Pretty faces,” interjects the journalist.
This then caused Nicks to jump in and say, “I think it comes down to the fact that Fleetwood Mac would not go on without Chris and me, if we were sick or something. Whereas in most bands with a girl in it, [they] could go ahead and would go on and play. But they’d have trouble without us.”
The exchange is rather cringe, but it’s amazing watching McVie and Nicks put this reporter in his place.
'Don't Stop'
“Don’t Stop” peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and would famously serve as the theme to Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. The band was even persuaded to reunite for the first time since 1982 to perform “Don’t Stop” at the inaugural ball in 1993.
'You Make Loving Fun'
Fun fact: While “You Make Loving Fun” was written by Christine McVie about her affair with Fleetwood Mac’s lighting director, she told then-husband/bassist John McVie it was about her dog.
'Songbird'
Christine McVie said of the moving piano ballad in a June 2017 interview with People, “For some peculiar reason I wrote ‘Songbird’ in half an hour. I’ve never been able to figure out how I did that. I woke up in the middle of the night and the song was there in my brain, chords lyrics melody, everything. I played it in my bedroom and didn’t have anything to tape it on. So I had to stay awake all night so I wouldn’t forget it and I came in the next morning to the studio and had [producer] Ken Callait put it on a 2-track. That was how the song ended up being. I don’t know where that came from. I wished it would happen more often, but it hasn’t.”
'Oh Daddy'
“Oh Daddy” was inspired by Mick Fleetwood, who was the only father in the band at that time, even though some allege the track was another track about McVie’s affair with Fleetwood Mac’s lighting director. According to Setlist.fm, the last time the band played the track live was on November 30, 1997 at the USAir Arena in Landover, MD.
'Say You Love Me'
The last single released from 1975’s Fleetwood Mac, “Say You Love Me” would peak on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #11.
Erica Banas is a news blogger who's been covering the rock/classic rock world since 2014. The coolest event she's ever covered in person was the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Sir Paul McCartney inducting Foo Fighters? C'mon now!) She's also well-versed in etiquette and extraordinarily nice. #TransRightsAreHumanRights
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