Goodbye to Christine McVie
One of the most acclaimed and influential performers and songwriters over the last 50 years, the Fleetwood Mac legend leaves us with a rich body of work including songs such as “Everywhere”, “Little Lies” and “Don’t Stop”
Goodbye to Christine McVie
Christine McVie was born Christine Anne Perfect in the Lake District village of Bouth, England, on 12 July 1943. Music was already an important part of her life growing up, with her father, Cyril Percy Absell Perfect being a concert violinist and music lecturer, and her grandfather an organist at Westminster Abbey. McVie’s mother, Beatrice Perfect, was a medium, psychic, and faith healer.
McVie studied sculpture for five years, with the goal of becoming an art teacher but during the mid 1960’s she came across several musicians in the Britain’s blues scene that she befriended, leading her to a career in music. The first band she joined was Chicken Shack, where she played keyboards, piano and sang back-vocals. Chicken Shack’s debut release was “It’s Okay With Me Baby”, written by and featuring McVie. She received a Melody Maker award for female vocalist in both 1969 and 1970 and left Chicken Shack in 1969 shortly after marrying Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie. She subsequently joined Fleetwood Mac after releasing the first of three solo albums, “Christine Perfect” in 1970. In 1974, she moved with Fleetwood Mac to the United States where Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the band, forming the Fleetwood Mac definite line up. The band skyrocketed to fame during the mid 1970’s where McVie was as singer, keyboardist and songwriter. Songs written or co-written by Christine McVie, includes the hits “Songbird”, “Don’t Stop”, “Everywhere” and “Little Lies”, all appearing on Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits album’s over the years, making her one of the most important songwriters in Pop and Rock history.
In 1998, McVie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac, and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music; the same year she left the band and lived in semi-retirement for nearly 15 years, releasing another solo album in 2004. She re-joined Fleetwood Mac for a concert in 2013 and in 2014 she returned to the band.
During her lifetime McVie received several times important awards that recognize her as one of the strongest pop and rock music composers and performers, including a Gold Badge of Merit Award from Basca, now The Ivors Academy, the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, the Trailblazer Award at the UK Americana Awards and two Grammy Awards.
She passed away after a brief illness on 30 November 2022, at the age of 79. RIP.
Remember Christine McVie. Performing one of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits “Songbird” in 2017, written and performed by her in the seminal 1977 album “Rumours”
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