Family members have confirmed that Christine McVie, 79, who played with Fleetwood Mac and wrote some of their most well-known songs, has passed away.
The British performer and composer is known for such chart-toppers as Little Lies, Everywhere, Don’t Stop, Say You Love Me, and Songbird.
According to the statement, she passed away at a hospital with her loved ones by her side. After 28 years with Fleetwood Mac, McVie quit in 1998, only to return in 2014.
In a statement, the family asked that “everyone keep Christine in their hearts and remember the life of an incredible human being and revered musician who was loved universally.”
Christine Perfect McVie, better known as Christine McVie, married John McVie, bassist for Fleetwood Mac, and joined the band in the early ’70s.
Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, Fleetwood Mac rose to prominence as one of the most recognizable rock bands in the world.
The breakup of the McVies and that of the band’s other couple, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, inspired their 1977 album Rumours, which became one of the best-selling albums of all time, selling more than 40 million copies throughout the world.
When the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, McVie was one of eight members to receive the honor.
After the success of their live album, The Dance, in the same year, she supposedly quit the band due to her fear of flying and moved to Kent.
But after making a special appearance with the band at London’s O2 arena in 2013, she fell in love with performing once more and rejoined the band in 2014.
“It was amazing, like I’d never left. I climbed back on there again and there they were, the same old faces on stage,” she revealed to the Guardian at the time.
She revealed in 2017 on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs that, after leaving the band, she had developed agoraphobia.
The band said in a statement: “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.”
In a post on Instagram, Stevie Nicks wrote: “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… 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 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… It’s all I can do now.”
In a tweet, band co-founder Mick Fleetwood wrote: “This is a day where my dear sweet friend Christine McVie has taken to flight… and left us earthbound folks to listen with bated breath to the sounds of that song bird… reminding one and all that love is all around us to reach for and touch in this precious life that is gifted to us. Part of my heart has flown away today…I will miss everything about you Christine McVie.”
Christine McVie was a crucial part of the complex cast that constituted one of the greatest bands of all time.
She had an incredible heart and soul in her voice. She had the range to be both achingly tender and ferociously powerful on the keyboard. However, her greatest strength was her ability to pen pop tunes of enduring charm.
Her melodic talent for composing effective choruses was among the finest. “I’m the hook queen,” she boasted.
I don’t know how to write any other way,” she stated in a BBC documentary. “It just happens that way.”
Her music appears straightforward and unpretentious, with heartfelt lyrics. Almost no one else could have sang and penned lyrics as obviously mushy as “I love you, I love you like never before” and made them sound as sincere as she did on her famous song Songbird.
