A blues band that became a soap opera with hits

Fleetwood Mac was born out of a departure. In July 1967 in London, guitarist Peter Green, who had just left John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, formed a new band. Green had earlier replaced Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers, and early on the group, with Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan, was a British blues band. In 1968 they had a UK number one with the instrumental “Albatross”, followed by hits such as “Man of the World”, “Oh Well” and “The Green Manalishi”.

Then the founders began to leave. Green, Spencer and Kirwan all departed between 1970 and 1972, and Christine McVie and American guitarist Bob Welch came in. In 1974 the band moved to the United States, and at the end of that year Fleetwood and the McVies recruited Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The first album of the new lineup, Fleetwood Mac in 1975, topped the Billboard 200.

Rumours followed in 1977 and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, winning the Grammy for Album of the Year. “Dreams”, “Gypsy”, “Rhiannon” and “You Make Loving Fun” belong to this stretch of the band’s story, as does “Sara”. The lineup made three more studio albums: Tusk, Mirage and Tango in the Night, which included “Little Lies” and “Everywhere”.

After Buckingham left in 1987, the band continued with Billy Burnette and Rick Vito, then reunited in 1997 for The Dance. Christine McVie left in 1998 and returned in 2014. The final studio album, Say You Will, came out in 2003. In 2018 Buckingham was fired and replaced by Mike Campbell and Neil Finn. Christine McVie died in 2022, and two years later Nicks said she did not believe the band would carry on. With more than 120 million records sold, Fleetwood Mac remains one of the world’s best-selling acts.