Rock Royalty: Fleetwood Mac > Biography

FLEETWOOD MAC: RUMOURS ROCK ROYALTY Wednesday 11th August at 9.30pm

Fleetwood Mac the British/American rock band formed in 1967, who have had high turnover of personnel and varied levels of success. From the band's inception through the end of 1974, no incarnation of Fleetwood Mac lasted as long as two years. The only member present in the band from the very beginning is its namesake drummer Mick Fleetwood. Bassist John McVie, despite his giving part of his name to the band, did not play on their first single nor at their first concerts. Keyboardist Christine McVie has, to date, appeared on all but two albums, either as a member or as a session musician. The two most successful periods for the band were during the late 1960s British blues boom, when they were led by guitarist Peter Green; and from 1975-87, with the more pop-orientated band that featured Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The band enjoyed more modest success in the intervening period between 1971 and 1974, with the line-up that included Bob Welch, and also during the 1990s which saw more personnel changes before the return of Nicks and Buckingham, and more recently, the departure of Christine McVie.

Fleetwood Mac’s multi-million selling Rumours was recorded in 1977. It sold 15 million copies worldwide, spending a staggering total of 433 weeks in the U.K. charts, and 130 weeks in the U.S. Billboard album chart. It was also voted Album of the Year at the 20th annual Grammy Awards in 1978.

Fleetwood Mac had been in existence for over a decade by the time of Rumours. However, by 1977 when Rumours was recorded, John and Christine McVie were separating, and Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s relationship was also breaking up. This was the album that almost never made it!

This is the definitive story of the making of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, an album that has truly earned its place in the pantheon of rock music history. Including a specially recorded version of Christine McVie’s haunting ‘Songbird’, and Lindsey Buckingham playing a wonderful new acoustic version of ‘Never Going Back’, you can see why Rumours is a truly Classic Album.