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Old 06-02-2020, 08:16 PM
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chriskisn chriskisn is offline
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Location: Perth, Australia
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From the Mail on Sunday back in 2004

"Rock legend told to ditch his band - by order of his Government minders

ONE of Britain's greatest music legends is at the centre of an
extraordinary wrangle over his career and private life.

Friends of troubled Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green say a
Government-run legal body which controls his money wants to break up
the band credited with rescuing him from obscurity.

Members of the Peter Green Splinter Group insist only they can look
after him and nurture his talent.

But Green's family says officials are acting in his best interests and
protecting him from people who want to profit from him financially.

Now there are fears that the guitarist could be plunged back into the
drugs and mental health nightmare that nearly killed him a decade ago.

Fans were shocked when the Public Guardianship Office decided Green,
57, should leave the group. It claimed he was in danger from another
band member and insisted he was better off without them.

But the move appeared to have backfired this month after Green's first
solo outing was panned by critics. And The Mail on Sunday reveals today
how Green's career is again in doubt, amid claims that the PGO,
controlled by Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer's Constitutional Affairs
Department, 'kidnapped' Green to keep him away from the band.

Born in Bethnal Green, East London, Peter Green shot to stardom in the
Sixties as Fleetwood Mac's lead guitarist. His compositions, such as
Albatross and Black Magic Woman, were hits worldwide. As recently as
1996, Mojo magazine voted him one of the top three rock guitarists of
all time, alongside Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.

But Green loathed his success. Turning to drugs, he became increasingly
unstable. He left the band in 1970 and became a hermit. In 1977 he was
arrested after threatening his accountant with a rifle for trying to
give him a royalty cheque.

Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Green spent several years in and
out of mental institutions where he was given electric shock treatment.

When lifelong friend and fellow guitarist Nigel Watson tracked him down
in the Nineties, Green's fingernails were six inches long and he was
unable to play a note. Watson nursed him back to health and taught him
to play guitar again.

In 1996 the pair formed Splinter Group, which has recorded four albums
and performed nearly 1,000 concerts, all to widespread acclaim.

Watson protected the deeply introverted Green on and off stage. It was
Watson who arranged for his affairs to be handed to the PGO, an
official body set up to safeguard the financial interests of the infirm
or mentally ill. It pays Green £250 a week and invests the rest of his
£30,000-a-year earnings. Green is said to have complained to friends
about the PGO's control. 'He said they wouldn't even let him buy a new
guitar,' said one.

Now the PGO has turned the tables on Watson and obtained an injunction
banning him from contact with Green or speaking publicly about the
musician. However, last week, the High Court threw out its bid to keep
the dispute secret.

Watson's friends believe the PGO wants to launch Green as a major star
and help him earn another fortune. But they say that will lead to a
repeat of his breakdown.

Green disappeared in December after the PGO announced he was leaving
Splinter Group.

Friends tracked him to Sweden, where he had been for three months with
the agency's full knowledge. The PGO said it acted to safeguard the
guitarist, but some claim it 'kidnapped' him to break his links with
the band.

'Peter cannot cope on his own,' said a friend. 'Nigel is the only
person who understands him and his music, and the group takes care of
all his needs.

'Separating them is cruel and could be dangerous. He doesn't want to be
rich, he just wants to play guitar.'

Manager Arthur Anderson said:'The PGO won't tell us where he is. We're
desperately worried.'

The agency's actions have been defended by Green's older brother
Michael, a guitar tutor who lives in Peacehaven, East Sussex. 'It was
Peter's decision to leave the band,' he said. 'He was unhappy and
getting stressed.'

And a PGO spokesman said: 'The Public Guardianship Office has a
statutory duty to act in the best interests of its clients, who are
vulnerable people. We cannot talk about individual cases and have a
duty to maintain confidentiality at all times.'
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