Part 2 Is Now Posted: The Christine and John McVie Story!
 

So finally, here is part two. I know it has taken ages, but I went in phases of either being obsessed with it, to not really being able to work on it much- kids home from school, we were on vacation, I had a car accident, etc. Then the whole process of verifying the quotes, of finding/scanning the photos....and the editing...I tend to re-structure sentences and re-organize paragraphs obsessively. :-)

The first part of this was fun to write...but as they got less happy, it got a bit less fun LOL. There weren't too many 'personal' quotes from either one of them from those years (71-74) when things were sort of deteriorating, so I had to go by what others that were there had said, and by what I'd infer the reality was. It was hard to write about the J/C situation without also going into a bit of FM bio history, but I tried to keep it simple.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it. Comments/corrections, please pass them on to me. Anyone who owns articles from this time period (70-74), I would love to arrange a trade for copies. Hope you all love the photos as much as I do!!!

I also added some new quotes to the first one in the last few months too. Here is the link to the first. You can get to the second at the bottom of the page:

http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/themcvies.htm

On to part three.... :-)

-Lis

Lis,
That was great! I'm so jealous of you, you're such a terrific writer. You even managed to find some quotes that I've never heard before. I never heard anything from Chris about wanting to adopt children. That must be what she was talking about in that very recent interview-probably right around the time she got together with Eddy Quintela.

I'm curious about that picture of her half brother Cyril that's in the BTM tourbook. I've often wondered who that was. How do you know that's him? Also, have you ever seen a picture of her other brother, John(Dan's father)?

That was also cool seeing those quotes & pictures from that stuff that I sent you, especially that fantastic picture of Chris with the eyelashes.

Now, I'm looking forward to Part 3. :D Great job. :thumbsup:

>>That was great! I'm so jealous of you, you're such a terrific writer. You even managed to find some quotes that I've never heard before. >>

Thanks, Macfan. Organizing those quotes was quite a job. :-)


>>I never heard anything from Chris about wanting to adopt children. That must be what she was talking about in that very recent interview-probably right around the time she got together with Eddy Quintela. >>

Yeah, I think that was from a 1980/81 TV interview, not sure which year. She did say in a few places (around the time she was contemplating marrying Dennis) how 'my lifestyle is fairly settled in terms of accomodating myself to children', so I suppose she (like most people) sort of swung back and forth in terms of what she wanted.

>>I'm curious about that picture of her half brother Cyril that's in the BTM tourbook. I've often wondered who that was. How do you know that's him? Also, have you ever seen a picture of her other brother, John(Dan's father)?>>

Can't really tell how I know....but it's a pretty reliable source, would say I'm 99.9% sure that's him. He looks a lot like their dad also in that pic- all he needs is the white hair LOL. I do have 3 pics of John Perfect, and 2 are from those BTM tourbooks...the other is more recent, from 97, I think, when he was appointed director of the NRI in the UK. I'm glad you mentioned that because I had meant to put one of John P in there, around where he helped her w/ the driving. Will try and get to that tonight, I know I already have it scanned.

>>That was also cool seeing those quotes & pictures from that stuff that I sent you, especially that fantastic picture of Chris with the eyelashes.
Now, I'm looking forward to Part 3. Great job. >>

Thanks very much for those articles and pics! They were fantastic. :-) Those false eyelashes crack me up.

Do you have that tape of them at Benifolds from 1970 (where I got those 6 collage pics from)? That is classic. I want to add a few more of Mick/Danny/Jeremy also.

-Lis

Great job! You are a great writer.

I enjoyed reading it so much! Learnt a lot too! The pictures are also great.

Thank you. :thumbsup:

I'll be looking forward to those photos of John Perfect. I had a feeling he might be in one of those tourbooks. What's the NRI?

I don't have a tape of them rehearsing at Benifolds? Is there a video of this? I thought I had pretty much close to everything until you came along. :laugh:

>>I'll be looking forward to those photos of John Perfect. I had a feeling he might be in one of those tourbooks. What's the NRI?>>

It's the National Resources Institute. He and Anthea are/were entemologists for the government in England and I guess that gave him some background in terms of getting the NRI position-- I think I recall they mentioned something about him studying crop growth in Africa etc. I think he held the position for several years before retiring.

In the tourbook photos he has wavy dark hair and a beard, and is w/ Anthea, who has long blonde/brown hair (Leo's mom but not Dan's).

>>I don't have a tape of them rehearsing at Benifolds? Is there a video of this? I thought I had pretty much close to everything until you came along. >>

It's a short video from some TV special that had been done on blues bands, I think-- I don't have the whole thing, just the part that was on FM. It's only about 5 minutes total but it's so priceless to me. I'm nearly sure it was shot at Benifold, but geez now that i think of it... maybe it was done at Kiln House before Chris 'officially' joined? I have to watch it again. It shows John driving the whole band (and little Dicken) in a jeep through the woods to the house, and then they all go in. Jeremy and Danny each do a song in the 'music room' and Chris does one outside at night, pretty neat. Plus it has the bonfire footage, and some clips of them walking in the woods together. To get those pics for the bio, I had to take about 50 digital shots of my TV sceen LOL to get a few that looked usable. I have more i would like to add but Marty only has so much patience for my endless requests. :-P One day we will get to it!!

-Lis

I've always thought that picture was of Dan Garfield! So that's actually Christine's half-brother?

If I recall right what Dan looked like, I think there might have be a resemblance between them. Didn't Dan Garfield have longer hair back then, and blue eyes? Hey if anyone knows for sure I'm always open to correction, but as far as I know (according to my source -which there's always a slight chance may be wrong but I doubt is wrong on this) that young guy is her brother. :-)

-Lis

Thank Lis, another great read!

Absolutely fascinating reading! Thank you so much for going to the time and trouble to do this.

Lis,
There is a more close-up picture of Dan Garfield in the BTM tourbook. In that picture he does appear to have a bit longer hair & he has blue eyes. The picture of Christine's half-brother isn't close enough so that I can easily see the color of his eyes. But, the resemblence between the two is uncanny. They could be brothers. :laugh:

I believe I found the picture of John Perfect & his wife. It's at the top of one of the pages of photos of friends & family. He would have been about 50 around this time. The guy in the picture looks to be maybe in his early 40's so maybe the picture was taken some years before BTM. If that's her brother, he's very handsome. I can see where Dan Perfect gets his good looks. :)

Yeah, I looked too and there is quite a resemblance actually. Now I'm starting to wonder LOL. No, I don't think it's the same guy. But now aargh who the &*% knows. To me I do see quite a resemblance between Cyril Sr and (supposedly) Cyril jr. I am going to ask another source and see if I can get a more concrete answer. Now I am on a mission.


I'd be mortified if Chris read this one day and the first thing she exclaimed was "THAT'S not my brother!" LOL. If i can't verify this w/ this other source then I may end up taking the picture out.

John Perfect is wearing a suit in one tourbook, and wearing a burgundy shirt in the other. He is a cutie, Macfan, I agree! He even looked very cute in the 97 picture I have, without the beard.

-Lis

Hi Lis
I Love The Mcvie Story
You Really Must Write A Book On The Mac Some Day
I Would Love To See The 97 Photo Of John Perfect Without The Beard

All The Best Have A Great Day

>>Hi Lis
I Love The Mcvie Story
You Really Must Write A Book On The Mac Some Day
I Would Love To See The 97 Photo Of John Perfect Without The Beard
All The Best Have A Great Day>>
*****************************

Thanks very much to everyone who has said such nice things. :-) I would love to write a book but there are already so many out there...

I will locate that photo of John P and maybe put it next to the one from the late 80's. I printed it off the internet years ago when the article appeared (when he got the position), but I think the quality is pretty good.

-Lis

The picture that you included of John P I always thought was Stevie's former manager Irving Azoff :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

No I'm serious!

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I expect it was a labour of love. It makes you realise how with one or two decisions being made differently the whole history of popular music could have been changed.

Gail