Life before Mac: the very underrated blues debut from Mrs McVie

[SteveMacD]

Christine is the only person who could have joined Fleetwood Mac after Peter quit.

Unlike Danny or Jeremy, she’d been the center of attention in Chicken Shack, even though it was Stan’s band. Of the first four Chicken Shack singles, three were Christine’s, while she only got two songs on the first album and four on the second. It was big enough to get her a solo stint she wishes we’d forget about.

She’d been playing on Fleetwood Mac albums since April, 1968, ten months after the band formed, and was John’s wife within a year of the band’s debut gig. Actually, they were married before Danny was officially in the band.

And, as a result, she was a massive part of their inner circle.

Jeremy and Danny strike me as having been especially fragile, and bringing in someone, i.e. Jeff Beck, wasn’t going to fly.

Adding Christine wasn’t adding someone new, but it was adding someone who they were comfortable with and who’d already dealt with the pressure if being the focal point in a band. She was exactly what they needed and the only way they could move beyond Peter Green.