It’s not just a rumour, Fleetwood Mac is finished…according to Stevie Nicks. Their Fleetwood Mac and Rumours albums from the mid ‘70’s are two of the most popular albums of all time, and every tour they played since then was very successful.
(Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, & Stevie Nicks in the 1970s.)
This week, Stevie Nicks said it’s over, and that it actually ended when Christine McVie passed away (on November 30th, 2022). Nicks says there’s no reason to get together without Christine. The band continued to tour when McVie took an 18-year break from the group. She returned in 2014, and the band toured into 2019. Nicks says the band would miss all of the pop-style hits McVie wrote for the group.
Another unspoken reason Fleetwood Mac has ended is that the band is also without Lindsey Buckingham. They were missing Buckingham on their last tour. He had a falling out with the group in 2018, and was replaced by Heartbreaker Mike Campbell and Neil Finn of Crowded House. Stevie Nicks recently toured with Billy Joel, and has continued touring solo.
The reason talk of Fleetwood Mac’s end came up is that Stevie Nicks was asked the question during the recent release of the “Stevie Doll”. It’s a Barbie doll custom-made to look like Fleetwood Mac’s most popular member.
The doll is based on Nick’s appearance at the time of the Rumours album (1977).
Although the doll is not an exact image of Stevie Nicks, it does a decent job of representing her.
Stevie Nick’s fans must have been happy with it, because the doll sold out in one day. It was $55 from Mattel, and the doll was seen online the next day for $160. Who knows what a rabid fan might be willing to pay…probably not the $65,000 someone jokingly put on eBay.
Although there will be no new recordings or touring by Fleetwood Mac, it wouldn’t be surprising if their label finds a way to re-release their old recordings. In fact, there was a recent release of an old concert. The album title is Rumours Live.
The album is a performance from 1977 that was released on September 8th, 2023. Maybe future releases will include an anthology of alternate studio versions and demos. That might be a good one.
I discovered Fleetwood Mac post their first album and was a diehard fan forever. It was a time of Steller creative talent in the music industry and Fleetwood Mac oozed great talent in every position. None more than the great Christie McVie. Her voice was so silky smooth and ethereal, the stuff of dreams. She was a singularity. No one else sounded like her.
Heartfelt sympathy to her friends and family and to the members of the band who knew and loved her most.