Fleetwood Mac

Formed from the remnants of John Mayall’s Bluesbreaker, the legendary blues guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood, and bassist John (Mac) McVie created Fleetwood Mac, achieving several top two hits on the UK Chart in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The band experienced nine lineup changes, including Green's departure, before Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined, propelling them to international fame with their 1975 self-titled album, which featured three top 20 hits in the US, and subsequent album Rumours, one of the best-selling albums ever, yielding four top 10 hits in the US and four top 40s in the UK.

The group released three more albums over the following decade that reached the top 10 in multiple countries, accumulating nine additional US top 20s and five more UK top 10s. However, internal relations were fraught with turmoil due to breakups, marriages, divorces, affairs, and excessive alcohol and drug use. This tension was exemplified during the 1982 video shoot for “Hold Me,” described by the producer as “a fucking nightmare,” while the director noted, “Four of them—I can’t recall which four—couldn’t be together in the same room for very long... John McVie was drunk and tried to punch me. Stevie Nicks didn’t want to walk on the sand with her platforms. Christine McVie was fed up with all of them. Mick thought she was being a bitch, he wouldn’t talk to her.”

During their time with the band, Nicks, Buckingham, and Christine McVie also embarked on successful solo careers. Yet after the band's internationally acclaimed 1987 album Tango In The Night resulted in four US top 20 hits, Buckingham officially departed. Fleetwood Mac struggled for continued relevance, with 1990’s Behind The Mask achieving modest success and 1995’s Time going largely unnoticed.

In 1997, the classic lineup of Fleetwood / McVie / McVie / Nicks / Buckingham reunited for the live album The Dance, leading to worldwide success, three Grammy nominations, a 44-date North American tour, and their 1998 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. A 2003 album without Christine McVie initially succeeded but then cooled off. The band has continued to experience members occasionally leaving and returning since then. Peter Green passed away in 2020, and Christine McVie in 2022.