Christine McVie, the British-born Fleetwood Mac vocalist, songwriter and keyboard player whose cool, soulful contralto helped define such classics as You Make Loving Fun, Everywhere and Don’t Stop, died on Wednesday at age 79.
McVie was a steady presence and personality in a band known for its frequent lineup changes and volatile personalitiesFILE - Members of the rock group Fleetwood Mac, from left, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie pose with their Album of the Year Grammy Award for Rumours in Los Angeles, Feb. 23, 1978.
Everyone in the group played a distinctive role: Fleetwood and John McVie formed a deep and bluesy groove, Buckingham was the resident mad genius and perfectionist, Nicks the charismatic dramatist and idol to countless young women and Christine McVie the grounded counterpoint, her economy as a singer and player well suited to her birth surname: Perfect.
McVie’s two marriages, to John McVie and Eduardo Quintela, both ended in divorce. Her boyfriends included the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson, about whom she wrote Only Over You. Few bands succeeded so well as Fleetwood Mac, which has sold well over 100 million records, against such long odds. Green was among the many performers who left the group, and at various times Fleetwood Mac seemed on the verge of ending, or fading away. It was rescued by unexpected returns and interventions and one of rock's most fortuitous and lucrative hunches.
The new lineup proved almost instantly magical. Nicks and Christine McVie formed a lasting friendship, agreeing that as two of the rare women in rock they would always stand up for each other. And the harmonies and music making of Nicks, Buckingham and Christine McVie insured that such albums as Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Mirage had an enviable quality and variety of songwriting and vocal styles.