Renowned British vocalist and accomplished keyboardist Christine McVie passed away in 2022 at 79, following her battle with cancer. The singer is remembered for her remarkable contributions to the legendary band Fleetwood Mac, and her death profoundly impacted the group.
Recently, in an interview with Vulture, McVie’s former bandmate, Stevie Nicks, discussed the band’s future following the songwriter’s death. Nicks stated that they would not proceed with touring without McVie as she was an essential piece of their ensemble.
Stevie Nicks says Fleetwood Mac were done touring following Christine McVie’s death
“When Christine died, I felt like you can’t replace her,” the 75-year-old confessed. “You just can’t. Without her, what is it? You know what I mean? She was like my soul mate, my musical soul mate, and my best friend that I spent more time with than any of my other best friends outside of Fleetwood Mac.”
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Nicks reflected on her personal connection with McVie and emphasized that the death of her dear friend left her with no motivation for the band to carry on. “When I think about Taylor Swift’s song ‘You’re on Your Own, Kid’ and the line ‘you always have been,’ it was like, that was Christine and I. We were on our own in that band. We always were. We protected each other,” she admitted. “Who am I going to look over to on the right and have them not be there behind that Hammond organ? When she died, I figured we really can’t go any further with this. There’s no reason to.”
Christine McVie contributed immensely to the popularity of Fleetwood Mac
Nicks also opened up about the late singer’s profound impact on Fleetwood Mac’s journey to fame and success.
“She wrote all those really super pop hits. None of the rest of us could write those songs. What would happen is we’d have to take the songs out like we did when she actually retired for 18 years,” Nicks added. “We couldn’t re-create those songs. So we became a much more hard-rock band.”