Stevie Nicks Says ‘There’s No Reason’ to Continue Fleetwood Mac Without Christine McVie
Stevie Nicks says “there's no reason” to continue Fleetwood Mac without Christine McVie. The latter passed away in 2022 and wrote or co-wrote some of Fleetwood Mac's greatest hits, including “Don't Stop,” “Everywhere,” and “Little Lies.”
In an interview with Vulture, Nicks says, “But when Christine died, I felt like you can’t replace her. 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. Christine was my best friend. 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. 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.”
Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie Contributed Very Different Female Vocals for Fleetwood Mac
The core lineup of Fleetwood Mac since 1977's Rumours album consists of Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham (pictured above, left to right). Rumours sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling albums in history. The last time the Rumours lineup of Fleetwood Mac appeared together was at the 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year gala. Buckingham was “dismissed” from the band a few months later, and Fleetwood Mac went on tour with Mike Campbell and Neil Finn replacing Buckingham. In November 2022, Christine McVie passed away at the age of 79.
More than any other member of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks has enjoyed success outside the band as a solo artist. She released eight studio solo albums, containing hits such as “Stand Back,” “Edge of Seventeen,” “Stop Draggin' My Heart Around,” “Leather and Lace,” “Talk to Me,” “I Can't Wait,” and “Rooms on Fire.” Nicks appeared as an exaggerated version of her “White Witch” persona on American Horror Story: Coven and AHS: Apocalypse.
According to Variety, Nicks has extended her current solo tour into 2024. At a recent show at Madison Square Garden, Nicks unveiled an upcoming Mattel Barbie of herself inspired by her look during the Rumours era.
Beyond a new Barbie doll celebrating her Fleetwood Mac look, however, Nicks doesn't have a “crystal vision” of the band continuing without Christine McVie. “Christine was the pop star,” says Nicks to Vulture. “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. We couldn’t re-create those songs. So we became a much more hard-rock band.”
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.