50 Fun Facts About Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac was formed in London in 1967 by which guitarist, fresh from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers?

Peter Green, who had replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1966, left Mayall in 1967 to form the new band, which played its first gig that August at the Windsor festival.

The band's name combines the surnames of which two members?

Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass lent their surnames; the founder had already titled an instrumental 'Fleetwood Mac' after them, then named the band partly to lure McVie away from Mayall.

Which 1968 instrumental gave Fleetwood Mac their only UK No. 1 single?

Albatross, a dreamy instrumental released in November 1968, topped the UK chart in January 1969 and returned to No. 2 on reissue in 1973.

Which Beatles song did George Harrison say was built on the band's 1968 instrumental hit?

George Harrison said the Beatles wrote Sun King, on 1969's Abbey Road, by trying to imitate the reverb-drenched guitar sound of Fleetwood Mac's 1968 instrumental hit.

Which early Fleetwood Mac song became a much bigger hit when Santana covered it?

Black Magic Woman, a 1968 Fleetwood Mac single that reached No. 37 in Britain, became a US No. 4 hit for Santana in 1970; its writer played it with Santana at the 1998 Hall of Fame induction.

The founding guitarist's decline is usually traced to a 1970 LSD trip in which city?

The acid trip at a Munich commune in March 1970 is usually blamed for his mental decline; within weeks he wanted the band to give away its money, and he quit in May 1970.

What did Jeremy Spencer say he was going out to do in 1971 before vanishing to join the Children of God?

In Los Angeles in February 1971 Spencer said he was popping out to get a magazine, then vanished; he was found days later with the Children of God, and the band's founder was brought back to finish the tour.

Christine McVie sang in which British blues band before joining Fleetwood Mac?

With Chicken Shack she sang and played piano on their 1969 UK hit I'd Rather Go Blind, winning Melody Maker's female vocalist award in 1969 and 1970 before joining Fleetwood Mac in 1970.

What was Christine McVie's maiden name?

Born Christine Perfect in 1943, she took the McVie name on marrying the band's bassist in 1968; her father Cyril Perfect was a concert violinist and music lecturer in Birmingham.

Which American guitarist joined Fleetwood Mac in 1971 and later had a solo hit re-recording 'Sentimental Lady'?

He was hired on the strength of a tape of his songs without ever playing with the band.

Guitarist Bob Weston was fired in 1973 after an affair with whose wife?

Weston's affair with Mick Fleetwood's wife Jenny Boyd, sister of George Harrison's wife Pattie, got him sacked in October 1973, and the band abandoned its US tour in Nebraska.

In early 1974, manager Clifford Davis sent a completely different lineup on tour under what name?

Davis claimed he owned the name and sent out 'The New Fleetwood Mac' in January 1974 with none of the real members; audiences rebelled, and the ensuing lawsuit kept the genuine band idle until it moved to California.

Mick Fleetwood discovered his future guitarist after hearing the track Frozen Love from which 1973 album?

Fleetwood heard Frozen Love from the duo's 1973 album Buckingham Nicks while touring Sound City studios in Van Nuys; Buckingham agreed to join only if Stevie Nicks came too.

On what date did the two Californians officially join Fleetwood Mac?

Buckingham and Nicks formally joined on New Year's Eve 1974, weeks after the guitarist they replaced had quit for a solo career; the new five-piece was recording by February 1975.

Fans call the 1975 self-titled record by what nickname?

Fans call the 1975 album The White Album for its plain cover; it reached No. 1 in the US only in September 1976, more than a year after release, lifted by Rhiannon and Say You Love Me.

Which Stevie Nicks song from Fleetwood Mac's 1975 album became a hit 20 years later on The Dance?

Rhiannon and Say You Love Me both stalled at No. 11.

Rumours won the Grammy for Album of the Year in which year?

Rumours took Album of the Year at the 20th Grammy Awards in February 1978, beating Hotel California and Aja; by then it had spent most of 1977 at No. 1.

Rumours was recorded in early 1976 at the Record Plant in which Californian town?

The band spent February and March 1976 at the Record Plant in Sausalito, across the bay from San Francisco; the working title was Yesterday's Gone, and the sessions ran on sleepless nights and cocaine.

Which Rumours single is Fleetwood Mac's only US No. 1?

Dreams, written by Nicks in a single afternoon, reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in June 1977 and topped the Canadian chart; it was certified gold for a million US sales.

Go Your Own Way was written by which member, about his break-up with a bandmate?

Lindsey Buckingham wrote Go Your Own Way about his split from Nicks, who objected to its line about packing up and shacking up; it was released as Rumours' lead single in December 1976.

Which Rumours track is the only Fleetwood Mac song credited to all five members?

The Chain is the one Rumours song with a writing credit for all five band members; it was assembled from separate fragments, including the bass-riff outro the band had jammed on.

Which sport's British TV coverage made a Rumours track its famous theme?

Formula One: the BBC opened its Grand Prix coverage with the song's bass-led finale for nearly two decades from the late 1970s, and brought it back when the races returned to the BBC in 2009.

Which Stevie Nicks song was recorded for Rumours but relegated to the B-side of Go Your Own Way?

Silver Springs was dropped from Rumours for length and issued as the flip side of the album's first single; the fight over its use on a 1992 box set helped push Nicks out of the band in 1991.

Which college ensemble plays on the title track of Fleetwood Mac's 1979 double album Tusk?

The USC Trojan Marching Band recorded its brass and drum parts in an empty Dodger Stadium in 1979; the single reached No. 8 in the US and the band was later presented with a platinum disc.

Tusk cost about $1.4 million to make, earning it what distinction at the time?

At roughly $1.4 million, Tusk was called the most expensive rock album ever recorded when it appeared in October 1979; Warner Bros. saw its four million sales as a letdown beside Rumours.

Mick Fleetwood blamed Tusk's weaker sales on what?

He argued the RKO broadcast let everyone tape it at home.

The 1982 album Mirage was recorded at a château in which country?

France: the band spent spring 1981 at the Château d'Hérouville north of Paris, the studio Elton John had used for Honky Château, and came back with a more conventional pop record after Tusk.

Fleetwood Mac headlined the first US Festival in September 1982 for what fee?

The Mirage tour itself was just 18 American cities.

Which 1987 album, begun as a Buckingham solo project, gave the band Little Lies, Everywhere and Big Love?

Tango in the Night grew out of sessions for a Buckingham solo record; released in April 1987, it became the band's second-best seller after Rumours and topped the UK chart in 1988.

Christine McVie co-wrote Little Lies with whom?

Seven Wonders was written by Sandy Stewart with Nicks.

Which two guitarists replaced Buckingham when he quit in August 1987?

Billy Burnette, a rockabilly singer from the drummer's Zoo side project, and slide guitarist Rick Vito were brought in for the Shake the Cage tour that opened in autumn 1987.

Which US president reunited Fleetwood Mac's classic line-up in 1993 by asking them to play his inaugural ball?

Bill Clinton's campaign had adopted one of the band's songs, and at his request the Rumours line-up reunited to play it at his inaugural gala in Washington in January 1993.

Which Fleetwood Mac song did the 1992 Democratic presidential campaign adopt as its theme?

Don't Stop, written by Christine McVie and sung by her and Buckingham, was the 1992 Democratic campaign's anthem; the band reunited to play it at the inaugural gala in January 1993.

Which 1997 live album took Fleetwood Mac back to No. 1 on the US album chart?

The Dance was taped before an invited audience at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank in May 1997; it entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 and went on to sell over five million copies in the US.

Which animal became Fleetwood Mac's mascot, thanks to the bassist's fascination with it?

The penguin: the bassist lived near London Zoo and spent hours watching its penguins, so the band adopted the bird; it names the 1973 album Penguin and appears on later sleeves.

Stevie Nicks holds what distinction at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

First woman inducted twice: Nicks went in with Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and again as a solo artist in 2019, when Harry Styles gave her induction speech.

Which 1981 solo album led Rolling Stone to call Stevie Nicks 'the Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll'?

Bella Donna, released in July 1981, topped the Billboard 200 and spun off four Hot 100 singles including Edge of Seventeen; Rolling Stone's cover that September crowned her the Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll.

Which 2003 album was Fleetwood Mac's first studio record after Christine McVie's retirement?

Say You Will, released in April 2003, was the band's first studio album after Christine McVie retired in 1998; it debuted at No. 3 in the US, led by the single Peacekeeper.

Which two musicians replaced the band's lead guitarist after he was fired in 2018?

Mike Campbell, lead guitarist of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House joined in April 2018 and toured with the band into 2019.

The band's only US No. 1 recharted in 2020 thanks to a TikTok of Nathan Apodaca skateboarding while drinking what?

Apodaca was longboarding to his warehouse job in Idaho Falls after his truck broke down, swigging Ocean Spray cran-raspberry juice and lip-syncing; the clip sent the 1977 song back into the Hot 100 that October.

How old was Christine McVie when she died?

Christine McVie was 79: born in July 1943 in the Lake District village of Bouth, she died in hospital on 30 November 2022 after a short illness.

Where was Mick Fleetwood born?

Redruth, Cornwall: he was born there in June 1947 to an RAF pilot, and the family's postings took him to Egypt and Norway before he left school at 15 to drum in London.

Where was Stevie Nicks born?

Phoenix, Arizona: Stevie Nicks was born there in May 1948, and her father's climb through Greyhound's executive ranks moved the family through New Mexico, Texas, Utah and California.

The band's founder died in his sleep in July 2020 on which Essex isle?

Canvey Island, in the Thames estuary, was where he died in his sleep on 25 July 2020, aged 73, five months after the tribute concert for him at the London Palladium.

Under what billing did the band play its first gig, at the 1967 National Jazz and Blues Festival?

Billed as Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac featuring Jeremy Spencer, the band debuted at Windsor on 13 August 1967 with Bob Brunning on bass; the regular bassist joined a few weeks later.

The band's 1969 blues sessions with Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy were recorded in which studio?

Chess Records Studio in Chicago hosted the January 1969 sessions, where the band jammed with Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy, Otis Spann and other Chess regulars; the results filled a double album of blues jams.

What was Everywhere's peak position on the UK Singles Chart?

Everywhere reached No. 4 in Britain in 1988, one place above the band's Little Lies; in the US it peaked at No. 14 on the Hot 100 and topped the Adult Contemporary chart.

Which Fleetwood Mac song did Stevie Nicks write after reading Mary Leader's novel Triad?

Rhiannon grew out of Triad, a 1973 novel about a woman possessed by a spirit of that name; Nicks said she only later learned of the Welsh goddess. The single reached the US top 20 in 1976.

Which single was the only US Top 40 hit from 1990's Behind the Mask?

Save Me, co-written by Christine McVie, reached No. 33 on the Hot 100 in 1990; none of the album's other singles cracked the US Top 40, though Buckingham guested on its title track.

What was Fleetwood Mac's first entry on the US Billboard Hot 100?

Oh Well, a 1969 UK No. 2, became the band's first Hot 100 entry when it reached No. 55 in early 1970; Buckingham later made it a showcase in the band's live set.