Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter, dies at 79
Christine McVie, who played with Fleetwood Mac and wrote some of their most famous songs, has died aged 79, her family has said.
The British singer-songwriter was behind hits including Little Lies, Everywhere, Don’t Stop, Say You Love Me and Songbird.
She died peacefully at a hospital in the company of her family, a statement said.
McVie left Fleetwood Mac after 28 years in 1998 but returned in 2014.
The family’s statement said “we would like everyone to keep Christine in their hearts and remember the life of an incredible human being, and revered musician who was loved universally”.
Born Christine Perfect, McVie married Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie, and joined the group at the start of the 1970s.
Their 1977 album Rumours – inspired by the break-ups of the McVies and the band’s other couple, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks – became one of the biggest selling of all time, with more than 40 million copies sold worldwide.
McVie was one of eight members of the band inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
In the same year, after the success of their live album The Dance, she retired to Kent, saying a fear of flying meant she was leaving the band.
But she rediscovered her love of performing at a one-off appearance with the group at London’s O2 arena in 2013 and returned to them a year later.
“It was amazing, like I’d never left. I climbed back on there again and there they were, the same old faces on stage,” she told the Guardian newspaper at the time.