Christine McVie Was the Only Fleetwood Mac Bandmate Willing to Talk About Stevie Nicks for a Cover Story
In 2015, Fleetwood Mac was on tour, and Stevie Nicks was in the middle of an interview for the cover story of Rolling Stone. Her bandmates, with whom she has a notoriously rocky relationship, didn’t appreciate the individual focus of the article. All refused to comment, with the exception of Christine McVie. Nicks’ longtime friend gave an interview about her relationship with the singer.
The two musicians met in 1975
McVie joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970, two years after marrying band bassist John McVie. Nicks and longtime boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham joined in 1975, and their inclusion rocketed the group to fame. Nicks said that she knew she wanted to be friends with McVie within moments of meeting the band.
“Well, this is what happened,” she said in an interview with the 1975’s Matty Healy for The Face. “When I met Chris — this sounds like a movie, right? When I met Christine McVie … she’s five years older than me, so we were like 28 and 33. And Christine is a full on, you know, trained concert pianist person and an amazing artist painter. So there was so much more to Christine than just music, and when I met her that night at the Mexican food dinner, I was just like, I was awestruck with her.”
Her state of awe didn’t hinder their relationship. By the end of the dinner, Nicks was sold on the idea of joining Fleetwood Mac, and becoming friends with Nicks.
Christine McVie gave an interview about Stevie Nicks when no one else would
In 2015, Fleetwood Mac was on tour, but Rolling Stone wanted to do a cover story on Nicks alone. The rest of the band, members of a contentious group who have fought, bitterly, with each other since 1975, did not take kindly to this.
“There’s more tension than usual in the Mac tonight, largely because Nicks agreed to be on the cover of Rolling Stone by herself in the middle of their tour,” Rolling Stone’s Brian Hiatt wrote. “(‘I told her, “I’m so proud of you,” says guitarist Waddy Wachtel, an old friend of Nicks, ‘and, “Oh, boy, they’re going to be pissed off!”’) When Mick Fleetwood stops by Nicks’ dressing room to get his own makeup done, he shakes my hand, says hello and then pointedly ignores me for the rest of the night.”
Fleetwood, Buckingham, and John McVie refused to speak about Nicks for the story, but McVie gave an entire interview about her. She noted that after her hiatus from the band, she was happy to be back with her longtime friend.
“She’s an icon. She’s a genius,” McVie told Rolling Stone, adding, “She’s a lovely, kind, beautiful woman and I love her to death. She and I are different, and I can’t not love the woman; she’s just amazing. She’s very, very generous in every, single department. In every single department.”
Stevie Nicks wrote a statement about Christine McVie after her death
After McVie’s death in Nov. 2022, Nicks offered a statement about her late friend.
“A few hours ago I was told that my best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975, had died,” Nicks wrote. “I didn’t even know she was ill… until late Saturday night. I wanted to be in London; I wanted to get to London — but we were told to wait. So, since Saturday, one song has been swirling around in my head, over and over and over. I thought I might possibly get to sing it to her, and so, I’m singing it to her now.”
Nicks shared the lyrics to the HAIM song “Hallelujah.” She signed off her statement with, “See you on the other side, My Love. Don’t forget me. Always, Stevie.”
