Fleetwood Mac Star Christine McVie Once Revealed the Best Advice She Ever Received
Fleetwood Mac singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Christine McVie once shared the best advice she ever received. Here’s the classic rock musician’s favorite tip and how she applied it to her music.
Fleetwood Mac star Christine McVie had musical and magical parents
Christine McVie was born Christine Anne Perfect. Her maiden name was a sign of the delightful person and musician McVie would become (a Fleetwood Mac producer described her as the “only real sweetheart” of the band), but it wasn’t the only gift her parents gave her. They were very magical and musical themselves, and seemed to pass those qualities on to their daughter.
It’s obvious where the keyboardist got her musical talent – McVie’s father, Cyril Percy Absell Perfect, was a concert violinist and music lecturer at St. Peter’s College of Education, and her grandfather was an organist at Westminster Abbey.
Her mother, Beatrice Edith Maud Perfect, was a medium, psychic, and faith healer. McVie’s Fleetwood Mac bandmate, Stevie Nicks, said Beatrice had a premonition of the band’s success.
“We knew immediately that Fleetwood Mac was going to be huge,” Nicks told The New Yorker in February 2022. “We knew, almost like we could just look into the crystal ball. Christine’s mom was a medium – like, a psychic medium, right? And her mom had a lot to say about it, like, ‘It’s gonna be huge.’”
Not only did Christine McVie’s parents bless her with their gifts, but they also gave her the best piece of advice she ever received.
Christine McVie revealed the best advice she ever received
In a June interview with Rolling Stone, just months before the Fleetwood Mac star’s death, Christine McVie shared the best advice she had ever heard.
“Not to lie,” the keyboardist said. “To be honest.” McVie said she was grateful to her parents for giving her those words of wisdom, and they helped shape the woman she became. “That came from my parents. I can’t imagine better advice coming from one’s parents. I try to stick by that rule and to be as good a person as I can.”
The Fleetwood Mac keyboardist has often spoken of honesty in her work
Christine McVie seemingly took her parents’ advice because she often spoke of honesty in her work.
Her 1984 self-titled solo album, which Rolling Stone described as “on the tame side,” came from a place of authenticity. “Maybe it isn’t the most adventurous album in the world, but I wanted to be honest and please my own ears with it,” McVie said. “I tend to like the traditional sound: three-part harmonies, guitar and piano. I mean, a well-played guitar is a joy forever… or something.”
And a famous quote about honesty is attributed to her. “Learn your instrument. Be honest. Don’t do anything phony,” McVie said (per Grammy Awards). “There is so much crap floating around. There is plenty of room for a bit of honest writing.”
