Berkshire Mac History

Fleetwood Mac got together in 1967 in London, England. They became a very popular British-American rock group. Due to the fact that the band changed member so many different times the only original remaining band member is Mick Fleetwood. The group’s biggest success was achieved from 1971 to 1974. Select members of Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Overall this group sold over 100 million albums all around the globe.
When the group made their debut they were Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, and Bob Brunning. They appeared at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival in August of 1967. After this performance John McVie agreed to sign on as permanent bassist. Their first album was a blues album titled
Fleetwood Mac. There were no singles from this album but the group came out with the following singles afterwards “Black Magic Woman” which late would become a hit single for the group Santana and “Need Your Love So Bad”.
Fleetwood Mac went to the U.S.
in January of 1969 where they recorded songs on Chess Records. In July of the same year they were the opening group for Ten Years After at the Schaefer Music Festival at the Wollman Rink in New York City. It wasn’t until they released the album Future Games in 1971 that they started getting more and more American fans. It wasn’t until 1975 when they had a new line-up and they released the eponymous Fleetwood Mac that they came out with the following hits Christine McVie’s “Over My Head” and “Say You Love Me” and Stevie Nick’s “Rhiannon” and “Landslide”. The album itself reached number one on the U.S. charts and sold over 5 million
copies.
One of their most successful albums was released in 1977 Rumours and it received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Among the hit singles from this album were “Go Your Own Way”, Stevie Nick’s U.S. number one “Dreams” and Christine McVie’s “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Loving Fun”. Other songs from the album were Buckingham’s “Second Hand News”, Nick’s “Gold Dust Woman” and the song which was written by all five members of the group “The Chain”. Rumours had sold over 19 million copies by 2003 in the U.S. alone and worldwide 40 million copies.
In 1979 Fleetwood Mac came out with a 20-track double album titled Tusk. Out of this album they had three hit singles – Buckingham’s “Tusk”, McVie’s “Think about Me”, and Nick’s “Sara”. The group went on an 18-month tour to promote Tusk. The travelled all over the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K. On this world tour they recorded the album Fleetwood Mac Live which was released at the end of 1980.
Their album Mirage released in 1982 included the hits McVIe’s “Hold Me” and “Love in Store”, Nick’s “Gypsy” and Buckingham’s “Oh, Diane”.
This album was certified double platinum in the U.S. Afterwards the Fleetwood Mac went on hiatus and Nicks, Buckingham, and McVie released solo albums. During this time the members had all sorts of problems of their own. Mick Fleetwood filed for bankruptcy, Nicks was admitted to the Betty Ford Clinic for addiction problems, and John McVie suffered a seizure due to addiction. Rumors had it that the group had broken up. However they went on to release Tango in the Night in 1987 and it became their greatest release since Rumours. The album included McVie’s “Little Lies” and “Everywhere”, Sandy Stewart and Nick’s “Seven Wonders” and Buckingham’s “Big Love”, “Family Man”, and “Isn’t It Midnight”. In 1992 the group came out with a 4-disc box set spanning the group’s 25 year history titled 25 Years – The Chain. This included Nick’s “Sliver Springs” which has been recorded at the time Rumours came out but was omitted from the album.
Fleetwood Mac disbanded shortly afterwards but came together for a reunion and officially reformed in March of 1997. Afterward releasing more albums and they have been touring and performing ever since to the great delight of their many
fans.