I met Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie at her LA home and what she told me about plans for motherhood still shocks me
SINGER Christine McVie opened champagne when I went to her home in the Hollywood Hills on March 21, 1978.
She was celebrating her divorce from bass guitarist John just three weeks before — and told how she had put their band Fleetwood Mac ahead of her personal life.
She was then 34 and a millionaire.
Their album Rumours had topped the American charts for six months the previous year.
It had not left Britain’s top ten for 55 consecutive weeks.
It has since sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums ever.
At that point, Christine was part of one of the biggest success stories in rock ’n’ roll.
But it had not been a simple rise to the top for one of the most controversial — and chaotic — bands in rock history, with a string of cocaine-fuelled affairs.
Christine’s ex-husband John once joked that the only members of the band who had not had an affair were himself and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.
By the time they were recording Rumours, Christine was not talking to John and had started an affair with lighting director Curry Grant.
Long-term couple Lindsey and singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks had split, causing even more tension as they recorded.
To make matters worse, Stevie had fallen in love with drummer Mick Fleetwood, whose wife Jenny Boyd had earlier had an affair with previous Fleetwood Mac member Bob Weston.
After Mick and Jenny’s divorce, he ditched Stevie for her good friend Sara Recor.
But it was not until Christine’s marriage broke down that she really came into her own professionally.
In 1977 she wrote her biggest hits, Don’t Stop, Songbird and You Make Loving Fun, which were all highlights on Rumours.
She was frank about the mixture of talent, rows and break-ups which kept the five-strong band together.
She told me: “When Lindsey and Stevie joined us they’d been living happily together for about eight years. But they split up after about six months with this band.
“Fleetwood Mac seems infectious like that. Break-ups are a disease. Even Mick (Fleetwood) divorced his wife Jenny. But they remarried and are now very happy.”
In fact, Mick was to dump Jenny just six months after this interview.
Christine added: “All the personal problems with each other and all that tension seemed to help the special magic of the band.”
We had first met ten years before, when she was belting out the blues around Birmingham’s clubs under her maiden name, Christine Perfect.
She had been just 16 when she first appeared on stage at the Dudley Liberal Club in my native Black Country, for which she was paid £3.
All the personal problems with each other and all that tension seemed to help the special magic of the band.
Christine McVie
Now she and Fleetwood Mac were filling stadiums of 50,000 and she could afford a Cotswold-style mansion furnished with antiques and oil paintings as if she was still living in England.
There was even a roaring log fire, despite it being a warm Californian afternoon.
And Christine spelled out just how important her life in music had become: “John and I broke up three years ago, but we had two altern-atives — go our separate ways and see the band collapse, or grit our teeth and carry on playing together.
“Normally, when couples split up they don’t have to see each other ever again. We were forced to get over those difficulties.
“There was no doubt that the band just pulled our marriage apart.
“We saw so much of each other at work, at play and at home that it became very wearing on the relationship.
“I used to think it was more strain on a marriage to be on tour away from home. But not many relationships could survive if they saw each other every hour of every day.”
She added: “There was a lot of awkwardness, as you can imagine, particularly in the early days after we stopped living together.
“It was a matter of trying to be super-mature about it and we had to keep our finer feelings covered up.
“We never actually got around to making our divorce final until now, although it was reported we had divorced two years ago.
“John started going out with a girl called Julie, who used to work for our former business manager. They are getting married on April 16 (1978) and that’s why John wanted an official divorce.
“I now live with a guy called Curry Grant, who is a Texas lighting engineer. He gets bored out of his mind sitting in the house all day.
“So he’s out now acting as road manager for a singer called Bob Welch, who used to be in Fleetwood Mac.”
Christine lived for music and the band so much, she decided against having children.
She said: “I had the the big slice and dice (sterilisation) four months ago. I have reached the stage when my lifestyle and frame of mind is no longer cut out for babies. Where would they fit in?
“I have two godchildren, a half brother and a half sister who is 11. It’s great to have them around the house when they visit from England.
“I can always wave them goodbye at the end of the visit and it makes me realise that I could not take kids on now. With my career, there’s no place for them.”
After the interview, Christine went on to marry again in 1986, after dating Curry and briefly Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
This time she stayed with Portuguese keyboard player and writer Eddie Quintela for 17 years.
They co-wrote songs, including Little Lies, which was on Fleetwood Mac’s 1987 album Tango In The Night.
By 2003 they had divorced, although they kept working together, and Eddie died in 2020.
Christine was born in the Lake District village of Bouth in 1943 to concert violinist Cyril Perfect and his wife Beatrice, a faith healer.
At first she was hell-bent on becoming an artist, as well as training in classical piano and cello.
She graduated in sculpture from Birmingham Art College but her passion for music soon saw her join her first band, Chicken Shack.
The three of us who are English have particular sense of humour that helps on the road. It’s based on constant p***-take. Lindsey and Stevie are Californian and take everything deadly seriously.
Christine McVie
After marrying John McVie in 1968, she retired from music and briefly became a homemaker.
But just two years later she released a solo album, Christine Perfect, and was soon playing keyboards and singing backing vocals in Fleetwood Mac.
In 1974 the band relocated to the States, where they were joined by Stevie and Lindsey.
The mix of Brits and the American newcomers worked well — apart from the obvious cultural differences.
Christine said: “We have a specific sense of humour between the three of us who are English, which keeps us going when we’re out on the road.
“It is based loosely on a constant p***-take. Lindsey and Stevie are Californian, and Americans tend to take everything deadly seriously.
“They can never really tell when you are teasing or pulling their leg.”
In 1999 Christine retired from the band and moved back to England to be near her family, while dodging various Fleetwood Mac reunions.
She moved into an idyllic Grade II listed mansion near Canterbury in Kent called The Quaives.
There, she recorded two solo albums — one in 2013 which was never released.
That same year she surprised fans by rejoining Fleetwood Mac.
Controversially in 2018, Lindsey was thrown out of the band, forcing them to settle a lawsuit out of court.
But even last year Mick Fleetwood toyed with one last farewell tour.
Christine had said: “If we do it, it’ll be without John and without Stevie, I think. I’m getting a bit old for it now. I don’t know if I can get myself back into it.”
Christine was warm, welcoming and talkative, and well aware of her good fortune.
She said: “We are pretty spoilt now. We have limousines and private planes. It’s a long way from small clubs and pubs.”
At the end of our talk she gave me a guided tour of the house.
But even then, despite the luxury and the heated pool in the garden, she still pined for England.
She said: “I miss the cheese, the bread, the way milk comes in bottles, the nice fat sausages and the sense of humour.”
As we finished the champagne, she added: “But what I miss most is the conversation in a good English pub with a glass of beer.”