Fleetwood Mac

Though they eventually became '70s pop superstars, Fleetwood Mac was founded as a blues-rock band in London in 1967. The initial iteration of the band was built around singer/guitarist Peter Green, whose six-string prowess rivaled that of contemporaries like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. The band was named for drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie (founding bassist Bob Brunning left shortly after the group was formed) and completed by singer/guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Fleetwood Mac quickly became major players on the British blues-rock scene-their self-titled 1968 debut album went to No. 4 in the U.K. Later that year, the band added another singing axeman, Danny Kirwan, to the fold, forging the mightiest three-guitar lineup in all of British '60s rock. By 1969, Mac was expanding beyond blues to incorporate searing psychedelia and poignant balladry. Unfortunately, just as they were hitting their stride, Green began exhibiting extreme signs of schizophrenia, seemingly egged on by LSD use, and he departed in 1970. The band still had two talented frontmen in Spencer and Kirwan, who rose to the challenge by helming Fleetwood Mac's masterful fourth album, 1970's Kiln House. Trouble struck again in 1970 when Spencer inexplicably disappeared in the middle of a tour. It was eventually discovered that he'd joined a religious cult. Mac recruited American singer/guitarist Bob Welch in time for 1971's Future Games, which foreshadowed the band's multi-Platinum future by eschewing blues for a pop-rock sensibility. By this time, John McVie's wife, Christine, who'd been a guest on previous recordings, became the band's full-time keyboardist. In 1973, Kirwan was fired for his erratic, allegedly alcohol-induced behavior, and replaced by Bob Weston. By the time Mac shifted operations from England to L.A. in 1974, they were down to one guitarist, Weston having been jettisoned for carrying on an affair with Fleetwood's wife. Just as their profile was rising in the U.S., Welch quit the band at the end of that year. Singer Stevie Nicks and singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who had been working as the L.A. duo Buckingham/Nicks, were brought aboard for the self-titled 1975 album that completely changed the band's career. Doubling down on the pop sound, Fleetwood Mac became an unstoppable hit machine, experiencing phenomenal success. That record and its successor, 1977's Rumours, both hit No. 1 in the U.S. and went Platinum many times over, making the band a ubiquitous presence on American radio. The willfully idiosyncratic double album 1979 double album Tusk did well but its unconventionality took some of the shine off the band's pop profile. After Buckingham and Nicks each released solo debuts in '81, the band returned to its comfort zone (and the top of the charts) with 1982's Mirage. Following a long hiatus, Fleetwood Mac returned for 1987's Tango in the Night. It would be the last studio recording with all the "classic" personnel. Over the next eight years, various lineups would continue recording and performing, minus Buckingham and, eventually, Nicks. In 1997, after a two-year hiatus, Mac returned to touring, with the Rumours lineup intact, though McVie would soon depart, not rejoining her comrades again until 2014.