John McVie is 75 years old today.
A British bass guitarist best known as a member of rock groups John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and Fleetwood Mac, McVie’s surname, combined with that of Mick Fleetwood, was the inspiration for the band's name. He joined Fleetwood Mac shortly after its formation by guitarist Peter Green in 1967, replacing temporary bassist, Bob Brunning.
In 1968, McView married blues pianist and singer Christine Perfect, who became a member of Fleetwood Mac two years later. John and Christine McVie divorced, however, in 1977. Around this time, the band recorded the album, Rumours, a major artistic and commercial success that borrowed its title from the turmoils in McVie's and other band members' marriages and relationships.
McVie was born in Ealing, west London, to Reg and Dorothy McVie and attended Walpole Grammar School. At 14, he began playing the guitar in local bands, covering songs by The Shadows. He soon realized that his friends were learning lead guitar so he decided to play the bass guitar instead.
Initially, he just removed the top two (E and B) strings from his guitar to play the bass parts until his father bought him a pink Fender bass guitar, the same as that used by McVie's major early musical influence Jet Harris, The Shadows' bass player.
McVie was in class with Roger Warwick, a baritone sax player who had studied under Don Rendell and was to emerge in the London rock-jazz scene. Their teacher, Mr. Howell (a pianist), although not really appreciating this "funny" music, was intelligent and open-minded enough to give pupils space and time to use school facilities to practice and listen to the new wave.
McVie’s first experience making music with a group of like minds was in the back room of a house in Lammas Park Road. Although only possessing a Framus acoustic with top two strings removed, McVie showed a determination and ability that would take him to success as a professional musician.
McVie's first job as a bass player was in a band called the "Krewsaders," formed by boys living in the same street as McVie in Ealing, West London. The Krewsaders played mainly at weddings and parties.
Around this time, John Mayall began forming a Chicago-style Blues band, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Initially, Mayall wanted to recruit bass player Cliff Barton of the Cyril Davies All Stars for the rhythm section of his new band. Barton declined, however, but gave him John McVie's phone number, urging Mayall to give the talented young bass player a chance in the Bluesbreakers.
Mayall contacted McVie, and asked him to audition for his band. Soon after, McVie got an offer to play bass in the Bluesbreakers. He accepted while still holding down his daytime job as a tax inspector for a further nine months before becoming a musician full-time.
Under Mayall's tutelage, McVie, not having had any formal training in music, learned to play the blues mainly by listening to B. B. King and Willie Dixon records given to him by Mayall. In 1966, a young Peter Green was asked to join Mayall's Bluesbreakers as the band's new lead guitar player, after Eric Clapton, the third guitarist with the band, had left.
Some time later, after the recording of A Hard Road, drummer Aynsley Dunbar was replaced by Mick Fleetwood. Green, McVie and Fleetwood quickly forged a strong personal relationship, and when John Mayall gave Green some free studio time for his birthday, Green asked McVie and Fleetwood to join him for a recording session.
Produced by Mike Vernon, they recorded three tracks together, "Curly,” "Rubber Duck" and an instrumental, "Fleetwood Mac.” Later the same year, after having been replaced by Mick Taylor in the Bluesbreakers, Peter Green opted to form his own band, which he called "Fleetwood Mac," after his preferred rhythm section (Fleetwood and McVie).
Mick Fleetwood immediately joined Green's new band, having been dismissed earlier from the Bluesbreakers for drunkenness. However, McVie initially was reluctant to join Fleetwood Mac, not wanting to leave the security and well-paid job in the Bluesbreakers, forcing Green to temporarily hire a bassist named Bob Brunning.
A few weeks later McVie changed his mind, however, as he felt that The Bluesbreakers musical direction were shifting too much towards jazz, and he joined Fleetwood Mac on bass in December, 1967. With McVie now in Fleetwood Mac, the band recorded its first album, Fleetwood Mac. The album was released in February, 1968, and became an immediate national hit, establishing Fleetwood Mac as a major part in the English Blues movement.
While on tour, Fleetwood Mac would often share venues with fellow blues band, Chicken Shack. It was on one such occasion that McVie met his future wife, the lead singer and piano player of Chicken Shack, Christine Perfect. Following a brief romance of only two weeks, McVie and Perfect got married with Peter Green as best man.
With the couple being unable to spend much time together because of the constant touring with their bands, Christine (now McVie) quit Chicken Shack to become a housewife to spend more time with John. However, following the departure of Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac in 1970, McVie successfully persuaded Christine to join him in Fleetwood Mac.
On October 27, 2013, Fleetwood Mac announced on their Facebook Page that McVie had been diagnosed with colon cancer and would be undergoing treatment. He continued to play with the band during their 2014 On With The Show tour following an improvement in his condition.
Here, McVie with Fleetwood Mac perform on Midnight Special in 1973