Classic Rock
Stevie Nicks laments not saying goodbye to Christine McVie
The Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone that, sadly, she wasn’t in touch with the late Christine McVie much during her final years. Christine lived in England, and the time zone difference made it difficult for them to even talk on the phone. Stevie lamented that she didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to her friend and bandmate. Christine passed away in 2022 at the age of 79.
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Stevie Nicks laments not saying goodbye to Christine McVie
“This is the tragedy of it: I had not talked to Chris for a long time. Fleetwood Mac would be together for two solid years and then we would stop. During that time, when I went to do my own thing and went on tour, we hardly ever talked on the phone. She lived in England. The time difference was screwed up, so it was very hard for us to talk.”
“We got a phone call from someone. He told us that she was ill. I said, ‘OK. We’re going to rent a plane right now, and we’re going to come over there.’ And then we got a call back. Her family said, ‘Don’t come until we see how things go here.’ Her family is super funny, as was she. They said, ‘If you and Mick, that tall man, walk into her hospital room, she’ll go, ‘Am I dead?’'”
She continued:
“So anyway, a few hours later they called and said that she’d died. So I did not get to say goodbye to her. My plan was to go and sit on her bed and sing ‘Touched By an Angel’ to her, like I did with my dad, for two or three hours or however long it took to either bring her back or send her off. I didn’t get to do that, and I was angry.”
“Because this was a different kind of friend. This was my music soulmate, my best girlfriend. We kept that band afloat, the two of us, by keeping the peace, no matter what. By never letting people carry their problems into the studio, by stopping fights before they started, by making sure that our work was stellar. Even when we were doing lots of drugs, we had our eyes on everyone and everything. We were the keepers of Fleetwood Mac, and that is why we cannot replace her. We did replace Lindsey two times, and it was OK. No fighting, super fun. But Christine was different,” Stevie Nicks said.
Christine McVie joined the band in 1970 being a member until 1998. She then returned from 2024 until 2022 when she passed away.
