The devastating news of Kristen McVey’s death hit Wednesday afternoon, and we’re still processing it with Fleetwood Mac fans around the world. “We are very happy to have her live,” Fleetwood Mac said in a group statement. “Individually and together, we loved Christine deeply and are grateful for the wonderful memories we have. She will be greatly missed.”
when Rolling Stone Speaking to McVeigh in June, she was excited about her new LP Songbird (Solo Collection) But highly doubt he’ll ever return to the road with Fleetwood Mac. “I don’t feel physically for it,” she said. “I’m in a very bad place. I have chronic back problems, which make me weak. I stand to play the piano, so I don’t know if I can actually physically do it. What does it say? His mind is happy, but his body is weak.
McVeigh’s last tour with Fleetwood Mac took place between 2018 and 2019, while Lindsay Buckingham was out of the band at the time and Neil Finn and Mike Campbell played in his place. Just over a year earlier, McVeigh recorded an album with Buckingham and took him on tour. “I had a great time with him on the road and made this record,” she said. Rolling Stone In 2018. “I was shocked to hear the news [Buckingham was leaving the band] Because it was after I went back to London that the decision was made. But life goes on and I wanted to continue with these guys.”
The tour was a huge financial success, and McVeigh became close to the new band members. “These guys were great,” she said earlier this year. “We had a good time with them, but we’re kind of separated now, so I hardly see them.”
McVeigh’s only on-stage appearance after the last date of the recent Fleetwood Mac tour took place at the London Palladium on February 25, 2020. It was a tribute show to founding Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green featuring Pat Townshend, Noel Gallagher, David Gilmour, Kirk Hammett, Steven Taylor, Billy Gibbons, Bill Wyman, Jeremy Spencer, Neil Finn, and Mac Fleetwood. are In a video from the performance, McVeigh sings the 1968 Fleetwood Mac classic “Stop Machine Around” with Taylor, Fleetwood, and several other guests from the evening.
McVeigh had no way of knowing that this concert would mark the end of her performing career, but it feels so fitting that she went out to pay tribute to Fleetwood Mac’s early days. She’s been a huge part of their sound for the past five decades, and it’s hard to imagine them going on without her.
