Go Your Own Way

Fleetwood Mac got together in 1967 in London, England. They became a very popular British-American rock group. Due to the fact that the band changed members so many different times the only original remaining band member is Mick Fleetwood. The group’s biggest success was achieved from 1971 to 1974. Select members of Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Overall this group sold over 100 million albums all around the globe.

When the group made their debut they were Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, and Bob Brunning. They appeared at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival in August of 1967. After this performance, John McVie agreed to sign on as a permanent bassist. Their first album was a blues album titled Fleetwood Mac. There were no singles from this album but the group came out with the following singles afterwards “Black Magic Woman” which later would become a hit single for the group Santana and “Need Your Love So Bad”.

Fleetwood Mac went to the U.S. in January of 1969 where they recorded songs on Chess Records. In July of the same year, they were the opening group for Ten Years After at the Schaefer Music Festival at the Wollman Rink in New York City. It wasn’t until they released the album Future Games in 1971 that they started getting more and more American fans.

Among other albums that followed was their eighth studio album Mystery to Me in 1973 and it was the last album to feature Bob Weston. On this album, most of the songs were penned by guitarist/singer Bob Welch and keyboardist/singer Christine McVie. This album did not feature any hit singles but did include the song "Hypnotized" which got a lot of airplay on FM radio stations. It was certified Gold in 1976.

It wasn’t until 1975 when they had a new line-up that they released the album Fleetwood Mac coming out with the following hits Christine McVie’s “Over My Head” and “Say You Love Me” and Stevie Nick’s “Rhiannon” and “Landslide”. The album itself reached number one on the U.S. charts and sold over 5 million copies.

One of their most successful albums was released in 1977 Rumours and it received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Among the hit singles from this album were “Go Your Own Way”, Stevie Nick’s U.S. number one “Dreams” and Christine McVie’s “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Loving Fun”. Other songs from the album were Buckingham’s “Second Hand News”, Nick’s “Gold Dust Woman” and the song which was written by all five members of the group “The Chain”. Rumours had sold over 19 million copies by 2003 in the U.S. alone and worldwide 40 million copies.

In 1979 Fleetwood Mac came out with a 20-track double album titled Tusk. Out of this album they had three hit singles – Buckingham’s “Tusk”, McVie’s “Think about Me”, and Nick’s “Sara”. The group went on an 18-month tour to promote Tusk. They travelled all over the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K. On this world tour, they recorded the album Fleetwood Mac Live which was released at the end of 1980.

Their album Mirage released in 1982 included the hits McVie’s “Hold Me” and “Love in Store”, Nick’s “Gypsy” and Buckingham’s “Oh, Diane”. This album was certified double platinum in the U.S. Afterwards the Fleetwood Mac went on hiatus and Nicks, Buckingham, and McVie released solo albums. During this time the members had all sorts of problems of their own. Mick Fleetwood filed for bankruptcy, Nicks was admitted to the Betty Ford Clinic for addiction problems, and John McVie suffered a seizure due to addiction. Rumor had it that the group had broken up.

Their fourteenth studio album Tango In The Night was also their last studio album released in 1987 with the successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks. Hit singles from the album were "Big Love, "Seven Wonders," "Little Lies," and "Everywhere."

Fleetwood Mac disbanded shortly afterwards but came together for a reunion and officially reformed in March of 1997.

In 2003 Fleetwood Mac came out with their 17th studio album Say You Will and was the first album without vocalist/keyboardist Christine McVie, who had left Fleetwood Mac in 1998. It was also the final album with Lindsey Buckingham. There was a limited edition of this album released with two live tracks "Peacekeeper" and "Say You Will." The album also included two additional studio tracks "Not Make Believe" by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's cover of the Bob Dylan song "Love Minus Zero/No Limit."

They have been touring and performing ever since to the great delight of their many fans.