Happy 80th Birthday John McVie!

Celebrating the legendary bassist for Fleetwood Mac… Thank You John!

John Graham McVie was born on November 26, 1945 in Ealing, Middlesex, England

“Happy Birthday” Image by Gift Habeshaw from Unsplash (filter by Anthony Woodard)

Fleetwood Mac was (is) one of my late father’s (and my) favorite bands.  Fleetwood Mac’s music, style, and story are the stuff of legends; authentic pieces of ‘70s Americana.  This legendary outfit was formed in London in 1967 by guitarist and singer Peter Green after he left another of my dad’s favorite bands (John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers).  Green had previously replaced guitarist Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers and had received critical acclaim for his work on their album A Hard Road.  Peter had been in two bands with Mick Fleetwood and recommended him as a replacement for drummer Aynsley Dunbar when Dunbar left the Bluesbreakers to join the Jeff Beck Group.  John Mayall agreed and Fleetwood joined the Bluesbreakers.  The Bluesbreakers then consisted of Green, Fleetwood, John McVie, and Mayall.  John Mayall gave Green free recording time as a gift, which Fleetwood, McVie and Green used to record five songs.  The fifth song was an instrumental that Green named after the rhythm section, "Fleetwood Mac" ("Mac" being short for McVie).  Soon after this, Green suggested to Fleetwood that they form a new band and in turn, Fleetwood Mac was born.

John McVie, Fleetwood Mac, March 18, 1970, Hannover, Germany.

Photo Credit: Herbert Weber, Hildesheim, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons