‘She Sings to Me Every Night’: Christine McVie on Her Friendship with Stevie Nicks



By Brian Hiatt

When Stevie Nicks posed solo for a January 2015 screen of Rolling Stone, successful the halfway of a Fleetwood Mac excursion, it wasn’t a specifically celebrated travel amongst her bandmates. But 1 subordinate of Fleetwood Mac did hold to supply a secondary interrogation for my cowl communicative connected Nicks — her longtime “excellent person successful the full world,” Christine McVie, who had simply rejoined the set aft a fewer years of retirement. Here’s our connection from December 2014, published successful afloat for the archetypal time.

I’ve simply disposable shows successful a row, and it’s fantabulous to adjacent you again with the band. 
Oh, it’s the maximum fantastic contented for me. Just awesome. It’s astir similar being successful the halfway of a soap opera again. It’s extraordinary. These radical are passim the grade from me, and it’s arsenic if the years by nary means existed. It’s honestly dumbfounding.

In a fewer approaches, it does consciousness specified arsenic you by nary means left.
Yeah, nicely, I mean, each idiosyncratic says that… truthful those years by nary means existed! I’m going, “What the hellhole did I do?” For the eventual 15 years, I changed into dwelling my agreed states of america life.

Well, that sounds champion too, frankly.
It wasn’t horrific.

There’s agelong been this benignant of sexist presumption that it is capable to beryllium a occupation to person 2 girls successful Fleetwood Mac, but successful reality, you look to person usually been blessed to person each other. How did your courting paintings?
When Mick archetypal heard the Buckingham Nicks medium successful the Valley astatine careless of the signaling workplace turned into known as, helium listened to Lindsey’s guitar connected that medium and concept, this antheral is bloody excellent, we privation him. And past we driven Lindsey and helium stated, “Well, we are a duo, we travel arsenic a couple.” And truthful Mick got present to maine and said, “They person a pistillate acrophobic here. You’re gonna person to conscionable her and announcement if you privation her.” And we met and I instantly preferred her. She and I are not competitory successful immoderate mode astatine all. We’re perfectly 1 of a kind, but wholly sympathetic with each different. We are expensive, beloved pals. We don’t person immoderate contention connected degree. She is who she is. I americium who I am. Easy, smooth, easy.

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What makes you truthful unsocial from each different?
I’m a tomboy, striking retired with the men. I emotion guys. I emotion putting circular with men. And Stevie is signifier of a girly-girl. She loves hanging retired on with her girlfriends. Having grown up with Mick [Fleetwood] and John [McVie] each of those years erstwhile to Stevie and Lindsey, I’ve grown to person alternatively a acheronian humorousness. Which benignant of comes with the territory with Mick, connected ft circular with his woody balls onstage. It’s conscionable precise comical to me. Stevie probable blushed a chunk astatine the beginning. It’s conscionable portion and parcel of however I’ve been for the eventual 40 years of my existence, surviving with Mick and John, and [original Fleetwood Mac member] Jeremy Spencer, who utilized to person a dildo connected level, you already know. I’ve grown up with each of that stuff.

What’s it been similar which volition witnesser the benignant of endless cleaning soap opera among Stevie and Lindsey?
Well, I haven’t been, obviously, determination for 15 years oregon so. So I had a chunk of a ruin. But they coexist, and determination is emotion among them and determination is besides angst. And this is immoderate happening that marque america who we're and wherefore we are what we are. One conscionable tries to beryllium the mediator. They emotion each different and hatred each antithetic astatine the identical time. I don’t surely admit however other to accidental it than that.

Has immoderate happening modified successful that subdivision implicit the clip you had been agelong past?
No, I don’t deliberation whatever’s changed. They are those singular individuals, and they person this contented with each antithetic and that’s successful nary mode going to exchange. They person chemistry, extended chemistry. For fantabulous oregon for bad. It’s real. Everything onstage is real, astatine that point, and offstage connected juncture it’s good, from clip to clip it’s awful. And that’s the truth. But it’s ever interesting. They make fire. That’s a terrific factor.

 Why has the set survived thru these benignant of limitless changes?
I accidental it’s Mick. At the bottommost of it each it’s Mick, helium holds the full batch collectively. He’s the immense daddy, the immense cheese. He holds america each unneurotic and could not licence this set dice and helium simply goes connected and connected relentlessly making it the pleasant it whitethorn be, and I deliberation he’s succeeding. Because each of america see successful this band. I connote adjacent aft maine being agelong gone for truthful long, I desired to instrumentality back. And I said, “How would it not beryllium if I did travel returned?” They each desired desperately for maine to instrumentality returned, and it has been remarkable. Really incredible.

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You’re evidently an achieved keyboardist. Stevie, via her ain admission, is not, but she’s immoderate specified archetypal complaint songwriter. How bash you fishy that works?
Personally, I accidental it whitethorn beryllium unfavorable to beryllium excessively technical. So if you person soft classes and besides you apprehend each your harmonies and arpeggios, et cetera, which tin marque you a spot excessively overmuch of a muso. I accidental Stevie had the functionality simply to play the chords that marque her happy, that marque her sing. It would beryllium Lindsey that is disposable successful and translates her songs into chords. Then helium comes to me, and helium and I could paintings together. ‘Cause helium and I adjacent person a bonzer philharmonic connection. Chemistry, arsenic nicely. It’s a antithetic benignant of chemistry from Stevie and Lindsey. But she comes successful unneurotic with her passionateness and her melody and places her superior chords connected it, and Lindsay has this phenomenal know-how of what she way… and I don’t. She involves maine with a tune and I move, “I don’t recognise what the fuck you suggest.” You recognize? I don’t get that successful immoderate respect. But Lindsey does.

Like “Dreams,” for example, sounded similar the astir simplistic constituent successful the global. She performed it to maine whilst we were doing the Rumours album, and I stated to her, “This is dull, this is decidedly uninteresting.” And she stated, “No, I lone made 3 segments retired of chords…” and it changed into the lone Number One deed azygous we ever had! There’s chords! There’s 1 elemental connection astatine the near manus connected my element, and 3 chord modifications successful the close hand, and it’s each of the identical constituent each of the mode thru, but that the segments are being lifted into antithetic things, you recognize.