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

When Stevie Nicks posed solo for a January 2015 screen of Rolling Stone, successful the mediate of a Fleetwood Mac tour, it wasn’t a peculiarly fashionable determination among her bandmates. But 1 subordinate of Fleetwood Mac did hold to springiness a secondary interrogation for my screen communicative connected Nicks — her longtime “best person successful the full world,” Christine McVie, who had conscionable rejoined the set aft galore years of retirement. Here’s our speech from December 2014, published successful afloat for the archetypal time.

I’ve conscionable seen 2 shows successful a row, and it’s fantastic to spot you backmost with the band. 
Oh, it’s the astir astonishing happening for me. Just fantastic. It’s astir similar being successful the mediate of a soap opera again. It’s phenomenal. These radical are crossed the signifier from me, and it’s arsenic if the years ne'er existed. It’s perfectly dumbfounding.

In immoderate ways, it does consciousness similar you ne'er left.
Yeah, well, I mean, everyone says that… truthful those years ne'er existed! I’m going, “What the hellhole did I do?” For the past 15 years, I was surviving my state life.

Well, that sounds bully too, frankly.
It wasn’t bad.

There’s agelong been this benignant of sexist presumption that it could beryllium a occupation to person 2 women successful Fleetwood Mac, but successful fact, you 2 look to person ever been blessed to person each other. How did your narration work?
When Mick archetypal heard the Buckingham Nicks medium successful the Valley astatine immoderate the signaling workplace was called, helium listened to Lindsey’s guitar connected that medium and thought, this feline is bloody brilliant, we privation him. And past we pushed Lindsey and helium said, “Well, we are a duo, we travel arsenic a couple.” And truthful Mick came to maine and said, “They person a miss progressive here. You’re gonna person to conscionable her and spot if you similar her.” And we met and I instantly liked her. She and I are not competitory successful immoderate mode astatine all. We’re wholly different, but wholly sympathetic with each other. We are dear, beloved friends. We don’t person immoderate contention connected stage. She is who she is. I americium who I am. Easy, easy, easy.

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What makes you truthful antithetic from each other?
I’m a tomboy, hanging retired with the guys. I emotion men. I emotion hanging astir with men. And Stevie is benignant of a girly-girl. She loves hanging retired with her girlfriends. Having grown up with Mick [Fleetwood] and John [McVie] each of those years anterior to Stevie and Lindsey, I’ve grown to person alternatively a acheronian consciousness of humor. Which benignant of comes with the territory with Mick, walking astir with his woody balls onstage. It’s conscionable precise comical to me. Stevie astir apt blushed a spot astatine the beginning. It’s conscionable portion and parcel of however I’ve been for the past 40 years of my life, surviving with Mick and John, and [original Fleetwood Mac member] Jeremy Spencer, who utilized to person a dildo connected stage, you know. I’ve grown up with each of that stuff.

What’s it been similar for you to witnesser the benignant of endless soap opera betwixt Stevie and Lindsey?
Well, I haven’t been, obviously, determination for 15 years oregon so. So I had a spot of a break. But they coexist, and determination is emotion betwixt them and determination is besides angst. And that is thing that marque america who we are and wherefore we are what we are. One conscionable tries to beryllium the mediator. They emotion each different and hatred each different astatine the aforesaid time. I don’t truly cognize however other to accidental it than that.

Has thing changed successful that section implicit the clip you were gone?
No, I don’t deliberation anything’s changed. They are these unthinkable individuals, and they person this happening with each different and that’s ne'er going to change. They person chemistry, tremendous chemistry. For bully oregon for bad. It’s real. Everything onstage is real, astatine that time, and offstage sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. And that’s the truth. But it’s ever interesting. They make fire. That’s a bully thing.

 Why has the set survived through each these endless changes?
I deliberation it’s Mick. At the bottommost of it each it’s Mick, helium holds everything together. He’s the large daddy, the large cheese. He holds america each unneurotic and volition not fto this set dice and helium conscionable goes connected and connected relentlessly making it the champion it tin be, and I deliberation he’s succeeding. Because we each judge successful this band. I mean adjacent aft maine being gone for truthful long, I wanted to travel back. And I said, “How would it beryllium if I did travel back?” They each wanted desperately for maine to travel back, and it has been astonishing. Really astonishing.

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You’re evidently an accomplished keyboardist. Stevie, by her ain admission, is not, but she’s specified a large songwriter. How bash you deliberation that works?
Personally, I deliberation it could beryllium destructive to beryllium excessively technical. So if you person soft lessons and you recognize each your harmonies and arpeggios, et cetera, that tin marque you a spot excessively overmuch of a muso. I deliberation Stevie had the capableness conscionable to play the chords that marque her happy, that marque her sing. It would beryllium Lindsey that comes successful and translates her songs into chords. Then helium comes to me, and helium and I would enactment together. ‘Cause helium and I person a fantastic philharmonic connection. Chemistry, arsenic well. It’s a antithetic benignant of chemistry from Stevie and Lindsey. But she comes successful with her passionateness and her melody and puts her basal chords connected it, and Lindsay has this phenomenal knowing of what she means… and I don’t. She comes to maine with a opus and I go, “I don’t cognize what the fuck you mean.” You know? I don’t get that astatine all. But Lindsey does.

Like “Dreams,” for example, sounded similar the astir simplistic happening successful the world. She played it to maine erstwhile we were doing the Rumours album, and I said to her, “This is boring, this is truly boring.” And she said, “No, I lone made 3 segments retired of 2 chords…” and it was the lone Number One deed azygous we ever had! There’s 2 chords! There’s 1 basal enactment connected the near manus connected my part, and 3 chord changes successful the close hand, and it’s each the aforesaid happening each the mode through, but that the segments are being lifted into antithetic things, you know.

It’s brilliant. How did the acquisition of 2 rehabs alteration Stevie? How is she antithetic now?
Bloody well, that’s a hard one. Look, I mean, Stevie is consecutive arsenic an arrow. She’s precise direct, precise honest, precise self-obsessed successful a way. And I don’t mean that successful a atrocious way. She has her brand, you know? She’s an icon. She’s a genius. She’s a lovely, kind, beauteous pistillate and I emotion her to death. She and I are different, and I can’t not emotion the woman; she’s conscionable amazing. She’s very, precise generous successful every, azygous department. In each azygous department.

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In her backstage area, there’s a flood of children coming in. There’s a batch of emotion and warmth going connected backmost there.
She sings to me! She sings to maine connected signifier each night. She looks astatine maine and sings, “I inactive spot your agleam eyes” successful “Gypsy,” and she’s looking astatine maine directly. And we’re blessed to beryllium backmost together. It’s good. She’s blessed that I’m backmost connected the roadworthy again. Another miss to bent retired with. So it’s each good.

The propulsion and propulsion betwixt her solo stardom and Fleetwood Mac, however does that effect things? How does everyone successful the set woody with it?
We each had a changeable astatine that. Lindsey did, I did. Look, I mean, everyone has to person their space, and person their state to make and bash what they privation to do, and we each did that. And I deliberation that’s important that we each gave each different the state to bash that. Stevie was precise palmy astatine it. Others of america weren’t, not truthful much. Lindsey had a fantastic solo career, perfectly humor marvelous. I’d similar to enactment that connected record. I loved his solo stuff. We’re each 5 individuals conscionable doing what we do. Somehow there’s chemistry betwixt us, and we unrecorded and past connected that.