50 Fun Facts About Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac was formed in London in 1967 by which guitarist, fresh from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers?

He had replaced Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers and named the new band after its rhythm section.

The band's name combines the surnames of which two members?

Green named an instrumental after them first, then chose the name partly to lure McVie away from Mayall.

Which 1968 instrumental gave Fleetwood Mac their only UK No. 1 single?

Green credited Danny Kirwan's guitar for the hit, and the Beatles used it as a starting point for Sun King.

Which Beatles song did George Harrison say was built on the band's 1968 instrumental hit?

The Beatles wanted Fleetwood Mac on Apple Records, but manager Clifford Davis chose Warner/Reprise instead.

Which early Fleetwood Mac song became a much bigger hit when Santana covered it?

Green performed it with Santana at the 1998 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony rather than play with his old band.

The founding guitarist's decline is usually traced to a bad LSD trip at a commune in which city in 1969?

He soon wanted the band to give all its money to charity, and quit in May 1970.

What did Jeremy Spencer say he was going out to do in 1971 before vanishing to join the Children of God?

Peter Green was called back to finish the tour, playing only new material.

Christine McVie sang in which British blues band before joining Fleetwood Mac?

Melody Maker voted her female artist of the year in 1969 and 1970 for hits like I'd Rather Go Blind.

What was Christine McVie's maiden name?

Her father was a concert violinist and music lecturer in Birmingham.

Which American guitarist joined Fleetwood Mac in 1971 and later had a solo hit re-recording 'Sentimental Lady'?

He was hired on the strength of a tape of his songs without ever playing with the band.

Guitarist Bob Weston was fired in 1973 after an affair with whose wife?

Jenny Boyd was the sister of George Harrison's wife Pattie; the band cancelled 26 dates and split up in Nebraska.

In early 1974, manager Clifford Davis sent a completely different lineup on tour under what name?

Audiences turned hostile once word got out, and the lawsuit that followed drove the real band to California.

Mick Fleetwood discovered his future guitarist after hearing the track Frozen Love from which 1973 album?

Buckingham agreed to join only if his partner Stevie Nicks came too.

On what date did the two Californians officially join Fleetwood Mac?

Bob Welch left for a solo career at the same time.

Fans call the 1975 self-titled record by what nickname?

It took 58 weeks to reach No. 1 in the US and sold more than seven million copies.

Which Stevie Nicks song from Fleetwood Mac's 1975 album became a hit 20 years later on The Dance?

Rhiannon and Say You Love Me both stalled at No. 11.

Rumours won the Grammy for Album of the Year in which year?

It has sold some 40 million copies worldwide.

Rumours was recorded in early 1976 at the Record Plant in which Californian town?

The working title was Yesterday's Gone, and the sessions were fuelled by sleepless nights and cocaine.

Which Rumours single is Fleetwood Mac's only US No. 1?

It sold more than a million copies and also topped the chart in Canada.

Go Your Own Way was written by which member, about his break-up with a bandmate?

Nicks answered with Dreams; the two songs sit side by side on Rumours.

Which Rumours track is the only Fleetwood Mac song credited to all five members?

Its closing bass line became the BBC's Formula One theme.

In Britain, The Chain is best known as the theme for TV coverage of which sport?

The BBC used it from 1978 to 1996 and again from 2009 to 2015.

Which Stevie Nicks song was recorded for Rumours but relegated to the B-side of Go Your Own Way?

A row over its use in a 1992 box set is thought to be why Nicks quit the band in 1991.

Tusk (1979) was a 20-track double album. Which college ensemble appears on its title track?

Nicks's six-and-a-half-minute Sara was cut to four and a half for the single.

Tusk cost about $1.4 million to make, earning it what distinction at the time?

Warner regarded its four million sales as a flop next to Rumours' ten million.

Mick Fleetwood blamed Tusk's weaker sales on what?

He argued the RKO broadcast let everyone tape it at home.

The 1982 album Mirage was recorded at a château in which country?

Château d'Hérouville was a deliberate return to a conventional sound after Tusk.

Fleetwood Mac headlined the first US Festival in September 1982 for what fee?

The Mirage tour itself was just 18 American cities.

Which 1987 album, begun as a Buckingham solo project, gave the band Little Lies, Everywhere and Big Love?

It hit No. 1 in the UK three separate times the following year.

Christine McVie co-wrote Little Lies with whom?

Seven Wonders was written by Sandy Stewart with Nicks.

Which two guitarists replaced Buckingham when he quit in August 1987?

They were hired, like Bob Welch, without auditions.

Which US president reunited Fleetwood Mac's classic line-up in 1993 by asking them to play his inaugural ball?

He had used Don't Stop as his campaign theme song.

Which Fleetwood Mac song was the 1992 Clinton campaign's theme?

It was written and sung by Christine McVie.

The 1997 live album that returned the band to No. 1 in the US after ten years was called what?

It was recorded on a Warner Bros. soundstage in Burbank on 22 May 1997.

Which key early-1970s member was left out when the band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998?

Kirwan and Spencer were inducted but did not attend; Welch was simply not included.

Stevie Nicks holds what distinction at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

She went in with Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and as a solo artist in 2019.

Which 1981 solo album led Rolling Stone to call Stevie Nicks 'the Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll'?

It topped the Billboard 200 and put four singles on the Hot 100.

Which 2003 album was the last Fleetwood Mac studio record, made without Christine McVie?

It debuted at No. 3 in the US and produced the hit Peacekeeper.

Which two musicians replaced the band's lead guitarist after he was fired in 2018?

Campbell came from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers and Finn from Split Enz and Crowded House.

The band's only US No. 1 recharted in 2020 thanks to a TikTok of Nathan Apodaca skateboarding while drinking what?

He was riding to work in Idaho Falls when his truck broke down.

Christine McVie died on 30 November 2022 at what age?

In 2024 Stevie Nicks said she believed the band would not continue without her.

Where was Mick Fleetwood born?

He spent much of his childhood in Egypt and Norway.

Where was Stevie Nicks born?

Her father was a Greyhound executive, so the family moved constantly.

The band's founder died in his sleep in July 2020 on which Essex isle?

A star-studded tribute concert had been held for him at the London Palladium that February.

Under what billing did the band play its first gig, at the 1967 National Jazz and Blues Festival?

Bob Brunning played bass for a few weeks until John McVie finally agreed to join.

The band's 1969 album Fleetwood Mac in Chicago was recorded where, with Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy?

They were the band's last all-blues recordings before the shift to rock.

Everywhere is certified 7x platinum in Britain. What was its peak on the UK Singles Chart?

In the US it stalled at No. 14 but spent three weeks atop the Adult Contemporary chart.

Roughly how many records has Fleetwood Mac sold worldwide?

That puts them among the best-selling acts of all time.

Fleetwood Mac's 1990 album Behind the Mask produced only one US Top 40 hit. Which?

Buckingham guested on the title track despite having left the band.

What was Fleetwood Mac's first entry on the US Billboard Hot 100?

It has stayed in the live set on and off ever since 1969.