Irish Examiner view: Fleetwood Mac's McVie an icon of the 1970s

Singer and keyboard player was one the band's main songwriters, penning hits including 'Don't Stop' and 'Little Lies'

Christine McVie, who died this week at the age of 79. Picture: PA

The passing of singer, songwriter, and keyboard player with Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie, will be a particular milestone for a particular demographic.

When she married bass player John McVie, she became part of Fleetwood Mac’s 1970s incarnation, which would go on to create albums such as Tusk and Tango In The Night, as well as Rumours. The last-named was a record which not only became one of the biggest-selling albums of all time but also came to embody a specific time and place, late-70s California in all its louche, sun-kissed languor.

McVie was one of the band’s main songwriters and among other contributions to the album she wrote ‘Don’t Stop’.
In time it would be the campaign song adopted by Bill Clinton in his US presidential run of 1992, a decision which in turn reinforced the standing of Rumours as an evocative touchstone for those who came of age in the 70s.

McVie’s creative touch did not desert her in later years, as she wrote hits such as ‘Little Lies’ and ‘Everywhere’ when the band released albums in the 1980s. She famously described writing another classic, ‘Songbird’, after it came to her while sleeping: She woke up, played it on the piano in her bedroom, and sang the lyrics out loud, then went back to bed.

Hardly a surprise. Before she married John McVie, her surname had been Perfect.