Mick Fleetwood, the drummer of band Fleetwood Mac, offered sobering news on the Grammy red carpet on Sunday. Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, Fleetwood said that in the wake of bandmate Christine McVie’s death last year, the band may be “done.”
“I think right now, I truly think the line in the sand has been drawn with the loss of Chris,” he said. “I’d say we’re done, but then we’ve all said that before. It’s sort of unthinkable right now.”
Fleetwood and the band’s bassist, John McVie, started the group in the late ’60s. Over the years, new members were brought in who helped spearhead their music to the iconic status it has today. Christine McVie, who died in November at the age of 79 after experiencing a “short illness,” joined the group in 1970 after marrying John McVie, and was a singer and keyboardist for Fleetwood Mac for nearly 30 years.
Following her death, Fleetwood said that “part of my heart has flown away.”
“I will miss everything about you Christine McVie,” he said upon the news of her death. “Memories abound.. they fly to me.”
Fleetwood, along with the remaining members of the band Stevie Nicks, Mike Campbell and Neil Finn, generally commit to their own performances and careers, he told The Times. Lindsey Buckingham, who joined the band in the ’70s with Nicks and has had an on-off relationship with the group since, has also embarked on solo ventures.
Fleetwood said that while he’s not giving up performing, he doesn’t think he will continue to do so “as Fleetwood Mac.”
“They all get out and play, so I’m gonna be doing the same thing, finding people to play with,” he said.
Fleetwood spoke of McVie to CBS Mornings on the red carpet on Sunday, saying she was a “very English, no fuss lady,” but that he’s “happy to be here to make a bit of a fuss about all the lovely songs” on behalf of her and the band. During the award show, he, Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt performed the band’s 1977 hit “Songbird,” which McVie wrote.
This year’s Grammy Awards, Fleetwood told CBS Mornings, were his most “memorable” yet.
“All of us in Fleetwood Mac have been reminded what we did,” he said about life after McVie’s death. “Sometimes you forget…the enormity of 50 years of making music and being lucky to do that and blessed to do that, and when you get something like this happens, you’re really grateful for what you’ve been part of.”
