Happy birthday Christine McVie. The former Fleetwood Mac keyboardist, vocalist and writer of some of the band’s biggest hits, notably “Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow),” celebrates her 70th birthday on July 12. Raised in Birmingham, England, Miss McVie joined the band in 1970 after marrying founding bassist John McVie. She left the group in 1998 after Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The List this week looks at the Top 10 songs Miss McVie wrote for the group.
10. Songbird (1977) — Written and performed by Miss McVie, this beautiful and touching ballad was often played as the encore of many Fleetwood Mac concerts. It was one of her four songs on the huge-selling Rumours album. A version of the song by American singer Eva Cassidy of Bowie, Md., was released in 1998 on a posthumous album of the same name and reached No. 1 in Britain.
9. “Warm Ways” (1975) — This beautiful song was the first single from the 1975 Fleetwood Mac album in Britain but it was not released as a single in the U.S.
8. Everywhere (1987) — This song from the Tango in the Night album reached No. 14 in the U.S. and No. 4 in Britain. It was re-released in the Britain in March this year and reached No. 15 after it was used in a cellphone TV commercial with Socks, a moonwalking Shetland pony dancing to the tune.
7. “Think About Me” (1979) — It was the third Top 20 single released from the Tusk album and reached No. 20 in the U.S. in 1980. In 2010, Alfred Soto of PopMatters described the song as “the unlikeliest of things: a McVie rocker.”
6. “Say You Love Me” (1976) — This was the band’s third hit from the 1975 self-titled album. The song reached No. 11 in the U.S. but only hit the No. 40 spot in Britain.
5. “Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow) ” (1977) — This was probably Miss McVie’s biggest song for the band. She wrote the song for the 1977 mega hit album Rumours which has sold an estimated 40 million copies and is the sixth-best-selling album in U.S. history. The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts. Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton used it as his campaign anthem in 1992.
4. “You Make Loving Fun” (1977) — This was another hit from the Rumours album and reached No. 9 on the Billboard charts. An on-the-road affair with the band’s lighting director is said to have inspired Miss McVie to write this song.
3. “Little Lies” (1987) — This song was the third single from the Tango in the Night album and reached No. 4 in the U.S. and No. 5 in Britain. It was the band’s last Top 10 hit. Miss McVie wrote the song with then-husband Eddy Quintela.
2. “Over My Head” (1975) — Miss McVie penned this song for the Fleetwood Mac album, the band’s second eponymous album and 10th overall. The single became the band’s first radio hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1. “Hold Me” (1982) — Miss McVie co-wrote this song with Robbie Patton who was an opening act for Fleetwood Mac in 1979. It reached No. 3 in the U.S. and was one of the band’s biggest hits. The song is reported to have been inspired by Miss McVie’s relationship with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson.
What’s your favorite Christine McVie tune?
John Haydon / Washington Times / Friday, July 12, 2013
