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Stevie Nicks Reflects on Fleetwood Mac After Christine McVie’s Death: ‘We Can’t Go Any Further’
Stevie Nicks candidly made a heartfelt admission about the future of Fleetwood Mac. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer believes the group “really can’t go any further” after the death of bandmate Christine McVie.
“When Christine died, I felt like you can’t replace her,” Stevie, 75, told Vulture in an interview published on Monday, October 2. “You just can’t. Without her, what is it? You know what I mean? She was like my soulmate, my musical soulmate and my best friend that I spent more time with than any of my other best friends outside of Fleetwood Mac. Christine was my best friend.”
Christine died on November 30, 2022, at the age of 79 after suffering a stroke, with a secondary cause of death listed as cancer.
“She passed away peacefully at the hospital this morning following a short illness. She was in the company of her family,” her team revealed in a statement at the time. “We would like everyone to keep Christine in their hearts and remember the life of an incredible human being, and revered musician who was loved universally.”
Her longtime fans, friends and loved ones were left devastated by her passing.
“A few hours ago, I was told that my best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975 had passed away,” Stevie wrote in a handwritten note shared on Instagram. “I didn’t even know she was ill … until late Saturday night. I wanted to be in London; I wanted to get to London — but we were told to wait.”
The Fleetwood Mac keyboardist and vocalist was known for penning hits like “Say You Love Me,” “You Make Loving Fun” and “Don’t Stop.”
“Christine was the pop star,” Stevie reflected on her late friend’s incredible career. “She wrote all those really super pop hits. None of the rest of us could write those songs. What would happen is we’d have to take the songs out, like we did when she actually retired for 18 years. We couldn’t re-create those songs. So we became a much more hard-rock band.”
Fleetwood Mac has not performed on stage together since late 2019. Going on a tour with the group’s remaining members is not an idea that Stevie is currently exploring.
“When I think about Taylor Swift’s song ‘You’re on Your Own, Kid’ and the line ‘you always have been,’ it was like, that was Christine and I,” she explained. “We were on our own in that band. We always were. We protected each other. Who am I going to look over to on the right and have them not be there behind that Hammond organ? When she died, I figured we really can’t go any further with this. There’s no reason to.”
