Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac (formed in 1967) is an influential and commercially successful British-American band whose music has ranged from blues to pop. more...

Beginnings

In the late 1960s, Fleetwood Mac was a success among British blues bands. The band was started by guitarist Peter Green, who recruited the rhythm section of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers: drummer Mick Fleetwood and bass guitarist John McVie. Green himself had replaced a departing member, Eric Clapton, as the lead guitarist of the "Bluesbreakers"; Green and McVie had appeared on Mayall's 1967 A Hard Road album. The band employed another bassist, Bob Brunning, until John McVie was persuaded to join the band. Slide-guitarist and Elmore James devotee, Jeremy Spencer, rounded out the lineup.

Its full name was now "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac featuring Jeremy Spencer." The band released two albums of Chicago-based blues. It also released a single, "Black Magic Woman," which, when re-recorded by Santana in 1970 (on his album Abraxas), became a top five U.S. hit .

Jeremy Spencer's comedic work with the band counterbalanced Peter Green's serious take on the blues. His performances tended towards parodies and loving pastiches of 1950's rockabilly. One of his Fleetwood Mac songs, the B-side "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonight," was jokingly credited to "Earl Vince and the Valiants" and later covered by 70's Scottish punk band the Rezillos.

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