In 1994, Fleetwood Mac set out on tour without the presence of key members Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham. While they would eventually rejoin the group, they had all stepped away. In their absence, Mick Fleetwood hired replacements. McVie spoke to Nicks’ replacement and told her that she was behaving honorably. Here’s why.
Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie left Fleetwood Mac in 1994
After many tumultuous years with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks, McVie, and Buckingham opted out of the 1994 tour. While they had reunited for Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993, Nicks and Buckingham had quit the band, and McVie no longer wanted to tour. Still, Fleetwood was dedicated to the group and wanted to continue to perform. In order to do so, though, he had to hire new members.
Fleetwood and bassist John McVie hired Dave Mason, Billy Burnette, and Bekka Bramlett. They joined the band as they opened for Crosby, Stills, & Nash. Fleetwood later admitted that, while the band’s two founding members were present, it wasn’t exactly accurate to call themselves Fleetwood Mac.
“We ended up with a bunch of talented people playing good music, but they should not have been touring as Fleetwood Mac,” he wrote in his memoir Play On. “There were too many essential pieces missing from the machine this time. We were a totally different band, with only the original drummer and bass player, and our original name.”
Christine McVie was impressed by Stevie Nicks’ replacement
As the female vocalist, Bramlett filled both Nicks’ and McVie’s spots, but she recognized that Nicks’ performance style was a big draw for fans. She didn’t want to disappoint anyone or mimic Nicks onstage.
“I also knew this was a dangerous job when I took it,” she told Rolling Stone in 2023. “I knew I was facing tomatoes. But I didn’t want to wear a top hat. I didn’t want to twirl around. I wanted to be me. I even dyed my hair brown just so people in the cheap seats would know that Stevie wasn’t going to be here. I didn’t want anyone to be discouraged or let down.”
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Bramlett believed that nobody could replace Nicks. She certainly didn’t want to, and so she refused to cover her signature songs.
“I did choose not to do her signature songs because that would be weird,” she explained. “I was like, “I’m not doing ‘Rhiannon.’ I’m not doing ‘Dreams.’”
Bramlett did cover McVie’s songs, though, because she expressly gave her blessing. She also told Bramlett she was doing the right thing by not covering some of Nicks’ songs.
“After a couple of [wine spritzers], she took me again and said, ‘I just want to tell you … I don’t want to scare you, but I do think it is quite honorable to not sing these particular songs of Stevie’s,’” Bramlett recalled. “That’s it. She didn’t get into it. She didn’t talk about her friend behind her back at all. She just told me she found it quite honorable for a ‘young lady of my years.’”
She proved how well she knew her friend and bandmate
With these words, McVie proved how well she knew Nicks. They had worked together for nearly two decades at that point and had grown very close. Nicks has spoken about the way she considers her songs her children, hinting that she is more protective over them than other artists might be.
McVie understood this and believed Bramlett was doing the right thing by not covering them. While fans would want to hear “Dreams” and “Rhiannon,” McVie’s loyalty to Nicks came first.
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