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Christine McVie
Photo: Raph_PH (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
Traditional Blues

Christine McVie

Also known as: Christine Perfect

This artist is no longer with us.
Born: 12 July 1943 · Died: 30 November 2022• United Kingdom• Active: 1967-2022
Traditional BluesElectric Blues

British blues singer and keyboardist who won Melody Maker's Female Vocalist of the Year in 1969 and 1970 with Chicken Shack, before later fame as a Fleetwood Mac songwriter.

Instruments
Vocals, Organ, Piano
Labels
Blue Horizon
from
Bouth, Lancashire, England
Born
12 July 1943
Christine McVie (born Christine Anne Perfect, 12 July 1943, Bouth, Lancashire; died 30 November 2022, London) began her career as a British blues singer and keyboardist before her later fame as a pop-rock songwriter with Fleetwood Mac (Source: Wikipedia). While studying sculpture at Moseley School of Art in Birmingham, she started performing in local blues clubs and joined Chicken Shack around 1967, playing organ and sharing vocals with bandleader Stan Webb (Source: Wikipedia; AllMusic). Her lead vocal on Chicken Shack's 1969 cover of Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind" became the band's only UK Top 20 hit, reaching number 14 (Source: Wikipedia). That same year and again in 1970, readers of Melody Maker voted her Female Vocalist of the Year, beating out far more famous names on the British scene (Source: Melody Maker Pop Poll Awards, 1969/1970). She left Chicken Shack in 1969 and married Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie, releasing a self-titled blues-rock solo album in 1970 on Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label, produced by Vernon with a track produced by Danny Kirwan (Source: Wikipedia). She joined Fleetwood Mac outright in 1970, and the band's subsequent transformation into one of the best-selling pop-rock acts of the 1970s (culminating in 1977's "Rumours") took her far from her blues roots — but it was the Chicken Shack years, the Etta James cover and two Melody Maker awards that first established her as one of the most respected voices on the British blues scene (Source: Wikipedia; Rolling Stone).

Musical Influence

McVie's 1969-1970 Melody Maker wins and her lead vocal on "I'd Rather Go Blind" remain touchstones of the British blues boom's brief openness to a woman fronting a guitar-led blues band, before her later career redirected her toward pop songwriting (Source: Wikipedia; Rolling Stone).

Formative experiences

  • •Around 1967: Joins Chicken Shack as organist and co-vocalist (Source: Wikipedia).
  • •1969: Sings lead on Chicken Shack's cover of Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind," the band's only UK Top 20 hit (No. 14) (Source: Wikipedia).
  • •1969 and 1970: Voted "Female Vocalist of the Year" by Melody Maker readers, two years running (Source: Melody Maker Pop Poll Awards).
  • •1969: Leaves Chicken Shack and marries Fleetwood Mac's John McVie (Source: Wikipedia).
  • •1970: Releases the self-titled solo album "Christine Perfect" on Blue Horizon (Source: Wikipedia).
  • •1970: Becomes a full member of Fleetwood Mac (Source: Wikipedia).

Instruments & Equipment

Watch & Listen

Featured

Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Blind (On Location 1969, #35 Dutch Charts)

Period TV performance with Christine Perfect on lead vocal and organ.

Golden Decades

I'd Rather Go Blind - Chicken Shack feat. Christine McVie (1968)

I'd Rather Go Blind - Chicken Shack feat. Christine McVie (1968)

Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Blind

Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Blind

Christine Perfect - When You Say

Christine Perfect - When You Say

Watch & Listen

Henter videoer fra YouTube…

Discography

YearTitleProducerStudioLabelChartSalesMusiciansYouTubeNotes
1969O.K. Ken?——————Album with Chicken Shack; includes "I'd Rather Go Blind" (Source: Wikipedia).
1970Christine Perfect——————Self-titled solo album, Blue Horizon, produced by Mike Vernon (Source: Wikipedia).

Awards & Recognition

1969
Melody Maker Pop Poll Awards
Female Vocalist of the Year
1970
Melody Maker Pop Poll Awards
Female Vocalist of the Year

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