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| Featured Artist Link REALLYMUSICRADIO presentsCHRISTINE MCVIE
Christine Anne Perfect was born in Birmingham, England where her future in music was literally written in the stars given the fact that her Dad Cyril was a concert violinist and Mom Beatrice was a faith healing psychic.
A bit bewildered by it all, Christine never quite understood her mother's pre-occupation with other-worldly pursuits. Instead, she gravitated towards Dad's love of the arts. Cyril instilled in Christine, and in brother John, an appreciation for music not just as carefree entertainment but as a potential career path for them. Although, as we all know, Christine went on to have an enormously successful musical career, John, interesting enough, became an entomologist for the English Government. Christine recalls, "There was always a piano in my home when I was growing up, and my father wanted me to become a concert pianist..." As a four year old enrolled in piano lessons, Chris was not exactly enthusiastic. Her parents made the decision to pull her out of the piano lessons and allow her to pick up on her own when she was ready. As a teenager, Chris was drawn to the frantic pace of the music scene in England. By age sixteen, she and a friend were making secret trips down to London, guitars in hand, hoping to jumpstart a singing career. The two stormed through talent agencies singing Everly Brothers tunes until they were finally given a break, the opportunity to perform one song, backed up by The Shadows, in a small pub. Their adventure didn't last long. Shortly after they finished their song, they were discovered by their parents and shuttled back to Birmingham. In 1965 she was asked to join a blues band called Chicken Shack, fronted by former bandmates Andy Sylvester and Stan Webb. Chris remembers..."At which point I said yes...I said yes, I will. I'll do it, anything to get out of this." However, Christine faced one small problem. They wanted her to be their keyboardist. She had no idea where to begin: "I didn't know how to play blues piano very well, so on Andy's recommendation I rushed out and bought a whole bunch of Freddy King records. I listened hard to his piano player, Sonny Thompson, and learned to copy his licks. That's where my style comes from." The music industry was calling, and Christine was about to change her mind about being a housewife. Peter Green suddenly departed from Fleetwood Mac, leaving room for yet another round of lineup changes. All along, Chris had been an uncredited guest keyboardist and background vocalist with the Mac, not to mention the fact that she painted the "Kiln House" album cover. To no one's surprise, late one evening in July, Mick officially asked Christine to join the band. Shortly thereafter, she went on her first gig with Fleetwood Mac in New Orleans on August 8, 1970. The British music press took notice that Christine had become a part of the band, as well as her request to be known under her new married name, Christine McVie. Fleetwood Mac's "White Album", was released in 1975 with much success. However, constant touring to promote the album, and the pressure to create an even bigger follow up album put enormous strain on the McVie marriage. John's drinking was out of control and his behavior was said to have been combative. There had been problems before, but this was different. In 1976, John and Christine separated, and by the time Fleetwood Mac moved to Sausalito to record "Rumours", Christine (and Stevie) arrived to the recording sessions as newly single women. During the "Rumours" sessions, Chris, Lindsey and Stevie, are used their current relationship troubles as emotional fuel for their songs. Chris wrote "Don't Stop" for John, who recalls this particular time as "...very clumsy sometimes...I'd be sitting there in the studio while they were mixing 'Don't Stop,' and I'd listen to the words which were mostly about me, and I'd get a lump in my throat. I'd turn around and the writer's sitting right there." In 1984, Christine released her second self-titled album, "Christine McVie", which included her two old friends from the 60s British blues scene, Stevie Winwood and Eric Clapton (both of whom she had recently met up with again at a party given by Jimmy Page). It also featured keyboardist Eddy Quintela, who Christine later married in 1986. Ironically enough, Christine has said that her 1984 solo album was a happy album, even though she wasn't in love at the time she recorded it. It wasn't until after the album was finished that her relationship with Eddy blossomed.. On June 21, 2004, UK's Sanctuary Records released "In The Meantime", Chris' first solo effort since 1984. |
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