Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac was founded by guitarists and vocalists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer and drummer Mick Fleetwood. Bob Brunning was hired as a temporary bass guitarist before John McVie joined the line-up in time for their eponymous debut album. Danny Kirwan joined as a third guitarist and vocalist in 1968. Keyboardist and vocalist Christine Perfect, who contributed as a session musician starting with the band's second album, married McVie and joined Fleetwood Mac as a full member in 1970, becoming known as Christine McVie.
William Edward "Little Willie" John was an American R&B singer who performed in the 1950s and early 1960s. He is best known for his successes on the record charts, with songs such as "All Around the World" (1955), "Need Your Love So Bad" (1956), "Talk to Me, Talk to Me" (1958), "Leave My Kitten Alone" (1960), "Sleep" (1960), and his number-one R&B hit "Fever" (1956). An important figure in R&B music of the 1950s, he faded into obscurity in the 1960s and died while serving a prison sentence for manslaughter.
Peter Allen Greenbaum, known professionally as Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. As the founder of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Green founded Fleetwood Mac in 1967 after a stint in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and quickly established the new band as a popular live act in addition to a successful recording act, before departing in 1970. Green's songs, such as "Albatross", "Black Magic Woman", "Oh Well", "The Green Manalishi " and "Man of the World", appeared on singles charts, and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians.
Mr. Wonderful is the second studio album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 23 August 1968. This all-blues album was broadly similar to their debut album, albeit with some changes to personnel and recording method. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system, rather than plugged into the board. A horn section was introduced and Christine Perfect of Chicken Shack was featured on keyboards. In the US, the album was not issued under the name Mr. Wonderful, though around half of the tracks appeared on English Rose.
"Fever" is a song written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell, who used the pseudonym John Davenport. It was originally recorded by American R&B singer Little Willie John for his debut album, Fever (1956), and released as a single in April of the same year. The song topped the Billboard R&B Best Sellers in the US and peaked at number 24 on the Billboard pop chart. It was received positively by music critics and included on several lists of the best songs during the time it was released.
The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967–1969 is a boxed set by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1999. It is a six-CD compilation of previously released material, plus outtakes and unreleased tracks from the band's early line-up, coming in a longbox with individually boxed CDs and a booklet of extensive notes and anecdotes, written by the record's producer Mike Vernon. It represents the entire recorded output of Fleetwood Mac while they were signed to the Blue Horizon label.
Blues Jam in Chicago is a recording by the British rock band Fleetwood Mac, originally released in two single-LP volumes by Blue Horizon in December 1969. It was the result of a recording session in early 1969 at Chess Records in Chicago with Fleetwood Mac, then a young British blues band, and a number of famous Chicago blues artists from whom they drew inspiration. The album has also been released, with slightly different track listings, under the titles Blues Jam at Chess Volumes One and Two and Fleetwood Mac in Chicago, the latter by Sire Records in 1976.
The Pious Bird of Good Omen is a compilation album by the British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1969. It consists of their first four non-album UK singles and their B-sides, two other tracks from their previous album Mr. Wonderful, and two tracks by the blues artist Eddie Boyd with backing by members of Fleetwood Mac. These two tracks came from Boyd's album 7936 South Rhodes.
Michael William Hugh Vernon is an English music executive studio owner, and record producer from Harrow, Middlesex. He produced albums for British blues artists and groups in the 1960s, working with the Bluesbreakers, David Bowie, Duster Bennett, Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack, Climax Blues Band, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, John Mayall, Christine McVie and Ten Years After amongst others.
Blue Horizon Records was a British blues independent record label, founded by Mike Vernon and Neil Slaven in 1965, as an adjunct to their fanzine, R&B Monthly, and was the foremost label at the time of the British blues boom in the mid to late 1960s.
The Essential Fleetwood Mac is a comprehensive compilation of recordings from British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac's early recordings made with Blue Horizon Records. It includes most of the tracks from their first two albums Fleetwood Mac and Mr. Wonderful, plus non-album singles and a few rarities. The album is part of the ongoing Sony BMG series The Essential. The album was released in 2007.
The Best of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac is a compilation album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac released in November 2002 and focusing on the Peter Green years. The album serves as a digitally remastered replacement for the band's Greatest Hits, with the remastering and cover art taken from the 1999 box set The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967–1969.
"Stop Messin' Round" is a song first recorded by English blues rock group Fleetwood Mac in 1968. It was written by the group's principal guitarist and singer Peter Green, with an additional credit for manager C.G. Adams. The song is an upbeat 12-bar blues shuffle and is representative of the group's early repertoire of conventional electric blues. The lyrics deal with the common blues theme of the unfaithful lover and share elements with earlier songs.
Shrine '69 is a live album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, recorded on 25 January 1969, and finally released in 1999. Recorded at a concert in Los Angeles, this album includes versions of the band's recent hits, "Albatross" and "Need Your Love So Bad", as well as more unusual songs like "Before the Beginning" and "Lemon Squeezer".
"Man of the World" is a song recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 1969, and composed by vocalist and lead guitarist Peter Green. After the group signed to Immediate Records that year, the label collapsed shortly after the single's release. As such, "Man of the World" is the only Fleetwood Mac single under the Immediate Records label.
"Madison Blues" is a blues song by American blues musician Elmore James. It is an upbeat Chicago-style shuffle featuring James' amplified slide guitar and vocal. He recorded it in 1960 for Chess Records, during a session that also produced "Talk to Me Baby" and "The Sun Is Shining", a follow-up to his popular single "The Sky Is Crying".
"Say You Love Me" is a song written by English singer-songwriter Christine McVie for Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self-titled album. The song peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, and remains one of the band's most recognizable songs. Its success helped the group's eponymous 1975 album sell over eight million copies worldwide.
"Dragonfly" is a song written by British rock musician Danny Kirwan with lyrics taken from a poem by Welsh poet W. H. Davies. It was originally recorded by Kirwan's band Fleetwood Mac in 1970, and became the first UK single released by the band after the departure of their frontman Peter Green. It was also their first single with Christine McVie as a full member of the group. By the time the song had been released, guitarist Jeremy Spencer had left the band.
"(I'm a) Road Runner" is a hit song by Junior Walker & the Allstars, and was the title track of the successful 1966 album Road Runner. Written by the team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, it was released on the Tamla (Motown) label in 1966 and reached the top twenty in the U.S. and the UK.
"Give Me More Time" is a song by the English hard rock band Whitesnake from their 1984 album Slide It In. Written by vocalist David Coverdale and Mel Galley.
