Fleetwood Mac legend Peter Green dead at 73
Peter Green, the influential blues guitarist who founded Fleetwood Mac, but quit the group before their massive global success, has died.
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Fleetwood Mac co-founder and renowned blues rock guitarist Peter Green has died at the age of 73.
“It is with great sadness that the family of Peter Green announce his death this weekend, peacefully in his sleep,” lawyers representing Green’s family said in a statement.
“A further statement will be provided in the coming days.”
London-born Green formed Fleetwood Mac with drummer Mick Fleetwood in 1967.
They started the group after Green played in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, where he filled in for Eric Clapton.
Green and Fleetwood asked John McVie to join the band as bass guitarist, naming the band Fleetwood Mac.
They produced three albums and a series of much-loved tracks including Albatross, Black Magic Woman and Oh Well.
Green left the band in 1970 after one final performance, as he struggled with mental health issues. The guitarist was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent time in hospital in the mid-1970s.
In a 2017 interview, Mick Fleetwood said that it was Green who deserved much of the credit for the band’s massive success.
“Peter was asked why did he call the band Fleetwood Mac. He said, ‘Well, you know I thought maybe I’d move on at some point and I wanted Mick and John (McVie) to have a band.’ End of story, explaining how generous he was,” said Fleetwood, who described Green as a standout in an era of great guitar work.
Green made a rare appearance with the group in 1998 when Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Green was considered one the best of the British blues guitarists of the 1960s. Legendary blues guitarist B.B. King once said the Londoner “has the sweetest tone I ever heard. He was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.”
Green was among the eight members of Fleetwood Mac – along with Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie, Christine McVie, Danny Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer – who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
In 2018, Buckingham was fired from the band and was replaced by Mike Campbell, formerly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House.
On the band’s most recent tour they played songs from Green’s era.
Fleetwood Mac has sold more than a staggering 120 million albums worldwide, making them one of the most successful bands ever.
The news of Green’s death comes days after Fleetwood Mac announced they will release a retrospective boxset, documenting the band’s early years between 1969 and 1974.
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Originally published as Fleetwood Mac legend Peter Green dead at 73