Fleetwood Mac’s sad update after death of Christine McVie

Fleetwood Mac founding member Mick Fleetwood has given fans a sad update, less than three months after Christine McVie’s death.

Christine McVie (L) and Stevie Nicks. Picture: Dia DIPASUPIL / GETTY

Fleetwood Mac member Mick Fleetwod has announced he thinks the band is “done” following the death of Christine McVie last November.

McVie was the songwriter, vocalist and keyboardist responsible for some of Fleetwood Mac’s most enduring hits, including Little Lies, Everywhere and Don’t Stop.

She died aged 79 last year after a short illness.

McVie died on November 30. Picture: FilmMagic

Mick Fleetwood at the Grammys this week. Picture: Getty

Speaking on the Grammys red carpet this week, Fleetwood – who performed a musical tribute to his late bandmate alongside Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt during the ceremony – said McVie’s death had drawn “the line in the sand” for Fleetwood Mac.

“I think right now, I truly think the line in the sand has been drawn with the loss of Chris,” he said.

“I’d say we’re done, but then we’ve all said that before. It’s sort of unthinkable right now.”

McVie penned some of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hit singles. Picture: Getty

Fleetwood Mac had existed without McVie before: She joined the band in 1970, three years into its initial run, and left again in 1998, sitting out the next 16 years as the band released an album and embarked on multiple tours.

She rejoined the band in 2014 for what would be the final world tour of Fleetwood Mac’s most iconic line-up: McVie, Fleetwood, Stevie Nick, Lindsey Buckingham and John McVie.

Fleetwood Mac circa 2018, with Neil Finn (third from right) replacing Lindsey Buckingham. Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty

Buckingham was dramatically dismissed from the group in 2018 amid infighting, and replaced with guitarist Mike Campbell and former Crowded House singer Neil Finn.

That was the line-up that toured Australia in late 2019, in what currently stand as some of Fleetwood Mac’s last-ever shows.

Meanwhile, McVie inked a massive deal a year before her death, selling the rights to her entire back catalogue of 115 songs.

She died with an estimated net worth of $US105m ($A155m) – a large portion of which would’ve been thanks to her hush-hush deal with the music publishing company Hipgnosis for an undisclosed sum.

In one of her final interviews, published by Rolling Stone in June last year, McVie said she was in “quite bad health”, and it was unlikely she’d ever be able to tour again.

“I don’t feel physically up for it … I’ve got a chronic back problem which debilitates me. I stand up to play the piano, so I don’t know if I could actually physically do it. What’s that saying? The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak,” she told the outlet.