Christine McVie (1943 – 2022)

A Re-Post from 5 August 2018, about Christine McVie who passed away this week:

Fleetwood Mac – A Soul Group – Part 3:  Christine Perfect/McVie

“If you wake up and don’t want to smile
If it takes just a little while
Open your eyes and look at the day
You’ll see things in a different way”

from “Don’t Stop” by Christine McVie

Christine McVie

Time to introduce the first female member of the band, but before Christine’s arrival, they had to deal with the loss of founder member Peter Green.  The band were doing well, releasing two albums in 1968, “Fleetwood Mac” and “Mr. Wonderful”.  They continued to increase their fan base.

Although he had founded the group, Peter Green, was becoming increasingly unhappy with the way of life.  Belonging to the band gradually became dissonant with his developing philosophy of life.  He told Mick:

“Mick I don’t want to waste my life.  That’s what I’m doing.  I’m wasting my life.”

He was becoming increasingly sensitive to the suffering in the world, and wanted to give all his money to the poor.  He was obsessed with his search for God.  Mick described the reaction of the rest of the group: “We agreed with the beauty of his idealism, but we were practical.”

During their European tour of February 1970, he took LSD with some German hippies, and effectively left the band.  The effect on the band, according to Mick, was “like taking the rudder out of a sailing boat”.  Mick stepped into the role of leader, but there was a huge void: “Luckily we knew the finest blues-woman and piano player in all of England, Christine Perfect.“

Christine was a member of the group Chicken Shack, who had married John McVie in August 1968.

Her Birth Chart

She fitted right into the band, astrologically.  As we saw in Part 1, three of the original members of the band were Cancerian (Mick Fleetwood, Jeremy Spencer and Bob Brunning).

The soul characteristic of the group was about expressing human emotion.  So of the 6 members introduced thus far, four were Cancerian, though one had left (Bob Brunning).  When I come to write my future blog on Music band Sun signs, Fleetwood Mac will represent that sign!  From Part 2 in the series, we saw that John McVie’s North Node in Cancer gave him a karmic key into the group.

As well as being a vocalist and keyboard player, Christine was a major force in terms of songwriting for the group, and this is shown by her conjunction of Venus and Chiron (across the cusp of Leo/Virgo).  Adele also has this conjunction, which has the ability to express the poignancy of love.  Christine’s hits would later form the core of the great album Rumours, which included Don’t Stop, Little Lies, Everywhere, and You Make Loving Fun.

Relationships

In her synastry with John McVie, there was much tension (which may have been creative).  Her Sun squared his Jupiter, her Venus squared his Sun, and their Marses were squared.  On the plus side, her Jupiter was conjunct his Mars, and her Uranus trine his Neptune.

Their transits on their marriage (after a two week romance) were Mars sextile her Uranus (whirlwind relationship) and conjunct her Pluto (a force of nature); and for John the transits were more involved but positive (three trines), giving him more personal stability.

For her personal and working relationship with Mick Fleetwood: Mick’s Jupiter was trine exactly Christine’s Sun (success).  His Saturn was supportive of her Uranus in a sextile, balancing discipline and innovation.  His Saturn was also conjunct her Pluto, which was more difficult, and his Chiron aspects were a little antagonistic, so again there may have been some creative tension between these two.

As for her relationship with Peter Green, who had been best man at their wedding: harmoniously, her Jupiter trined his Venus.  And as so often when someone replaces someone else in a role or line up, there is an exact, powerful Pluto interaspect (as I have mentioned before) – in this case, her Pluto was exactly square his Sun.

Her synastry with the chart of the band (see Part 1) was largely harmonious: her Saturn sextile its Sun, her Mercury trine its Mars, her North Node conjunct its Jupiter (a beneficial karmic link), and her Sun sextile its Pluto.  Her Mercury squared its Saturn, so she may have brought some challenging thought to bear.

Progress

Christine joined Fleetwood Mac on tour at the start of 1970, and Mick Fleetwood describes the state of affairs at that time:

“The band’s new formula remained true to our roots, showcasing Jeremy’s skills, whilst allowing Danny to do more melodic rock…Christine became the glue…”

On a personal note, we went to see them at Nottingham University (before hubby and I were married) in early 1971.  We were a little disappointed by their performance at the time, Christine had already joined them, but it was before some of their dizzier heights as a group.  I do seem to recall they played Albatross, Black Magic Woman and Man of the World.  We always remember different things.  Hubby recalls some hiccups, such as a lack of co-ordination between the drummer and the bassist, while trying to get the rhythm right.  They were about to lose Jeremy Spencer (departing in February 1971) and Danny Kirwan, but about to gain Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks (subjects of Part 4).

Bibliography:

“Play On” by Mick Fleetwood