The singer-songwriter of British rock band Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie, who also enjoyed success with a solo career, died on Wednesday at the age of 79 after a short illness, her family said.
McVie wrote several of the band’s famous songs, including ‘Little Lies,’ ‘Everywhere’ and ‘Songbird.’
She joined Fleetwood Mac a few years after its formation in 1967. The band, which has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, is considered one of the most popular bands ever.
In a statement posted on the singer’s Facebook page, the family said Christine McVie died “peacefully” in a hospital on Wednesday morning after a “short illness.”
“She was accompanied by her family,” the statement said.
Fleetwood Mac, which included Mick Fleetwood, Christine and her former husband John McVie, as well as Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, was one of the best-known bands of the 1970s and 1980s.
The album ‘Rumours,’ released in 1977, is considered one of the biggest selling albums in musical history with over 40 million copies sold worldwide.
The singer left the band in 1998 before rejoining it 16 years later for a short-lived formation. In 2017, she told the BBC that she had withdrawn from the world and developed agoraphobia after leaving the band. She had moved from California to Kent in south-east England.
“There are no words to describe our sadness,” the band reacted on Twitter. “She was truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure.”
