McVie's first experience making music with a group of like minds was in the back room of a house in Lammas Park Road, Ealing, with his long-term friends John Barnes and Peter Barnes who later went on to form a group called the Strangers performing Shadows covers. McVie's first job as a bass player was in a band called the Krewsaders, formed by boys living in the same street as McVie in Ealing, West London. The Krewsaders played mainly at weddings and parties, covering songs from
the Shadows.
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers Around the time of McVie's tenure as a tax inspector,
John Mayall began forming a Chicago-style blues band,
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Initially Mayall wanted to recruit bass player Cliff Barton of the
Cyril Davies All Stars for the rhythm section. Barton declined, however, but gave him McVie's phone number, urging Mayall to give McVie a chance . Under Mayall's tutelage McVie, not having had any formal training in music, learned to play the blues mainly by listening to
B.B. King and
Willie Dixon records given to him by Mayall. McVie was the band's bassist for four and a half years. During that time he was fired and re-hired several times. One of his temporary replacements was
Jack Bruce. Later the same year, after having been replaced by
Mick Taylor in the Bluesbreakers, Green opted to form his own band, which he called "Fleetwood Mac" after his preferred rhythm section (Fleetwood and McVie). Mick Fleetwood immediately joined Green's new band, having been dismissed earlier from the Bluesbreakers for drunkenness. However, McVie initially was reluctant to join Fleetwood Mac, not wanting to leave the security and well-paid job in the Bluesbreakers, forcing Green to temporarily hire a bassist named
Bob Brunning. A few weeks later McVie changed his mind, as he felt that The Bluesbreakers musical direction were shifting too much towards
jazz, and he joined Fleetwood Mac in September 1967.
Fleetwood Mac With McVie now in
Fleetwood Mac, the band recorded its first album,
Fleetwood Mac, in the following months. The album was released in February 1968, and became an immediate national hit, establishing Fleetwood Mac as a major part in the English Blues movement. Following the departure of Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac in 1970, McVie successfully persuaded Christine to join him in Fleetwood Mac.
International success and personal life After 1970, Fleetwood Mac went through several different line-ups, which occasionally became the source of friction and unease within the band. In addition, frequent touring as well as his heavy drinking began to put some strain on his marriage to Christine. In 1974, the McVies, along with the other members of Fleetwood Mac, moved to Los Angeles, where they lived briefly with John Mayall. In 1975, Fleetwood Mac achieved worldwide success after recruiting American singer-songwriter duo
Stevie Nicks and
Lindsey Buckingham. On the heels of the band's success followed serious marital problems for the McVies, and in 1976, during the recording of
Rumours, John and Christine McVie's marriage unravelled and the couple divorced the same year. As a way to put behind the hurt and final dissolution, several of Christine's songs on this album were about John McVie, particularly "
Don't Stop". John McVie suggested the title
Rumours because he felt that the songs functioned as journal and diary entries about each other. In 1981, McVie agreed to go on the road with the
Bluesbreakers again for their reunion tour with
John Mayall,
Mick Taylor, and
Colin Allen. During 1982 the band toured America, Asia and Australia (McVie did not take part in the European Tour in 1983 and was replaced by Steve Thompson). An alcohol-induced seizure in 1987 finally prompted McVie to stop drinking altogether and he has been sober ever since. In 1989, McVie's wife Julie Ann gave birth to their first child. In his spare time, McVie is a sailing enthusiast, and he nearly got lost at least once on a Pacific voyage. He continued to play with the band during their 2014
On With the Show tour following an improvement in his condition. In 2017, it was reported that McVie's colon cancer was completely cleared. ==Discography==