page_title: Fleetwood Mac
section_title: 1967–1970: Formation and early years
hierarchical_section_title: Fleetwood Mac / History / 1967–1970: Formation and early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac, Niedersachsenhalle, Hannover, Germany. The Touring Band: Mick Fleetwood - Percussion, Peter Green - Lead Vocals/Guitar/Harmonica (left band in May), John McVie - Bass Guitar, Jeremy Spencer - Vocals/Guitar, Danny Kirwan - Vocals/Guitar
context_page_description: Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac was founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood, guitarist Jeremy Spencer and bassist John McVie completed the lineup for their self-titled debut album. Danny Kirwan joined as a third guitarist in 1968. Keyboardist Christine Perfect, who contributed as a session musician from the second album, married McVie and joined in 1970.
  Primarily a British blues band, Fleetwood Mac scored a UK number one with "Albatross", and had other hits such as the singles "Oh Well" and "Man of the World". All three guitarists left in succession during the early 1970s, to be replaced by guitarists Bob Welch and Bob Weston and vocalist Dave Walker. By 1974, all three had either departed or been dismissed, leaving the band without a male lead vocalist or guitarist. In late 1974, while Fleetwood was scouting studios in Los Angeles, he was introduced to folk-rock duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac soon asked Buckingham to be their new lead guitarist, and Buckingham agreed on condition that Nicks would also join the band.
context_section_description: Fleetwood Mac were formed in July 1967 in London, England, when Peter Green left the British blues band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Green had previously replaced guitarist Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers and had received critical acclaim for his work on their album A Hard Road. Green had been in two bands with Mick Fleetwood, Peter B's Looners and the subsequent Shotgun Express (which featured a young Rod Stewart as vocalist), and suggested Fleetwood as a replacement for drummer Aynsley Dunbar when Dunbar left the Bluesbreakers to join the new Jeff Beck/Rod Stewart band. John Mayall agreed and Fleetwood joined the Bluesbreakers.
  The Bluesbreakers then consisted of Green, Fleetwood, John McVie and Mayall. Mayall gave Green free recording time as a gift, which Fleetwood, McVie and Green used to record five songs. The fifth song was an instrumental that Green named after the rhythm section, "Fleetwood Mac" ("Mac" being short for McVie).
  Soon after this, Green suggested to Fleetwood that they form a new band. The pair wanted McVie on bass guitar and named the band 'Fleetwood Mac' to entice him, but McVie opted to keep his steady income with Mayall rather than take a risk with a new band. In the meantime Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood had teamed up with slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer and bassist Bob Brunning. Brunning was in the band on the understanding that he would leave if McVie agreed to join. The Green, Fleetwood, Spencer, Brunning version of the band made its debut on 13 August 1967 at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival as 'Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, also featuring Jeremy Spencer'. Brunning played only a few gigs with Fleetwood Mac. Within weeks of this show, John McVie agreed to join the band as permanent bassist.
  Fleetwood Mac's self-titled debut album was a no-frills blues album and was released by the Blue Horizon label in February 1968. There were no other players on the album (except on the song "Long Grey Mare", which was recorded with Brunning on bass). The album was successful in the UK and reached no. 4, although no tracks were released as singles. Later in the year the singles "Black Magic Woman" (later a big hit for Santana) and "Need Your Love So Bad" were released.
  The band's second studio album, Mr. Wonderful, was released in August 1968. Like their first album, it was all blues. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and a PA system, rather than being plugged into the board. They also added horns and featured a friend of the band on keyboards, Christine Perfect of Chicken Shack.
  Shortly after the release of Mr. Wonderful, Fleetwood Mac recruited 18-year-old guitarist Danny Kirwan. He was in the South London blues trio Boilerhouse, consisting of Kirwan (guitar), Trevor Stevens (bass) and Dave Terrey (drums). Green and Fleetwood had watched Boilerhouse rehearse in a basement boiler-room, and Green had been so impressed that he invited the band to play support slots for Fleetwood Mac. Green wanted Boilerhouse to become a professional band but Stevens and Terrey were not prepared to turn professional, so Green tried to find another rhythm section for Kirwan by placing an ad in Melody Maker. There were over 300 applicants, but when Green and Fleetwood ran auditions at the Nag's Head in Battersea (home of the Mike Vernon Blue Horizon Club) the hard-to-please Green could not find anyone good enough. Fleetwood invited Kirwan to join Fleetwood Mac as a third guitarist.
  Green was frustrated that Jeremy Spencer did not contribute to his songs. Kirwan, a talented self-taught guitarist, had a signature vibrato and a unique style that added a new dimension to the band's sound. In November 1968, with Kirwan in the band, they released their first number one single in Europe, "Albatross", on which Kirwan duetted with Green. Green said later that the success of 'Albatross' was thanks to Kirwan. "If it wasn't for Danny, I would never had had a number one hit record."  In January 1969 they released their first compilation album English Rose, which contained half of Mr Wonderful plus new s
caption: Peter Green, 18 March 1970
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