Rick Vito

**Rick Vito**, born Richard FrancisVito,October 13, 1949 in Darby, Pennsylvania, United States is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter who was a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1987 to 1990. Vito had been a fan of the the group in their early days as a blues band and counted their founder Peter Green as a major influence. During his time with Mac, he played and sang some of Green's songs that had not featured in the set for over fifteen years including I Loved Another Woman, Stop Messin' Round and Rattlesnake Shake.

## Pre-Mac connections

Rick Vito had worked as a session musician for much of his adult life, perhaps most notably with Bob Seger, playing on the Detroit singer-songwriter's 1986 hit Like a Rock. He also worked with John Mayall in the 1970s and on Mayall's 1976 album *A Banquet in Blues*, found himself playing alongside John McVie on the opening track *Sunshine*.

## Fleetwood Mac

Vito was invited to join Fleetwood Mac along with his friend Billy Burnette in 1987 after Lindsey Buckingham had left the group shortly before they were due to tour in promotion of their album Tango in the Night. The fact that he was a fan of the Peter Green era of the band meant that in the absence of material written by and recorded with the new members they were able to reinstate some of Green's songs (Green was not in the music industry at the time). Vito sang on I Loved Another Woman, Stop Messin' Round and Rattlesnake Shake and also got to play on Oh Well which Burnette sang. His performance of Another Woman featured on the Tango in the Night video and later on the CD single of Save Me.

His first recordings with the group to be released were two new songs on the 1988 Greatest Hits compilation: Christine McVie's As Long As You Follow and Stevie Nicks's No Questions Asked. Another song, Paper Doll, was co-written by Nicks and Vito with Vito's longtime collaborator John Herron but was not felt fit for inclusion by Mick Fleetwood. The song eventually surfaced on the 1992 anthology 25 Years: The Chain. It was released as a single in some territories and peaked at #9 in Canada, making it arguably Vito's most significant contribution to the group. Vito also wrote and sung the song titled "Got No Home" for the greatest hits album but was never officially released it is found on the unofficial demos and outtake album "Other Side of The Mask".

In 1990 the new six-piece line-up of Mac, with Vito on lead guitar and sharing lead vocals with Christine McVie, Nicks and Burnette, released the album Behind the Mask. Vito was featured as a co-writer on four songs. He shared writing and vocals with Burnette on When the Sun Goes Down and with Nicks on Love is Dangerous. He also co-wrote with Nicks and accompanied her on the acoustic closing number The Second Time. The only song he wrote and sang entirely by himself was Stand On the Rock. Other Vito songs recorded for inclusion on the album later appeared on his solo albums.

Vito took part in the Behind the Mask tour on which both Love Is Dangerous and Stand On the Rock were performed but announced his decision to leave in October 1991 for personal reasons.

## Solo and with Mick Fleetwood Blues Band

Vito did not hesitate to sign a solo deal and released his first solo album King of Hearts in 1992. All songs were written by Vito and Stevie Nicks duetted with him on one song, Desirée and provided backing vocals on Intuition. Further albums followed as did a couple of tours with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band in which he performed other Peter Green songs. Details of studio albums and points of interest feature below.

## Fleetwood Mac colleagues

Mick Fleetwood

John McVie

Christine McVie

Stevie Nicks

Billy Burnette

Lindsey Buckingham (guest appearances on some tracks)