3 of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie’s Best Friendship Moments in Fleetwood Mac

Stevie Nicks and the late great Christine McVie have the kind of friendship that transcends death, and their music partnership in Fleetwood Mac was just one of many elements that made the band so great. Let’s celebrate that beautiful bond by looking back at some of the pair’s most memorable friendship moments.

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Their Pact: “We Would Never Be Treated With Disrespect by All the Male Musicians in the Community”

The 1970s were a different time, one that wasn’t kind to female musicians. As the only two women in Fleetwood Mac, the occasional music critic or interviewer might have assumed Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks were catty with each other. This was as far from the truth as it could get. These two were best friends, and their friendship was almost immediate. But beyond a natural, friendly gravitation and musical connection, the pair bonded, partly, out of necessity and self-preservation.

“We made a pact, in the very beginning, that we would never be treated with disrespect by all the male musicians in the community,” Stevie Nicks once said of her friendship with Christine McVie. “And we really stuck to it. I think we did the pinky swear thing that, if we ever feel like we’re being treated like that, we would just get up and walk out—and we did. We would just say, ‘Well, this party is over for us.’”

Every “Duet” They Ever Did Together

Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie shared vocal duties on quite a few songs in Fleetwood Mac, and many of those songs remain some of the band’s biggest hits. Just a handful include “Dreams” from 1977 (Nicks on lead and McVie on backing vocals), “Over My Head” from 1975 (McVie on lead and Nicks on backing vocals), and “Love In Store” from 1982 (a gorgeous example of both singers harmonizing with one another). There are way more examples further in the band’s discography, too.

Stevie Nicks’ Touching Post-Mortem Words About Christine McVie: “We Really Can’t Go Any Further With This”

Real sisterhood never dies. Christine McVie tragically passed away in 2022 at the age of 79, following a brave fight against cancer. Tributes rolled in from everyone from Fleetwood Mac bandmates to their contemporaries to fans. But one person’s words seemed to be the most powerful.

Nicks paid her tribute to McVie publicly, shortly after her death was announced. But there was something about Nicks saying that Fleetwood Mac was effectively over after McVie’s death in a later interview that seems to hold more weight.

“[When] Christine died, I felt like you can’t replace her,” said Nicks. “You just can’t. Without her, what is it? You know what I mean? She was like my soul mate, my musical soul mate, and my best friend that I spent more time with than any of my other best friends outside of Fleetwood Mac. Christine was my best friend. […] We protected each other. Who am I going to look over to on the right and have them not be there behind that Hammond organ? When she died, I figured we really can’t go any further with this. There’s no reason to.”

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