Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie recently admitted that she had a little help on stage.
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The musician has said that both cocaine and champagne helped her perform better on stage and in the recording studio. Though, she added, that she didn’t use “any other drugs at all.”
The band, for better or worse, is known these days as much for its stellar songwriting as it is for infighting, internal romantic relationships, breakups, and acrimony since they rose to fame decades ago.
Now, more and more information is being revealed, including this eyebrow-raiser from McVie, the group’s singer and keyboardist.
Though, McVie doesn’t seem to regret any of it. In a new interview with The Guardian, she said her drug of choice made her a better artist than she would have been had she not indulged or imbibed.
She also mentioned she used to get down with a bit of drugs with the band’s frontwoman, Stevie Nicks.
When asked if she had any “blanks” in her memory from the years of partying, McVie told the U.K. outlet, “I have to say I’m not guilt-free in that department but Stevie and I were very careful. The boys used to get provided with cocaine in Heineken bottle tops onstage, but Stevie and I only did the tiny little spoons. I suppose sometimes we got a bit out there, but we were quite restrained, really.”
McVie added, “I always took fairly good care of myself. My drug of choice was cocaine and champagne. I didn’t use any other drugs at all. It’s easy for me to say, but I think it made me perform better. Maybe somebody could tell me different.”
If anything, it certainly could’ve contributed to the band’s infamous on-stage intensity.
These days, McVie is poised to release a new compilation of her solo material. That forthcoming album, Songbird, is set to drop on June 24.
What might come from the band next, after McVie’s admission and recent back and forth fighting from Nicks and the band’s former guitarist Lindsay Buckingham, is anyone’s guess.
Photo: Thomas Cooper
