news Stevie Nicks leads tributes after bandmate Christine McVie dies aged 79 | Ents & Arts News

Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks has led tributes to bandmate Christine McVie, who has died aged 79, saying she had wanted to sing to her one last time.The British-American rock band,

in London founded in 1967, sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the most successful groups ever. In a post on Facebook, McVie's family wrote: "It is

with a heavy heart we are informing you of Christine's death."She passed away peacefully at hospital this morning, Wednesday, November 30th 2022, following a short illness. She was

in the company of her family." Image: McVie performing in 2014 Image: McVie pictured in 1970. Pic: AP The statement continued by asking for the family's privacy to be respected at

"this extremely painful time" and for everyone to remember the "revered musician who was loved universally". Bandmate Stevie Nicks paid tribute, tweeting a heartfelt handwritten

note: "A few hours ago I was told that my best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975, had passed away."I didn't even know she was ill...until late Saturday night.

"I wanted to be in London; I wanted to get to London - but we were told to wait. So, since Saturday, one song has been swirling around in my head, over and over and over."I thought

I might possibly get to sing it to her, and so, I'm singing to her now. I always knew I would need these words one day." She then wrote the lyrics to Hallelujah by Haim, a song

about the death of a friend.One of the best selling albums of all timeAmong Fleetwood Mac's best-known songs are Dreams, Go Your Own Way and Everywhere.Singer-songwriter and

keyboardist McVie penned Songbird, one of the band's most famous tracks, as well as Oh Daddy, Little Lies and Don't Stop.She was sole writer of four of the tracks on their best

selling album Rumours, which was released in 1977 and went on to become one of the most successful albums of all time - selling more than 40 million copies worldwide.She also

co-wrote the album's The Chain, which had a second life as the theme to the Formula One BBC TV coverage from the late 1970s, on and off until the 2015.Many of the songs on Rumors

documented the break up of McVie and her husband John McVie - along with the split of fellow singer/songwriters Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, adding to the album's

notoriety.The singles released from Rumors didn't chart very high in the UK at the time, but it has gone on to be regarded as one of the best long players ever, featuring in

numerous lists of top albums.McVie was among the eight members of the band who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and she left the band a short time later