Poilievre will do 'anything to win,' must condemn Alex Jones endorsement: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ramping up his attacks on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he promotes his government's federal budget.
Christine McVie, the British-born Fleetwood Mac vocalist, songwriter and keyboard player whose cool, soulful contralto helped define such classics as "You Make Loving Fun," "Everywhere" and "Don't Stop," died Wednesday at age 79.
Her death was announced on the band's social media accounts. No cause of death or other details were immediately provided, but a family statement said she "passed away peacefully at hospital this morning" with family around her after a "short illness."
"A few hours ago I was told that my best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975, had passed away," bandmate Stevie Nicks said in a handwritten note posted to Instagram.
She added that one song has been "swirling around" in her head since she found out McVie was sick, quoting the lyrics to HAIM's "Hallelujah": "I had a best friend/But she has come to pass."
McVie was a steady presence and personality in a band known for its frequent lineup changes and volatile personalities – notably fellow singer-songwriters Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
Her death is the first among Fleetwood Mac's most famous incarnation of McVie, Nicks, Buckingham, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, Christine's ex-husband. In recent years, the band had toured without Buckingham, who was kicked out in 2018 and replaced on stage by Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.
Fleetwood Mac started out as a London blues band in the 1960s, and evolved into one of the defining makers of 1970s California pop-rock, with the talents of McVie, Nicks and Buckingham anchored by the rhythm section of Fleetwood and John McVie. During its peak commercial years, from 1975-80, the band sold tens of millions of records and fascinated fans as it transformed personal battles into melodic, compelling songs. The McVies' breakup – along with the split of Nicks and Buckingham – was famously documented on the 1977 release "Rumours," among the bestselling albums of all time.
Everyone in the group played a distinctive role: Fleetwood and John McVie formed a deep and bluesy groove, Buckingham was the resident mad genius and perfectionist, Nicks the charismatic dramatist and idol to countless young women and Christine McVie the grounded counterpoint, her economy as a singer and player well suited to her birth surname: Perfect.
"I was supposedly like the Mother Teresa who would hang out with everybody or just try and (keep) everything nice and cool and relaxed," she told Rolling Stone earlier this year. "But they were great people; they were great friends."
Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, when at the ceremony they played McVie's "Say You Love Me." The group's many other hit singles included Nicks' "Dreams," Buckingham's "Go Your Own Way" and McVie's "Little Lies." One of McVie's most beloved works, the thoughtful ballad "Songbird," was a showcase for her in concert and covered by Willie Nelson, among others.
The midtempo rocker "Don't Stop," inspired by the end of her marriage, would gain unexpected political relevance when Bill Clinton adopted the song – and its "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow" refrain – as a theme to his 1992 presidential run. The band, which had essentially stopped making albums at the time, reunited to perform at his inauguration gala.
McVie's two marriages, to John McVie and Eduardo Quintela, both ended in divorce. Her boyfriends included the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson, about whom she wrote "Only Over You."
McVie, born Christine Anne Perfect in Bouth, Lancashire, came from a musical family. Her father was a violinist and music teacher and her grandfather played organ at Westminster Abbey. She had been playing piano since childhood, but set aside her classical training once she heard early rock records by Fats Domino and others.
While studying at the Moseley School of Art, she befriended various members of Britain's emerging blues scene and, in her '20s, joined the band Chicken Shack as a singer and piano player. Among the rival bands she admired was Fleetwood Mac, which then featured the talents of blues guitarist Peter Green along with the rhythm section of Fleetwood and John McVie. By 1970, she had joined the group and married John McVie.
Few bands succeeded so well as Fleetwood Mac, which has sold well over 100 million records, against such long odds. Green was among the many performers who left the group, and at various times Fleetwood Mac seemed on the verge of ending, or fading away. It was rescued by unexpected returns and interventions and one of rock's most fortuitous and lucrative hunches.
In the mid-1970s, Fleetwood Mac was down to just three members, Fleetwood and the two McVies. While spending time in Los Angeles, Fleetwood learned of a young duo from California, Buckingham and Nicks, that had recorded the little known album "Buckingham Nicks." Impressed by their sound, he initially planned to ask just Buckingham to join, but the guitarist insisted the band also include Nicks, his girlfriend at the time.
The new lineup proved almost instantly magical. Nicks and Christine McVie formed a lasting friendship, agreeing that as two of the rare women in rock they would always stand up for each other. And the harmonies and music making of Nicks, Buckingham and Christine McVie insured that such albums as "Fleetwood Mac," "Rumours" and "Mirage" had an enviable quality and variety of songwriting and vocal styles.
But the group's overwhelming success also led to inevitable conflicts and the desire for solo work. Over the following decades, Nicks became a star in her own right. McVie released solo albums, including "Christine McVie" and "Christine Perfect," as well as a 2017 collaboration with Buckingham, "Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie."
Fleetwood and John McVie were there at the founding of Fleetwood Mac and were the only ones to remain all the way through. McVie departed in the 1990s, when she was seemingly done forever with the rock star life. By 2014, she had changed her mind.
"I just wanted to embrace being in the English countryside and not have to troop around on the road. I moved to Kent, and I loved being able to walk around the streets, nobody knowing who I was," she said of her hiatus during a 2022 interview with the Guardian.
"Then of course I started to miss it. I called Mick and asked: `How would you feel about me coming back to the band?"' she said. "He got in touch with everybody and we had a band meeting over the phone and they all went: 'Come baaaack!!' I felt regenerated and I felt like writing again."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ramping up his attacks on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he promotes his government's federal budget.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
There are 63 wildfires burning in Alberta's forest protection area as of Wednesday morning and seven mutual aid fires, including one in the Municipal District of Peace.
Arrests have been made after five men were captured on video rampaging through a jewelry store in Toronto, waving weapons and smashing glass display cases.
A Polish pilot proposed to his flight attendant girlfriend during a flight from Warsaw to Krakow, and she said yes.
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
The RCMP says a former SNC-Lavalin executive has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison in connection with a bribery scheme for a bridge repair contract in Montreal.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.