Michael John Kells Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British musician.
With his parents' support, he dropped out of school at 15 and, in 1963, moved to London to pursue a career as a drummer.
After a brief stint working at Liberty in London, he found his first opportunity in music. ==Career== ===Early efforts in London=== Keyboard player Peter Bardens lived only a few doors away from Fleetwood's first home in London, and upon hearing of the proximity of an available drummer, Bardens gave Fleetwood his first gig in Bardens' band the Cheynes in July 1963, thus seeding the young drummer's musical career.
However, by April 1965, when Fleetwood joined the band, it was fading into obscurity.
By February 1966, Bardens, who had left the group, called on Fleetwood to join his new band, the Peter Bs, which soon expanded to become Shotgun Express (with Rod Stewart).
Peter Green, who was a guitarist in the Peter Bs, left to join John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, followed by Fleetwood in April 1967.
Green, feeling trapped within the Bluesbreakers, also left in June 1967.
Though McVie hesitated briefly due to financial reasons, both joined Green by the summer of 1967 with a record contract on the horizon. ===Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac=== The initial incarnation of Fleetwood Mac performed its first gig in August 1967 at the seventh annual Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival, playing a Chicago-style blues.
McVie, Fleetwood, Green and guitarist Jeremy Spencer thus formed the first fixed line-up of Fleetwood Mac. The band's first album, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, was released in 1968, and the band toured the United States for the first time, though Green was reluctant to do so for fear of gun crime.
A guest musician on the album, Christine Perfect, became close with the group and she and McVie were married in 1968.
He was found several days later to have joined Family International, then known as Children of God, a religious group started in 1968 in Huntington Beach, California.
He doesn't play much anymore, which is certainly a shame, because he's my mentor, and he's the reason that Fleetwood Mac became what we became." ===1970–1973=== Fleetwood remained a consistent presence in the ever-changing line-up of the group following the departure of Green in May 1970, when Spencer and Kirwan assumed more central roles in the group's song-writing.
In June 1970, Fleetwood and Jenny Boyd were married.
In September 1970 the release of Kiln House saw a line-up of Spencer, Kirwan, John McVie and Fleetwood, with Christine McVie providing keyboards and backing vocals.
Fleetwood, "a social creature who prized community and communication", was particularly taken with the group's new living arrangements: they moved into a large Victoria-era mansion near Headley, Hampshire. By early 1971, with Christine McVie becoming an official member of the band, Fleetwood and the group boarded a plane to San Francisco.
Spencer, fearful following the recent 1971 San Fernando earthquake, reluctantly boarded the plane.
Bare Trees came a year later, in 1972.
The resulting turmoil, however, negatively affected their next album, Penguin, released in 1973 to poor reviews.
Fleetwood, after wrestling with the idea of leaving the band, was later critical of his own role in "neglecting" his family," though Caillat described Fleetwood in 2012 as "a womaniser." In October 1973 Fleetwood instructed Weston to leave Fleetwood Mac.
On the Road to Freedom, a collaboration from Alvin Lee and Mylon LeFevre was released in 1973.
Fleetwood would remain the only member to stay with the band through its ever-changing line-up. After several album releases and line-up changes, the group moved to the United States in 1974 in an attempt to boost the band's success.
Also on the project were Ron Wood, Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi. ===Heroes Are Hard to Find, Fleetwood Mac, Rumours=== By November 1974, despite having survived legal challenges from Davis, Bob Welch departed.
On New Year's Eve, 1974, Fleetwood contacted Olsen to advise him that their planned project was on hiatus after Welch's departure, however he then suggested that Nicks and Buckingham join Fleetwood Mac.
Fleetwood and Boyd divorced in late 1975.
1 come November 1976, and at this time Fleetwood Mac became self-managing, with Fleetwood himself arguing that an external manager would be less apt at holding together such a group of dynamic personalities.
After six months of non-stop touring, the McVies divorced in August 1976, ending nearly eight years of marriage.
Buckingham and Nicks also fought often, a fact that was revealed to fans by Rolling Stone in April 1976.
Grissim, working for Rolling Stone, frequently met with the group and took a particular liking to Fleetwood, whom he described as "a real pro." Fleetwood Mac convened at the Record Plant February 1976 with hired engineers Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut.
I just couldn't." Boyd and Fleetwood had begun living together once more in 1976, and temporarily remarried to help their children emigrate to the United States.
By March, the album had sold over 10 million copies worldwide, including over eight million in the US alone. ===Tusk, experimentation=== In November 1977 Fleetwood and Nicks began having an affair.
The band and co-producers Caillat and Dashut, would go on to win the 1978 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
In November 1978 Fleetwood moved into a Bel Air home with Sara Recor, mutual friend of Fleetwood and Nicks who was at the time married to another music producer.
Meanwhile, Fleetwood began working on a charity project to get Fleetwood Mac to tour the Soviet Union, however the Soviet–Afghan War later made the tour untenable. Tusk, Fleetwood Mac's 12th studio album, was released in 1979.
His elder sister, actress Susan Fleetwood, died of cancer in 1995.
I don't think it did him much good." He also recalled in 1995 that "Peter basically ceased to see the light with Fleetwood Mac and had aspirations of playing for nothing in strange places—none of which really happened.
Fleetwood, whose surname was merged with that of the group's bassist John "Mac" McVie to form the name of the band, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Born in Redruth, Cornwall, Fleetwood lived in Egypt and Norway for much of his childhood years as his father travelled with the Royal Air Force.
Fleetwood, after wrestling with the idea of leaving the band, was later critical of his own role in "neglecting" his family," though Caillat described Fleetwood in 2012 as "a womaniser." In October 1973 Fleetwood instructed Weston to leave Fleetwood Mac.
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