Christine McVie, vocalist and keyboardist for the rock band Fleetwood Mac, has died at the age of 79. McVie and Stevie Nicks were both a part of Fleetwood Mac, and each of them has a written a number of hit songs for the band. Their relationship has been one of ups and downs, but the duo stuck together despite their differences and became the best of friends.

McVie was the first to join the band, which she did in 1970 when she married her first husband, John McVie, who was Fleetwood Mac’s bassist. 

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Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were performing as a duo when they were first approached by Mick Fleetwood to join the band. Regarding the time when she realised that she had to work closely with Nicks, McVie said, “It was critical that I got on with her because I’d never played with another girl,” further adding, “But I liked her instantly. She was funny and nice but also there was no competition. We were completely different on the stage to each other and we wrote differently too.”

Nicks also explained that the two of them got along well, and that they had made a “pact” to become “so fantastic and so strong and so smart” that it would not be possible for any male rockstar to ignore them or their importance.

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The duo’s friendship took a sour turn in the 1980s after they became a worldwide sensation. in 1984, McVie told Rolling Stone magazine about Nicks, “Ten years ago, she really had her feet on the ground, along with a tremendous sense of humor, which she still has,” further adding, “But she seems to have developed her own fantasy world, somehow, which I’m not part of. We don’t socialize much.”

McVie retired from the band in 1998, which caused the duo to further grow apart. It was only in 2014, when she rejoined the band, that Nicks and McVie managed to repair their friendship. Regarding their newfound camaraderie, McVie had said to theartsdesk, “And it’s a fact, when it’s the Buckingham/Nicks show backed by John and Mick, that’s going to cause a lot of tension and stress. But with me in there, it gave Stevie the chance to get her breath back and not have this constant thing going on with Lindsey: her sister was back.”

After McVie passed away, Nicks posted a handwritten message on Twitter:

The note read, “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”, further adding, “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 it to her now. I always knew I would need these words one day.”

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Nicks then proceeded to quote a few lines from the song Hallelujah by Haimes: “I had a best friend but she has come to pass / One I wish I could see now / You always remind me that memories will last / These arms reach out / You were there to protect me like a shield / Long hair, running with me through the field / Everywhere, you’ve been with me all along”.