Fleetwood Mac fought back from drugs and betrayal for the biggest album

In 1975, after years of false starts and line implosions, Mac’s drummer Mick Fleetwood, then 28, convinced 28, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, then 26 and singer Stevie Nicks, then 27, to become a member of the group.

Their arrival transformed the band from a fading British blues act in unlikely Californian hit makers.

Their titllless Fleetwood Mac-Dit year released half a century ago Platina, but the follow-up Rumor Was the album that would strengthen their legend, even when the band collapsed under the weight of his own unrest.

Mick said: “We were on the edge of extinction. Things, betrayal and drugs tore ourselves apart, but somehow it fed the music. We were lucky to come out alive.”

In 1976, bass player John Mcvie, then 30, and his wife, keyboardist Christine McVie, then 33, were divorced.

Nicks and the romance of Buckingham disintegrated together. Mick himself discovered that his wife had an affair with another guitarist.

But all five still came to the studio every day. “We broke each other’s hearts at night and recorded harmonies together the next morning,” said Christine.

“It was madness, but it gave the songs their rawness.”