John McVie

John Graham McVie (/məkˈviː/; born 26 November 1945) is a British bass guitarist. He is best known as a member since 1967 of the band Fleetwood Mac, and prior to that, the rock band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, from 1964 to 1967. His surname, combined with that of drummer Mick Fleetwood, was the source for the band's name "Fleetwood Mac".

He joined Fleetwood Mac shortly after its formation by guitarist Peter Green in 1967, replacing temporary bass guitarist Bob Brunning. McVie and Fleetwood are the only two members of the group to appear on every Fleetwood Mac release, and for over fifty years have been the group's last remaining original (or almost original in McVie's case) members.

In 1968, McVie married blues pianist and singer Christine Perfect, who became a member of Fleetwood Mac two years later. John and Christine McVie divorced in 1976, but continued working together professionally. During this time, the band recorded the album Rumours, a major commercial success with a title that referenced the turmoil in the band's romantic relationships.

McVie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac. McVie is listed at number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of the fifty greatest bassists of all time.

John Graham McVie was born on 26 November 1945, in Ealing, West London, to Reg and Dorothy McVie and attended Walpole Grammar School. He had a sister who died when she was very young. McVie started playing the trumpet at an early age then, at age 14, he began playing the guitar in local bands, covering songs by the Shadows. He soon realised that his friends were learning lead guitar so he decided to play the bass guitar instead. Initially he just removed the top two (B and E) strings from his guitar to play the bass parts until his father bought him a pink Fender bass guitar, the same as that used by McVie's major early musical influence Jet Harris, the Shadows' bass player.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.