Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac
As Fleetwood Mac release their new album The Dance, it is likely to write another multi-million selling chapter in the story of one of the world’s bigg-est bands.
Meanwhile, the musical genius who started the band – and penned their earliest hits – may be settling down to practice the guitar, and reflecting on the millionaire lifestyle he rejected.
Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green was born Peter Greenbaum in Bethnal Green in October, 1946. One day, one of his brothers bought home a cheap Spanish guitar and – when he tired of it – it was passed on to ten-year-old Peter.
“My brother showed me a few chords and I took off,” he remembered.
His influences were varied – the twanging style of Hank Marvin from the Shadows and some old Jewish songs he learned from his family. But it was the American blues of Muddy Waters and BB King which would have a lasting influence, and turn him into one of the greatest rock guitarists of the Sixties.
Green’s big break
Peter played bass in a variety of East End amateur bands before joining Peter B’s Looners, as lead guitarist, in 1966. There he met Mick Fleetwood, the drummer in Fleetwood Mac till this day.
His big break came just three months later when he joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. The band had been favourites for years in the top West End music clubs and such stars as Rod Stewart and Long John Baldry were former members.
Peter’s task was to fill the shoes of the departing lead guitarist – Eric Clapton.
Mayall had already got a replacement but, as he recalled later: “This cocky cockney kid kept coming down and saying: ‘I’m much better than he is!’ He was, so we gave him a go.”
The graffiti round London at the time read “Clapton is God” and the fans took a lot of winning over. But Green’s melancholy voice and haunting blues guitar style got them hooked. He also fitted in well with the rhythm section – Fleetwood and John McVie.
Just a year later, the trio were ready to go it alone but, though Green was the undoubted star, his shyness came to the fore with the choice of band name – Fleetwood Mac.
They made their debut at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival in 1967 and just months later in early 1968 were recording their first album.
By now Green was not just a blues hero, he was a pop star too, writing huge hits like Albatross and Black Magic Woman. But even as he first tasted stardom, Green seemed unhappy, uncomfortable with the fame and fortune he was swiftly acquiring.
He began experimenting with LSD and became interested in religion, suggesting to the other band members that they keep the bare minimum of their earnings and give the rest to charity. The others were none too impressed.
With Green seemingly losing his sanity, he left the band in 1970 and became a hermit, rarely seeing his old friends.
McVie recalled: “I prefer to remember before he left. Seeing him upset me too much.”
As the reborn Fleetwood Mac became one of the supergroups of the 70s and 80s, Green kept a low profile.
But after years of silence, he has resummoned the confidence to get back on stage and is, to the relief of his old pals, working on a new album.
“He’s back in the studio,” said Fleetwood. “He’s actually playing again, which is why he’s here on this planet. I do seriously believe he has a magic touch.