Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac passed away Wednesday at the age of 79, according to an announcement from her family.
Fans soon flooded social media with remembrances of the co-lead vocalist and keyboardist of the legendary band. McVie was also celebrated by fans for being one of the principal songwriters of Fleetwood Mac, penning such hits as "Don't Stop," "You Make Lovin' Fun," "Little Lies" and "Hold Me."
Many people cited "Songbird" as their favorite McVie-penned Mac song, which was released on Rumours, the group's 1977 classic album, and soon become a popular live staple. In 2016, McVie was asked by journalist Peter Robinson about the song in an interview with The Guardian.
"That was a strange little baby, that one," McVie said of the tune. "I woke up in the middle of the night and the song just came into my head. I got out of bed, played it on the little piano I have in my room, and sang it with no tape recorder. I sang it from beginning to end: everything. I can't tell you quite how I felt; it was as if I'd been visited—it was a very spiritual thing."
She continued on in the interview by describing how she introduced the song to the band.
"I was frightened to play it again in case I'd forgotten it. I called a producer first thing the next day and said, 'I've got to put this song down right now.' I played it nervously, but I remembered it. Everyone just sat there and stared at me. I think they were all smoking opium or something in the control room. I've never had that happen to me since. Just the one visitation. It's weird," she said.
Rumours' producer Ken Caillat later recalled the recording of "Songbird" in his 2012 book (co-authored with Steve Stiefel), Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album.
For the session, Caillat set McVie up with a nine-foot Steinway piano at the University of California's Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley.
"As a surprise for Christine, I had requested that a bouquet of roses be placed on her piano with three colored spotlights to illuminate them from above. I really wanted to set the mood!" Caillat wrote his book. "When Christine arrived, we dimmed the house lights so that all she could see were the flowers and the piano with the spotlight shining down from the heavens. She nearly broke into tears. Then she started to play."
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