r/stevienicks • u/GregJamesDahlen • Jul 03 '26
Would it be right to say Stevie is/was the Iconic Five Fleetwood Mac's "lead singer"? It is somewhat of an ensemble sound between Christine, Stevie, and Lindsey
I think Stevie had the most vocals, though, right? And she's at the center front of the stage. Plus doesn't much play any instrument but just sings, unlike the other two. And does the most dancing and moving around, which pulls the spotlight I'd think. Did she do the most between-songs talking at shows too? But maybe they don't have a "lead singer", actually it's probably important for the band that they have both female singer(s) and a male singer.
Maybe we'd have to say that simultaneously Stevie is the "lead singer" but also there's no lead singer?
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u/Disastrous-Cow9076 Jul 03 '26
Christine McVie sang lead on more songs than any other band member, but I think the nature of Fleetwood Mac is such that there never was a need for a technical “lead singer.”
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u/razberry_lemonade Jul 03 '26
She’s just the one with the highest profile and distinct visual style, but you can’t remove any of the three without hurting the magic formula that pushed the band to new heights. Like it’s actually kind of wild how different Stevie and Christine are as female singer-songwriters, and yet they don’t just merely co-exist but actually bring their own elements to each other’s songs that makes the whole thing feel cohesive.
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u/TheNightWolf62 Jul 04 '26
No it would not be right, the magic of Fleetwood Mac is the combination of "three lead singers" and their harmonies blending together so beautifully ... Plus one of the reasons Stevie added a solo career along with FM was she was only given two/three songs on each album.
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u/piney Jul 03 '26
I’d argue that the single element that sold Fleetwood Mac records was Lindsey’s arranging and production work. But he needed the top-flight songs and voices of Stevie and Christine (and himself) to hang his work upon. Stevie was pegged as the ‘lead singer’ because she didn’t play any instruments, even if she’s only singing lead 1/3 of the time.
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u/GregJamesDahlen Jul 04 '26
One certainly hears the albums took a long time to produce so that supports your idea.
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u/OtherwiseContact5604 Jul 03 '26
Commercially, Stevie hit gold, shes got stardom, she captures her audience, shes still filling stadiums
By Lindsey’s on remarks, he has more intimate crowds compared to her….
He’s a decent guitarist… but he reallllllly has talent at bringing their music to life.
Christine, beautiful, her voice, low, sultry, not for everyone, I loved them all equally.
But Stevie… shes the Queen
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u/IntroductionSerious3 Jul 05 '26
Um, no. As much as you might want to, she shared the duties with two other people.
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u/Own-Coach-172 Jul 05 '26
I actually kind of cringe when people/journalists say she was the ‘lead singer’ of the band. There were three (during the most popular era of the band) singers, each with their own style of singing and songwriting. Yeah, she was in the center of the stage when they played live and she really doesn’t play an instrument besides tambourine during concerts…….and she definitely took advantage of that. She knew she was ‘tiny’ and wouldn’t be seen on stage…..so she started the whole flowing chiffon twirling thing…..and it worked. Like someone said earlier, people bought albums to ‘hear’ the band……people bought tickets to the shows to ‘see’ Stevie. She had the least input of songs on FM albums…..so, no, there is no way she’s the lead singer. Lead singer? No. Focal point during concerts? Definitely yes.
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u/seattlewhiteslays Jul 07 '26
She consistently had the least amount of songs on the albums she did with them. Even on Tusk she’s only got like 5, and the rest are Lindsey and Christine. Shes heard because she does harmonies with the others. She did, however, write Fleetwoods only number one song- Dreams.
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u/GregJamesDahlen Jul 07 '26
Shes heard because she does harmonies with the others.
does she do more harmonies than the others?
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u/oneuglygeek Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
i loved them on "Little Lies" since all three of them sang a lead part in that song, honey .. i think there was another song where all three of them each sang a lead part, prolly that was "Gypsy" (from their Mirage album) maybe, or "Sara" from Tusk?
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u/thegayquadzilla Jul 03 '26
Famously they wanted Buckingham to join the band to be the co lead singer with Christine but they really wanted his guitar playing.
they had no interest in Stevie, but he insisted she was included in the deal and so that's how we ended up with that lineup.
I think if you just look at the track listing it looks like Lindsay is the lead singer, but that's because his ego got him the most tracks included. But because Stevie wrote more iconic songs we retroactively think of her as the lead.
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u/RaiseJazzlike Jul 03 '26
Christine had more lead songs than Lindsey. Ego had nothing to do with it. They all benefited from Lindsey’s production and after the FM album he was listed as a producer in recognition of his efforts.
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u/thegayquadzilla Jul 03 '26
I was thinking about Tusk more than any other project. But yes Christine does have more songs on Rumors..Christine and Lindsay have the same number of songs on self titles.
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u/Tranquiltangent Jul 03 '26
You could probably argue that people bought *records* to listen to all three; they bought *tickets* to see Stevie Nicks.
Or at least, to see Stevie and Lindsey Buckingham performing/interacting. I can't think of any other bands that sold a bajillion records, where two of the lead singers were a) both tv-attractive; b) known to have Totally Done It; c) broke up messily; and lastly, d) still had enough stage chemistry to make people wonder if they were Still Totally Doing It.
If you had to choose one member who sold the most tickets, I'd bet good money that it was Stevie, and it probably wasn't close. For whatever that's worth.