{"id":814065,"date":"2026-10-26T03:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814065\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T03:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:44:14","slug":"the-nine-time-grammy-winner-who-turned-down-the-chance-to-replace-christine-mcvie-in-2017-she-admitted-it-was-the-wrong-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814065\/","title":{"rendered":"The nine-time Grammy winner who turned down the chance to replace Christine McVie. In 2017, she admitted it was the wrong decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Christine<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Warner Bros Records<\/p>\n

October 25th, 2026 \u00b7 7:07pm GMT <\/p>\n

Fleetwood Mac<\/a> have always had somewhat of an open-door policy when it comes to welcoming musicians into their extended family, but only a special few receive an invitation.<\/p>\n

While, on paper, it shouldn\u2019t take a moment of consideration from any artist before accepting a chance to join the Mac. However, it is like strapping oneself to a rocket ship. There\u2019s both a responsibility to hold up the group\u2019s legacy and somehow be able to add their own personal spin to it. That kind of pressure can normally make or break anyone, and very few have what it takes.<\/p>\n

Fleetwood Mac are a unique proposition, too. The fact that any of them managed to stay together throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s after the various infighting is at least somewhat commendable. If anything, it should be celebrated that they lasted a decade before imploding when Lindsey Buckingham left, which is quite frankly a miracle considering all of the lyrical venom in \u2018Go Your Own Way<\/a>\u2018.<\/p>\n

Even though they limped along for records like Behind the Mask and Time, it\u2019s not like the band were unwelcome to a reunion by the time they made The Dance. Everything seemed to be put in place for a true reunion of the classic lineup, but when they decided to make Say You Will in 2003, one key part was left conspicuously absent. <\/p>\n

Despite being one of the group\u2019s biggest creative forces, Christine McVie didn\u2019t participate in any of the tours and didn\u2019t appear on the album due to her fear of flying. While the thought of seeing Fleetwood Mac and not hearing \u2018Songbird\u2019 or \u2018You Make Loving Fun\u2019 is borderline unthinkable, this was the reality for several years.<\/p>\n

\"Sheryl<\/a>Credit: Dove Shore<\/p>\n

Replacing McVie was never going to be a straightforward process; they couldn\u2019t just ask their label to find the most talented session musician on their roster to fill in. Being able to play the piano and sing to a top level wasn\u2019t enough; they needed to have the heart of McVie, too.<\/p>\n

However, Nicks had the perfect person in mind to replace her: Sheryl Crow. Looking at her track record, the nine-time Grammy winner was a wise pick, too.<\/p>\n

Crow\u2019s sense of Americana on \u2018All I Wanna Do\u2019 fits right in with The Mac\u2019s traditional sound and would have taken over for McVie perfectly. Not everyone was happy with the suggestion, though, with Buckingham thinking that someone as established as Crow shouldn\u2019t have been singing McVie\u2019s material<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But, ultimately, Crow was the one to call things off, with Nicks telling Rolling Stone<\/a>, \u201cIt was absolutely discussed, and she was absolutely invited to join. I missed Christine so much, and I wanted another woman in the band. I explained to Sheryl what it was like to be in the group \u2013 that it\u2019s all-encompassing. So Sheryl called me and said, \u2018I\u2019ll have to pass.\u2019 As Stevie Nicks, I was disappointed. As her friend, I told her she made the right decision. Sheryl Crow passed on Fleetwood Mac \u2013 I want that out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017, Crow acknowledged that she perhaps made the wrong call, telling Howard Stern, \u201cI wish I would\u2019ve. I wish I could have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explaining why she rejected the opportunity of a lifetime, Crow explained, \u201cWell, I felt like if there was gonna be bad blood when I joined, that perhaps maybe I shouldn\u2019t. I didn\u2019t want to upset something that was already so beautiful. I would still love to do it. I\u2019m putting it out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s unthinkable to think of someone leaving that much money and stadium shows on the table, Crow\u2019s pass on the group actually says a lot about her as an artist. She wanted to be the musician who made a legacy of her own, and no matter how friendly she was with Nicks, she wasn\u2019t comfortable, at that stage of her career, being looked at as the replacement member of another group.<\/p>\n

However, if they ever do decide to take to the stage again, which seems an unlikely proposition following McVie\u2019s death in 2022<\/a>, they know precisely who to call.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE \"\"\/ <\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ Warner Bros Records October 25th, 2026 \u00b7 7:07pm GMT Fleetwood Mac have always had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,15411,121340,3298,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-814065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-fleetwood-mac","tag-sheryl-crow","tag-stevie-nicks","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}