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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Andy Shipley

Fleetwood Mac legend Peter Green dies aged 73

Rocker and Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green has died aged 73, his family lawyers have confirmed.

Guitarist Green formed the rock group with drummer Mick Fleetwood, guitarist Jeremy Spencer and bassist John McVie in 1967.

Their album Rumours sold over 40 million copies worldwide and won a Grammy in 1978.

Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

The band's hit The Chain was used on the BBC's Formula One coverage for years.

Peter Green, centre, with Fleetwood Mac in 1969 (WireImage)

A statement from his family solicitors Swan Turton read: "It is with great sadness that the family of Peter Green announce his death this weekend, peacefully in his sleep.

"A further statement will be provided in the coming days".

Green, from Bethnal Green in London formed Fleetwood Mac with drummer Mick Fleetwood in London after a stint in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - filling in for Eric Clapton.

Green and Fleetwood wanted John McVie to join the group on bass, and named the band Fleetwood Mac to entice him - a strategy that was ultimately successful.

Under his direction, the band produced three albums and a series of well-loved tracks including Black Magic Woman and Oh Well.

Green left Fleetwood Mac after a final performance in 1970 as he struggled with mental health difficulties and spiralling drug use, later sleeping rough.

He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent time in hospitals undergoing electro-convulsive therapy during the mid-70s.

The 1970s for Green were punctuated by spells in psychiatric hospitals and courses of electrocovulsive therapy, which would leave him in a trance-like state.

Guitarist Nigel Watson, who worked with Green on a number of records, said once: "Very often, after he'd had a treatment, he came into my brother's shop where I was working and which was only a hundred yards away from the hospital.

"He stood there, like, for hours, with his arms slightly in front and in a trance, telling me how very frightened of it he was."

He was famously arrested in 1977 for aiming a shotgun at his accountant.

According to legend, Green wanted him to stop sending him his royalty cheques for Fleetwood Mac's early work, worth around £30,000 a year.

The band continued with a transformed line-up featuring a core group of Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie and Christine McVie.

This phase gave rise to their huge albums Fleetwood Mac and Rumours.

Green remerged from obscurity on a number of occasions, forming the Peter Green Splinter Group in the late 1990s with Nigel Watson and Cozy Powell.

They released nine albums between 1997 and 2004.

Speaking in 1992, Fleetwood described Green as "a major talent that to this day holds out".

He added: "I consider myself very lucky to have even played with him.

"Of course it upsets me but there's nothing I can do about it. It's his life. I haven't seen him for years."

Green was among the eight members of the band - along with Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie, Christine McVie, Danny Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer - who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Earlier this year, artists including Fleetwood, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and guitarists Jonny Lang and Andy Fairweather Low performed at the London Palladium during a gig celebrating the early years of Fleetwood Mac and its founder Peter Green.

Scottish musician Midge Ure tweeted about Peter Green: "One of the great ones gone. You taught me well. Supernatural Man of the World Albatross Oh Well".

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