Hipgnosis Songs Fund has acquired a catalog consisting of 115 songs from Christine McVie, best known as one of the principal writers and vocalists of Fleetwood Mac.
This new deal follows Hipgnosis’ acquisition in January of 100% of Lindsey Buckingham’s publishing rights, including both his publishing and writer’s share, across 161 songs.
Combined with its acquisition from Buckingham, Hipgnosis now owns the song copyrights and writers share for seven of 11 songs on Fleetwood Mac, eight of 11 songs on Rumours, 15 of 20 songs on Tusk, 9 of 12 songs on Mirage, nine of 12 songs on Tango In The Night, 11 of 16 songs on Greatest Hits, and 12 of 17 songs on The Dance.
Christine McVie made two UK Top 20 albums with Chicken Shack, her debut solo album, Christine Perfect, and featured heavily on Fleetwood Mac’s Mr Wonderful, Then Play On and Kiln House, before joining the band permanently in 1970.
Between 1971 and 1974, she wrote and sang on five albums for the band, including the platinum certified Bare Trees as well as the gold certified Future Games and Mystery to Me.
In 1975, Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Christine McVie and other existing members of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, to create the most famous and most consistent version of the band.
Their first album together, the self-titled Fleetwood Mac, reached No.1 in the US.
Hipgnosis’s filings reveal that the 115 songs acquired in the deal generated $1.7 million in 2020, $1.72m in 2019 and $1.58m in 2018.
Amongst those songs are 11 No.1s and 47 Top 10s.
The catalog includes worldwide copyright, ownership and financial interest, including Writer’s Share, of all compositions and Neighbouring Rights.
McVie wrote five songs on Fleetwood Mac including the two Top 20 singles, Over My Head and Say You Love Me.
Fleetwood Mac’s follow up album, Rumours, became one of the bestselling albums of all time having sold over 45 million copies worldwide.
Rumours sold over 10 million copies worldwide in the month following its release and won Album of the Year at the 1978 Grammy Awards. The album has been certified 2x diamond in the US and Canada, as well as 14x platinum in the UK.
Rumours produced four Top 10 singles, including Christine McVie’s Don’t Stop, which reached No.3 in the US, and You Make Loving Fun, which reached No.9 in the US.
Both have been streamed more than 1 billion times each across all services. Rumours also included the iconic hit The Chain, which was co-written by McVie and has also been streamed more than 1bn times globally.
In total, five of this album’s 11 songs were written by McVie.
“It’s wonderful for us to welcome Christine to the Hipgnosis Family and particularly wonderful to reunite her once again at Hipgnosis with Lindsey Buckingham.”
Merck Mercuriadis, Founder of The Family (Music) Limited and Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, said: “Christine McVie is one of the greatest songwriters of all time having guided Fleetwood Mac to almost 150 million albums sold and making them one of the best-selling bands of all time globally.
“In the last 46 years the band have had three distinct writers and vocalists but Christine’s importance is amply demonstrated by the fact that eight of the 16 songs on the band’s Greatest Hits albums are from Christine.
“It’s wonderful for us to welcome Christine to the Hipgnosis Family and particularly wonderful to reunite her once again at Hipgnosis with Lindsey Buckingham.
“Between Christine and Lindsey we now have 48 of 68 songs on the band’s most successful albums.”
“I am so excited to belong to the Hipgnosis family, and thrilled that you all regard my songs worthy of merit.”
Christine McVie
Christine McVie added: “I am so excited to belong to the Hipgnosis family, and thrilled that you all regard my songs worthy of merit.
“I’d like to thank you all for your faith in me, and I’ll do all I can to continue this new relationship and help in any way I can! Thank you so much!”
In 1979, Christine McVie wrote six songs on Fleetwood Mac’s multi-platinum double album Tusk, including the Top 20 single Think About Me. Tusk reached No.1 in the UK and Top 5 in seven countries including the US. It has sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
In 1982, Fleetwood Mac released Mirage, which sold over 2 million copies in the US alone and was platinum or gold worldwide. McVie wrote four of the album’s 12 songs, including the singles HoldMe, which reached No.4 in the US, and Love In Store which made No.22.
In 1987, Fleetwood Mac released Tango in the Night, which sold over 15 million copies worldwide making it Fleetwood Mac’s bestselling album since Rumours. Tango in the Night’ featured four US Top 20 singles, including Christine McVie’s Little Lies, which reached No.4 in the US and is multi-platinum certified, and Everywhere, which reached No.4 in the UK, both of which have been streamed over 1 billion times globally. In total, five of this album’s 12 songs were written by McVie.
With Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie achieved further global success with the multi-platinum certified and the UK No1 album, Behind The Mask, in addition to their Greatest Hits and live albums Live, Greatest Hits and The Dance.
In total, eight of the 16 songs on Greatest Hits are Christine McVie’s songs, including its single As Long As You Follow. It is certified 8x platinum in the US, 9x platinum in Australia and at 3x platinum in the UK.
Six Christine McVie songs are included on the US No.1 live album The Dance, which is certified 5x platinum in the US. The recent 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Live includes 11 Christine McVie songs out of 33.
McVie also made two further solo albums: Christine McVie in 1984, which included two US hit singles Got A Hold On Me, which reached No.10, and Love Will Show Us How, which reached No.30. The album made No.26 on the Billboard Top 200.
This was followed twenty years later by In The Meantime. In 2017, she reunited with Lindsey Buckingham for Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie which debuted on the UK Album chart at No.5 and the Billboard Top 200 in the US at No.17. The album has been certified silver in the UK.
In 1998, as a member of Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Brit Award for “Outstanding Contribution to Music”.
In addition, McVie has been awarded a Gold Badge of Merit Award from The Ivors Academy and the “Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement” from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
McVie was represented by Business Manager Paul Glass at The Colony Group, Manager Martin Wyatt and Lawyer Mario González.Music Business Worldwide
