Aside from its music, Fleetwood Mac may be best known for the romantic drama among band members.
But the flames didn't just burn within the band.
Here's what you may not know about Christine McVie and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson's tragically
brief love.
Most of the gossip about Fleetwood Mac through the years centered primarily on the relationship
between singer-songwriters Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
They joined the band as a couple, but their acrimonious breakup and its fallout threatened
Fleetwood Mac's very existence.
At the same time, it inspired some of their best-loved songs, especially, as the Los Angeles
Times Notes, after Nicks began a relationship with band founder Mick Fleetwood.
The drama inside Fleetwood Mac wasn't just reserved for Nicks and Buckingham, though.
At the time the group was writing and recording their Grammy award-winning album "Rumours"
in 1977, another relationship was coming to an end: the marriage of Christine McVie and
her husband, John.
The couple, along with Fleetwood himself, were members of the band before the arrival
of Nicks and Buckingham.
Formerly of the British blues band Chicken Shack, the then-Christine Perfect was originally
a fan of Fleetwood Mac.
She became involved with the band after beginning a relationship with bassist John, and joined
for the group's second album, "Mr. Wonderful."
Rolling Stone reports at the height of their success, the couple was so close that familiarity
ultimately drove them apart.
"Cause we never meet anybody else, we'd always end up going out with -- people who were an
integral part of the band."
Before long, though, Christine had a new love: Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys.
She told Uncut,
In a separate interview with Rolling Stone, she added,
The Fleetwood Mac star first began her relationship with the Beach Boys drummer and songwriter
around the time of the recording sessions for the "Rumours" follow-up album "Tusk."
Fleetwood Mac was going through a period of heavy cocaine use.
And according to The Guardian, Wilson's addictions, such as his alcoholism, grew worse during
his relationship with McVie.
However, McVie recounts her relationship with Wilson as being somewhat maternal.
In the book "Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters," she's quoted as saying,
Wilson's life was marred by excess, particularly in terms of substance abuse.
Rolling Stone reported that the doctor who had treated him in the past refused to do
so again in late 1983, calling him "too much trouble."
When Wilson's friend pleaded with the doctor, saying, "he may die, you know," the doctor
replied, "he might have to."
Tragically, Wilson drowned in Marina del Rey, California on December 28, 1983, at age 39.
A toxicology report revealed he had a blood alcohol level of .26.
Christine McVie recalled her relationship with Dennis Wilson in 2017 during an appearance
on the long-running musical biography show "Desert Island Discs" on BBC Radio 4.
McVie had recorded with Wilson on the Beach Boys song "Love Surrounds Me" before their
relationship began.
But she chose a different song as one of her desert-island tracks: "Angel Come Home" from
the same album, which also had Wilson on lead vocals.
In the interview, McVie paid tribute to her former lover's checkered nature, while also
giving some insight into the passion they enjoyed in their early days together.
"He was a mess, but he was charismatic, charming, and really handsome."
McVie added that she and Wilson had "a very rollercoaster affair for a couple years,"
and that she "adored him."
According to a statement posted to her Instagram account, McVie died "in the company of her
family" on November 30, 2022.