Biography
Mick Fleetwood steered his namesake group Fleetwood Mac across decades of change, guiding its shift from an early leader among British blues ensembles into the planet’s dominant pop and rock act. Though he stayed planted at the drum kit for Fleetwood Mac, he stepped outside the band on occasion. During the first half of the 1980s he issued two solo projects: The Visitor, taped in Ghana, and the glossy, restless pop album I’m Not Me, issued under the billing Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo. He revived his independent work in the 2000s through the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, which delivered Blue Again! in 2008, and returned once more to solo activity and his blues foundation in 2020 by assembling an all-star salute to his late colleague Peter Green.
Once the road dates for 1979’s Tusk concluded, he tracked his first solo outing, The Visitor, released in 1981 and reflecting his growing curiosity about worldbeat. After Fleetwood Mac’s 1982 album Mirage he completed a second solo effort, 1983’s I’m Not Me, which included guest spots from several bandmates. The group then entered an extended break that lasted until 1987, when Fleetwood’s personal bankruptcy filing spurred the reunion album Tango in the Night, even drawing Lindsey Buckingham back for studio work only. As the classic 1970s roster fractured, Fleetwood sustained various editions of the band through the 1990s, though they registered little commercial impact until the full reunion documented on 1997’s The Dance. He also maintained side projects such as the Zoo, which released Shakin’ the Cage in the early 1990s. Something Big, credited to the Mick Fleetwood Band and developed with songwriter Todd Smallwood, appeared in 2004 on his own TallMan Records imprint. While Fleetwood Mac readied a 2009 tour, he issued another album taken from a Mick Fleetwood Blues Band concert. The two-disc Blue Again! revisited the blues-oriented material of the band’s formative years alongside new songs, with former vocalist Rick Vito handling frontman duties.
Fleetwood launched a further solo undertaking in 2020 by mounting a star-studded tribute to Peter Green; the performance reached the public in 2021 as Celebrate the Music of Peter Green.
Once the road dates for 1979’s Tusk concluded, he tracked his first solo outing, The Visitor, released in 1981 and reflecting his growing curiosity about worldbeat. After Fleetwood Mac’s 1982 album Mirage he completed a second solo effort, 1983’s I’m Not Me, which included guest spots from several bandmates. The group then entered an extended break that lasted until 1987, when Fleetwood’s personal bankruptcy filing spurred the reunion album Tango in the Night, even drawing Lindsey Buckingham back for studio work only. As the classic 1970s roster fractured, Fleetwood sustained various editions of the band through the 1990s, though they registered little commercial impact until the full reunion documented on 1997’s The Dance. He also maintained side projects such as the Zoo, which released Shakin’ the Cage in the early 1990s. Something Big, credited to the Mick Fleetwood Band and developed with songwriter Todd Smallwood, appeared in 2004 on his own TallMan Records imprint. While Fleetwood Mac readied a 2009 tour, he issued another album taken from a Mick Fleetwood Blues Band concert. The two-disc Blue Again! revisited the blues-oriented material of the band’s formative years alongside new songs, with former vocalist Rick Vito handling frontman duties.
Fleetwood launched a further solo undertaking in 2020 by mounting a star-studded tribute to Peter Green; the performance reached the public in 2021 as Celebrate the Music of Peter Green.
Albums
Singles
