Christine McVie - one of only two British girl rock musicians in the ‘60s and part of the greatest pop soap opera of all time. Neither in the backline or the frontline but occupying a unique middle ground. Packed it in for 16 years then returned to the fold. Lesley-Ann Jones’ fresh and emotional memoir Songbird follows “the trajectory of a male rock star played by a woman”, the home she was keen to escape, the outer limits of life in Fleetwood Mac’s “toxic Camelot” and the rigours of holding her ground in a man’s world. We cover all sorts here including …

… the lasting effect of not having “an ordinary mother”.

… the night in Sunderland that made her think again.

… when your best friend sleeps with your fiancée.

… supporting the Shadows when she was 15 at the 2I’s in Soho.

… Etta James, Chicken Shack and playing the Reeperbahn.

… why rock stars can never be part of a village community.

… Fleetwood Mac’s West Coast Elysium: “they were all as bad as each other”.

… “cute and dangerous” meets “lifeline and anchor”: the love affair with Dennis Wilson.

… why she and John McVie both needed a wife.

… and her lifelong connection with the blues, “a sadness you can’t cure”.

Order Songbird here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Songbird-Intimate-Biography-Christine-McVie/dp/1789467217

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Nick Heyward was one of our favourite cover stars when we were at Smash Hits in the ‘80s, the days when hardcore Haircut One Hundred fans turned out in Fair Isle sweaters and Sou’Westers. He now lives mostly in Florida, he’s made nine solo albums – one magnificently titled Open Sesame Seed - and he’s toured again with his old band after ten years’ painful separation. Touring the UK in October, he couldn’t be more upbeat about the road ahead – “I can do anything!” – and looks back here at the first shows he saw and played himself. Which involves …

… seeing Count Basie, Ray Charles and Oscar Peterson on the same bill when he was 12.

… “if you stop playing music you’re like the boxer that gave up the fight”.

… pop dress codes, knock-off pop merchandise and trips to Shellys Shoes.

… growing up in Beckenham where Bowie was “the lighthouse beam that made being a pop star possible”.

… old schoolfriends and Haircut One Hundred members Les and Graham and how “we got our friendship back”.

… why seeing XTC was “like plugging into electricity”.

… Buzzcocks and Boomtown Rats at the Croydon Greyhound.

… how he was saved by management.

… singing Love Plus One in Salisbury Cathedral.

… and the lingering thrill of his first reviews (by Graham K Smith and Adrian Thrills).

Nick’s tour dates here:

https://nickheyward.com/

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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“There was no Command-Zed back then!” John Wood engineered or produced some of the most magical, timeless and affecting records ever made - by Nick Drake, John Martyn, the McGarrigles, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, John Cale, Squeeze and many more. He’s 85 now and looks back here at a luminous career that started with mastering singles at Decca and transferred to Sound Techniques, the mecca he co-founded in an old cowshed in Chelsea when takes were spontaneous and even the tape-op was part of the performance. He misses those days, when albums were organic and the labels had less control, and talks here about …

… “the age when sound had perspective and seemed three-dimensional”.

… Nick Drake’s confidence and his guiding lights - eg the Beach Boys and Randy Newman (“who I’d never heard of”). And his final nighttime sessions.

… the way Fairport recorded – “We’re only going to do it once” – and why they could make three albums a year.

…managing the girls in the Incredible String Band, “especially when Licorice played drums”.

… John Cale in “maniac mode” and his sudden and unexpected friendship with Nick Drake.

… Cale and Nico at the Chelsea Hotel.

… and why ‘Geoff Muldaur Is Having A Wonderful Time’ was the job he remembers the fondest.

Also mentioned: the Downliners Sect, Judy Collins, The Marmalade, Graham Gouldman and Squeeze.

John’s got nothing to plug and just wanted to talk to us. Thanks, John, and bless your cotton socks.

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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