Mick Fleetwood life and biography

Mick Fleetwood (born Michael John Kells Fleetwood) is the longtime drummer in rock band Fleetwood Mac.

After dropping out of school aged 15, Fleetwood moved to London in 1963 to pursue a career as a drummer and got his first job playing in the band The Cheynes. Stints playing in the Bo Street Runners, Shotgun Express and John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers followed. It was during his time in The Bluesbreakers he met long time friend bassist John McVie and guitarist Peter Green. After being fired from the group for drunkenness during gigs, a few months later Green asked him to play, along with McVie, on some recordings he was making and not long after this line-up became the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac. Green prophetically named his new band after his rhythm section, as Fleetwood and McVie were to be the only original members to stay in the group over the years

After much success in the 60s as one of Britain’s finest blues rock bands, during which they scored their only British number one with Albatross, Green finally left the band in 1970 and Fleetwood became instrumental in keeping the band together through many line-up changes over the years, the most successful being the Christine McVie/Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks line-up that recorded the mega-successful Rumours in 1977. Fleetwood remains an important member of the band and tours with them to this day.

Fleetwood also led a number of side projects. 1981's The Visitor featured heavy African stylistics and a rerecording of "Rattlesnake Shake" with Peter Green. The song "You weren't in love" was a hit in Brazil because of the Soap-opera Brilliant. In 1983 he formed Mick Fleetwood's Zoo and recorded I'm Not Me. The album featured a minor hit, "I Want You Back", and a cover version of the Beach Boys' "Angel Come Home". A later version of the group featured Bekka Bramlett on vocals and recorded 1991's Shaking the Cage. Fleetwood released Something Big in 2004 with The Mick Fleetwood Band, and his most recent album is Blue Again!, appearing in October 2008 with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band touring to support it, interspersed with the Unleashed tour of Fleetwood Mac. This music explores the blues roots of the Peter Green era of Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood has a secondary career as a TV and film actor, usually in minor parts. His roles in this field have included a resistance leader in The Running Man and as a guest alien in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Manhunt". Fleetwood co-hosted the 1989 BRIT Awards, which contained numerous gaffes and flubbed lines. In the wake of this public mishap, the BRIT Awards were pre-recorded for the next 18 years until 2007; the awards are now again broadcast live to the British public.

Also in 2007 Mick Fleetwood was featured on drums for the song "God" along with Jack's Mannequin in the Pop album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, a collection of covers of John Lennon songs.

Albums released with Fleetwood Mac:

September 3, 1971 : Future Games
March 1972 : Bare Trees
March 1973 : Penguin
October 15, 1973 : Mystery to Me
September 13, 1974 : Heroes Are Hard to Find
November 24, 1992 : 25 Years – The Chain

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