Late Friday, the official Fleetwood Mac Facebook page announced that former guitarist Danny Kirwan had died in London. The group’s founder, Mick Fleetwood, confirmed the news in a short tribute. “Danny was a huge force in our early years. His love for the Blues led him to being asked to join Fleetwood Mac in 1968, where he made his musical home for many years,” he wrote. “Danny’s true legacy, in my mind, will forever live on in the music he wrote and played so beautifully as a part of the foundation of Fleetwood Mac, that has now endured for over fifty years.”
According to Rolling Stone, Kirwan joined the band following 1968’s Mr. Wonderful and would go on to write and record music on five albums: 1969’s Then Play On and Blues Jam at Chess, 1970’s Kiln House, 1971’s Future Games and 1972’s Bare Trees. He was fired from the band during a 1972 tour promoting his fifth and final album with them over growing concerns about his alcoholism and subsequent behavior. During the decades that followed, he was “reportedly marred by bouts of mental health issues and homelessness.”
Along with Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Peter Green, John McVie, Christine McVie and Jeremy Spencer, Kirwan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for his contributions to Fleetwood Mac’s formative years. However, the ex-guitarist did not attend the induction ceremony.
(Via Rolling Stone)
