Peter Green, Heart of the Original Fleetwood Mac, Dies at 73, Wrote Santana Hit “Black Magic Woman”
Not to knock the second iteration of Fleetwood Mac with Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks but the original group featured Peter Green and Danny Kirwan. Green died today at age 73. He left the group in the early 70s and suffered from schizophrenia. Reports say he passed peacefully in his sleep.
Peter Green wrote “Black Magic Woman” for Fleetwood Mac, and and then Carlos Santana covered it on “Abraxas” and became an enormous classic hit forever. Green also wrote other early Mac classics like “Oh Well” and “Albatross.”
This was all before Fleetwood Mac became a soap opera in which all the members slept with each other and fought in public. These songs, and “Hypnotized,” “Bare Trees,” even “Heroes Are Hard to Find” plus all the bluesy deep album tracks were what made the group. That was my Fleetwood Mac. RIP Peter. Peace, at last.
