Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green has died. He was 73.
According to a family statement released on Saturday, the English singer-guitarist died in his sleep.
“It is with great sadness that the family of Peter Green announce his death this weekend, peacefully in his sleep,” the statement reads.
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British musician Peter Green, guitarist and co-founder of rock band Fleetwood Mac, circa 1968.
(Getty)
The London-based law firm said a further statement will be provided in the coming days.
The blues rock guitarist, born in Bethnal Green, London, formed Fleetwood Mac with drummer Mick Fleetwood in 1967.
Green, to some listeners, was the best of the British blues guitarists of the 1960s. B.B. King once said Green “has the sweetest tone I ever heard. He was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.”
Green also made a mark as a composer, with “Albatross,” and as a songwriter, with “Oh Well” and “Black Magic Woman.”
Peter Green is performing at the Fillmore Audiitorium in San Franciso, California on January 1, 2003.
(Getty)
He crashed out of the band in 1971. Even so, Mick Fleetwood said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2017 that Green deserves the lion’s share of the credit for the band’s success.
“Peter was asked why did he call the band Fleetwood Mac. He said, ‘Well, you know I thought maybe I’d move on at some point and I wanted Mick and John (McVie) to have a band.’ End of story, explaining how generous he was,” said Fleetwood, who described Green as a standout in an era of great guitar work.
He made a rare appearance with the group in 1998 when Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Indeed, Green was so fundamental to the band that in its early days it was called Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
