Our Wednesday started with some very sad news ...
After celebrating our very first JOEL WHITBURN DAY on Tuesday (Joel's Birthday), we learned Wednesday Morning that Joel's wife Fran had passed away.
Fran was paralyzed after a parasailing accident several years ago ... and had been in poor health recently. Such a sad year for a family that brought us so much joy over the past 50+ years. (I will forever regret not making the trip up to Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, to visit with Joel and tour his incredible Music Vault ... both of us speculated how much "The Two Frans" might enjoy each other's company, even if it just meant a trip to the mall while us two Record Geeks talked shop. Every year there was always a reason to put it off ... all on my end as Joel's invitation was an open-ended one to come up ANY time and tour the facility.)
Paul Haney of Record Research told us ...
Family say the musician, who was in one of the best-known rock bands of the 1970s and 80s, died after a short illness.
“She passed away peacefully at hospital this morning, Wednesday, November 30th 2022, following a short illness. She was in the company of her family. We kindly ask that you respect the family’s privacy at this extremely painful time and we would like everyone to keep Christine in their hearts and remember the life of an incredible human being, and revered musician who was loved universally. RIP Christine McVie.”
The British American rock band, founded in London in 1967, sold more than 100m records worldwide, making them one of the most successful groups ever. Their best-known songs include Dreams, Go Your Own Way and Everywhere.
The band paid tribute to the singer-songwriter McVie in a statement on Wednesday night following news of her death. “There are no words to describe our sadness at the passing of Christine McVie. She was truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure.
“She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life.
“We were so lucky to have a life with her. Individually and together, we cherished Christine deeply and are thankful for the amazing memories we have. She will be so very missed.”
Despite its tumultuous history, Fleetwood Mac became one of the best-known rock bands of the 1970s and 80s, comprising Mick Fleetwood, Christine and John McVie, as well as Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
Originally known as Christine Perfect, her maiden name, she started out with the blues band Chicken Shack. They had a hit with a cover of Etta James’ I’d Rather Go Blind, featuring McVie on lead vocals. After marrying John McVie in 1968, she left the band a year later and joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970.
After the lineup kept changing, in 1974 Nicks and Buckingham joined, an era that McVie called “pretty sensational”. She added: “We had our fights here and there, but there was nothing like the music or the intensity onstage. We weren’t doing anything in Britain, so just decamped to America and fell into this huge musical odyssey.”
Their 1975 self-titled album featured hits written by McVie: Over My Head and Say You Love Me. Christine and John McVie divorced in 1976.
Rumours, released in 1977, became one of the best-selling albums of all time and included hits such as Second Hand News and You Make Loving Fun. In addition to several multi-platinum tracks, the record sold more than 40m copies worldwide. Speaking of that particular period, McVie said to the Guardian that “we were having a blast and it felt incredible to us that we were writing those songs”.
McVie also released solo albums, the second of which, 1984’s Christine McVie, featured the hits Got a Hold on Me and Love Will Show Us How.
She took a hiatus from the band in 1998. “I just wanted to embrace being in the English countryside and not have to troop around on the road,” she said to the Guardian. “I moved to Kent, and I loved being able to walk around the streets, nobody knowing who I was. Then of course I started to miss it.”
In 2014 she returned and the band’s most recognisable lineup toured together, followed by an album with Buckingham in 2017 called Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie.
McVie’s death comes two years after Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green died at the age of 73.
In the summer of 2019, I was a featured on-screen interview for director Matt O’Casey on his BBC4-TV digital arts channel "Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac’s Songbird." I also narrated a portion of the film. The cast includes Christine McVie, Stan Webb of Chicken Shack, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, John McVie, Christine’s family members, Heart’s Nancy Wilson, Mike Campbell, Neil Finn, and producer Richard Dashut. The debut broadcast was on Friday September 20th of that year.
I will always remember her kindness in my handful of encounters with her ... initially at some of the recording sessions for "Rumours" at Larabee Studios in Hollywood, record shopping with her and beau Dennis Wilson at Tower Records, and even at my father's office, who was a stock broker. She really laughed when I mentioned, "If I knew you were on Wilshire and La Cienega talking financial investments, I would have brought my Chicken Shack LP to autograph!" As a weekly columnist for UK's "Melody Maker," she was always delighted to discuss UK music and we made efforts to find a great Indian restaurant in town. Thankfully, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar recommended one literally next door to Doug Weston's Troubadour.
HK
More Joel Whitburn memories from Clark Besch ...
)
As I remember the first book, it was a basic chart peak song listing
with no frills other than label and number, maybe alphabetized at end(?)
By this flier, Joel had lots of books already and was starting his new
"added features" things! 
I had forgotten all about when Joel used to send out copies of his Want List to all of the people who bought his books, trying to fill in all of the gaps in his collection! This early one shows several titles I could have helped him out with over the years! lol (Problem was, I didn't want to part with MY only copy either!!! And, as I recall, he was offering top dollar for any and all records that we fellow collectors could come up with.) It was all about the love of the chase back then ... and trying to build the most complete collection imaginable. As his book topics grew, so did his library, expanding to cover ALL genres of music that Billboard covered. This even included VHS video tapes and such when that market exploded.
Boy, SO much of this stuff I had but just never held on to ... never enough space (and no idea that I'd ever be referring back to any of it way back then!)
Today's planned feature (another installment of Henry Diltz's Journal) will run on the site tomorrow (Friday, December 2nd) due to the impromptu rescheduling required after we received the sad, sad news of the passing of Fran Whitburn and Christine McVie.
And, we also want to let you know that this Saturday we'll be running excerpts from Phil Nee's 2003 interview with Mike Smith, lead vocalist of The Dave Clark Five.
And then on his THOSE WERE THE DAYS program Saturday Night, Phil will be playing outtakes and never-before-aired interview segments with Mike ... as well as more clip from the outstanding interview he did with David Gates. (We ran clips from that one last Saturday!)
