They're consistently hailed as one of rock and roll's most iconic and influential bands and now, some 16 years since Christine McVie left the band, they're finally back to their full compliment.
Keyboardist and songwriter McVie joined the band in 1970, joining then husband John McVie and Mick Fleetwood who had been playing together for three years prior. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks also joined shortly thereafter and the five piece quickly became one of the biggest-selling bands in the world with a succession of hit albums like Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk.
Fleetwood Mac became notorious for their in-fighting and a particularly tense relationships between bandmembers but it wasn't until 1998 that McVie opted to leave the band and it's only now that a reunion has been entertained.
Speaking to People, McVie said: "I think that I was probably just burned out when I left and I was frightened to fly. But then two years ago I started to really miss playing. I was toying with the idea of playing with some little band or … I didn't know what, really. The truth of the matter is the only people I wanted to play with were the people I had played with all my life - these guys - Fleetwood Mac."
But will it all be a happy little family now that they're back together? Mick Fleetwood seems to think so.
"We're thrilled", he said. "She's just the dearest of friends and we've remained that way always. We've always missed Chris. To have a key, key member return to the fold is huge. It's really not happened, to my knowledge in any shape or form, on this level."
All five members of Fleetwood Mac appeared on US TV this morning to announce the news, including Christine's ex-husband John McVie, who is said to be "on the mend" after a recent cancer scare.
Fleetwood Mac will undertake a massive US tour in the autumn called On With The Show and plans for a new album, according to Mick Fleetwood, will be talked about but sometime "down the road."
