By Andy Richards
29 Sep 2013 12:07

Will she, won’t she? It is the big question on the lips of thousands of rock fans.

Will Christine McVie guest with former Fleetwood Mac bandmates when the group plays a sell-out gig tonight at the LG Arena (Sunday 29)?

Birmingham is, after all, the city where she grew up and cut her musical teeth.

Singer Stevie Nicks once famously said there was “no more chance of an asteroid hitting the earth” than Christine being reunited with the band.

But out of the blue, McVie – a cornerstone of Fleetwood Mac for nearly 30 years – guested with the band at a London 02 Arena gig last week.

It was the first time in 14 years that they had been on stage together for a show.

And today speculation was mounting that she may make an appearance tonight, too.

The band’s media people professed not to know, but did not deny the possibility. In London Christine joined the band for a rendition of classic track Don’t Stop, which she wrote, at the end of the second encore.

Drummer Mick Fleetwood threw both arms in the air, whooping with joy, as the ex-member appeared on stage to an enthusiastic audience response.

It is unclear what has brought her out of retirement but Nicks said she was thrilled, adding: “It’s great to have her back and to do a song.

“She’s been very, very missed, so even to have her back for a little while is going to be good.”

Christine McVie today

McVie, born Anne Christine Perfect, was born in the Lake District but grew up in Bearwood.

Her father, Cyril Perfect, was a concert violinist and music lecturer at St Peter’s College of Education, in Saltley, Birmingham. Her grandfather had been an organist at Westminster Abbey.

Although introduced to the piano at the age of four, it was not until she was 11 that she studied music seriously, when she was re-introduced to the instrument by Philip Fisher, a local musician and school friend of her older brother John.

She later studied sculpture at an art college in Birmingham for five years, with the goal of becoming an art teacher. During that time she met a number of budding musicians in Britain’s blues scene.

After five years, McVie graduated from art college with a teaching degree, but found that she did not have enough money to launch herself into the art world, so she moved to London, where she worked briefly as a department store window dresser.

In 1967 she began playing keyboards with a blues band, Chicken Shack, leaving two years later after meeting Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie and joining the band.

They went on to marry but it lasted only six years. Always reluctant to tour, she was on the road for the Behind The Mask tour in 1990 when her father died and she made the decision to retire from touring altogether.

Eight years later the author of many of the band’s biggest hits including Over My Head, Say You Love Me and You Make Loving Fun quit the band altogether.

Meanwhile, some diehard fans have been paying sky-high prices for tickets for tonight’s gig. Tickets with a face value of £125 have been on offer for almost £3,000 on the internet.