Fleetwood Mac Cancels Tour on News Guitarist John McVie Has Cancer

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Fleetwood Mac cancelled the Australian and New Zealand leg of its world tour Sunday, revealing that guitarist and founding member John McVie will be undergoing treatment for cancer.

The band had planned 14 dates in Australia and New Zealand before Fleetwood Mac's announcement about 67-year-old guitarist John McVie's cancer, reported Reuters.

"We are sorry to not be able to play these Australian and New Zealand dates," the band said on its website. "We hope our Australian and New Zealand fans as well as Fleetwood Mac fans everywhere will join us in wishing John and his family all the best." ()

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After playing as members of Bluesbreakers, a group that later included Eric Clapton, McVie, Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green left that band to form Fleetwood Mac in 1967, according to Fleetwoodmac.net. McVie met future wife Christie McVie while she was a member of another band.

The two married in 1970 and she would join Fleetwood Mac, giving it an additional female voice as a singer and pianist, according to Fleetwoodmac.net. The band started to reach its biggest financial and musical stardom in 1975 with the addition of couple Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

The band's self-titled album in 1975 sold five millions units as McVies divorced and Buckingham and Nicks broke up their relationship, but all remained in the band, according to Rolling Stone. Their 1977 album "Rumours" topped "Fleetwood Mac," selling more than 17 million copies and won a Grammy for Album of the Year.

"Rumours" gave the band top 10 singles hits in "Go Your Own Way," "Dreams," "Don't Stop" and "You Make Loving Fun," reported Rolling Stone. The magazine said the band's 1979 album "Tusk" gave the band two more top 10 hits with the singles "Tusk," which was famously made with the University of Southern California marching band, and "Sara."

The band's current lineup includes McVie, Fleetwood, Buckingham and Nicks, according to the band's website.

"Having started Fleetwood Mac with John McVie in 1967, it has always been so gratifying that despite the various incarnations, the band has survived," Fleetwood said on the website. "Throughout the years, though, the one thing that has remained constant is our fans."

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