Career
Keyboard player Peter Bardens gave Fleetwood his first gig in Bardens' band The Cheynes, thus seeding the young drummer's musical career. It would take him from The Cheynes to stints in the Bo Street Runners, Peter Bs, Shotgun Express (with Rod Stewart), and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. After being dismissed from the Bluesbreakers for repeated insobriety during gigs, Mick Fleetwood was asked a few months later by singer and guitarist Peter Green to join him along with bassist John McVie in his new band Fleetwood Mac. Since then about 20 original albums have been released under the name Fleetwood Mac, by far the most popular being the two mega-platinum sets the group put out in the late seventies: Fleetwood Mac and Rumours.
While fighting for control over the Fleetwood Mac name, Fleetwood applied his skills to a recording project being done in George Harrison's studio; Harrison also contributed to the project. On the Road to Freedom, a collaboration from Alvin Lee and Mylon LeFevre was released in 1973. Also on the project were Ron Wood, Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi.
Fleetwood also led a number of side projects. 1981's The Visitor featured heavy African stylistics and a rerecording of "Rattlesnake Shake" with Peter Green. The song "You weren't in love" was a hit in Brazil because of the Soap-opera Brilliant. In 1983 he formed Mick Fleetwood's Zoo and recorded I'm Not Me. The album featured a minor hit, "I Want You Back", and a cover version of the Beach Boys' "Angel Come Home". A later version of the group featured Bekka Bramlett on vocals and recorded 1991's Shaking the Cage. Fleetwood released Something Big in 2004 with The Mick Fleetwood Band, and his most recent album is Blue Again!, appearing in October 2008 with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band touring to support it, interspersed with the Unleashed tour of Fleetwood Mac. This music explores the blues roots of the Peter Green era of Fleetwood Mac.
Fleetwood has a secondary career as a TV and film actor, usually in minor parts. His roles in this field have included a resistance leader in The Running Man and as a guest alien in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Manhunt". Fleetwood co-hosted the 1989 BRIT Awards, which contained numerous gaffes and flubbed lines. In the wake of this public mishap, the BRIT Awards were pre-recorded for the next 18 years until 2007; the awards are now again broadcast live to the British public.
Also in 2007 Mick Fleetwood was featured on drums for the song "God" along with Jack's Mannequin in the Pop album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, a collection of covers of John Lennon songs.
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