This month, June 8, 2018, British blues rock guitarist/singer/songwriter Danny Kirwan who joined Fleetwood Mac at age 18 in August 1968 died in London, aged 68. An obituary in The New York Times quoted Kirwan's former wife as saying that he had died in his sleep "after contracting pneumonia earlier in the year and never fully recovering from it."
Kirwan remained with Fleetwood Mac through a couple of key personal changes until 1972, leaving abruptly during the US tour in support of their Bare Trees album. He went on to release three solo albums and a couple of compilations but in later years was plagued by alcoholism and mental health problems that saw him institutionalized for a time.
Described as shy, sensitive, nervous and withdrawn, Kirwan grew up listening to jazz in his mother's home where he also discovered and was influenced by the great gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Playing in Brixton trio Boilerhouse, he came to the attention of ex-John Mayall guitarist and founding Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green who invited a teenage Kirwan to be the third guitarist in the group alongside Green and slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Kirwan's more melodic style contrasted with Green's blues licks. He also contributed to the band by writing and singing his own compositions. Mac producer Mike Vernon recalled, "Danny was outstanding. He played with an almost scary intensity. He had a guitar style that wasn't like anyone else I'd heard in England." Kirwan's first recorded work with Fleetwood Mac, in October 1968, was his contribution of the second guitar part to Green's instrumental hit single "Albatross". The flipside was Kirwan's instrumental "Jigsaw Puzzle Blues", a cover of an old jazz song.
Kirwan shared equal stature with Green on the band's third album Then Play On. When Green abruptly quit in May 1970, Kirwan was thrust into leading and fronting the band, a role he accepted reluctantly. Keyboard player/singer Christine McVie contributed to the next album Kiln House, joining the band soon after. With Kirwan calling the shots Mac turned from a bluesy band to a more pop oriented group on tracks like Kirwan's "Jewel-Eyed Judy", "Tell Me All the Things You Do" and "Station Man". American guitarist Bob Welch joined in time for Future Games and its followup Bare Trees, replacing Jeremy Spencer and taking the pressure off Kirwan and providing an even greater rock influence. But by then Kirwan had become unpredictable and was drinking heavily. Matters came to a head in the summer of 1972 when an enraged and inebriated Kirwan smashed his Gibson Les Paul Custom against a wall in a dressing room and announced he had had enough. The band went on without him. He was fired soon after by Mick Fleetwood.
Welch recalled, "I thought he was a nice kid, but a little bit paranoid, a little bit disturbed. He would always take things I said wrongly. He would take offence at things for no reason ... I thought it was just me, but as I got to know the rest of the band, they'd say 'Oh yes, Danny, a little... strange'."
Kirwan recorded three solo albums for DJM (Dick James Music) Records between 1975 and 1979 but none achieved any commercial breakthrough. Describe by a friend as "lost in a drink and drugs wasteland; he was just too sensitive a soul," in the 1980s and 1990s Kirwan endured a period of homelessness in London sleeping on park benches having abandoned his wife and two children. In July 2000, a few weeks after his 50th birthday, Kirwan was settled in a care home for alcoholics in South London.
Kirwan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1998 for his work as part of Fleetwood Mac. He did not attend the induction ceremony. One of Kirwan's songs, "Tell Me All the Things You Do" from the 1970 album Kiln House, was included in the set of Fleetwood Mac's 2018–19 "An Evening with Fleetwood Mac" tour, with guitarist Neil Finn and Christine McVie sharing vocals.
Mick Fleetwood said, "Danny was a huge force in our early years ... Danny's true legacy will forever live on in the music he wrote and played so beautifully as a part of the foundation of Fleetwood Mac that has now endured for over fifty years. Thank you, Danny Kirwan. You will forever be missed." No mention by Fleetwood of Bob Welch or his contributions.
This was an amalgam of three sources on Facebook
the legendary International Times
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