Harry Styles had legendary singer Christine McVie on his mind during his “Love on Tour” concert in Santiago, Chile. On Dec. 1, Styles paid tribute to the late Fleetwood Mac member with a beautiful cover of “Songbird,” the band’s 1977 hit written and performed by McVie. Before a reverent audience, the “As It Was” singer belted every lyric, imbuing each line with heartfelt emotion. “For you, there’ll be no more crying / For you, the sun will be shining / And I feel that when I’m with you / It’s alright, I know it’s right,” Styles sang as the crowd waved glow sticks and cheered.
While McVie’s career spanned decades before Styles broke onto the music scene, the two music giants were able to meet in 2018 at the MusiCares Person of the Year Awards in New York City, where Styles performed with Fleetwood Mac.
“Thank you, Christine.”
A longtime fan of the iconic rock band, Styles notably formed a friendship with Stevie Nicks after he met her backstage at a Fleetwood Mac concert in London in 2015. According to Rolling Stone, Styles even gave Nicks a birthday cake. “Piped her name onto it. She loved it,” he said. “Glad she liked carrot cake.”
Styles brought Nicks with him onstage for the first time in 2017 at the Troubador, where the duo performed “Two Ghosts,” “Landslide,” and Nicks’s “Leather and Lace” together, according to Billboard. Since their duet, Styles has performed “Landslide” with Nicks during his “Fine Line” album launch concert, One Night Only at The Forum, in 2018, and performed with her at the 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
In a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone, Nicks even referred to Styles as the “son she never had,” noting the entire band’s love for the “Love of My Life” singer. “When Harry came into our lives, I said, ‘Oh my God, this is the son I never had,'” she said. “So I adopted him. I love Harry, and I’m so happy Harry made a rock-and-roll record — he could have made a pop record and that would have been the easy way for him.”
At the end of his “Songbird” cover, Styles whispered, “Thank you, Christine,” into his microphone before blowing a kiss to the sky.
See clips of his stunning tribute ahead.