The #97 Guitarist of the Rock Era: Danny Kirwan

This guitarist emerged as a teen superstar to land one of the best jobs in the business.  At #97, Danny Kirwan:

       

    #97:  Danny Kirwan, Fleetwood Mac
 active guitarist for 12 years

(Kirwan playing "Hard Work" in the group Tramp)

Kirwan was born May 13, 1950 in Brixton, South London.  His skill on the guitar attracted attention at an early age and at age 17, established blues band Fleetwood Mac became aware of Kirwan when he was with the group Boilerhouse.  Mac founder Peter Green was impressed with Kirwan and Boilerhouse began opening for the group, with Kirwan and Green jamming together at points in the show.

Drummer Mick Fleetwood asked Kirwan to join the band in August, 1968.  That made the group a quintet with three guitarists.  Kirwan made his live debut with Fleetwood Mac August 14 at the Nag's Head Blue Horizon Club in Battersea, London and contributed to the great instrumental "Albatross".  Kirwan split songwriting and lead vocals with Green on the album Then Play On that shared dual lead guitars.  Kirwan had diverse musical interests, as displayed on the songs he wrote for the album including "Without You", "One Sunny Day", "Something Inside of Me" and "Jigsaw Puzzle Blues".  Kirwan also played the guitar solo on "Oh Well Pt. 1", the group's best known song until the revamped Fleetwood Mac of the mid-70's. 

Kirwan had developed great improvisational skills and in January 1969, he contributed to Otis Spann's blues album The Biggest Thing Since Colossus and also played on Christine McVie's first solo album--Christine Perfect.  Kirwan also worked with the band Tramp on their self-titled album in 1969 and would later join them for their second album Put a Record On in 1974.   

Jeremy Spencer and Kirwan handled guitars and vocals on the Kiln House album after Green left the group in 1970.  Kirwan wrote "Station Man", "Jewel-Eyed Judy", "Tell Me All the Things You Do" and "Earl Gray". 

After the bizarre departure of Spencer (see Inside the Rock Era article), Bob Welch joined the group for the last two Fleetwood Mac albums with Kirwan.  Future Games featured his opener "Woman of 1,000 Years", "Sands of Time" and "Sometimes".  The following year, Mac released Bare Trees, including five Kirwan songs--the instrumental "Sunny Side of Heaven", "Dust", "Danny's Chant", featuring heavy use of the wah-wah guitar effect, "Child of Mine" and the title cut.

Because of the lineup changes and uncertain period, Kirwan wrote most of the songs and his health suffered.  He had problems with alcoholism and would often not eat for days at a time.  He became estranged from the other band members until finally before a concert  in 1972, Kirwan threw a fit and smashed his guitar, refusing to go on stage.  He instead watched as the band struggled and offered unwelcome criticism afterwards.  Fleetwood, as the leader of the group and the only one still speaking to Kirwan, fired him.

In early 1974, Kirwan joined a short-lived band called Hungry Fighter.  He then recorded three solo albums showing a gentler side of him and the music was filled with infectious melody.  Midnight in San Juan from 1976 featured a reggae-inspired cover of "Let It Be" by the Beatles.  None of these did well, largely because Kirwan was completely reluctant to tour. 

During the late 1970's, Kirwan's mental health deteriorated significantly and in the late 1980's and 1990's he endured a period of homelessness.

Kirwan used four main guitars, the 1952 Gibson Les Paul Standard, the 1959 Les Paul Standard Cherry Sunburst, the 1959 Les Paul Standard Tobacco Sunburst and the 1956 Les Paul Custom Black Beauty.

Danny Kirwan, who began his career as something of a boy genius, joining a major band at age 17, then saw his career decline because of drugs.  He ranks as The #97 Guitarist of the Rock Era*.