Fleetwood Mac Founder Peter Green’s Catalog Acquired By Primary Wave

The estate of legendary British blues rockk guitarist Peter Green has finalized a deal with Primary Wave Music, transferring ownership of his Rattlesnake music publishing catalog, rights to all his compositions, and select recordings by the Fleetwood Mac co-founder. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Years before they were soft-rocking themselves to superstardom with the help of two young Californians — one of whom is also part of the Primary Wave family — Fleetwood Mac was a hard-charging British blues rock band led by Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, and featuring another talented singer-guitarist, Jeremy Spencer.

Within just two years, this lineup released three studio albums and a string of non-album singles — many penned by Green — that would go on to define the psychedelic blues genre. Those Green gems include the dreamy instrumental “Albatross,” the hard-stomping “Oh Well” and the delicately poignant “Man of the World.” Green is also responsible for “Black Magic Woman,” which appeared on one of the group’s compilation albums in 1969 before becoming a major hit for Santana a year later.

The band’s studio albums during the Green era include their eponymous debut and Mr. Wonderful, both 1968, and 1969’s Then Play On. Standout tracks from Green on those releases include “Looking for Somebody,” “Long Grey Mere,” “Rollin’ Man” and “Love That Burns.” His final song with the band, the non-album single “The Green Manalishhi,” reached the top 10 on the UK charts.

Born in London in 1946, Green began his career with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, replacing Eric Clapton in time to feature on the band’s 1967 album A Hard Road, which featured two of his songs. That same year he and fellow former Bluesbreakers Fleetwood and McVie formed Fleetwood Mac. They later added Spencer, and towards the end of the sixties, a third guitarist Danny Kirwan. 

After leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1970 due to mental health struggles and a later diagnosis of schizophrenia, Green launched a solo career with The End of the Game, adding Kolors in 1983, and then re-emerged with the Peter Green Splinter Group, releasing several albums through the late ’90s and early 2000s.

Even if he had never written a single song, Green would still be celebrated as one of rock’s greatest guitarists — ranked No. 58 on Rolling Stone’s 2015 list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” — with B.B. King once declaring, “He has the sweetest tone I ever heard. He was the only one who gave me cold sweats.”

Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 as a founding member of Fleetwood Mac and remained an enigmatic presence until his passing in 2020 at 73. Later that year, Fleetwood honored his legacy with a star-studded tribute concert featuring performances by Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour and others. “Without Peter Green, there would be no Fleetwood Mac,” Fleetwood has said.

“When I look at the definition of a musical genius, Peter Green ticks every box,” noted Primary Wave’s Robin Godfrey Cass. “As a musician, songwriter, and founder of Fleetwood Mac, he is an icon. It has been over 60 years ago since he began writing his body of legendary songs which are still in use every day. I am ecstatic that the estate has given Primary Wave the reins to continue his amazing legacy.”