Danny Kirwan

Danny Kirwan (13 May 1950 – 8 June 2018) was a guitarist, singer and songwriter with Fleetwood Mac from 1968 to 1972.

Born Daniel David Langran in Brixton, South London (Kirwan was his stepfather's surname) he took up guitar in his teens, his chief influences being Django Reinhardt and Eric Clapton.

By 1968 Kirwan was playing in a band called Boilerhouse who had opened for Fleetwood Mac on occasions. It was when the other two members of Boilerhouse proved unwilling to go professional that he was recruited to join Mac as a third guitarist/vocalist given that Jeremy Spencer was persistently unwilling to play on songs written by Peter Green.

Kirwan found his feet quickly. His instrumental Jigsaw Puzzle Blues, appeared on the b-side of the UK No 1 hit Albatross and had three vocal numbers featured on the US only compilation English Rose. He appeared on the Blues Jam at Chess album recorded with blues musicians in Chicago and was surprised to be offered half of the album Then Play On. This featured his One Sunny Day and Without You both of which had previously appeared on English Rose, When You Say, later covered by Christine McVie on her first solo album, My Dream, an instrumental, and Like Crying, early demos of which had been recorded for Blue Horizon. His Coming Your Way was chosen to open the album and Although the Sun is Shining was an early example of the mellower direction Kirwan would lead Fleetwood Mac in for a while. Around this time he and Mick Fleetwood would appear on the first Tramp album along with original Mac bassist Bob Brunning. He also played along with Fleetwood and John McVie on Jeremy Spencer's self-titled solo album (1970).

With the sudden departure of Peter Green in 1970, Kirwan suddenly found himself thrust out front with Jeremy Spencer. The resulting album, Kiln House, featured two songs written or co-written by Kirwan that would become live favourites in Station Man and Tell Me All the Things You Do as well as another instrumental, Earl Gray. Shortly afterwards, the band's first post-Green single was released featuring Kirwan's setting of the W H Davies poem Dragonfly backed with The Purple Dancer.

Kirwan survived further personnel changes in the addition of Christine McVie to the line-up and the unexpected departure of Jeremy Spencer to join the Children of God. He would share singing and writing duties with Christine and Spencer's replacement Bob Welch on Future Games (1971) and its follow-up Bare Trees (1972) but the pressures of trying to return the band to mainstream success without Peter Green proved too much for Kirwan.

The pressure increased to the point where one night prior to a show in 1972 he smashed his guitar against a dressing room mirror and refused to go onstage with the band. Danny Kirwan was sacked from Fleetwood Mac as a result.

Solo career[]

After leaving Fleetwood Mac, Kirwan briefly resurfaced in a band called Hungry Fighter in which his short-lived successor Dave Walker was frontman but this broke up after one gig.

Under the guidance of his (and formerly Fleetwood Mac's) manager Clifford Davis, Kirwan released his first solo album Second Chapter in 1975. It was not promoted with a tour and did not chart but was quickly followed by Midnight in San Juan (1976).

A long silence followed before the release of Hello There Big Boy in 1979 but by then Kirwan was contributing less int terms of guitar work and composition. Within a year, Mick Fleetwood documented having seen him a shadow of his former self and homeless. Kirwan would never work in music again.

Later years[]

Reports of Kirwan were few and far between for the rest of his life but he was variously reported to be homeless or in a mental institution. The Indepdendent newspaper tracked him down for an interview in 1993 by which time he was staying at St Mungo's hostel for the homeless in West London. His whereabouts were known to the London music press but kept secret from the public although by 2002 he was in a care home in South London where he was visited at that time by Jeremy Spencer.

Kirwan would remain in the care home, well looked after by family and friends until his death from pneumonia in June 2018.