Tributes continue to pour onto social media for Peter Green, the influential blues rock guitarist who died Saturday at 73.
According to a statement from his family, Green died peacefully in his sleep.
Stevie Van Zandt described Green as “one of the great guitar players of all time” while Peter Frampton remembered him as “one of the most tasteful guitar players ever.”
Green founded Fleetwood Mac with Mick Fleetwood in 1967 and was part of the band’s first three albums – 1968’s Fleetwood Mac and Mr. Wonderful and 1969’s Then Play On. He composed the 1968 instrumental “Albatross,” the band’s only No. 1 hit in its native UK.
Mental health issues forced him to step away in 1970. He was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.
In a message he shared on Facebook, Mick Fleetwood called Green’s loss “monumental” for he and “every past and present member of Fleetwood Mac.”
He wrote: “No one has ever stepped into the ranks of Fleetwood Mac without a reverence for Peter Green and his talent, and to the fact that music should shine bright and always be delivered with uncompromising passion!!!”
Fleetwood then spoke directly to Green. “I will miss you, but rest easy your music lives on. I thank you for asking me to be your drummer all those years ago. We did good, and trail blazed one hell of a musical road for so many to enjoy.”
Stevie Nicks, who joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974, said she always hoped to have a chance to share the stage with Green.
“When I first listened to all the Fleetwood Mac records, I was very taken with his guitar playing. It was one of the reasons I was excited to join the band,” she recalled. “His legacy will live on forever in the history books of Rock n Roll.
“It was in the beginning, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and I thank you, Peter Green, for that. You changed our lives.”
Other musicians honouring Green over the weekend include Gene Simmons of KISS, Billy Idol, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and David Coverdale of Whitesnake.
"Peter Green was one of my biggest inspirations when I first started playing guitar,” tweeted Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos. “I love the way he played and I probably play guitar now because I wanted to be like him.”
Singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, called Green “one of the unsung heroes of musical integrity, innovation and spirit.”
He shared: “When I heard he left Fleetwood Mac in 1970 to get a real life and donate his wealth to charity, he became something of a model for me.”
Green was inducted with Fleetwood Mac into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.