This British blues-rock group is remembered mostly for their keyboard player,
Christine Perfect, who would join
Fleetwood Mac after marrying
John McVie and changing her last name. Although they were one of the more pedestrian acts of the British blues boom,
Chicken Shack was quite popular for a time in the late '60s, placing two albums in the British Top 20. The frontperson of
Chicken was not Perfect/
McVie, but guitarist
Stan Webb, who would excite British audiences by entering the crowds at performances, courtesy of his 100-meter-long guitar lead. They were signed to
Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label, a British blues pillar that had its biggest success with early
Fleetwood Mac.
Chicken Shack was actually not far behind
Mac in popularity in the late '60s, purveying a more traditional brand of Chicago blues, heavily influenced by
Freddie King. Although
Webb took most of the songwriting and vocal duties,
Christine Perfect also chipped in with occasional compositions and lead singing. In fact, she sang lead on their only British Top 20 single, "I'd Rather Go Blind" (1969). But around that time, she quit the music business to marry
John McVie and become a housewife, although, as the world knows, that didn't last too long.
Chicken Shack never recovered from
Christine's loss, commercially or musically.
Stan Webb kept
Chicken Shack going, with a revolving door of other musicians, all the way into the 1980s, though he briefly disbanded the group to join
Savoy Brown for a while in the mid-'70s. ~ Richie Unterberger