Rumours of Fleetwood Mac is a British-New Zealand tribute act to the British-American rock group Fleetwood Mac. Formed in 1999, the act consists of founding member Allan Cosgrove on the drums, vocalist Jess Harwood, lead guitarist and vocalist James Harrison, vocalists Emily Gervers and Dave Goldberg, also on keyboards, bassist Etienne Girard, and guitarist Scott Poley, who also serves as the act’s musical director.
Taking their name from Fleetwood Macs eleventh studio album, the act has performed for over 800,000 fans across the world and has over 75 million streams online.
The group formed almost by accident, when Allan Cosgrove got a gig to perform a jingle for an advertisement for an American brand of root beer (Rolling Rock). The producer requested that the jingle resembled the songs of 70s rock group, Heart, and so Cosgrove assembled a group of musicians for the task.
However, when they played the finished product back to the producer, they remarked that they sounded just like Fleetwood Mac. Tribute acts such as Bjorn Again and Bootleg Beatles were becoming increasingly popular at the time and headlining festivals, so Cosgrove decided to form a tribute act of his own, getting approval from Fleetwood Mac's founding member, Mick Fleetwood, in the process.
Fleetwood has even performed on stage alongside the tribute act, so it is hardly surprising that Rumours of Fleetwood Mac are widely regarded as the world's greatest Fleetwood Mac tribute concert.
As well as being the band's drummer and founder, Allan Cosgrove is the band's promoter and produces all their shows, bringing something new each time. He works alongside Chas Cole, a global promoter who has worked with other hugely successful tribute acts, such as Australian Pink Floyd.
Cosgrove himself has also had a widely successful music career outside Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, having played drums for Cliff Richard and Chuck Berry, and was formerly a member of The Merseybeats from 1974 to 2000. Originally from Liverpool, it is unsurprising that, along with Fleetwood Mac, he lists The Beatles as his biggest musical influence. He told UK Music Reviews, “I started playing the trumpet at the age of 16 in the classical orchestra. I could read music, but they weren't many gigs for trumpet players within pop music back then, so I very quickly jumped onto the drums.” Cosgrove would soon get a lot more gigs due to the growing number of UK artists coming to the UK that needed backing bands.
These days, outside of his hugely successful tribute act, Cosgrove works back home in Liverpool with young local talent. “I love anything new that has got a retro vibe to it.”, he remarks. Rumors of Fleetwood Mac have toured all over the world, but Cosgrove's biggest musical highlight was playing the Belfast odyssey with an eighty-piece orchestra and fifty-piece choir in front of six thousand people. Rumors of Fleetwood Mac are currently touring the UK, having rescheduled their 2020 tour to 2022. They will then move on to a North America starting in Montreal QC in October.
If you would like to watch more videos from this brilliant tribute band you can subscribe to them on YouTube or follow them on Facebook. You can also visit their official website for information on upcoming shows.