Editing Fleetwood Mac (section)

===1974: Return of the authentic Fleetwood Mac===
While the fake Fleetwood Mac were on tour, Welch stayed in Los Angeles and connected with entertainment attorneys. He realised that Fleetwood Mac was being neglected by Warner Bros and that they would need to change their base of operation from England to America, to which the rest of the band agreed. The presence of a false Fleetwood Mac had also confused matters. Rock promoter [[Bill Graham (promoter)|Bill Graham]] wrote a letter to Warner Bros to convince them that the real Fleetwood Mac was Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, and Bob Welch. This did not end the legal battle, but the band was able to record as Fleetwood Mac again.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/12/listen-to-fleetwood-mac-play-black-magic-woman-in.html|title=Here's the "Real" Fleetwood Mac Playing "Black Magic Woman" in 1974|website=Paste Magazine |date=14 December 2017|language=en|access-date=15 May 2019|archive-date=15 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515033503/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/12/listen-to-fleetwood-mac-play-black-magic-woman-in.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Instead of hiring another manager, Fleetwood Mac, having re-formed, became the only major rock band managed by the artists themselves.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Marsh |first=Dave |date=1978-01-12 |title=Big (Fleetwood) Mac: The 1978 Cover Story |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/big-fleetwood-mac-the-1978-cover-story-242446/ |access-date=2024-06-12 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>

In September 1974, Fleetwood Mac signed a new recording contract with Warner Bros, but remained on the Reprise label. In the same month, the band released their ninth studio album, ''[[Heroes Are Hard to Find]]''. This was the first time Fleetwood Mac had only one guitarist. While on tour, they briefly added a second keyboardist, Doug Graves, who had been an engineer on ''Heroes Are Hard to Find''. In 1980, Christine McVie said Graves had been there to back her up, but after the first two or three concerts it was decided that she was better off without him: "The band wanted me to expand my role and have a little more freedom, but he didn't play the same way I did."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Doerschuk|first1=Bob|title=Contemporary Keyboard (10/1980), Christine McVie|url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=11&c=2|website=The Blue Letter Archives|access-date=March 14, 2016|archive-date=12 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312173340/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?c=2&id=11&page=index_v2|url-status=live}}</ref> Keyboard player Robert ("Bobby") Hunt, who had been in the band Head West with Bob Welch in 1970, replaced Graves for the remaining dates on the tour but was not invited to join the band full time. By the time the tour ended (on 5 December 1974 at Cal State University), the ''Heroes'' album had reached a higher position on the American charts than any of the band's previous records.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Fleetwood Mac (2004 Remastered Edition) |title-link=Fleetwood Mac |others=Fleetwood Mac |year=2004 |first=Parke |last=Puterbaugh|page=4|type=Liner Notes |publisher=Reprise Records|location=Los Angeles}}</ref>