Robbie Patton

British singer/songwriter.

English singer/songwriter Robbie Patton received his break when he toured as a special guest of Fleetwood Mac in 1979 when that act was one of the hottest acts in the music world. The association proved to be even more beneficial when Patton recorded his 1981 release Distant Shores.

Not only did Mac keyboardist Christine McVie play keyboards and produce the record, but guitarist Lindsey Buckingham added guitar to the track “Don’t Give It Up.” While the album wasn’t a smash success, petering out in the lower reaches of the chart, “Don’t Give It Up” was released as a single and climbed into the Top 30 during the late summer.

He followed Distant Shores with another McVie-produced release, Orders From Headquarters, which was released the following year. This time, Stevie Nicks provided her vocals, performing a duet with Patton on the single “Smiling Islands.” Neither the album nor single was able to achieve the same level of success, however, with Orders From Headquarters not even managing to chart.

The failure of his solo release was tempered, though, with the performance of Fleetwood Mac’s “Hold Me,” which Patton wrote with McVie for the album Mirage. During the ’80s and ’90s, Patton wrote songs that appeared on albums by Jonathan Cain and Santana.