Ex-Fleetwood Mac Guitarist Bob Welch Dead

Bob Welch, an early member of Fleetwood Mac who later scored some big hits as a solo artist, is dead of an apparent suicide at age 66, reports the Tennessean. Police think Welch shot himself in his Nashville home. Welch was a singer and guitarist with Fleetwood Mac from 1971 to 1974 and helped shape the band's transition from a "British blues rock band," notes the LA Times. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham replaced him, and while Fleetwood Mac hit the big-time soon afterward, Welch did well for himself with hits such as "Ebony Eyes" and "Sentimental Lady." Family members say he'd been suffering from unspecified health problems. (More Fleetwood Mac stories.)