Bob Welch, the influential guitarist and vocalist for Fleetwood Mac in the band's early days, took his life today at his Nashville-area home, WKRN-TV reports.

Welch, who was either 65 or 66, died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the chest. His wife found him about 12:15 p.m. at their home in Antioch. He had recently suffered undisclosed health issues, a Metro police spokesperson said.

Welch played with Fleetwood Mac in the early to mid-1970s, before the group achieved superstar status with Fleetwood Mac (1975) and Rumours (1977).

He joined the band in 1971 when it was an English blues band and helped shape its future sound and attract an American audience. He played on five records -- Future Games, Bare Trees, Penguin, Mystery to Me and Heroes Are Hard to Find, the band's first to crack the U.S. Top 40. He was also responsible for two early hits, Sentimental Lady and Hypnotized.

Welch left the band in late 1974, replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who helped catapult the group to stardom. He had some success as a solo artist in the late 1970s. In 2008, he emerged from what he called a 30-year "beauty sleep" and "extended" vacation.

Born into an entertainment family, his father, Robert, produced several hit films for Paramount Pictures in the 1940s and 1950s, and his mother, Templeton, was a singer and actress who worked with Orson Welles' Mercury Theater in Chicago.

Update at 8:04 p.m. ET: There are conflicting dates of birth for Welch. FleetwoodMac.net and other sites say he was born July 31, 1946, while Wikipedia says Aug. 31, 1945. However, the Wikipedia entry contains an editor's note that the article "needs additional citations for verification," so it's not clear if the D.O.B. was confirmed.

A comment on Welch's MySpace page two years ago from a University of Illinois-Chicago radio DJ stated "Bob will be 63 this week." That would seem to support the July 1946 birthdate.

We'll try to clarify further.