In 2018 it was announced that Lindsey Buckingham was fired from Fleetwood Mac. Months after his departure, Buckingham claimed he hadn’t received the message from his bandmates, instead manager Irving Azoff told him: “Stevie never wants to be on stage with you again.” Now, more than three years later, Stevie Nicks has made her first public statement on the situation. “It’s unfortunate that Lindsey decided to tell a revisionist story of what happened to Fleetwood Mac in 2018,” Nicks wrote to Rolling Stone. “His version of events is factually imprecise.”
Nicks’ statement, which you can find in full below, was included in Rolling Stone’s new interview with Lindsey Buckingham. During the interview, Buckingham discussed preparing for his release with the publication, stating that he was fired after asking Fleetwood Mac to postpone an upcoming tour for three months so he could release and tour his next solo album. When the band refused, Buckingham said he had offered a compromise to book his own shows in the same cities as the Fleetwood Mac gigs. He claimed he was fired in the middle of discussions on the matter.
Elsewhere in the interview, Buckingham stated that Nicks “wanted to shape the band in their own image,” claiming that his emails and calls to the rest of the band were never answered after his release. Buckingham has previously claimed that Nicks was the reason he was fired from the band.
In her statement, Stevie Nicks mentioned the 2018 event where members of Fleetwood Mac were named MusiCares’ Person of the Year. “After an extremely difficult time with Lindsey at MusiCares in New York in 2018, I made up my mind that I was no longer willing to work with him,” wrote Nicks, according to Rolling Stone.
Buckingham apparently “complained” that the band was featured at the event with the song “Rhiannon,” written by Nicks, according to the Los Angeles Times. Buckingham told the Times: “Ironically, nothing happened that night that was” [as contentious] than the stuff we had been through for 43 years. “
After the initial controversy, Buckingham filed a lawsuit against Fleetwood Mac for breach of duty of loyalty, breach of oral contract, and more for dismissal. It was settled two months later.
Pitchfork has contacted Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks representatives for further comments.
Stevie Nicks (via Rolling Stone):
It’s unfortunate that Lindsey decided to tell a revisionist story of what happened to Fleetwood Mac in 2018. His version of events is factually inaccurate and while I have never spoken publicly on the subject because I prefer not to do dirty laundry, it is certainly time to bring the truth to light. After an extremely difficult time with Lindsey at MusiCares in New York, I decided in 2018 that I was no longer ready to work with him. I could ponder publicly the many reasons, and maybe one day I will in my memoirs, but suffice it to say that we could start in 1968 and work through 2018 with a litany of very precise reasons why I will not work with him . To be very clear, I didn’t fire him, I didn’t ask for him to be fired, I didn’t ask for him to be fired. In all honesty, I fired myself. I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation that I felt was detrimental to my well-being. I was ready. If the band went on without me, so be it. I have campaigned for independence my whole life, and I believe that everyone should have absolute freedom to set their limits on what they can and cannot work with. And after many long group discussions, Fleetwood Mac, a band whose legacy is rooted in evolution and change, has found a new way forward with two hugely talented new members.
Beyond that, for a comment on “family,” I loved Lindsey when he had kids, but wasn’t interested in making the same life choices. These are my decisions that I can make myself. I’m proud of the life choices I’ve made and it seems a shame for him to judge anyone who chooses to live their life on their own terms, even if it looks different from their life choices.
