Between 1975 and 1987 and 1997 and 2018, Lindsey Buckingham served as Fleetwood Mac’s lead guitarist and lead male vocalist. In 1998, he was admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. According to Rolling Stone, Buckingham was placed 100th among “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” He was sacked from the band in April 2018, and Mike Campbell and Neil Finn took his place.
Buckingham’s most significant break came from Fleetwood Mac, a group that had existed since the late 1960s and started out as a British blues band fronted by Peter Green. The group went through several turbulent years without a consistent frontman after Green left. After a brief reunification at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration ball in 1993, the ex-group members began to get along. Buckingham sang on one track of their 1995 album Time and returned to the group permanently for their 1997 live tour and album The Dance.
Why Did Lindsey Buckingham Say He Was Fired? Revealed
For the very first time, Lindsey Buckingham has discussed the reasons behind his dismissal from Fleetwood Mac. Days just after, the band received recognition at this year’s MusiCares benefit event in New York, and the musician was fired from the venerable ensemble. Later, Buckingham’s expulsion from the group was attributed by Stevie Nicks to his need for excessive time off in order to focus on his solo endeavors.
Buckingham described what allegedly occurred sooner this year when speaking to Rolling Stone. He added that two days after the MusiCares performance, the band’s manager, Irving Azoff, called him at his home in Los Angeles to deliver a message from Nicks. He was apparently informed that Stevie never wanted to perform on stage with him again.
In the days leading up to the phone conversation, according to Buckingham, “we practiced for 48 hours, and everything was fantastic.” We interacted well. Azoff, however, informed him of a number of things that “Stevie took issue with” in New York, along with the fact that he had “smirked” during her thank-you speech and that he had lost his temper over the group’s intro song, “Rhiannon.” Regarding the latter, he stated, “It was never about it being ‘Rhiannon.’ It merely diminished the significance of our entrance. That is me being very clear about the appropriate and inappropriate actions to take.
While other band members were also making fun of Nicks’ speech, Buckingham admitted that he “may or may not have smirked.” He remarked, “I look over, and, as a joke, Christine and Mick are dancing the waltz behind her.” The guitarist recalled that, at first, he had believed Nicks was leaving the group and had texted drummer Mick Fleetwood to reassure him that the band could continue without her.
However, he had received no response. A few days later, he dialed Azoff’s number and said, “This seems odd. Is Stevie quitting the band, or am I being expelled? Azoff informed him that Nicks had “issued an ultimatum” to the band, forcing them to pick between him or her and that he was the one who was “being expelled.”
When asked if he had requested time off to focus on his solo endeavors, Buckingham replied that he had requested “three or four months extra” to embark on a solo tour but was greeted with “stonewalling” and left the conference. He claimed that he didn’t believe anything had ever been done that justified firing someone. “We’ve all taken actions that weren’t helpful.
We’ve all occasionally gotten on each other’s nerves. That is the group’s history. Fleetwood Mac made their new lineup public last month on The Ellen Show following Buckingham’s resignation. Since then, the band has welcomed the guitarist for the Heartbreakers, Mike Campbell, and the lead singer for Crowded House, Neil Finn.
Why Did Fleetwood Mac Fire Lindsey Buckingham?
There are conflicting accounts of Lindsey Buckingham’s termination from Fleetwood Mac and their former guitarist. As soon as the news broke, the band announced that Buckingham wanted to push back the band’s start date to November even though it was scheduled to begin rehearsing in June.
However, in October of that same year, Buckingham claimed to have received a phone from Stevie Nicks indicating she would never again want to perform on stage with him following a dispute over their Rhiannon song during rehearsing that he might have “smirked” at Stevie Nicks.
Who Took Lindsey Buckingham’s Place?
Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell, the former lead guitarist of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, took over for Lindsey Buckingham. In 2018, Lindsey Buckingham quit Fleetwood Mac. The guitarist’s teammates allegedly dismissed him on April 9, 2018, according to a report in Rolling Stone. The dispute reportedly centered on the group’s impending tour.
