Stevie Nicks has opened up on Lindsay Buckingham’s departure from Fleetwood Mac, and revealed the moment she knew she no longer wanted to be in a band with the electric guitar player.
Buckingham was axed from the group in 2018, 44 years after he originally joined with Nicks in 1974. At the time it was reported that “a disagreement over the band’s upcoming tour” had resulted in a breakdown within the band (as noted by Louder).
However, that doesn’t now seem to be the case. In a rare interview with Rolling Stone, the vocalist looked back on Buckingham’s departure, which can be traced back to the 2018 MusiCares concert. It was during that show, Nicks says, that she realized she no longer wanted to share the stage with Buckingham.
“I think that all just happened the way it should have,” Nicks says regarding Buckingham’s firing, “It happened one night, not planned, at a MusiCares [benefit concert].
“I didn’t even tell anybody it had happened in my head until the whole ceremony was over. I took with me that night a song that I had done with LeAnn Rimes called Borrowed. I took it with me to play for him because I thought we could do this song beautifully.
“That’s when he wasn’t very nice to anybody; he wasn’t very nice to Harry Styles,” she continues. “I could hear my mom saying, ‘Are you really going to spend the next 15 years of your life with this man?’
“I could hear my very pragmatic father – and by the way, my mom and dad liked Lindsey a lot – saying, ‘It’s time for you guys to get a divorce.’ Between those two, I said, ‘I’m done.'”
Despite ending on rather sour terms, Nicks insists she holds no ill will towards Buckingham: “I hope he lives a long life and continues to go into a studio and work with other people,” she asserts. “He’s also an icon, and he can teach people. He’s not stopped in his tracks. He can still make music and have fun.”
After being axed from the band, Buckingham was promptly replaced by Crowded House’s Neil Finn, who recently discussed his experiences of replacing the Fleetwood Mac stalwart.
“I don’t think he was very happy about the situation,” Finn said. “I would hope he might have thought, ‘Oh well, at least somebody that can write a good song has taken my part.’”
