Lindsey Buckingham is one of the most talented musicians and guitarists, who reached his career heights with the hit music band Fleetwood Mac. Some of his biggest hits with Fleetwood are Dreams, Need Your Love So Bad, Go Your Own Way, The Chain, etc….Lindsey Buckingham’s has gone through a lot throughout his whole music career, and he has seen success as well as has seen bad times.
But the biggest controversy of his career arrived when he got fired from Fleetwood Mac, and this made many of his fans worried and curious. Worried because they could never see Lindsey performing with the band again and were curious because why he was fired from the band. Today we shall be covering all the details regarding Lindsey Buckingham’s exit from the Fleetwood Mac and why that decision was taken.
Lindsey Buckingham’s arrival at Fleetwood Mac
It was the year 1975 when Mick Fleetwood, the founder of the famous band Fleetwood Mac, first heard about Lindsey Buckingham. He got impressed after listening to Buckingham’s “Frozen Love”. He immediately wanted to meet Buckingham, and coincidently Buckingham was there in the same studio recording another song. Mick met with Buckingham and offered him a place in the band.
He asked Buckingham to take the place of Bob Welch, who had then left the band. At that time, Buckingham used to collaborate with Nicks, and together they used to make songs and produce albums. So Buckingham said to Mick that if he wants to hire him, he would have to get Nick because we are a team, and he is not joining Fleetwood without her”. Mick had no objection to this, and he recruited Nick along with Buckingham. This marked the beginning of Lindsey’s career at Fleetwood Mac.
Why Was Lindsey Buckingham Fired From Fleetwood Mac
After a long-spanning career with Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham was fired from the legendary band. The news of his exit first came out to the public after an ex-band member from Fleetwood Mac made a tweet stating that “Lindsey Buckingham is out from the band”, he later removed the tweet from his Twitter handle. But by then, the word of Buckingham’s exit had gone public.
Later on, Lindsey himself said the news in public while he was performing for a fundraiser, he said that “this shouldn’t have happened, and I did not have any control over it”.
The founder of the Fleetwood Mac band, Mick Fleetwood, finally revealed that the reason Buckingham was fired from the band was because of a disagreement. He further mentions, “We had a disagreement on lots of matters”. The Fleetwood band had been planning for a tour for years now, and Buckingham just would not sign off for that tour.
Buckingham heard about his firing news from one of the managers of Fleetwood, who said that Nick had taken offense to the way Buckingham smirked during her speech in their last concert. And that she never wants to be on stage with Buckingham ever again. Later the manager said to Buckingham that Nicks had given a warning to the band that if Buckingham is not fired, she would leave the band. He also said to Buckingham that they are currently considering Mike Campbell & Neil Finn to replace his position.
In 2018, Lindsey filed a case against Fleetwood Mac with several charges of “breach of fiduciary duty”, “breach of oral contract” etc… the case finally came under settlement towards the end of 2018.
Mick Fleetwood’s opinion on Lindsey Buckingham
Mick said in an interview that he has huge respect for his fellow band member Lindsey Buckingham. And he is really grateful for what Buckingham has given to the band, by contributing immensely with his incredible musical sense and his guitar skills.
In March 2021, Buckingham said in an interview that he is always ready if Fleetwood Mac would ever want to take him back. He said it was a wonderful experience working in there, and it all happened due to a misunderstanding between him and the band.
Lindsey Buckingham’s Life After Leaving Fleetwood Mac
After getting fired from Fleetwood, they collaborated with The Killers for an album, “Imploding The Mirage”. Lindsey also worked on several solo albums like “I Don’t Mind”, and “On The Wrong Side”. Although Buckingham’s departure was quite heartbreaking for many of his fans, it was inevitable as the disagreements between the band members grew too much.
