Breaking: Fleetwood Mac Fires Lindsey Buckingham, Lead Guitarist And Vocalist

Buckingham was not a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, which formed in 1967, but was asked to join the group after the exit of Bob Welch in 1974. That incarnation of the band, which also included Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks, went on to release one of the most successful albums of its time, 1977’s “Rumours,” which has sold more than 40 million copies and yielded such classics as “Don’t Stop” and “Go Your Own Way,” the latter written by Buckingham alone, as well as “The Chain” and “You Make Loving Fun.”

Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974 along with Stevie Nicks. He wrote and sang many of their most memorable songs, including “Go Your Own Way,” “Tusk” and “Second Hand News.” He left in 1987 shortly before the Tango in the Night tour (where he was replaced by Billy Burnette) and rejoined in 1996 for The Dance reunion tour. He remained active on the road with them for the next two decades.

They last played full sets at Classic East and Classics West in July of last year, as they did play a brief set in January at the pre-Grammy MusiCares concert in their honor. The set ended, fittingly enough, with “Go Your Own Way.”

“Two weeks ago, I received a wonderful invitation to be a part of a truly great band,” Finn tells Rolling Stone in a statement. “A few days later, I was standing in a room playing music with Fleetwood Mac.

It felt fresh and exciting, so many great songs, a spectacular rhythm section and two of the greatest voices ever. Best of all, we sounded good together. It was a natural fit. I can’t wait to play.”

In August of last year, Mick Fleetwood spoke to Rolling Stone about the band’s next tour. “I was in Italy recently and met Stevie out there,” he said. “She said to me, ‘Let’s sit down and really listen to some stuff that sort of almost got forgotten.’ So I know she’s already thinking she wants to do some things we haven’t done in years. I always think that Stevie and Lindsey should do a Buckingham Nicks song in the set. And have Christine do a blues song. I hope it certainly won’t be the same show as we did before. We always played nearly three hours, and we cut it back a little bit for the wear and tear, but we do over two hours. And when you got three singers, which is, like, three bands, really, to get that perfect set, it’s a trip.”

Source: Rolling Stone and Variety

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