You didn’t think that the drama in Fleetwood Mac was over did you? After being unceremoniously let go from the band that he helped propel to some of the biggest heights of commercial success that any group has ever enjoyed in music history, Lindsey Buckingham is fighting back. Today, it was revealed that the singer-guitarist is suing the rest of Fleetwood Mac for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of oral contract and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.
“Last January, Fleetwood Mac made the decision to continue to tour without me,” Buckingham said in a statement that he gave to Rolling Stone after the news about the suit broke. “I remain deeply surprised and saddened, as this decision ends the beautiful 43-year legacy we built together. Over the last eight months, our many efforts to come to an agreement have unfortunately proved elusive. I’m looking forward to closure, and will always remain proud of all that we created, and what that legacy represents.”
The decision to fire Buckingham and bring on Crowded House’s Neil Finn and Tom Petty’s right-hand man Mike Campbell to take his place earlier this year came as a huge surprise to practically everyone who thought that the different members of Fleetwood Mac had put their past differences behind them. This was apparently not so.
While Fleetwood and Nicks cited Buckingham’s reluctance to tour and focus on his solo career as the reason to go on without him, as he told Rolling Stone recently in his first interview on the topic, it all actually came down to Nicks’ refusal to want to perform onstage with him anymore after some perceived slight. The message was relayed from their manager Irving Azoff, and he was never able to contact anyone else in the band to get the fuller story.
