The star also claims the band refused to speak to him about the decision, despite their 43-year relationship.
“Not a single member of the band called Buckingham to break the news to him,” the court documents say.
“In fact, not a single member of Fleetwood Mac has returned any of Buckingham’s phone calls to provide him with an explanation for his purported expulsion from Fleetwood Mac.”
Later in the complaint, Buckingham said he had tried to contact bassist John McVie, “who responded that he had been instructed not to speak” to him.
He was unceremoniously fired from Fleetwood Mac in January.
Now longtime guitarist, singer and songwriter Lindsey Buckingham has filed a lawsuit against former bandmates: Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Christie McVie and John McVie for ‘breach of fiduciary duty, breach of oral contract and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.’
According to court documents obtained by Radar Onlineand Us Weekly, Buckingham claims the firing cost him between $12 to $14million.
In the suit, Lindsey claims the lost wages are part of a deal the band signed with events promoter Live Nation for 60 shows over two-years, where members were to earn up to $14million each.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Buckingham said he received a call from band manager Irving Azoff two days after the band was honored at a MusicCares benefit show in New York.
‘Stevie never wants to be on a stage with you again,’ Azoff was quoted as saying.
Musician alleges breach of fiduciary duty and breach of oral contract, among other charges, after firing earlier this year
Fleetwood Mac’s John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, and Lindsey Buckingham in 1975. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
UPDATE (10/12): “Fleetwood Mac strongly disputes the allegations presented in Mr. Buckingham’s complaint and looks forward to their day in court,” a rep for the band said Friday. “The band has retained Dan Petrocelli to handle the case.” Petrocelli, a Los Angeles attorney, had previously represented the Eagles’ Don Henley and Glenn Frey in their lawsuit against Don Felder, who was fired from the band in 2001.
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Lindsey Buckingham has filed a lawsuit against Fleetwood Mac for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of oral contract and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, among other charges, according to legal documents obtained by Rolling Stone. The group parted ways with Buckingham in January and replaced him with Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Neil Finn of Crowded House. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, states that he asked the group to postpone their tour three months so he could play shows with his solo band. He says plans were in place for the Rumours-era lineup to play 60 shows across North America when he was let go without warning.
“This action is necessary to enforce Buckingham’s right to share in the economic opportunities he is entitled to as a member of the partnership created to operate the business of Fleetwood Mac,” the complaint states.
The complaint offers a detailed look at the buildup to Buckingham’s departure from the band, going back to late 2017 when the group began plotting a 2018/19 world tour. It claims that Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Christine McVie wanted it to begin in August of this year, but Buckingham wanted it to start in November so he could tour behind his new solo release. When the others refused to delay the plans, the suit claims, he reluctantly agreed to postpone his album for a year to accommodate their wishes. Continue reading Lindsey Buckingham Sues Fleetwood Mac Over Dismissal From Band | Rolling Stone→
The singer-guitarist on his new anthology, solo tour and getting fired from the band he helped make famous
LIndsey Buckingham in 2018. Ryan Pfluger for Rolling Stone
Lindsey Buckingham and his wife, Kristen, were at home in Los Angeles on January 28th, watching the Grammy Awards ceremony on television, when the phone rang. Fleetwood Mac’s manager Irving Azoff was calling with a message for Buckingham from Stevie Nicks. The gist of it, Buckingham says, quoting Azoff: “Stevie never wants to be on a stage with you again.”
Two nights earlier, the most popular and enduring lineup of Fleetwood Mac — Nicks, Buckingham, singer-keyboard player Christine McVie, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood — performed in New York at a MusiCares benefit show honoring the group. “We rehearsed for two days, and everything was great,” Buckingham claims. “We were getting along great.”
But on the phone, Azoff had a list of things that, as Buckingham puts it, “Stevie took issue with” that evening, including the guitarist’s outburst just before the band’s set over the intro music — the studio recording of Nicks’ “Rhiannon” — and the way he “smirked” during Nicks’ thank-you speech. Buckingham concedes the first point. “It wasn’t about it being ‘Rhiannon,’ ” he says. “It just undermined the impact of our entrance. That’s me being very specific about the right and wrong way to do something.”
As for smirking, “The irony is that we have this standing joke that Stevie, when she talks, goes on a long time,” Buckingham says. “I may or may not have smirked. But I look over and Christine and Mick are doing the waltz behind her as a joke.”
Great reflection on a long and impressive solo career outside of the confines of Fleetwood Mac
This fantastic set of songs from Lindsey Buckingham’s solo career (1981 to present) provides an impressive array of musical talents and styles from the creative musical genius of the Rumors-era Fleetwood Mac that deserves to have a place in your record collection. Lindsey’s often overlooked solo career has included six impressive solo albums and three live albums that are covered well within this anthology set.
Two impressive unreleased songs are also included that were in contention for the aborted final Fleetwood Mac album that continues to show that Lindsey has the ability to still craft a very good pop/soft rock track. The set is concluded with a great live collection of songs from recent live solo tours that includes his best known Fleetwood Mac songs.
It is a wonder to me how this accomplished musician had not reached a wider audience, but I strongly recommend that you pick up this anthology set and see what you have been missing, be prepared to be very much impressed.
This review was for the three-CD deluxe anthology set (that has the same track list as the 6 LP vinyl set), not the single CD release and has been published on Amazon UK and the iTunes UK Music Store,
Songs appear on forthcoming compilation, ‘Solo Anthology – The Best of Lindsey Buckingham’
Lindsey Buckingham performed two songs from his forthcoming album, Solo Anthology –The Best of Lindsey Buckingham on Monday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. The anthology – comprising album, live and alternate versions of songs culled from Buckingham’s solo, collaborative and soundtrack material – bows on October 5th via Rhino.
On Kimmel, Buckingham performed “Trouble,” which first appeared as the lead single to his solo debut, 1981’s Law and Order. He also delivered “Soul Drifter,” a song originally from his third solo effort, 1992’s Out of the Cradle. Backed by his four-piece band, Buckingham tenderly sang the songs, buoyed by the group’s harmonies.
Buckingham embarks on a North American fall tour beginning October 7th in Portland, Oregon, at Revolution Hall and it wraps in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on December 9th. The 34-date trek is his first tour since he was fired from Fleetwood Mac in April.
Lindsey Buckingham has announced a two-month tour of theaters across North America lined up for the fall, marking his first solo performances since he split with Fleetwood Mac earlier this year.
He also revealed details of a three-CD compilation of his solo career that will arrive on Oct. 5.
Buckingham’s tour will start at the Revolution Hall in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 7 and conclude at the Sands Events Center in Bethlehem, Penn., on Dec. 9. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday and Saturday. You can get full details, including pre-sale information, at Buckingham’s website.
A list of tour dates is below.
Solo Anthology – The Best of Lindsey Buckingham consists of three discs comprised of material from throughout his solo career, including “Holiday Road” and live versions of some of his most famous Fleetwood Mac songs. The set also includes two never-before-released tracks, “Hunger” and “Ride This Road.” A one-disc distillation of the collection will be available, as will a six-LP vinyl version that will be released on Nov. 23.
Tickets for all but the Wilmington, N.C., and New London, Conn., shows come with a CD or digital download of the single-disc version of Solo Anthology. You can see the track listing below the tour dates.
“This was not something that was really my doing or my choice,” guitarist says of exit from band
Lindsey Buckingham spoke about his firing from Fleetwood Mac for the first time when the guitarist performed Friday night at a California fundraiser. Larry Marano/REX/Shutterstock
Lindsey Buckingham spoke about his firing from Fleetwood Mac for the first time when the guitarist performed Friday night at a California campaign fundraiser.
“It’s been an interesting time on a lot of levels,” Buckingham said at the fundraiser supporting Democratic congressional candidate Mike Levin (via Jeremy Roberts).
“For me, personally, probably some of you know that for the last three months I have sadly taken leave of my band of 43 years, Fleetwood Mac. This was not something that was really my doing or my choice.”
“I think what you would say is that there were factions within the band that had lost their perspective,” Buckingham continued. “The point is that they’d lost their perspective. What that did was to harm – and this is the only thing I’m really sad about, the rest of it becomes an opportunity – it harmed the 43-year legacy that we had worked so hard to build, and that legacy was really about rising above difficulties in order to fulfill one’s higher truth and one’s higher destiny.”
Buckingham, who weaved his remarks about the Fleetwood Mac firing into a speech supporting Levin, remained diplomatic about the rift with his now-former bandmates, even sidestepping an audience member who yelled “Fuck Stevie Nicks.”
The brief comments were Buckingham’s first on the matter since Fleetwood Mac announced in April that the band recruited the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and Crowded House’s Neil Finn to replace Buckingham, who reportedly didn’t want to embark on a Mac tour this year.
“Words like ‘fired’ are ugly references as far as I’m concerned,” Mick Fleetwood told Rolling Stone in April. “Not to hedge around, but we arrived at the impasse of hitting a brick wall. This was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a functioning band. To that purpose, we made a decision that we could not go on with him. Majority rules in term of what we need to do as a band and go forward.”
Watch Buckingham’s comments on the Fleetwood Mac situation below:
Lindsey Buckingham has been fired from Fleetwood Mac. Again. Well, technically he left in 1987 but he was essentially told he had to leave after he refused to tour. This time too it’s said to be disagreements over the forthcoming tour but in many ways, this has been a long time coming.
Let’s not get into the blame game here because who knows what was said behind the scenes but there has been obvious tensions in the band for quite a while evidenced by Stevie Nicks’s reluctance to tour and even record with the band (last year’s Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie album was started as the next Mac record but was eventually released as a duo album after Nicks refused to contribute.)
This high drama was always been a huge part of the Mac and their appeal but to actually fire one of the key members of their most successful line-up is a huge move and, to many fans, a terrible mistake.
Buckingham wasn’t just the third voice and songwriter or guitar god of the band, he was the arranger and producer, the visionary, the man who helped bring out the brilliance in all of their songs. Fleetwood Mac carried on without Buckingham back in the late ’80s and early ’90s but there is no doubt a big part of the magic was gone. It’s hard to imagine, although the new members are both hugely talented, that they can recapture that special chemistry with new members Mike Campbell and Neil Finn so late in the game.
Of course, the Mac has had a revolving line-up over the years with some amazing talents (in particular the legendary Peter Green but also, the often forgotten but wonderful Bob Welch), but the impact of Rumours overshadows it all. Buckingham’s massive contribution to that is not only undeniable but an important part of why Fleetwood Mac still mean so much to people decades after they first formed and it could be argued, why they are still around at all.
Buckingham, after all, gave up plans for solo albums on at least two occasions to keep the Mac going. Fleetwood usually gets all the credit for the Mac soldiering on but there are times when it was Buckingham who actually made it happen. His enthusiasm meant we were just one voice away from getting that final Rumours line-up album that every fan has been dreaming about but at the very least his parting gift to the Mac is the rather lovely Buckingham McVie record. Continue reading Deep Tracks: Lindsey Buckingham→
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