by Marlene Lenthang For Dailymail.com
December 8th 2018, 6:55:10 pm

• Lindsey Buckingham, 69, is speaking out in his first televised interview since he was fired from Fleetwood Mac in April 
• In October he filed a lawsuit against the band after his firing was announced
• He says long-time former girlfriend Stevie Nicks is behind his dismissal  
• ‘It appeared to me that she was looking for something to hang on me, in order to instigate some kind of coup’ he said on Nicks 
• She gave the band an ultimatum – keep her or Buckingham in the group 
• He revealed that he and the band have reached a settlement 
• Buckingham added he hasn’t spoken to the band in a year, with the exception of Christine McVie, with whom he made an album and toured with last year  

Fleetwood Mac singer Lindsey Buckingham has revealed he’s reached a settlement with his former bandmates, ending the heated lawsuit that sparked when he was kicked out of the group earlier this year.

Buckingham, 69, has spent 43 years with the acclaimed British-American band but was unceremoniously booted out in April, triggering his lawsuit filed in October that added to the group’s saga of internal conflict and drama.

In his first sit-down televised interview since the band’s split, he’s revealed that he and the band have settled the lawsuit and believes his former flame and band frontwoman Stevie Nicks, 70, was behind his firing.

‘We’ve all signed off on something. I’m happy enough with it,’ Buckingham said on CBS This Morning: Saturday.  

‘I’m not out there trying to twist the knife at all. I’m trying to look at this with some level of compassion, some level of wisdom,’ he added.

 

Lindsey Buckingham, 69, is speaking out in his first televised interview since he was fired from Fleetwood Mac in April saying he’s settled his lawsuit, filed in October, with the band 

He says long-time former girlfriend Stevie Nicks, 70, is behind his dismissal saying she gave the band an ultimatum – keep her or Buckingham in the band. Nicks and Buckingham together in 2018  honored at the MusiCares Benefit Grammy Weekend 

‘It appeared to me that she was looking for something to hang on me, in order to instigate some kind of coup’ he said on Nicks

But it wasn’t easy to accept the end of his life’s legacy with the band that skyrocketed to fame in the 70s.

‘It hurt for a while. I did walk around for a few months with a visceral reaction to that,’ he said.

The band officially announced his departure on April 9.

He knew things were going south when he got a call from the band’s manager two days after the band was honored at the MusiCares Benefit Grammy weekend on January 26 of this year.

‘[Band manager] Irving Azoff called me up and he was basically screaming at me. He was screaming at me on the phone saying, “You’ve really done it this time.” And I had no idea what he was talking about. He said, “Stevie never wants to be on stage with you again,” and I’m going, “Why?”‘ Buckingham said.

‘It appeared to me that she was looking for something to hang on me, in order to instigate some kind of coup,’ Buckingham calmy added.

Nicks, with whom he joined the band back in December 1974 and had a on-and-off romantic relationship, allegedly gave the group an ultimatum – her or Buckingham.

‘Irving told me a couple of days later that she’d given the band an ultimatum and either I had to go or she was going to go,’ the former lead guitarist said.

The band pictured together after they were honored with the MusiCares Person of the Year 2018 award. From L to R Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and John McVie 

The band pictured together in 1975, right after Buckingham and Nicks joined the band 

Buckingham and Nicks were dating when they joined the band, pictured all together touring in the 70s

But Buckingham says he’s not sure how he and Nicks reached a boiling point.

‘I don’t know. None of it makes sense to me, you know? Fleetwood Mac, the five of us together is in my mind, is a very sacred thing,’ he said.

In his October lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, he accused his former bandmates of seven offenses including breach of fiduciary duty, breach of oral contract and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, according to People. 

The former lead guitarist then opened up about his long romance with Nicks.

The two joined the band when they were a couple and were dated on and off from 1969 to 1976. They wrote their hit Go Your Own Way about their breakup on the hit album Rumors, which is the ninth best-selling album of all time.

Buckingham describes their current relationship as ‘fragmented’ but says there’s ‘still a lot of love there’.

‘I was not the one doing the leaving. She left me. But there was never really any chance to get anything like closure because that takes perhaps some distance,’ he said, speaking on how they broke up while remaining in the tight-knit band.

Despite the break-up, they managed to remain friends. When Buckingham produced his 2011 solo album, he said he ‘spent a ton of time over at her house…and we got along great.’

‘I mean the chemistry is the chemistry,’ he added.

The lawsuit in early 2018 cut him off from his bandmates. Buckingham reveals he hasn’t talked to any of his former mates since his firing nearly a year ago.

The one band member that reached out was Christine McVie, with whom he recorded an album and toured with just last year.

Buckingham said he’s open to the band getting back together but doesn’t think it’s likely, pictured above in Oakland, California in 1975

He described his relationship with Nicks as ‘fragmented’ adding there’s ‘still a lot of love there’