Mick Fleetwood, co-founder of legendary rock band Fleetwood Mac, has shared his hopes for reconciliation between ex-bandmates Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
Former guitarist Lindsey, 74, and frontwoman Stevie, 76, have had a turbulent relationship over the past five decades and beyond.
This included a love affair throughout the 1970s that ended around the creation of the band’s renowned 1977 album, Rumours (which featured Lindsey’s iconic break-up song Go Your Own Way).
But as Lindsey and Stevie’s personal and professional relationship deteriorated over the years, everything came to a head in 2018 when Lindsey suddenly ruptured from the band.
The former flames have not toured together since with Mike Campbell and Neil Finn taking Lindsey’s place.
‘It’s no secret, it’s no title-tattle that there is a brick wall there emotionally,’ Mick, 77, said in a recent interview about the feuding duo.
‘Stevie’s able to speak clearly about how she feels and doesn’t feel, as does Lindsey. But I’ll say, personally, I would love to see a healing between them – and that doesn’t have to take the shape of a tour, necessarily,’ he added to Mojo magazine.
Whether they will bury the hatchet remains to be seen but in 2021 Lindsey opened up about his perspective of why he was dumped from the band to the LA Times.
‘It would be like a scenario where Mick Jagger says, “Either Keith [Richards] goes or I go.”
‘No, neither one of you can go. But I guess the singer has to stay. The figurehead has to stay.’
‘I think she saw the possibility of remaking the band more in the Stevie Nicks vein. More mellow and kind of down, giving her more chances to do the kind of talking she does onstage.’
Stevie, however, fiercely hit back against Lindsey’s retelling calling it ‘factually inaccurate’.
She continued: ‘To be exceedingly clear, I did not have him fired, I did not ask for him to be fired, I did not demand he be fired.
‘Frankly, I fired myself. I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my well-being. I was done. If the band went on without me, so be it.’
Back in 2013, the Landslide singer told Oprah that Lindsey attributed their break-up to the band. Otherwise, they could have built a life together.
‘We never, ever, with everything that happened to us, ever, let love affairs break Fleetwood Mac up,’ she said at the time.
‘But Lindsey always blamed Fleetwood Mac for the loss of me. Had we not joined Fleetwood Mac we would’ve continued on with our music but we probably would’ve gotten married, and we probably would’ve had a child.’
But for those holding out hope for another tour, it’s looking unlikely.
Stevie, who announced her first UK and Ireland solo tour in 35 years in March, recently ruled out a possible on-stage reunion for Fleetwood Mac because of late bandmate Christine McVie.
The keyboardist died of a stroke aged 79 in 2022.
‘Without Christine, no can do… There is no chance of putting Fleetwood Mac back together in any way. Without her, it just couldn’t work,’ Stevie recently told Mojo.
‘Even if I thought I could work with Lindsey again, he’s had some health problems,’ she added. Lindsey had open heart surgery in 2019 which damaged his vocal cords.
Stevie continued: ‘It’s not for me to say, but I’m not sure if Lindsey could do the kind of touring that Fleetwood Mac does, where you go out for a year and half. It’s so demanding.’
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