Lindsey Buckingham Sues Fleetwood Mac For Firing Him From Band
Lindsey Buckingham is firing back at Fleetwood Mac. Former Fleetwood Mac lead guitarist and singer Lindsey Buckingham has filed a lawsuit against his ex-bandmates after they fired him from their already scheduled North American tour, according to a report from Us Weekly.
Buckingham is suing his former bandmates Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Christine Vie, and John McVie for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of oral contract, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, per Us Weekly.
In court documents filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Buckingham, who first joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975, stated that his manager informed him in January that the Grammy-winning band “would proceed with its upcoming and already organized 2018 to 2019 concert tour without him.” The 69-year-old rock legend alleges that “not a single member of the band” called him to talk about the decision after 43 years together.
In the suit, Buckingham admits that he asked his Fleetwood Mac bandmates to delay the start of their tour to allow him to release and promote his solo album, but after they allegedly refused to accommodate his request, he agreed to stop work on his solo project to tour with them. Buckingham said the five musicians agreed to hit the road for approximately 60 concerts in North America.
Lindsey Buckingham sues Fleetwood Mac over his dismissal from the band https://t.co/19bWheWne4 pic.twitter.com/h2StsSRlZo
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) October 11, 2018
Buckingham claims that he was originally told by his manager that “the Fleetwood Mac tour was off,” but that a few days later he found out the rest of the band “planned to tour without him” and had “suddenly cut [him] off entirely.”
Fleetwood Mac ultimately hired longtime Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House singer/guitarist Neil Finn to replace Buckingham on the tour, which kicked off earlier this month in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Some of Campbell and Finn’s music has been included in the tour setlist.
Buckingham recently told Rolling Stone he is not “heartbroken” over not doing another tour with Fleetwood Mac, the band he co-fronted for more than four decades, but that he upset over the way the band’s legacy has ended.
“The one thing that does bother me and breaks my heart is we spent 43 years always finding a way to rise above our personal differences and our difficulties to pursue and articulate a higher truth. That is our legacy. That is what the songs are about. This is not the way you end something like this.”
Buckingham has alleged that it is his ex, Stevie Nicks, who wanted him off of the tour. The guitarist said in January his manager, Irving Azoff told him, “Stevie never wants to be on a stage with you again.” At the time, Buckingham assumed it was Nicks who was quitting the band. A few days later, Azoff told the guitarist something to the effect that he was “getting ousted” and that Nicks gave the rest of the band “an ultimatum: Either you go or she’s gonna go.”
Stevie Nicks has said that the decision to fire Buckingham was over a disagreement over tour plans and that he wanted too much time off for his solo work. But Lindsey Buckingham has long insisted that Fleetwood Mac always “came first” and that he never did anything “that was just cause to be fired. ” He claims his attempts to contact his ex-bandmates have resulted in “radio silence.”
“I’ve done my best to reach out to them,” Buckingham told Rolling Stone. “[I haven’t] technically closed the book on anything. Nor would I. But I am not planning that anything will change from what it is now.”
Lindsey Buckingham’s solo album, tentatively called Blue Light, will be released next year.
