Constant infidelity and betrayal. Crippling addiction and substance abuse problems.
Multiple shocking bankruptcies. You might think you know Fleetwood Mac,
but this is the untold truth of their biggest successes and worst tragedies.
Many people associate Fleetwood Mac with the late 1970s rock era, but the band officially
got its start across the pond in the 1960s. The band was formed in London in 1967 with
four members: Peter Green, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and Jeremy Spencer. Green, McVie,
and Fleetwood were previous members of an iconic blues act John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers,
but they decided to go their own way and start a band of their own, adding Spencer to the lineup.
While the Fleetwood Mac sound we know today is a beautiful mix of rock, pop, and folk,
the early Fleetwood Mac lineup found success with its British blues sound. Their debut
album Fleetwood Mac was a hit within the U.K. blues sphere, catapulting the band
to success. However, the record didn't make a big splash in the United States.
You have to admit: Fleetwood Mac is a pretty cool name for a rock
'n' roll band. So who exactly came up with it? Well, if you guessed it
was Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, you'd be mistaken. According to The Washington Post,
it was Peter Green who came up with the name by combining Fleetwood and McVie's last names.
It's an interesting move, if you think about it. Green was a well-known and respected
guitarist at the time of Fleetwood Mac's formation, so he could have easily thrown
his own recognizable name in the mix. However, according to the documentary Man of the World:
The Peter Green Story, Fleetwood said that not including his own name in the band's name showed
his commitment to being part of the group instead of putting himself in the spotlight.
It's no secret that Fleetwood Mac's lineup has changed a number of times throughout the years,
but what you may not know is that the first big lineup change came in the
early 70s. Peter Green left the group in 1970 amid issues with his mental health;
he was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. According to The New York Times, he was also
taking LSD at the time he left Fleetwood Mac and was inspired to change his life.
Green wouldn't be the only original Fleetwood Mac musician to leave the band in the early
'70s. The band's other guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, parted ways with the group in 1971.
While touring in the U.S. Spencer reportedly stepped out one day in Los Angeles and went
missing for days. He was eventually found at the headquarters for the Children of God
cult. The Guardian reports that he left the band and joined the cult with his family.
Now, fast forward to New Year's Eve 1974. It was at this time that Mick Fleetwood asked
Lindsey Buckingham to join the band. The group was looking for a new guitarist. At the time, the band
consisted of Fleetwood, John McVie, and Christine McVie, who joined the band in 1970. Buckingham
arranged it so that both he and Stevie Nicks, his girlfriend and music partner, would join the band.
Buckingham and Nicks had been making music together long before the opportunity to join
Fleetwood Mac came along. The duo first met in the late '60s as high school students. The
two became music collaborators and eventually started dating, moving to Los Angeles together
in 1972. They were a duo called "Buckingham Nicks" and even put out a self-titled album
in 1973. Nicks and Buckingham first appeared as members of Fleetwood Mac on their 1975
album Fleetwood Mac — two years before their album Rumours launched them to superstardom.
It's widely reported that each member of Fleetwood Mac was experiencing relationship woes while
recording Rumours. John and Christine McVie were close to divorcing, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie
Nicks called it quits, and Mick Fleetwood found out his wife was having an affair with one of his
friends. Yeah, that's a lot of heartbreak in one studio. Something fans may not know about
the romantic inner workings of Fleetwood Mac? The fact that Nicks and Fleetwood had a brief affair.
The spark of attraction between Fleetwood and Nicks was lit during a Rolling Stone cover shoot,
which called for the duo to snuggle next to one another in bed, along with their other bandmates.
The affair began during the Rumours tour in 1977 — a time when Nicks was seeing Eagles singer
Don Henley and Fleetwood was married. The affair didn't last long, and Nicks herself said that it
"caused a lot of pain" in an interview on Oprah's Master Class. However, during an interview with
FoxNews.com, Fleetwood said he and Nicks had a "very bright moment" with their timely affair.
Every member of Fleetwood Mac embraced the rock and roll lifestyle. According to Rolling Stone,
Stevie Nicks admitted that each member of the band had an addiction to drugs, but at one point,
she had the worst cocaine habit. As Far Out Magazine reports, Nicks' coke habit started
as a recreational activity but grew into an addiction by the time Rumours came about.
Getting launched into the rock 'n' roll stratosphere — combined with a grueling
touring schedule and a deep sense of loneliness — Nicks' cocaine habit continued into the '80s,
and it caused a hole to form in her nasal cartilage. In an interview for
Oprah's Master Class, Nicks said the doctor explained that, with that hole,
her next bump could very well be her last. Nicks went to rehab in 1986, which helped
her kick the coke habit. Nicks has been very open about her coke addiction, admitting:
"It was the first thing I thought of when I woke
up in the morning and the last thing I thought of before I went to bed."
She also said she saved herself from her addiction and got through scary moments on her own.
Given Fleetwood Mac's success and Stevie Nicks' undeniable talent,
it was only a matter of time before she went solo. However, according to Nicks herself,
she didn't even think about going solo until 1981. Nicks explained to Tim McGraw on his
Beyond the Influence Radio show that she loved being in a band — and that even when
she did decide to embark on a solo career, she didn't want to leave Fleetwood Mac. Nicks did
eventually go solo and released her first solo record, Bella Donna, in 1981. The album was
a chance for Nicks to release songs she had written while in Fleetwood Mac and featured
hits like Edge of Seventeen and Leather and Lace, a duet between Nicks and Don Henley.
Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie were the two women of Fleetwood Mac. Being the only two women
in a band that was thrust into stardom, Nicks and McVie banded together and formed a close bond.
According to Harper's Bazaar, McVie admires Nicks' talent and dedication to her career,
especially since McVie herself leads more of a low-key life outside of the band.
Nicks has gushed about McVie, too. As The Guardian reports, Nicks has called McVie a best friend,
big sister, and mentor. Nicks also told The Guardian that they made a pact in the early
days to stick together and be treated as equals in the male-dominated rock business. After making a
promise like that, it's no wonder the two ladies of Fleetwood Mac formed such a great friendship.
By early 1993, the lineup that sent Fleetwood Mac to rock legend
status had parted ways. Lindsey Buckingham left the band in 1987,
with Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks following suit in 1990. However, just a few years later,
the band would find themselves reunited by politics ... well, sort of.
A presidential hopeful by the name of Bill Clinton unofficially adopted Fleetwood Mac's
tune Don't Stop as his campaign song. While Clinton loved the tune, his aides weren't
too keen on the music choice — but Clinton didn't listen and stuck to his musical guns. Eventually,
the song grew on others just as much as it had on Clinton. He was so fond of the song
that he had Fleetwood Mac reunite to play at his first inaugural gala in January 1993,
the first time the Rumours era lineup had gotten together on stage in about five years.
"It's always the music, it always has been,
with Fleetwood Mac. We take a lot of care with what we do."
Given the history and talent Fleetwood Mac has,
it was only a matter of time before they got their most famous lineup
back together in 1997. The band released their album The Dance that same year,
and also did an MTV Unplugged performance. The next year,
in 1998, Christine McVie retired from the band, leaving Buckingham, Nicks, Fleetwood,
and John McVie for the lineup. The next time the Rumours-era lineup reunited was in 2014,
when Christine McVie once again returned to the group — marking the second time this lineup
officially reunited. She was welcomed back with open arms from both the public and her bandmates.
The Fleetwood Mac lineup went through a change once again in
2018 when Lindsey Buckingham was fired from the band. According to Billboard,
Buckingham got the boot amid issues surrounding the band's 2019 tour.
"Was Lindsey effectively fired?" "Well, we don't use that word because I think it's ugly."
It sounds like another Fleetwood Mac bump in the road that led to a departure, but this one was a
bit bumpier for the tumultuous rock group. Buckingham sued the band in October 2018,
laying out several accusations, including breach of oral contract. The lawsuit
wound up being settled just two months later, in December 2018.
"Legally, this is all resolved?" "Yes, it is."
Needless to say, things weren't exactly peachy between Mick Fleetwood and Buckingham
after the lawsuit. People reports that the two were estranged for two years after the lawsuit,
but they reconciled in 2020 following the death of Fleetwood Mac founder
Peter Green. People also reported that Mick Fleetwood would like to
make music with Buckingham once again, even if it isn't with Fleetwood Mac.
Picture this: It's 1987,
a decade after Rumours came out, and Fleetwood Mac is recording their album Tango in the Night.
In true Fleetwood Mac fashion, tensions are high. Lindsey Buckingham was recording
a solo album at the time Tango in the Night came about, and he wasn't exactly chomping
at the bit to record another album with the band. Alas, he decided to bring some of his
solo work to Tango in the Night — an album he thought would be his last with the group.
As Louder Sound reports, much of the album's recording happened in Buckingham's home studio,
meaning his bandmates — and their party habits — infiltrated his house. Stevie
Nicks and Mick Fleetwood were still actively using cocaine at this time,
with their addiction to the drug worsening since the recording of
Rumours. Buckingham wasn't impressed with his bandmates' recreational activities,
so he put a Winnebago in his driveway so that Nicks, Fleetwood, and the company they
kept would have a place to party that wasn't in his home. Talk about a rock n' roll compromise.
Despite the tension at the time of recording, Tango in the Night became one of Fleetwood
Mac's most successful albums and is a staple record in '80s soft rock history.
Fleetwood Mac was one of the most successful
bands of the 1970s, with Rumours selling more than 45 million copies worldwide since its release.
The band was a hit, but one of its co-founders didn't spend his hard-earned money so wisely.
In the spring of 1984, Mick Fleetwood filed for bankruptcy — he had more than $3.6 million in
debt and only around $2.4 million in assets. It wasn't the rock n' roll lifestyle that drained
Fleetwood's bank account, though. Fleetwood himself admitted that making some poor decisions
regarding real estate contributed to his financial downfall. That, and a few bad investments.
Bankruptcy is a stressful thing to go through, so you'd think one would avoid it happening again at
all costs, right? Turns out, Fleetwood's 1984 bankruptcy was only the beginning. According to
The Independent, the musician said he's "lost count" of his bankruptcies over the years.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact
SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).