Over the last five decades, the members of Fleetwood Mac have weathered a bevy of tumultuous
relationships and numerous changes of staff.
Despite selling over 100 million records, sudden upheaval has become standard for Fleetwood
Mac.
Here's the tragic real-life story of Fleetwood Mac.
The original Fleetwood Mac was formed in 1967 in England with Mick Fleetwood, John McVie,
and Peter Green, all former members of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
It was Green who wrote the band's first major hit, "Black Magic Woman," and Green who decided
to change the band's name from "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac" to just "Fleetwood Mac."
In 1970, Green left the band, as his drug addiction and frequent LSD use took a toll
on his mental state.
Fortunately for the rest of the band, John McVie's wife Christine, a talented singer-songwriter
in her own right, stepped up and joined the group.
More major personnel changes soon followed.
Original guitarist Jeremy Spencer left in 1971, as did guitarist Danny Kirwan in 1972
after a backstage brawl with fellow guitarist Bob Welch.
In 1973 a third guitarist, Dave Walker, was fired after Fleetwood decided he wasn't a
good fit for the band.
In those days, being a guitarist in Fleetwood Mac was like being a drummer in Spinal Tap.
The addition of Christine McVie was a welcome boost to Fleetwood Mac, but trouble was brewing
elsewhere.
Mick Fleetwood suffered the first of the band's romantic heartbreaks in 1973 when guitarist
Bob Weston had an affair with Fleetwood's wife, Jenny Boyd.
Weston remained with the band until the end of their 1973 tour.
The guitarist troubles didn't end there.
Bob Welch, a band member since 1971, could no longer handle the long hours or his budding
drinking problem, and quit in late 1974.
Desperate to find stable, talented musicians who could bring their skills to the table,
Fleetwood Mac began looking around for a new guitarist.
When Fleetwood finally found the player he was looking for in Lindsey Buckingham, he
also found a new singer in Buckingham's girlfriend, a young songwriter named Stevie Nicks.
In the mid-1970s, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were struggling singer-songwriters
and lovers just trying to get by in Los Angeles.
The release of their debut album as a duo, 1973's Buckingham Nicks, was a financial disappointment,
but they hadn't yet given up their dreams.
While touring a California recording studio, Mick Fleetwood heard their music and asked
who the guitar player was.
Eager to replace Bob Welch, Fleetwood got in touch with Buckingham and offered him a
spot as Fleetwood Mac's new guitarist.
Buckingham came back with a counter-offer.
"I just said, well, you know, Stevie and are a package deal."
After Nicks listened to every previous Fleetwood Mac albums and agreed there was potential
there, she and Buckingham joined the band.
Fleetwood Mac quickly went into the studio to record their first album with the new lineup.
Titled simply Fleetwood Mac, the album produced the band's first-ever number one hit: Nicks'
mystical story song "Rhiannon."
Fleetwood Mac was suddenly one of the biggest bands in the world but they would soon get
even bigger.
As Fleetwood Mac skyrocketed to fame, the band's personal lives were quickly disintegrating.
Nicks' relationship with Buckingham grew strained, and Christine and John McVie began having
problems of their own.
By 1976, both couples were split up, and at one point Nicks even had an affair with Fleetwood.
Even as all of this drama unfolded, though, the band was still working to make a new record.
Fleetwood Mac poured all of their behind-the-scenes drama into their next album, Rumours.
Released in 1977, Rumours is still considered one of the greatest breakup albums of all
time.
Songs like "Dreams," "Go Your Own Way," "Second Hand News," and other hits were direct products
of the band's failed relationships.
Rumours shot to number one, and stayed on the charts for 353 weeks nearly seven years!
Even as they were falling apart personally, professionally Fleetwood Mac was the biggest
band in the world.
The success of Rumours left Fleetwood Mac reeling.
Despite the album's acclaim, personal problems and drug use ravaged and exhausted the band
as they toured the world.
Then it was time to make another album, under the weight of the massive expectations set
up by Rumours.
The band's follow-up, a double album called Tusk, finally arrived in 1979.
Tusk sold well, but it couldn't live up to the success of Rumours, in part because of
its more experimental sound.
In an effort to revive the feelings behind Rumours, the band released a live album featuring
many of their biggest hits in 1980.
Some of the old magic was still there, but as the '80s dawned Fleetwood Mac's frontwoman
was eager to go her own way.
In the early 1980s, after completing work on Tusk, Stevie Nicks had enough allure on
her own to begin a solo career.
Nicks' first solo album, Bella Donna, was a number one hit in 1981.
Buckingham also went solo in 1981 with his album Law and Order, but Stevie was without
a doubt the bigger solo presence.
Driven by hits like "Edge of Seventeen," her album made her a massive star in her own right.
Fleetwood Mac came together again to produce the Mirage album in 1982.
Nicks appeared on the album as she worked on her own new record, The Wild Heart, which
arrived the following year and produced more hits.
Even as her solo career was thriving, though, Nicks' personal life was full of heartbreak.
She made news when she married Kim Anderson, the widowed husband of her lifelong friend
Robin, who had died of leukemia.
Two days before Robin's death, doctors were forced to remove her six and a half month
old son, Matthew, from the womb.
Driven by grief and a desire to be a mother to Matthew in memory of her friend, Nicks
married Anderson.
By the mid-1980s, Stevie Nicks was still struggling personally and professionally.
Her 1985 album Rock a Little was only a modest success compared to her previous releases,
and she was battling drug and alcohol addiction.
By 1986, Nicks had checked into the Betty Ford Center to seek treatment.
Meanwhile, both Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham pursued solo projects.
In 1984, McVie released a self-titled album that produced the hit "Got A Hold on Me."
In 1983 Buckingham had a hit with the song "Holiday Road" from the National Lampoon's
Vacation soundtrack, and the next year released his second solo album, Go Insane.
After years of working around their solo projects and personal issues, Fleetwood Mac finally
released a new album in 1987.
Tango in the Night was their biggest hit since Rumours, driven by singles like "Little Lies"
and "Big Love."
But drama soon followed the success.
Though she'd recovered from her cocaine addiction, Nicks developed an addiction to the tranquilizer
Klonopin.
Then, as the band prepared to tour to promote Tango in the Night, Buckingham decided to
quit Fleetwood Mac.
The band hired guitarists Rick Vito and Billy Burnette to replace Buckingham for the upcoming
tour, but it was still the end of an era.
"We just couldn't work together anymore."
In 1990, after Buckingham's departure, Fleetwood Mac produced Behind the Mask, the first real
flop since the beginning of the Rumours era.
Nicks left the band shortly after the album's release to work on solo projects and get her
addictions under control.
That struggle reached a turning point in 1993, when Fleetwood Mac's classic lineup briefly
reunited to perform "Don't Stop" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration.
Appearing in the national spotlight again helped motivate Nicks to kick her old habits
once and for all.
In 1995, the remaining members of Fleetwood Mac joined with Traffic guitarist Dave Mason
and country singer Bekka Bramlett to release Time.
It was the first Fleetwood Mac album since 1974 to feature no major contributions from
Buckingham or Nicks, and remains a mostly forgotten footnote in the band's history.
Before long, Fleetwood Mac would realize that what fans really wanted was another reunion.
After the disappointing release of Time, Fleetwood Mac found itself at a crossroads.
New hope for some old magic was sparked when Fleetwood joined Buckingham for some studio
sessions for a solo project.
"Suddenly, there we were in the studio saying 'Gee, this feels pretty good.'
Isn't that weird?!"
The Rumours lineup of Fleetwood Mac officially reunited in 1997 for a live show that would
become the album and concert film The Dance.
The Dance was a massive success, launching a tour and producing a radio hit with Nicks'
song "Silver Springs."
In 1998, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the success of
its most popular lineup was short-lived.
That same year, Christine McVie announced that she was leaving Fleetwood Mac during
one of its most successful periods.
McVie explained that it was truly nothing personal, but she'd developed a fear of flying
that made touring difficult.
Plus, she simply wanted to settle down into a life that wasn't dominated by constant travel.
The Dance got fans excited for the possibility of a new Fleetwood Mac album.
But with McVie's departure, that was once again in jeopardy.
After Christine McVie's departure, both Buckingham and Nicks returned to work on solo projects.
Nicks released the successful solo album Trouble in Shangri-La in 2001, and Buckingham went
back to work on a solo album he'd been developing since before The Dance.
It was while he was in the midst of that solo work that an offer to make a new Fleetwood
Mac album emerged.
Nicks, Buckingham, Fleetwood, and John McVie gathered together to make Say You Will, the
first Fleetwood Mac album headlined by Buckingham and Nicks since Tango in the Night.
The album was a financial success, but it was also the first Mac record made without
Christine McVie since 1970, and her absence was felt.
It was also not made without drama.
The resulting creative clashes were covered in the documentary Destiny Rules.
Despite these issues, Fleetwood Mac went back on the road to promote Say You Will, and continued
to tour off and on for the next decade without McVie.
Though the band was showing its age a bit, Fleetwood Mac soldiered on.
They self-released four new songs under the title Extended Play in 2013, and in 2014 Christine
McVie announced that she was ready to rejoin the band for a major tour with the Rumours-era
lineup.
The reunion was successful, and in 2017 Christine McVie and Buckingham released an album of
duets together.
Everything was rosy again!
Or was it?
By this point, we're guessing you know the answer.
In January of 2018, Fleetwood Mac came together to be honored as the "Person of the Year"
by the MusiCares foundation.
While the band performed well together, tensions were high behind the scenes.
According to Fleetwood and Nicks, Buckingham was resisting an upcoming tour the band had
been planning, and wouldn't budge.
It was clear that if the band was touring again, it would be without their lead guitarist.
"It became just a huge impasse, and hit a brick wall, where we decided that we had to
part company."
Buckingham fought back, and claimed that Nicks had threatened that she would leave Fleetwood
Mac if Buckingham wasn't dismissed.
Buckingham filed suit against the band, claiming breach of contract, and later said he thought
Nicks had staged some kind of "coup" to get him to leave.
By the end of 2018, the suit was settled out of court.
"I'm happy enough with it.
I'm not out there trying to twist the knife at all."
With Buckingham gone, the band again picked up two new members: Mike Campbell of Tom Petty
and the Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn of Crowded House.
The band embarked on a successful tour that lasted through 2019, and they may one day
hit the road again.
While Buckingham thinks his days with Fleetwood Mac are over, the band itself is constantly
evolving through good times and bad.
If there's one thing you can say about Fleetwood Mac, it's that they're survivors.
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