Lindsey Buckingham Leaves Fleetwood Mac, Mike Campbell Joins the Group

[That 70s Guy]

Lindsey Buckingham's second tenure with Fleetwood Mac has apparently come to an end. Reports are saying he has parted ways with the band 22 years after their classic lineup reunited and that he'll be replaced on an upcoming tour by Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House.

Rolling Stone is reporting that Buckingham was fired over a disagreement regarding the tour.

“Fleetwood Mac has always been about an amazing collection of songs that are performed with a unique blend of talents,” Mick Fleetwood told Variety. “We jammed with Mike and Neil and the chemistry really worked and let the band realize that this is the right combination to go forward with in Fleetwood Mac style. We know we have something new, yet it’s got the unmistakable Mac sound.”

“We are thrilled to welcome the musical talents of the caliber of Mike Campbell and Neil Finn into the Mac family," the band added in a statement. "With Mike and Neil, we’ll be performing all the hits that the fans love, plus we’ll be surprising our audiences with some tracks from our historic catalog of songs. Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution. We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour."

The statement concluded that “Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour. The band wishes Lindsey all the best.”

According to Variety, news of Buckingham's departure was first made public on April 4 when Billy Burnette, who took over for Buckingham from 1987-95, tweeted, “Breaking news: Lindsey Buckingham is out but I’m not in.” The tweet was deleted a few hours later.

Campbell's connection to singer Stevie Nicks runs deep; they worked together on her 1981 debut solo album, Bella Donna. The record came about after Nicks told Atlantic Records' president, Doug Morris, that she wanted to be a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Morris told her that Petty had a rule: "No girls allowed." Variety adds that Fleetwood played with Finn's son, Liam, at an event in New Zealand last year.

The arrival of Buckingham and Nicks, then a couple, on New Year's Eve 1974 changed the fate of Fleetwood Mac. The band had been primarily known as a solid but low-selling blues band up to that point, and the pop sensibility the duo brought, beginning with 1975's Fleetwood Mac, turned them into superstars. Two years later, their breakup, as well as the divorce of bandmates John and Christine McVie, was chronicled on the hit album Rumours.

Buckingham left shortly after the release of 1987's Tango in the Night, when Burnette and Rick Vito replaced him. But he came back, first for their performance at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993 and then four years later for The Dance live LP.

Campbell joined up with Petty in the early '70s, when they were in the band Mudcrutch. He became Petty's most important collaborator throughout the years right up until Petty's 2017 death. In addition to Nicks, Campbell has also worked with Don Henley, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Warren Zevon and many others.

A native of New Zealand, Finn got his start in 1977 when he joined Split Enz, who were fronted by his brother Tim. Over the next few years, he began taking a bigger role in songwriting, giving the band an international hit in 1980 with "I Got You." After their 1984 breakup, Finn formed Crowded House and had two Top 10 hits, "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong," from their self-titled 1986 debut. They broke up a decade later, and Finn has since released several solo albums and occasionally reunited with Crowded House. He confirmed his involvement in Fleetwood Mac on Twitter.

 

[That 70s Guy]

 

[Roxi]

It's not really Fleetwood Mac without Lindsey Buckingham. The replacements may be talented, but good luck with that. Lindsey may be an ego-driven jerk in his personal life, but on stage he is part of FM and really no one can replace him.

 

[Old Dude]

It's not really Fleetwood Mac without Lindsey Buckingham. The replacements may be talented, but good luck with that. Lindsey may be an ego-driven jerk in his personal life, but on stage he is part of FM and really no one can replace him.

Fleetwood Mac was Fleetwood Mac for YEARS before Lindsey Buckingham joined. He quit for nine years before returning, and they were still Fleetwood Mac. They were Fleetwood Mac when their guitarists were Jeremy Spencer, Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, Bob Welch, Billy Burnette, and Dave Mason. Face it, as good as Buckingham was, he was a replacement.

 

[Lynch]

Fleetwood Mac was Fleetwood Mac for YEARS before Lindsey Buckingham joined. He quit for nine years before returning, and they were still Fleetwood Mac. They were Fleetwood Mac when their guitarists were Jeremy Spencer, Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, Bob Welch, Billy Burnette, and Dave Mason. Face it, as good as Buckingham was, he was a replacement.

He may have been a replacement, but he was a standard during their glory days. While Peter, Bob, Mason, etc were in the band when hardly anyone outside of the UK knew much about FM, it was the Nicks, Buckingham era that brought them their fame, fortune and large fanbase.

You can hire anyone you want to replace Buckingham's guitar, that's not the issue. But replacing his voice? Not going to happen. I don't know what the cause of this move is, but they've proven before that FM fails without Buckingham.

 

[Riff Raff]

Fleetwood Mac was Fleetwood Mac for YEARS before Lindsey Buckingham joined. He quit for nine years before returning, and they were still Fleetwood Mac. They were Fleetwood Mac when their guitarists were Jeremy Spencer, Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, Bob Welch, Billy Burnette, and Dave Mason. Face it, as good as Buckingham was, he was a replacement.

Agreed

 

[Squidbilly]

Hate to say,
End of another era & he's going to die a lonely old man,
Mark my words,

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

And here I thought they had all grown into adulthood.

Oh well, if there was any chance of a new FM album, that's probably done.

 

[BikerDude]

He may have been a replacement, but he was a standard during their glory days. While Peter, Bob, Mason, etc were in the band when hardly anyone outside of the UK knew much about FM, it was the Nicks, Buckingham era that brought them their fame, fortune and large fanbase.

You can hire anyone you want to replace Buckingham's guitar, that's not the issue. But replacing his voice? Not going to happen. I don't know what the cause of this move is, but they've proven before that FM fails without Buckingham.

Well personally I'd call their glory days the Peter Green years.
But I get it that generally people identify Fleetwood Mac with the AOR stuff of the late 70's.
In either event they are going to be a Tribute band even with the original members.
Just doing the hits.
Not that it's a bad thing.
I've watched 38 Special and Skynyrd and BOC do some great shows just playing the old tunes.
Skynyrd threw the towel in on doing new material a while ago and just resigned themselves to giving the fans what they want.
Same with the others.

Anybody else get the impression that Lindsey might be a tad difficult to get along with?
Just saying.
Lindsey and Stevie came along when Fleetwood Mac was adrift.
Old news.
They did a much lighter pop thing and Mick was desperate.

I'll take classic FM.

 

[SanguineRemedy]

FM... Peter Green's era, the Nicks/Buckingham era, are all outstanding contributions to rock music.

If anyone could say there isn't FM without a certain member, it'd be Mick Fleetwood. He's been the constant since the beginning.

Buckingham is a self-centered ***** because he knows he's good at what he does, like Blackmore. He's a great player and an even better singer... It will be difficult for a lot of fans to condone this loss.

I personally prefer the Green years and I even prefer Christine McVie over Nicks, but like I said, all of these lineups will contribute in an oustanding way somehow... Commercial success or not. Too influential to pass them up, regardless of what they do now.