Fleetwood Mac’s former lead guitarist and co-lead singer Lindsey Buckingham is suing the influential classic-rock group after being fired from their tour. US Weekly stated that Buckingham was unaware of his firing and that the artist was upset over a breakdown of communication between both parties in recent months.
Last year Buckingham allegedly asked the band if they could postpone their tour this year from August to November, so that he could work on promoting his solo material. The band eventually refused to accommodate his request, with Buckingham’s manager telling the artist in January that “the Fleetwood Mac tour was off.”
In April the band publicly announced that Buckingham was fired from the band. To replace Buckingham the group added Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House.
“We are thrilled to welcome the musical talents of the caliber of Mike Campbell and Neil Finn into the Mac family. 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,” the band said in a statement. “Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution. We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour… Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour. The band wishes Lindsey all the best.”
According to the lawsuit filed Buckingham is suing his former band mates for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of oral contract and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage. He took time to explain that his motive was also personal, due to his long history with the band.
“Am I heartbroken about not doing another tour with Fleetwood Mac? No, because I can see that there are many other areas to look into,” he explained in an interview. “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 joined the group in 1975, while the band was searching for recording studios in Los Angeles, California. At that point the band primarily consisted of primarily Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie and John McVie, while the band rotated between various guitarists and vocalists.
Prior to joining the band he had been in a folk-rock duo with singer Stevie Nicks, his girlfriend at the time who joined as the lead vocalist of the group. After joining the group, the band saw unprecedented success, reaching number one on the Billboard charts twice right after joining, thanks to the release of their albums Fleetwood Mac(1975) and Rumours.
Despite this lawsuit the band are continuing on with their tour entitled An Evening With Fleetwood Mac, with over 50 shows across North America. The tour began back in October, and will include future stop in San Francisco, California.
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