Lindsey Buckingham suing the rest of Fleetwood Mac for firing him
Lindsey Buckingham has filed a lawsuit against the rest of Fleetwood Mac after they fired him from the band, US Weekly reports. Specifically, he is suing Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, and John McVie for "breach of fiduciary duty, breach of oral contract and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage." From US Weekly:
Buckingham, 69, claims in court documents filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by Us that his manager informed him in January that the rock band “would proceed with its upcoming and already organized 2018 to 2019 concert tour without him.” He further alleges that “not a single member of the band” called him to share the news despite 43 years of friendship....
...Buckingham admits in his lawsuit that he asked the group to start their tour in November instead of August to allow him to release and promote a solo album that he had been working on. After his bandmates allegedly refused to accommodate his request, Buckingham delayed his solo project to tour with them. He says all five of them agreed to do approximately 60 concerts in North America.
But then, on January 28, Buckingham’s manager told him that “the Fleetwood Mac tour was off.” The guitarist reached out to the band to question the decision. He claims in the documents that he did not find out until three days later that they “planned to tour without him” and had “suddenly cut [him] off entirely.”
Buckingham's last appearance with Fleetwood Mac was at the Musicares benefit back in January. The group announced his replacements, Mike Campbell and Neil Finn, back in April. Just one day before the news of the lawsuit, Buckingham talked with Rolling Stone about the situation:
“Am I heartbroken about not doing another tour with Fleetwood Mac? No,” Buckingham says, “because I can see that there are many other areas to look into.” But, he goes on, “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 says he tried to contact Nicks, without success. On February 28th, a month after first writing to Fleetwood, Buckingham sent the drummer another e-mail expressing those sentiments and his frustration with the band’s “radio silence.” There was no response. Since their last show together, at MusiCares, Buckingham has not spoken to any of his former bandmates.
Buckingham announced his new album and solo anthology and tour which hits NYC in December. Fleetwood Mac's tour hits the NYC area in March.