Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born 3rd October 1949) is an American singer/songwriter/guitarist who was a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1975-87 and again from 1997-2018.
Before Fleetwood Mac[]
Lindsey Buckingham grew up listening to a diversity of music ranging from the Kingston Trio to the Beach Boys. In 1967 he formed Fritz with his partner Stevie Nicks with whom he shared lead vocals in the group in addition to playing bass guitar. In their four years as a working unit, Fritz opened for such acts as Big Brother and the Holding Company.
After Fritz disbanded in 1971, Buckingham and Nicks launched out as a duo. Their 1973 album Buckingham Nicks was not a hit but caught the attention of Mick Fleetwood who was looking to replace Bob Welch in Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham agreed to join on the condition that Nicks be allowed into the band too.
Fleetwood Mac and parallel projects[]
The first album to feature Nicks and Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac (1975), was a rapid success helped by the Nicks-penned hit single Rhiannon. The follow-up album Rumours (1977)was beset by the troubles caused by Nicks and Buckingham's relationship as well as John and Christine McVie's divorce but the resulting songs propelled the album to worldwide success and for a time it was the best-selling album of all time. Buckingham's song Go Your Own Way was chosen as the album's lead single. It peaked at #10 on Billboard and also topped charts in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Buckingham took a more prominent role in production for the follow-up album Tusk (1979) an ambitious double LP set where Buckingham wrote nine of the twenty tracks and played all the instruments on several of them. The album's title track, written by Buckingham, was once again chosen as the lead single and saw the group return to the UK Top Ten after a nine year absence (a reissue of Albatross notwithstanding) with the help of a video featuring the USC Marching Band who played on the track.
After an extensive tour to promote Tusk, Buckingham recorded his first solo album Law and Order (1981) which gave him an international hit single in Trouble. This was followed by Fleetwood Mac's Mirage (1982) and a second solo effort Go Insane (1984).
It was while Buckingham was working on a third solo effort that Fleetwood Mac were assembled to record Tango in the Night (1987) their first album in five years. Buckingham co-produced the album and wrote or co-wrote several songs for it including the lead single Big Love but had grown increasingly disillusioned by tensions with other band members and left the group before the album's promotional tour was launched. Despite this, he contributed guitar to Behind the Mask (1990) and backing vocals to Time (1995) as well as releasing his own Out Of the Cradle (1992).
It was while working on another album that Buckingham was called on to duet with Stevie Nicks on her song Twisted which appeared on the soundtrack of the 1996 movie Twister. Mick Fleetwood played drums on the track and was soon being approached to do some playing on Buckingham's album. This led to the involvement of John and Christine McVie and in 1997 the reunion of Fleetwood Mac's classic Rumours line-up was announced.
The reunion spawned a live album The Dance which included four new songs including two from Buckingham. It was short-lived as Christine McVie left the group the following year but the remaining line up of Fleetwood, John McVie, Buckingham and Nicks brought out Say You Will in 2003 and followed it with a successful tour.
Further group activity was put on hold while Buckingham fulfilled his desire to bring out two albums, the acoustically based Under the Skin (2006) and the more rock-oriented Gift of Screws (2008). Another Fleetwood Mac tour followed in 2009 but no new album was released as Stevie Nicks did not want to record another album as the only woman in the group. Buckingham's sixth solo album Seeds We Sow came out in 2011.
Fleetwood Mac toured again in 2013 this time with a four-track EP, Extended Play, on which Buckingham composed all bar one of the songs. When the tour reached London, the band were joined onstage by Christine McVie and shortly afterwards her return to the group fold was announced.
Nicks's continued reluctance to record with the group meant that material recorded by the other four members was released as a duo album Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie in 2017. In between tour dates to promote the album, the full Fleetwood Mac line-up performed the Classic East and Classic West festivals.
2018 looked to be a good year for the band as they prepared a tour and accepted the award for MusiCares person of the year but in April it was announced that Buckingham was no longer a member of the group and had been replaced by Mike Campbell and Neil Finn. The band stated that this was because he had wanted to delay the tour by a year to promote a forthcoming solo album but Buckingham later stated that this was not accurate and that he had been ousted because Nicks never wanted to share a stage with him again.
In spite of this, Buckingham soldiered on, releasing the compilation Solo Anthology and launching his own tour just as Fleetwood Mac were doing their own. Shortly after this he suffered a heart attack for which he received surgery. The tour was postponed due to this and yet again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The album he had recorded prior to his dismissal from Fleetwood Mac came out as a self-titled set in 2021.
Albums with Fleetwood Mac[]
Fleetwood Mac (1975)
Rumours (1977)
Tusk (1979)
Fleetwood Mac Live (1980)
Mirage (1982)
Tango in the Night (1987)
25 Years: The Chain (1992) - contributed new track Make Me a Mask (recorded solo)
The Dance (1997)
Say You Will (2003)
Extended Play (2013)
Contributions to songs on other Fleetwood Mac albums[]
Behind the Mask on album of same name (1990) - acoustic guitar
Paper Doll on 25 Years: The Chain (1992) - additional guitar
Nothin' Without You on Time (1995) - backing vocals
Solo studio albums[]
Law and Order (1981)
Go Insane (1984)
Out of the Cradle (1992)
Under the Skin (2006)
Gift of Screws (2008)
Seeds We Sow (2011)
Lindsey Buckingham (2021)
with Stevie Nicks[]
Buckingham Nicks (1973) duo album
Twisted - contribution to soundtrack of Twister (1996)
with Christine McVie[]
Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie (2017)
Guest appearances on solo albums by Fleetwood Mac members[]
| Year | Artist | Album | Songs | Guests on same tracks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Bob Welch | French Kiss | Sentimental Lady | Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood |
| 1983 | Mick Fleetwood's Zoo | I'm Not Me | Unclear how much of album Buckingham features on but he sings and plays on his own song I Want You Back | Billy Burnette, Christine McVie |
| 1984 | Christine McVie | Christine McVie | The Challenge, Who's Dreaming This Dream (backing vocals)
So Excited, Got a Hold On Me (guitar) The Smile I Live For (lead guitar, backing vocals) |
|
| 2001 | Stevie Nicks | Trouble in Shangri-La | I Miss You | |
| 2011 | Stevie Nicks | In Your Dreams | Soldier's Angel | Mick Fleetwood (?) |
Fleetwood Mac colleagues as member[]
Peter Green (guest on Brown Eyes, 1979)
Fleetwood Mac colleagues as session musician[]
Mike Campbell (on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tracks)