Lindsey Buckingham settles lawsuit against Fleetwood Mac
Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac can now go their own ways.
In an interview with CBS This Morning on Saturday, Buckingham revealed that he has settled his lawsuit with the classic rock band after being ousted from the group earlier this year. He told CBS that they reached a settlement a few weeks ago. “We’ve all signed off on something,” he said. “I’m happy enough with it. I’m not out there trying to twist the knife at all. I’m trying to look at this with some level of compassion, some level of wisdom.”
Back in October, Buckingham sued his former bandmates for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of oral contract, saying he was still owed his $12 million share of revenue from the band’s new tour, according to legal documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. The details of the settlement have not been disclosed at this time.
Buckingham was fired from the band back in January, but the news did not break until the band announced details of their tour in April. Reportedly, Buckingham’s dismissal came at the urging of bandmate (and former lover) Stevie Nicks, while Nicks maintains that the dispute was over Buckingham’s reluctance to tour due to his solo engagements. “It appeared to me that she was looking for something to hang on me, in order to instigate some kind of coup. Irving told me a couple of days later that she’d given the band an ultimatum and either I had to go or she was going to go,” Buckingham said.
“It hurt for awhile,” Buckingham told CBS This Morning of the split. “I did walk around for a few months with a very visceral reaction to that.” He also revealed that he hasn’t spoken to any members of the band since they parted ways nearly a year ago.
However, he did receive an email from Christine McVie, with whom he released an album and toured with in 2017. “She wrote me an email and basically said, ‘Dearest Lindsey, just know that I had nothing to do with any of this. Know that I miss you so much.’ She said, ‘I believe deep in Stevie’s heart that she would like you to come home,'” he told CBS.
While this may sound like stirrings of forgiveness on the inside, Buckingham said he has accepted that he might never be going back again (to quote one of his Rumours hits) to the band that was his artistic home for 43 years (give or take a few breaks in between). “I’m pretty much figuring that I won’t because a lot of people who know how convoluted Fleetwood Mac’s politics have been will say two years from now they’re gonna … and I’m like, ‘I’m not so sure.’ You know, it’s, something is a little different this time,” he mused.
While Fleetwood Mac is touring sans Buckingham into April of 2019, Buckingham has used the majority of this past year to put together an anthology album of his solo work. He will tour attached to his new album in 2019.
