It's rare that a musician reaches icon status as a band member and as a solo artist, but Stevie Nicks is one-of-a-kind. Here's what her bandmates in Fleetwood Mac have had to say about her over the years.
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00:00It's rare that a musician reaches icon status as a band member and as a solo artist, but
00:05Stevie Nicks is one of a kind.
00:08Here's what her bandmates in Fleetwood Mac have had to say about her over the years.
00:12Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham first performed together in the short-lived psychedelic
00:16outfit Fritz and later as a duo, Buckingham-Nicks, releasing a self-titled album in 1973.
00:23They joined Fleetwood Mac together in 1974.
00:26By then, they were a romantic but infamously volatile couple.
00:30During the recording of Rumors, their relationship began to break down.
00:34The band meant everything, and the band was way more important than each separate person's
00:41problems."
00:42Though they continued to work together, it hasn't been smooth sailing.
00:46In 2018, Buckingham was fired from the band, and he accused Nicks of being behind it.
00:51In a 2021 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Buckingham said,
00:55"...I think she saw the possibility of remaking the band more in the Stevie Nicks vein, more
01:01mellow and kind of down, giving her more chances to do the kind of talking she does on stage."
01:07Though Nicks pushed back against his accusations, Buckingham doubled down, saying,
01:12"...I think it was hard for her, seeing me jump around in an age-inappropriate way.
01:17Also, she's lonely.
01:18She's alone.
01:19She has the people who work for her, and I'm sure she has friends, but you know."
01:24The late Christine McVie, who died in 2022, had been a member of Fleetwood Mac for around
01:29five years when Nicks and Buckingham joined.
01:32She'd sung lead on some of the band's biggest songs to that point, and continued to, including
01:37the Rumors hits, You Make Lovin' Fun and Don't Stop.
01:40Nevertheless, she found herself overshadowed by her new female bandmate, who was five years
01:44younger and credited with bringing the mystical aesthetic audiences took to in droves.
01:50McVie explained,
01:51For a while, sure, I got jealous.
01:54It didn't last long.
01:55You realize what your role is, and my role is being part of what John and Mick is and
02:00not being a frontliner.
02:01I could no more do twirls and chiffon than Stevie could play the blues on the piano."
02:06Eventually, Nicks and McVie became close friends.
02:09In 2014, McVie told Rolling Stone,
02:12"...She's an icon.
02:14She's a genius.
02:15She's a lovely, kind, beautiful woman, and I love her to death.
02:18She and I are different.
02:19And I can't not love the woman.
02:21She's just amazing.
02:22She's very, very generous in every single department."
02:26Mick Fleetwood and Nicks had a two-year affair at the height of their fame, amid the fallout
02:30of Nicks and Buckingham's breakup.
02:33Speaking to The Telegraph, Fleetwood admitted,
02:35"...I am sorry that we didn't think about Lindsey enough.
02:38We just thought he was okay, but he needed to be acknowledged."
02:40"...We are an intense group of people."
02:43In a 2024 Billboard interview, Fleetwood weighed in on the current state of the Nicks-Buckingham
02:49relationship, saying,
02:50"...Stevie's able to speak clearly about how she feels and doesn't feel, as does Lindsey.
02:56But I'll say, personally, I would love to see a healing between them, and that doesn't
03:00have to take the shape of a tour, necessarily."
03:03Bassist John McVie is the least well-known member of the classic Fleetwood-Mac lineup,
03:08but he's been there from the beginning as the Mac to Mick's Fleetwood.
03:12In a 2004 Q&A, McVie remembered the awe he felt when he first played with Nicks and Buckingham
03:17back in 1975, sharing,
03:20"...we rehearsed in the basement of our agent and I remember them doing a three-part for
03:24the first time.
03:26Goosebumps.
03:27Very exciting.
03:28Lindsey's playing blew me away.
03:30Stevie's voice and songs, yes, you could say I was impressed."
03:33He also echoed his ex-wife's account of Nicks, warmly describing their long-term relationship
03:39by saying,
03:40"...I'd like to think that Stevie and I are and always have been friends.
03:44She's a great lady.
03:45She can be very funny and you always know where you stand with her.
03:49She also has one of the dirtiest laughs I've heard from a woman."
03:52Interestingly, McVie claimed he had no idea about Nicks' affair with Fleetwood until Mick
03:58wrote about it in his autobiography.