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In 2018, after decades of tumult, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, and John McVie decided to continue Fleetwood Mac without Lindsey Buckingham. Nicks and Buckingham’s relationship had been fraught since they joined the band. Their rift grew seemingly impassable when Nicks decided she could no longer work with him, though. Six years after Buckingham’s firing, Fleetwood expressed hope that his former bandmates can heal their relationship.

Mick Fleetwood hopes Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham can have a friendlier relationship

Several years after Fleetwood Mac moved forward without Buckingham, he spoke out about their decision, pinning it primarily on Nicks. He told the LA Times she wanted to remake the band “more in the Stevie Nicks vein,” something she fiercely denied.

“His version of events is factually inaccurate and while I’ve never spoken publicly on the matter, certainly it feels the time has come to shine a light on the truth,” Nicks said. “To be exceedingly clear, I did not have him fired, I did not ask for him to be fired, I did not demand he be fired.”

Mick Fleetwood stands in between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. Nicks and Buckingham have their backs turned and plays guitar.
Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, and Lindsey Buckingham | Pete Still/Redferns

Nicks said she spoke to Buckingham after he had a heart attack in 2019 and at Christine McVie’s funeral, but they have otherwise tried to avoid each other. Fleetwood hopes this will change.

“It’s no secret, it’s no title-tattle that there is a brick wall there emotionally. Stevie’s able to speak clearly about how she feels and doesn’t feel, as does Lindsey,” Fleetwood told Mojo. “But I’ll say, personally, I would love to see a healing between them — and that doesn’t have to take the shape of a tour, necessarily.”

Fleetwood Mac will likely never tour again

Nicks sees little possibility of a reunion between herself and Buckingham, and even less of a chance of a new Fleetwood Mac tour. After Christine McVie died in 2022, she believed any chance of a new tour evaporated.

“Without Christine, no can do,” she said. “There is no chance of putting Fleetwood Mac back together in any way. Without her, it just couldn’t work.” 

She also wasn’t sure Buckingham would join the band even if she was willing to welcome him back.

“Even if I thought I could work with Lindsey again, he’s had some health problems,” she said. “It’s not for me to say, but I’m not sure if Lindsey could do the kind of touring that Fleetwood Mac does, where you go out for a year and half. It’s so demanding.”

Stevie Nicks was once as hopeful as Mick Fleetwood about her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham

Years before Fleetwood Mac fired Buckingham, Nicks was confident she would always have a connection with her ex. They fought viciously — and occasionally violently — over the years, but she didn’t think anything could extinguish the spark between them.

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham both wear black and hold hands onstage during a Fleetwood Mac concert.
Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham | Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

“That electric crazy attraction between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks never dies, never will die, never will go away,” she told MTV. “He’s married, he’s happy, he has three beautiful children that I love. You know, he’s found a good, happy, calm, safe place — but who Lindsey and I are to each other will never change.”

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