Stevie Nicks Comforted Mick Fleetwood After He Blew Through Fleetwood Mac’s Tour Money
Stevie Nicks always had a soft spot for Mick Fleetwood. She counts him as one of the great loves of her life, and he says that he’ll always love her. They’ve had their ups and downs, however. One particularly low moment came when Fleetwood, acting as Fleetwood Mac’s manager, spent so much money on a tour that the band was left with practically nothing. After a painful band meeting, Nicks comforted him.
Mick Fleetwood has always held Fleetwood Mac together
Fleetwood is a founding member of Fleetwood Mac and has dedicated himself to keeping the band together through decades of turmoil. The band has cycled through several lineups, and Fleetwood has been there through it all. When the band reunited in 1997 after most of the Rumours-era members left, they credited Fleetwood.
“It really comes down to Mick,” Christine McVie once told the Los Angeles Times. “He’s the one who was constantly trying to get these five people in one room together. This is his love, his baby. It’s his band, and there’s nothing more he loves to do than get up on stage and play with us.”
Lindsey Buckingham described the band as Fleetwood’s “lifeblood” to the newspaper, and it is clear why. Fleetwood has dedicated his life to the band’s success.
Stevie Nicks comforted him after a brutal band meeting
In Fleetwood Mac’s early years, Fleetwood was also the band’s manager. This stopped in 1980 after the Tusk tour made very little money. The band toured for eight months, but they also drank the finest champagne, traveled by private jet, and snorted industrial amounts of cocaine. At the end of it, they couldn’t account for millions of dollars.
The band called a meeting at Fleetwood’s house and demanded answers. He explained that the band’s demands during the tour were costly, and he spent to keep up with their lifestyles. Ultimately, though, this lost him his position as the band manager. Their tour manager, John Courage, was also fired.
“Now I was off the throne,” Fleetwood later said, per the book Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis. “It was the democratization of Fleetwood Mac. Ever since, we’ve had review by committee — managers, lawyers, accountants. The Gang of Four.”
After the meeting, Fleetwood went to his back garden, upset, and the rest of the band followed. Nicks held his hand and said they weren’t mad at him, they were just doing what was necessary.
Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood are close friends
Years after this moment, Nicks and Fleetwood are still close friends. She is the godmother of his daughters, and she considers him one of the great loves of her life. He feels the same way.
“In terms of our relationship with each other, we still have the same connection to this day; we just love each other in the true sense of the word, which transcends passion,” he wrote in his book Play On. “I will take my love for her as a person to my grave, because Stevie Nicks is the kind of woman who inspires that devotion.”
