Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Buckingham has gained much notoriety for his relationships. During the years he was with Nicks, he was emotionally abusive towards her. After the relationship ended, the attacks became more prominent. In 1976, Buckingham wrote the track ‘Go Your Own Way’, which was full of accusations towards Nicks. The fact that she had to help him perform the song made it that much worse.

During a tour in 1980, he reportedly attempted to trip her, and at some point, kick her while they were on stage performing. He once even threw a Les Paul guitar at her head. Responding to these accusations, Buckingham stated that he does not remember such incidents. Interestingly, as the tension grew, it only stoked up their creative output.

His relationship with the next prominent woman in his life, Carol Ann Harris, was equally bad. Buckingham would try to control her and not even allow her to talk to other members of the band.

Lindsey Buckingham was born on October 3, 1949, in Palo Alto, California, as the youngest among three sons of Rutheda (née Elliott) and Morris Buckingham. One of his older brothers, Gregory, was a competitive swimmer and silver medallist at the 1968 Summer Olympics. He passed away of a heart attack in 1990. His other brother, Jeff, is an insurance broker.

Like Gregory, Lindsey initially received training in competition swimming but later quit athletics when music became a priority. As a child, he had a Mickey Mouse guitar that he played along with his brother’s large collection of singles. His parents soon realised that their youngest son had inherent talent for music and purchased him a $35 Harmony guitar.

Lindsey Buckingham never received training on playing the guitar or learned how to read music. At the age of 13, he developed a serious interest in folk music and after being exposed to banjo methods, started making music in the energetic style of Kingston Trio.

In 1971, he joined the psychedelic and folk-rock band The Fritz Rabyne Memorial Band as their bassist and vocalist. He brought in friend Stevie Nicks as a second vocalist soon after. In 1971, they both quit the group and began a romantic relationship that would last until 1976.

Buckingham released his career’s first album in collaboration with Nicks. Aptly named ‘Buckingham Nicks’, the album was released in September 1973 through Polydor Records. On the album cover, Buckingham and Nicks appeared nude together, something with which Nicks was reportedly uncomfortable. The album registered poor sales and as a result, Polydor retracted their contract with the duo.

Mick Fleetwood, the drummer and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, became interested in hiring Buckingham as the guitarist in his group after he heard the song ‘Frozen Love’ from ‘Buckingham Nicks’ while he was in California. Buckingham told him he would not join the group unless Nicks also joined. Fleetwood agreed and made them part of the group without auditioning them.

In 1975, Fleetwood Mac put out their second eponymously titled album and 10th album overall. This was also the group’s first album with Buckingham as their guitarist. A year after its first appearance on the US Billboard 200, it became the number one album on the chart. In 1986, it received 5x platinum certification from the RIAA.

In 1977, Fleetwood Mac released their 11th and the second album with Buckingham as the guitarist, titled, ‘Rumours’. It turned out to be their greatest album to date. Not only it sold over 40 million copies worldwide, but it also won the 1978 Grammy Award for Album of the year and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003.