Breaking: Fleetwood Mac Fires Lindsey Buckingham, Lead Guitarist And Vocalist

Fleetwood Mac has fired Lindsey Buckingham after a disagreement over the band's upcoming tour, Rolling Stone has confirmed. The band announced that Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House will replace him. News of Buckingham's departure initially broke when former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Billy Burnette shared an April 4th tweet that has since been deleted, saying: "Breaking news: Lindsey Buckingham is out but I'm not in." Rolling Stone has confirmed Buckingham's departure, though no specific tour dates have been announced. Fleetwood Mac issued a collective statement about the news, saying: "We are thrilled to welcome the musical talents of the caliber of Mike Campbell and Neil Finn into the Mac family. With Mike and Neil, we’ll be performing all the hits that the fans love, plus we’ll be surprising our audiences with some tracks from our historic catalog of songs. Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution. We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour." Mick Fleetwood added, "Fleetwood Mac has always been about an amazing collection of songs that are performed with a unique blend of talents ... We jammed with Mike and Neil and the chemistry really worked and let the band realize that this is the right combination to go forward with Fleetwood Mac style. We know we have something new, yet it’s got the unmistakable Mac sound." Buckingham was not a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, which formed in 1967, but was asked to join the group after the exit of Bob Welch in 1974. That incarnation of the band, which also included Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks, went on to release one of the most successful albums of its time, 1977’s “Rumours,” which has sold more than 40 million copies and yielded such classics as “Don’t Stop” and “Go Your Own Way,” the latter written by Buckingham alone, as well as “The Chain” and “You Make Loving Fun.” Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974 along with Stevie Nicks. He wrote and sang many of their most memorable songs, including "Go Your Own Way," "Tusk" and "Second Hand News." He left in 1987 shortly before the Tango in the Night tour (where he was replaced by Billy Burnette) and rejoined in 1996 for The Dance reunion tour. He remained active on the road with them for the next two decades. They last played full sets at Classic East and Classics West in July of last year, as they did play a brief set in January at the pre-Grammy MusiCares concert in their honor. The set ended, fittingly enough, with "Go Your Own Way." "Two weeks ago, I received a wonderful invitation to be a part of a truly great band," Finn tells Rolling Stone in a statement. "A few days later, I was standing in a room playing music with Fleetwood Mac. It felt fresh and exciting, so many great songs, a spectacular rhythm section and two of the greatest voices ever. Best of all, we sounded good together. It was a natural fit. I can’t wait to play." In August of last year, Mick Fleetwood spoke to Rolling Stone about the band's next tour. "I was in Italy recently and met Stevie out there," he said. "She said to me, 'Let's sit down and really listen to some stuff that sort of almost got forgotten.' So I know she's already thinking she wants to do some things we haven't done in years. I always think that Stevie and Lindsey should do a Buckingham Nicks song in the set. And have Christine do a blues song. I hope it certainly won't be the same show as we did before. We always played nearly three hours, and we cut it back a little bit for the wear and tear, but we do over two hours. And when you got three singers, which is, like, three bands, really, to get that perfect set, it's a trip." https://youtu.be/3ToRIUoXmIw Source: Rolling Stone and Variety How do you feel about this news? See the reactions from fellow musicians and people in the industry, NEXT. https://twitter.com/SherylCrow/status/983662201964724224 https://twitter.com/Royorbisonjr/status/984269492841836544 https://twitter.com/stevebastoni/status/983599191522856960 https://twitter.com/julia_azari/status/984085027435761666 https://twitter.com/LewTurner/status/983628374370373632 https://twitter.com/Greeblehaus/status/983448044640309248

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