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Articles
How Fleetwood Mac Influenced ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’
Stevie Nicks publicly responds to Lindsey Buckingham’s Fleetwood Mac exit for the first time
Stevie Nicks Admits Past Pregnancy With Don Henley and More About Her Wild History
Books
Stevie Nicks Said Dating Lindsey Buckingham Was Like Having to Come Home to Her Secretary
Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac by Mick Fleetwood
Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams, and Rumours by Zoe Howe
The Wild Heart of Stevie Nicks by Rob Sheffield (audiobook)
Podcasts
Trashy Divorces: Witchy Woman (Oct 25. 2020) and Go Your Own Way (April 7, 2019)
Shameless – Fleetwood Mac and the Making of Rumours: Part 1 and Part 2
What happens when two songwriters break up? They write A LOT of songs about each other!
What songs have Stevie and Lindsey written about each other?
Songs Stevie’s written about Lindsey:
Officially…
Landslide – “Well, I’ve been afraid of changing ’cause I’ve built my life around you / But time makes you bolder, even children get older, and I’m getting older too,”
Dreams – It’s said that she wrote this song in 10 minutes! “Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom. Well, who am I to keep you down?”
“Players only love you when they’re playing”
Silver Springs – “So I’ll begin not to love you. Turn around, see me runnin’. I’ll say I loved you years ago. Tell myself you never loved me”
“Time cast a spell on you, but you won’t forget me. I know I could’ve loved you, but you would not let me. I’ll follow you down ’til the sound of my voice will haunt you. You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loved you.”
Angel – “I still look up when you walk in the room. I’ve the same wide eyes, now they tell the story. I try not to reach out when you turn ’round and you say hello.”
Speculation…
Edge of Seventeen – She’s said this was inspired by Tom Petty and his wife as well as John Lennon’s death but if you look at the lyrics, she literally describes how her and Lindsey met when he was just about to turn 17, so….
Songs Lindsey has written about Stevie:
Officially…
Go Your Own Way – “Packing up/Shacking up is all you want to do” The drama over this line!
“If I could, baby I’d give you my world. How can I when you won’t take it from me.”
What Makes You Think You’re the One? – “What makes you think I’m the one who will love you forever? Everything you do has been done and it won’t last forever.”
Say Goodbye – “Thinking on the days of old. And the price that we paid. For a love we couldn’t hold. I let you slip away… Once you said goodbye to me, yeah. Now I say goodbye to you”
Speculation…
Never Going Back Again – “She broke down and let me in. Made me see where I’ve been. Been down one time. Been down two times. I’m never going back again.”
Go Insane – Some say this is about Stevie (I believe even Lindsey has) but his ex-girlfriend Carol Harris claimed it was written about her in her memoir.
Go Your Own Way/Silver Springs Single:
So, Go Your Own Way was a HUGE single on the Rumours Album. It was obvi Lindsey’s big break up song. Stevie had a break up song on the album, too in Dreams… however she had also written the banger – Silver Springs. She knew it was good, so good that she’d actually signed the rights to it over to her mother. Meaning her mother would solely profit from the song.
However, the band thought there were too many slow songs on the album and Silver Springs just did not make the cut. Stevie was crushed. Then she was pissed when it was released as the B side to… Go Your Own Way. (Remember that back then singles had an A side and a B side and typically the B side was a bonus track that wasn’t on the album.)
Can you imagine your revenge masterpiece being put as the B side of your ex’s revenge masterpiece????
Honestly, it almost seems like they kept torturing themselves by being around each other and reopening their wounds in order to produce good art. I mean, you do you. We could literally never be around an ex like this.
So, who else have they dated?
Lindsey and Stevie officially dated from 1971 until 1976 though it’s far more likely they actually began dating around 1968 (although perhaps not exclusively.)
Lindsey – Dating History:
Carol Ann Harris – 1977 – 1983 – Carol Ann was a model. This was a rocky relationship and she accused him of verbal and physical abuse (plus lots of cocaine use) in her 2009 memoir.
Anne Heche – Yes, THAT Anne Heche… I’ve not got much info here though.
Kristen Messner – 1997 – 2021 – They have three kids together and were married for 21 years.
Stevie – Dating History:
Don Henley – 1976 – 1978 – They began dating when Fleetwood Mac opened for The Eagles on tour. At one point during their relationship, she became pregnant but opted to have an abortion. She thought her career would end if she had a baby. She later wrote a song called Sara, which is the name she’d planned to give her unborn child. In 1981, they put out a song together called Leather and Lace.
Mick Fleetwood – 1977 – 1978 – This might be confusing because it completely overlaps with Don Henley, but, hey – they were on tour! Technically he was still married to Jenny at the time (for the second time). This one burnt a lot of bridges. But, most affairs do.
Jimmy Iovine – 1980 – 1983 – They began dating while they were both working on her debut solo album, Bella Donna. He was her record producer. Even though their romantic relationship ended, they continued to work together on her solo career.
Kim Anderson – 1982 – 1984 – Oh look, more overlap. Her bestie Sara’s Husband. She died of Leukemia just after giving birth to their son. Kim and Stevie turned to each other for support and solace. They even married in 1983, but quickly realized a romantic relationship was a mistake.
Joe Walsh – 1983 – 1986 – OMG even more overlap… and another member of The Eagles. Stevie has called Joe her, “Great, great love.” However, they broke up because they were both so addicted to cocaine, they feared one of them would die if they did not separate.
She considers the three big loves of her life… Lindsey, Don, and Joe.
Were they still in love when they performed The Dance in 1997?
This is debatable.
They’ve admitted in interviews to playing up the drama for performances.
It also seems like they never really got over each other. Lindsey said in one interview, “that was part of the deal with Stevie and me was that we had to spend an awful lot of time together without ever having gotten closure from each other. Most people, when they break up, they don’t see each other for a long time or maybe ever again. But you’re not constantly having to not only see someone but, in my case, make the choice to do right for someone when I didn’t always feel that I wanted to.”
In another interview, Stevie said that the moment she finally knew it was over between her and Lindsey was when he became a father. He became a father for the first time in 1998.
So, make what you will of it.
What happened in 2018?
In 2018, Lindsey Buckingham was officially kicked out of Fleetwood Mac.
The official announcement stated that it was due to a “disagreement over the upcoming tour.”
But of course, these two got messy.
He publicly stated that his manager told him that Stevie said she never wanted to be on stage with him again. He ended up filing a lawsuit against the band for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of oral contract, plus more.
Stevie has said that Lindsey’s version of events is “revisionist history.”
In September of 2021, Stevie told Rolling Stone magazine, “His version of events is factually inaccurate, and while I’ve never spoken publicly on the matter, preferring to not air dirty laundry, certainly it feels the time has come to shine a light on the truth. Following an exceedingly difficult time with Lindsey at MusiCares in New York, in 2018, I decided for myself that I was no longer willing to work with him. I could publicly reflect on the many reasons why, and perhaps I will do that someday in a memoir, but suffice it to say we could start in 1968 and work up to 2018 with a litany of very precise reasons why I will not work with him.”
So basically, she said it was me or him and the band chose her. From my research, it seems the main beef was that Stevie felt Lindsey smirked too much while she was giving a speech at the MusiCares event and they argued over what music they’d be introduced to on tour. The choice was an instrumental part of Rhiannon, and he did not agree to that.
After more than 50 years… that was her final straw. (Remember, they met in 1966 and began performing together in 1968.)
Speaking of Memoirs… Where is Stevie’s Memoir?!?
In a 2014 interview with Billboard, Stevie said this about writing a memoir…
“Because I wouldn’t be able to tell the whole truth. The world is not ready for my memoir, I guarantee you. All of the men I hung out with are on their third wives by now, and the wives are all under 30. If I were to write what really happened between 1972 and now, a lot of people would be very angry with me. It’ll happen some day, just not for a very long time. I won’t write a book until everybody is so old that they no longer care.
The third wives are not ready. The husbands are not ready either.”
So of course, I want to know who she’s shading!
Of the three men she most notably dated, none of them were on their 3rd wife in 2014 when she made this statement and none of their wives were under 30.
Don Henley was married to his first wife who was close to his age (or at least in her 50’s).
Joe Walsh was married to his 5th wife who was also close to his age (or at least in her 50s).
And, Lindsey was married to his first wife who was 42. It does seem most likely it was in reference to Lindsey and his wife, Kristen… Stevie and Lindsey though never officially married have both given interviews where they said they were practically married and he had another long-term relationship with Carol Ann that lasted multiple years.
My guess is that she was exaggerating about how much younger Lindsey’s wife was.
However, in 2014, Mick Fleetwood was on his third wife, if I did my math correctly, she could not have been under 30 in 2014 as they began dating in 1993.
What’s the state of their relationship right now?
In 2019, Lindsey underwent emergency open heart surgery, at which time his wife took to the internet to blast Fleetwood Mac for not privately reaching out to him or his family. They did release a public statement though.
In 2021, Lindsey’s wife and the mother of his 3 children filed for divorce after 21 years of marriage and more than 23 years together.
Stevie has never been seriously married and has not been in a public relationship since the ‘80s.
BUT… Her most recent IG post seems to shade Lindsey by referencing that her tour successfully concluded without any instances of Covid, all while Lindsey’s most recent IG posts address his canceled tour dates due to contracting Covid…
Stevie: “I got home from tour late Wednesday night, exhausted. It was great to be back in my world doing what I love for the first time in three years… AND I did not get Covid! We definitely proved that it can be done if you follow the rules.” – June 27
Lindsey: “It is with great sadness that we are announcing the postponement of Lindsey’s European tour which had been due to begin next week. Along with other members of his band and crew, Lindsey contracted Covid-19…” – May 12
Just a reminder, these bitter-ass exes are 72 and 74, folks.
Let’s Bring it Back Around to Daisy Jones and the Six…
We’ve established that Taylor Jenkins Reid did not base the actual characters of Daisy and Billy on Stevie and Lindsey, but more onstage tension and chemistry were inspired by them. What do you think? Do you see the similarities and the inspiration?
Daisy does seem very much crafted after Stevie… however Stevie and Lindsey were in an actual relationship and joined the band together.
Karen seems like Christine… except she and John were married while Karen and Graham were sneaking around.
