Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s relationship has always been rife with problems. After their breakup, however, the dynamic grew particularly tense. When Nicks released her debut solo album, a project she was immensely proud of, Buckingham’s reaction was less than celebratory. She explained that she could never forgive him for how he reacted to her hard work.
Fleetwood Mac was not happy when Stevie Nicks released a solo album
When Nicks announced that she was working on solo music, many, including her bandmates, worried that this was the end of Fleetwood Mac. Nicks assured her bandmates that this was not the case, but they still worried. Mick Fleetwood was furious to learn that she had signed a contract with Atlantic Records, but Nicks wouldn’t back down.
“She was impervious to any pressure from the group,” Fleetwood said, per the book Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis.
Part of this was because she knew she was not going to leave Fleetwood Mac. Her solo career was a way for her to put out her backlog of music, but she liked being part of a group.
“I’m not doing a solo record to turn myself into a solo artist,” she insisted.
She won’t ever forgive Lindsey Buckingham for his response to her work
When Nicks did release her solo album, Bella Donna, many around her felt that the album would not perform well. Nicks had only ever been known as one part of Fleetwood Mac, and people wondered if the enchantress routine she did onstage would translate into a solo career. Despite this, the album received positive reviews and spent one week at number one. It was an undisputed success.
Her Fleetwood Mac bandmates did not take this well.
“My old journals tell the story of the way things changed when Bella Donna came out,” Nicks said. “No one in the band ever said a word to me about my solo career. They were keeping quiet, out of their own interests. No one even said they’d listened to my record. They knew that if they ripped Bella Donna apart, I wouldn’t give them any more songs. No more ‘Dreams’ — the only #1 single that Fleetwood Mac ever had. That was me.”
While nearly everyone kept their opinions to themselves, Buckingham made it clear that he wasn’t thrilled with the album. Nicks wrote “elaborate dedications” to her bandmates and hand-delivered copies of the album to them. Buckingham did not pick up the album to even glance at the dedication and left it at the studio at the end of the day. Nicks later learned that he referred to her single “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” as “Stop Dragging My Career Around.”
“I never forgave him for that one,” she later said
Stevie Nicks says her solo career helps her be artistically fulfilled
As Nicks is still an active member of Fleetwood Mac, it’s clear that her solo career didn’t change her standing within the band. She shared that she’s grateful for the opportunity to do both.
“I feel really blessed to be able to be the Gemini that I am and be able to hop back and forth between my solo career and Fleetwood Mac,” Nicks told Rolling Stone. “My solo career is truly the reason why Fleetwood Mac is still together because I get bored easily.”
By experiencing the different atmospheres of solo and group work, she says that she avoids getting burnt out.
“Every time I go to work on my solo career, I try to make it as different from Fleetwood Mac as I possibly can so that it really is two worlds,” she explained. “When I feel ready to go back to Fleetwood Mac when we do our next tour in a year and half, I’ll be ready to go back to Fleetwood Mac, and it’ll be good.”
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