Lindsey Buckingham out of Fleetwood Mac

Singer-guitarist will have to go his own way

Oh well. Fleetwood Mac said on Monday that Lindsey Buckingham is out of the band for their upcoming tour. Charles Sykes / Invision / AP

Fleetwood Mac announced on Monday that Lindsey Buckingham will not be on their next tour. The news came in two terse sentences at the bottom of a long press release announcing the concerts.

"Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour," it said. "The band wishes Lindsey all the best."

He'll be jointly replaced by Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers.

Buckingham joined the band with then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks in 1974 and the two became the central faces, voices and songwriters of the group for the four decades that followed.

Buckingham sang and either wrote or co-wrote hits like Go Your Own Way, Tusk, and The Chain.

Buckingham left the band once before, in 1987, returning for a tour in 1996 and remaining a steady member since.

No details were given on what led to the latest split. Buckingham's agent referred requests for comment back to a publicist for Fleetwood Mac, who said it was not clear how Buckingham could be reached.

The 68-year-old released an album and played a series of dates with the band's Christine McVie last year.

Fleetwood Mac used most of the news release announcing the departure to tout its two latest members.

"We jammed with Mike and Neil and the chemistry really worked and let the band realise that this is the right combination to go forward within Fleetwood Mac style," Mick Fleetwood, the drummer who co-founded the band in 1967, said. "We know we have something new, yet it's got the unmistakable Mac sound."

Finn said the group contacted him recently, and he was stunned to suddenly find himself a member.

"Two weeks ago I received a wonderful invitation to be a part of a truly great band," Finn said. "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."

The two voices Finn refers to are those of Nicks and McVie, who will be on the tour along with fellow longtime members Fleetwood and bass player John McVie.

For Campbell, the new venture will be his first return to touring since the death in October of Petty, his musical partner of 42 years. Campbell was a founding member of the Heartbreakers in 1975, and played with them until just days before Petty died. The pair already had ties to Fleetwood Mac. They wrote and played on Nicks' 1981 hit Stop Draggin' My Heart Around.

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