Fleetwood Mac’s Manager Says: “I Was the Highest-Paid Babysitter in the World” During the Band’s Chaotic Peak
Photo by Warner Bros. Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Fleetwood Mac were known as much for their music as for their rock star excess, and their manager Dennis Dunstan has now revealed the wild extent of their lifestyle. From private jets to baby grand pianos in hotel rooms, the band’s antics defined a chaotic era of touring and superstardom.
Managing Madness on the Road
When it came to bands living the rock star life to the extreme, Fleetwood Mac were among the top. Lead guitarist and singer Lindsey Buckingham once spent $100,000 (€85k) on a single day trip between Austin and Texas, using a private jet and limousines just to have lunch at his favorite Tex-Mex restaurant during a U.S. tour. The band also celebrated their road manager’s birthday by turning his 20th-floor hotel suite into a farmyard with bales of hay, chickens, and piglets, partying into the early hours. Hotel management slapped them with a $20,000 (€17k) bill for damages—and banned them for life.
Singer Stevie Nicks was equally extravagant, insisting on taking her white baby grand piano on tour and having it installed in her hotel room in every city, often requiring a crane for setup. Bassist John McVie developed such a fear of losing money that he demanded to be paid in cash after each show, eventually panicking when surrounded by piles of bills in his hotel room.
These stories come from Dennis Dunstan, who was tasked with keeping the band on track while touring the globe. Australian-born Dunstan has been described as “the highest-paid babysitter in the world” because of the demanding role he played managing Fleetwood Mac’s needs, whims, and excesses.
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From Melbourne to the World Stage
Dunstan, a drummer himself, became Fleetwood Mac’s co-manager by chance. “I came from a very tough, rough suburb in Melbourne and I had to fight my way out of that place,” he said. “After I got beaten up by guys with a cricket bat because I was a musician, I decided to get into martial arts and ended up becoming Australia’s first kick-boxing champion.”
He first joined the band as a road manager on their Rumours tour in Australia, invited by promoter Paul Dainty. Afterward, Fleetwood Mac asked him to manage the American leg of the tour, which launched him into the chaos of global rock stardom. Dunstan recalls, “I’m fortunate to still be very close to all of them and to have been part of a magical mystery tour that for them was a rollercoaster ride of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll.”
Despite the band’s fights, romances, and drug use, Dunstan emphasizes the humanity of the group. “Despite all of the fighting that went on between them, and the drugs, they are all beautiful people and when they were together they were incredibly polite and courteous with each other and they loved each other like brothers and sisters.”
Steering the Supergroup Through Fame
Dunstan reflects on the intense emotions behind Fleetwood Mac’s greatest works. “But that emotion and the things that happened between them helped create probably one of the greatest albums ever written in Rumours. I’ve seen on stage at night tears in their eyes singing the songs because it was still raw emotion and this is what millions of people around the world wanted to see,” he said.
He also worked individually with each member on their solo projects, a role that required constant attention to detail. “It’s very hard at that level when you’re one of the biggest bands in the world, but I was there for them in the highs and the lows. Now you can do a degree in music management, but there was none of that back in the ’70s and ’80s. You either had a knack for it and you learned the hard way, and that’s what I did,” he explained.
Dunstan’s experiences managing Fleetwood Mac capture both the chaos and creativity of the band. His stories reveal how superstardom can mix with human flaws, creating a turbulent but unforgettable era in rock history.
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Reliving the Magic
SEVENTH Wonder, a touring orchestra and ensemble, will recreate Fleetwood Mac’s sound and energy with a show at the Ambassador Theatre in Dublin on Saturday, August 29, featuring songs from Rumours and the band’s greatest hits. Audiences will experience the music with singers and musicians interpreting the classic hits, bringing the spirit of Fleetwood Mac to life once more.
For more tour dates, visit www.seventhwonder.com.au.
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