The Reason Stevie Nicks Felt Like A ‘Dying Flower’ In Fleetwood Mac

Stevie Nicks shared more about the dramatic split with her long-time bandmate, Lindsey Buckingham, and his eventual firing from Fleetwood Mac in 2018. The tension had been building for a while, but it reached a boiling point shortly after the band performed at the January 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year ceremony. Buckingham had hinted that he was fired because Nicks felt he mocked her on stage, and he said that she gave the band an ultimatum: him or her.

For Nicks, though, it was a different story. She described the breakup as the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” She told the Pocono Record:

“I never planned for that to happen. Any time we reformed to do a tour or a record, I always walked in with hope in my heart. And I just was so disappointed. I felt like all the wind had gone out of my sails.”

A Long Time Coming

While Nicks admitted that the breakup had been a “long time coming,” she always hoped things would improve. She reflected on how her relationship with Buckingham was difficult, especially within the context of Fleetwood Mac. According to Nicks, Buckingham’s attitude toward the band made her feel “like a dying flower all the time.” She explained:

“I stayed with him from 1968 until that night. It’s a long time. And I really could hear my parents – I could hear my mom saying, ‘Are you really gonna do this for the rest of your life?’ And I could hear my dad saying in his very pragmatic way – because my dad really liked Lindsey – ‘I think it’s time for you and Lindsey to get a divorce.’ It’s a very unfortunate thing. It makes me very, very sad.”

Nicks also opened up about how, over time, Buckingham’s constant criticism made her feel more at home with her solo band. She said:

“I just felt like a dying flower all the time.
“They gave me a hard time making me sad, which led me to be more comfortable with my solo band’s ‘good, creative happy world.’”

The Silver Springs Controversy

Stevie Nicks also recalled an unforgettable moment that deeply hurt her. This involved the band’s iconic album Rumours. In an interview with Maclean’s, she revealed that one of her most emotional songs, “Silver Springs”, was removed from the album without her consent. She said, “The battle of ‘Silver Springs’ was pretty bad. They took that off Rumours and they didn’t even ask me. They replaced it with ‘I Don’t Want to Know’—which was a good song, but it was short. They took ‘Silver Springs’ off because they thought it was too long on the record, and there was no way to cut it down. I was told in the parking lot after it had already been done.”

Despite the struggles and personal pain, her dedication to Fleetwood Mac remained, mostly because of the fans. She said, “You get to a point in your life where some things have got to go if anything else new is going to come in.” Nicks also acknowledged the massive demand for Fleetwood Mac tickets, explaining:

“Fleetwood Mac tickets sold out in three weeks for 80 shows. I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, I don’t want the audiences to be disappointed, I want everybody to be happy. I want the people in Fleetwood Mac to be happy.”