Fleetwood Mac Usher In 10th (And Most Successful) Incarnation
After Bob Welch’s departure from Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood was left at a crossroads; that is, until he remembered a young guitar player he’d heard tearing it up while on a tour of Los Angeles’ Sound City Studios and offered him Welch’s spot in the band.
The guitarist, named Lindsey Buckingham, agreed but with one condition: his girlfriend and writing partner, 26-year-old Stevie Nicks, had to come along too. Fleetwood reluctantly agreed, offering the position to both Buckingham and Nicks, making the offer official when the pair endeared themselves to Fleetwood’s bandmates Christine and John McVie over dinner on New Year’s Eve 1974.
From there, it was a whirlwind for Buckingham-Nicks as they hit the ground running with their new band.
Over the next five months, Fleetwood Mac got to work writing and recording the critically acclaimed Fleetwood Mac, cobbling together would-be classics like “Over My Head,” “Monday Morning” and “Rhiannon” from remnants of Buckingham-Nicks’ former project before ultimately re-introducing themselves to the world on May 15, 1975 as the 10th (and most successful) incarnation of Fleetwood Mac before a crowd in El Paso, Texas.
With over 100 million records sold worldwide and a 1998 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it’s pretty safe to say that Mick Fleetwood’s gamble on Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham was a good one.
The rest, as they say, is history.