Born into a wealthy San Francisco family in October 1947, Lindsey Buckingham fell early under the influence of Elvis Presley’s guitarist Scotty Moore and folk groups such as The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul And Mary. Recently relocated to LA, the band’s star had waned since the glory days of Peter Green, and when guitarist, singer and composer Bob Welch had abruptly left what was the group’s ninth lineup in eight years, the future looked bleak indeed – particularly as Heroes Are Hard To Find, the band’s final album with Welch, had barely sold enough copies “to pay Warner Brothers’ electric light bill”, as Fleetwood puts it.Īcross town, prospects for the Buckingham-Nicks duo looked equally unpromising. When Mick Fleetwood rang Lindsey Buckingham on New Year’s Eve, 1974, and invited him to join Fleetwood Mac, the move seemed born of desperation. However, it nearly cost them their sanity. In this archive feature from Uncut’s May 2003 issue (Take 72), rock’s greatest living soap opera tell the story of how they went to hell and back to bring the world some of the most popular, and most perfect, hard-centred easy listening music of all time.
