Fleetwood Mac timeline highlights romance and music

A look at how romance and rivalry helped shape one of rock’s most enduring bands.

Fleetwood Mac saga of love conflict and music

Fleetwood Mac formed in London in 1967 with Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. The lineup shifted many times before the arrival of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in 1974, which helped catapult the group to global fame. The 1975 self-titled album, often called The White Album, introduced their distinctive duo writing and vocals, setting the stage for the blockbuster Rumours released in 1977. Rumours grew from personal turmoil, including divorces and addiction, into a universal selling phenomenon.

In the late 1970s and 1980s the band weathered tensions alongside major career moves. Buckingham and Nicks split in 1976, yet joined Fleetwood Mac a year later after Buckingham’s guitar work on Bucking ham Nicks drew attention. The era produced hits like Landslide, Rhiannon and Go Your Own Way, and the onstage clash during the Tusk tour underscored the lingering strains. Buckingham quit in 1987, Christine McVie left in 1998, and the classic lineup reunited for The Dance in 1997. Christine McVie died in 2022, reshaping the band’s outlook. In 2025, Nicks and Buckingham teased a reissue of Buckingham Nicks, revisiting their joint origins and the roots of the group’s most famous period.

The timeline shows how Fleetwood Mac’s art was inseparable from its people. Personal relationships drove a creative energy that audiences connected with even as it unsettled the band. The Nicks Buckingham partnership gave the band its voice, while breakups and battles fueled songs that critics still study as cultural documents. The story also reveals how legacy brands endure: the late 1990s reunion tour and the 2025 Buckingham Nicks reissue signal a continued appetite for the group’s origin story, not just its hits. In a broader sense, the arc raises questions about the price of fame and how art can outlive the drama that creates it. The music remains a testament to resilience even as the personal tale reads like a cautionary fable about volatility in creative groups.

Highlights

The music continues to outlive the conflicts that shaped it.