(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Mon 29 September 2025 19:30, UK
The journey of Fleetwood Mac can be understood best by tracking them through the decades.
In the 1960s, it was all about the two founding members Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The two cornerstones of this soon to be historic band were desperate to find their feet as a band in this densely populated and richly talented London blues scene. They certainly thought they had cracked the nut in finding Peter Green, a truly captivating and enigmatic guitarist, who if it wasn’t for an acid-induced breakdown, would have taken the band to stratospheric heights.
Then came the 1970s, where drama and artistry coalesced to give the band they much desired commercial and critical acclaim. With their transatlantic make-up and three part harmonies leading their sonic tales of love and heartbreak into dream-pop realms, they created the legacy that makes them so adored today.
In the 1980s, that sense of artistic concision eroded with desperate attempts to evolve with growing sonic trends. Their mish-mash eighties inspired music failed to quite hit the mark like previous albums did and individually, the members of the band went on to explore pastures new.
Then came the 1990s and with key members of the band, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham no longer in the fold, Mick Fleetwood was looking for a spark of magic. Someone who could slot into the lineup and capture that live essence that they all enjoyed two decades earlier. Time was slipping away and the world was changing around them, the desperation to milk out every last drop of musical greatness was palpable, even to the musicians they recruited.
“I knew my job was to get Stevie back. I wasn’t a moron” said Bekka Bramlett, who was recruited by Fleetwood to tour with the band during 1994 and 1995. Bramlett, the daughter of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett (yes, of Delaney & Bonnie fame), had previously been a vocalist in Fleetwood’s band, The Zoo and had done the rounds as a backing singer for many of music’s elite.
Bramlett stepped into a quite mammoth role, providing vocals on some of the bands most famous songs, penned by Nicks, while also managing to deliver co-writing credits on their songs ‘Nothing Without You’ and ‘Dreamin’ the Dream’ from their album Time. But she knew her own time was borrowed, from the very minute she stepped in the door, despite the individual contributions she made.
The intention was always to get the old band back together and Bramlett knew that. What she didn’t know however, was quite how abruptly her tenure would end once that became a reality. Rather than letting her down in person, Fleetwood informed Bramlett of her firing via fax and then rather than honestly disclosing the reasoning as Nicks and Buckingham’s return, he decided to make a thinly veiled dig at an off-hand comment she made after a show. In Fleetwood’s fax, he wrote, “You wish you were in REO Speedwagon [instead], so I’m going to go ahead and fire you now.”
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