Stevie Nicks said Lindsey Buckingham was the highest-paid member of Fleetwood Mac

Then-couple Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974. Initially, Buckingham didn't want to, but Nicks made him. They were a package deal. Where one wen, the other followed. Thankfully, Buckingham listened to Nicks and joined the group. Otherwise, he wouldn't have become the highest-paid member.

Stevie Nicks made Lindsey Buckingham join Fleetwood Mac

Nicks and Buckingham's music careers were down in the dumps when Fleetwood Mac's drummer and co-founder, Mick Fleetwood, approached Buckingham to join. That's right; Fleetwood only wanted the guitarist, not his girlfriend, but Buckingham didn't even want to join.

Even when Fleetwood agreed to take them both, Buckingham felt that joining the blues band would be selling out on their act as Buckingham Nicks. Nicks had to convince him that it was the offer of a lifetime. She said she was sick of waiting around for Buckingham Nicks to succeed. Eventually, Buckingham agreed to join, and the rest is history.

However, if he hadn't become Fleetwood Mac's guitarist, he wouldn't have become the band's highest-paid member.

Stevie Nicks said Lindsey Buckingham was the highest-paid member of Fleetwood Mac

Shortly after joining Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham not only became the lead guitarist but the band's producer as well, making him the band's highest-paid member.

In 1997, Nicks told Rolling Stone, "Lindsey made a whole lot more money than everybody else did because he produces. The producers get paid first. And he probably didn't spend nearly as much money as everybody else did; he lives way simpler.

"So he didn't have to do this for money, you know. The rest of us would all like to put something away for, you know, our golden twilight years. But he has to want to do it, or we don't want to do it, either."

Fleetwood Mac fired Buckingham in 2018

Like Nicks and Christine McVie, Buckingham came in and out of the band over the years. In 2017, the Buckingham-Nicks lineup reunited and began touring together. However, it was short-lived. Fleetwood Mac fired Buckingham in 2018, replacing him with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist, Mike Campbell.

Rolling Stone reported that the band fired Buckingham because of a "disagreement over the band's upcoming tour." The group played their last full sets at Classic East and Classics West in July 2017. They also played a brief set at the pre-Grammy MusiCares concert in their honor in 2018. The set ironically ended with "Go Your Own Way."

Buckingham might have helped Fleetwood Mac by being its co-songwriter and producer, and it made him a lot of money, but the group survived without him.

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