2012 Year in Review

Happy New Year!  and best wishes for a healthy happy 2013 to everyone in Fleetwood Mac past and present... 

Today back in 1975 marked the first day that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham could call themselves members of Fleetwood Mac after officially joining the ranks the night before during a meeting with Mick, John and Christine. The rest as they say is history!  Hard to believe that 37 Years later, there is still so much going on with Fleetwood Mac and it's members!

2012 in Review

It was an interesting year if you were a fan of Fleetwood Mac or one of it's members.  Through this past year we heard new music, watched a new documentary film, was up close with them and listened to them speak, read books about them, listened to tribute albums, watched them on TV, attended a restaurant opening and gallery exhibits not to mention attended their live shows or in some fans cases, met them and followed them around the country seeing multiple shows.  In many ways fans were able to get even closer to the band.

2012 started off on a sombre note though with the news of Stevie's mother Barbara Nicks' passing in Phoenix in late December. Then in early January former Fleetwood Mac member Bob Weston passed away in London from natural causes - then just six months later, in June, we would see the sad demise of Bob Welch in Nashville.  Through it all, the current members of Fleetwood Mac soldiered on and made the best of 2012 in their own way.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM

Lindsey Buckingham kicked off the year as guest speaker at the USC Pop Music Forum at USC in January and recorded new music with Mick and John in the early part of 2012 for a possible Fleetwood Mac album. After the cancellation of the UK dates in December, 2011 who knew what Lindsey would do tour wise. Would he wait for Neale's recovery or what. Turns out he would strip things down to their bare bones and go it alone. He put together a solo acoustic tour running from May to November that would see him perform over 75 dates across the US and Canada completely solo and alone... a first! Plus he would continue to release new music by way of a live album late in the year called 'One Man Show' capturing his solo acoustic tour and would end the year releasing yet more new music - three tracks on Decembers "This is 40 Soundtrack", playing live at The Roxy in Hollywood at the release party and attending the American Country Awards in Las Vegas as a presenter.  Lindsey ended 2012 spotted at a pizza joint in northern California over the holidays.

STEVIE NICKS

Stevie resurfaced in February briefly to honour her friend Jimmy Iovine in L.A. at Village Recording Studio, appeared on two high profile TV shows in March, "Up All Night" and "American Idol" playing herself on both as a Psychic and Mentor. She was spotted in pigtails in Hawaii in May. In June, Stevie honoured Bette Midler in NYC by performing live singing "The Rose" during the Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards ceremony.  She kicked off more support for her 2011 'In Your Dreams' album with TV appearances and more touring through the summer and fall playing dates solo and with Rod Stewart. In October, Stevie finally premiered her film 'In Your Dreams - Stevie Nicks' along with Dave Stewart at the Hamptons Film Festival and continued to screen the film and speak at 4 other locations on the east and west coasts of the US. Stevie made headlines along the way when she jumped into the dust up during the American Idol Nicki Manaji/Mariah Carey feud - quickly putting out a statement afterwards apologizing for her remarks.  The year ended with Stevie recording vocals on two tracks recorded earlier in the year by Mick, John and Lindsey at Lindsey's home studio for potential release prior to Fleetwood Mac's 2013 tour.  Stevie and Lindsey also recorded a third song that could be for a re-release of Buckingham Nicks in 2013 (40th Anniversary).  The song is of the era, but was never recorded.  Stevie's 2012 came to a close right back where she started in Phoenix with family and friends to celebrate the holidays.

MICK FLEETWOOD

Mick kicked off 2012 putting one of his Maui residences up for rental and also recording new music with Lindsey and John in L.A. in the early part of 2012.  He announced in February the opening date for his new restaurant on Maui "Fleetwood's on Front Street", shocked the world with his candid Playboy interview in March on the future of Fleetwood Mac and that he was getting a divorce.  He continued to make various personal appearances like in L.A. in June he exhibited his artwork at the Mouche Gallery and finally opened his long talked about new restaurant Fleetwood's on Front Street in August with a lavish grand opening.  Mick was spotted through the rest of 2012 at his restaurant on Maui and many nights was part of the live entertainment.  Including on December 22nd playing for the Kit Kat Club.

Photos by Howard Dinits

FLEETWOOD MAC

Fleetwood Mac as a band was obviously idol through 2012 although the material on the band kept on coming.  In January, the cover and release date were released for producer Ken Caillat's new book "Making Rumours - The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album".  News broke in late January that Vera Farmiga would be playing Christine McVie in the bio pic "The Drummer" opposite Aaron Eckart on the life of Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys. In February, Rumours the album turned 35. In June details were released on the album "Just Tell Me That You Want Me - A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac" which would be released in August featuring indie artists covering Fleetwood Mac tracks.  Also in June, the 1992 boxset "25 Years - The Chain" was re-released in the UK and Ireleand hitting the top 10 on the UK album charts where when initially released in 1992 missed the charts completely.  the 4cd 72 song boxset would also be re-released in Australia and New Zealand.  In June in a TV interview promoting her tour, album and documentary on CBS Stevie confirmed Fleetwood Mac would be back out on the road in 2013. In October, Stevie, Christine and Lindsey were nominated for the Songwriters Hall of Fame with the awards ceremony taking place in NYC, June, 2013. In November, signs of Fleetwood Mac were coming back to life with their website undergoing a make over and new interviews with the band members starting to surface. Mojo Magazine dedicated a 10 page spread to the band which also included a tribute CD by more indie artists in their January, 2013 issue.  Although the article in the magazine wasn't anything really new to long time Fleetwood Mac fans, it gave a great history lesson for anyone just discovering their music. PLUS Christine McVie was interviewed for the article so it was cool to see something recent from her. Early In early December we saw the release of the 34 North American dates for Fleetwood Mac's tour - beginning in April, 2013.  These are the only dates released so far... I suspect more will come for the UK and Australia.

Things to look forward to in 2013:

• Rumours Expanded and Rumours Deluxe Release: January 28/29th. 3CD or 4CD,1DVD,1LP 
• The Sound City Documentary February 1st.  Stevie, Lindsey and Mick appear in the documentary.  
• The Sound City soundtrack.  Stevie appears on the track ‘You Can’t Fix This’ released March 12th.
• Two Fleetwood Mac tracks that were reported to be released prior to the band hitting the road.
• Fleetwood Mac tour begins April 4th.
• Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards - June, 2013
• Buckingham Nicks: Potential re-release with a newly recorded track by Stevie and Lindsey.
• US Festival documentary. No release date has been set.
• Stevie on Oprah: Oprahs film crew filmed Stevie in Sept, 2012 in St. Petersburg, Florida at Mahaffey Theater. It's obviously something for the OWN network. Rumour has it it's for Oprah's Master Class.
• Hopefully the release of the 'In Your Dreams - Stevie Nicks' documentary on DVD.

This is just a brief synopsis of the year... There were tons of great moments this past year many at the live shows for Lindsey and Stevie, too many to list. I'm sure many of you have your own personal highlights.  If you scroll down the right hand side of this page to the archive section you could go through each month, post by post for the full picture of 2012.

It was another full year for fans of Fleetwood Mac and their respective members... Thanks for following along on this site, on Facebook and Twitter and to everyone that posted comments on what was posted, (good or bad)... It's truly interesting to hear what you have to say... Even if I had to eliminate a few of them.

Have a great 2013!