Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham Co-Wrote One Song on ‘Buckingham Nicks’ That Led to Their Fleetwood Mac ‘Audition’ at a Mexican Restaurant

When guitarist Bob Welch left Fleetwood Mac in 1974, Mick Fleetwood came across a song on Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks‘ 1973 album, Buckingham Nicks, that grabbed his attention. The album, the only one released by the duo, was a flop, but their producer, Keith Olsen, played it for Fleetwood at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, where it was recorded. Fleetwood was drawn to one particular guitar solo, closer “Frozen Love.”

At the time, Buckingham was in Studio B and heard “Frozen Love” playing in the nearby room. “He [Fleetwood] was standing there grooving to this searing guitar solo, and he needed a guitar player,” recalled Buckingham in 2013. “That was as far as his thinking went. I had to explain, we came as a duo.” He joked, “Stupid me, eh?”

Surrounding the guitar solo that captured Fleetwood that day, Buckingham and Nicks’ lyrics chase after lovers trying to hold one another up, with the two trading off verses and coming together on the chorus.

You may not be as strong as me
And I may not care to teach you
It may be hard to keep up with me
But I’ll always be able to reach you

And if you go forward, I’ll meet you there
And if you climb up through the cold, freezing air
Look down below you, search out above
Cry out to life for a frozen love
Cry, love

Life gave me you, the change was made
There’s no beginning over
You are not happy, but what is love?
Hate gave you me for a lover

And if you go forward (you go forward), I’ll meet you there
And if you climb up through the cold, freezing air
Look down below you, search out above
Cry out to life for a frozen love
Cry, love

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The First Audition

Shortly after their studio meeting, Buckingham and Nicks met the band for a more informal audition at an unlikely spot: a Mexican restaurant in West Hollywood. The meet-up was more of a “chemistry test” to see if they all would get along.

During the meeting, Christine McVie was also given veto over having another female singer in the band, and she immediately hit it off with Nicks. McVie remembered being instantly struck by Nicks and Buckingham’s appearance.

“When Lindsey walked in, I said to myself: ‘Wow, this guy is a god,’” recalled McVie. “And then Stevie walked in, laughing, so cute and so tiny, and I took an instant liking to her. She had this wonderful laugh and a fantastic sense of humor.” By the end of their drunken gathering, Christine leaned over to Fleetwood and said, “Let’s do this.”

In the liner notes of the Fleetwood Mac Deluxe box set from 2018, Fleetwood recalled the band’s impulsive decision at the restaurant. “Lindsey and Stevie were asked to play with us without ever playing a note,” said Fleetwood. “It’s almost insane in retrospect, considering the high risk, but somehow Christine and all of us just knew.”

[RELATED: The Dark Fleetwood Mac Song Lindsey Buckingham Wrote That Was the Most Difficult for Him to Perform, “I’m So Afraid”]

New Year’s Eve, 1974

On December 31, 1974, Buckingham and Nicks officially joined Fleetwood Mac and played their first show together with the new lineup on May 15, 1975, when the band kicked off their first tour at the Civic Center Theater in El Paso, Texas.

By the time the tour rolled around, Buckingham and Nicks only had material to pull from their 1973 album and their first with the band, Fleetwood Mac, which was two months from being released, so they filled the nine-song set with earlier songs from the Peter Green era.

The band opened the show with their 1970 release, Kiln House, and “Station Man,” then moved somewhat chronologically to the Mystery to Me track “Hypnotized, “a song later covered by the Pointer Sisters in 1978, and McVie’s “Spare Me a Little of Your Love” from Bare Trees (1972).

Eventually, Nicks, wearing a black top hat and flowy ensemble, introduced her contributions to Fleetwood Mac: “Rhiannon” and “Landslide,” along with the Buckingham-penned “I’m So Afraid” and “Monday Morning.”

“We just played everywhere and we sold that record,” said Nicks of their first tour and the album, which went to No. 1. “We kicked that album [‘Fleetwood Mac’] in the ass.”

In July 2025, Nicks and Buckingham shared the lyrics to the song “Frozen Love” on social media, which was followed by a billboard featuring the cover of their album Buckingham Nicks near Sound City Studios. Both were teasing the first-ever reissue of Buckingham Nicks, 52 years after its release.

Photo: Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham with Fleetwood Mac, 1977. (Michael Ochs/Getty)