Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac [Paperback]

Carol Ann Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2009

A consummate insider as the girlfriend of Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac singer and guitarist, Carol Ann Harris leads fans into the very heart of the band’s storms between 1976 and 1984. From interactions between the band and other stars—Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, and Dennis Wilson—to the chaotic animosity between band members, this memoir combines the sensational account of some of the world’s most famous musicians with a thrilling love story. The parties, fights, drug use, shenanigans, and sex lives of Fleetwood Mac are presented in intimate detail and illustrated with never-before-seen photographs. With the exception of one brief interview, Carol Ann Harris has never before spoken about her time with Fleetwood Mac.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a fascinating if overlong look at the megasuccess of Fleetwood Mac in the mid-1970s, after the former British blues band recorded the laid-back rock songs of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks that made the album Rumours one of the most popular of its era. While working at the band's recording studio, Harris, currently a music business costume designer, became Buckingham's girlfriend and constant companion from 1976 through 1984, and she gives a detailed look—more so than drummer and original member Mick Fleetwood's biography—at this already well-chronicled story of how the success of Rumours provided the income for extravagant cocaine-fueled excesses before, during and after performances. Harris too often uses clichés, such as her view of the band's beautiful insanity. But she does candidly recount Buckingham's rage and his repeated physical assaults on her. Along the way, she offers great descriptions of the band's recording sessions, especially her account of Buckingham's desire to create something new, something completely different for Tusk, the more experimental (and less profitable) follow-up to Rumours. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Fleetwood Mac abandoned its blues roots to pursue mainstream commercial success even before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined it in 1975. Harris, then Buckingham's girlfriend, chronicles the behind-the-scenes drugs-and-sex-and-rock-and-roll aspects of the band's late-1970s climb to mega mainstream success with the albums Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, and the relatively underperforming Tusk. During this time, group bassist John McVie and his wife, Christine, the band's most successful songwriter, divorced; Buckingham and Nicks ended their romantic relationship; and internal love affairs and myriad rumors threatened band cohesiveness. Enter Harris, who proved more a symptom than a cause of the turmoil. Using extremely rich material for a rock tell-all, she now offers the sort of in-depth reportage that, though engrossing, does rather strain credulity concerning the accuracy of all its quoted dialogue; but then, such is expected of and usual in such books. Serious music fans may be disappointed, but seekers of celebrity dirt will revel in this work. Prospective readers will know in which camp they fall, so advise appropriately. Tribby, Mike --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155652790X
• ISBN-13: 978-1556527906
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (109 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carol Ann Harris grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Swiss drummer Martin Ehrsam. In 1976, she met Lindsey Buckingham, lead guitar player and singer for the superstar band Fleetwood Mac. She became Buckingham's girlfriend and then fiance, and was by his side on the band's tours and in the recording studio for the next eight years. In Storms, My Life With Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac, she writes about the years she spent with Lindsey and Fleetwood Mac at the height of the band's fame. After ending her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, she became a Costume Designer and worked on over 150 music videos, commercials and feature films. She is currently working on her second book that will include more stories of her years with Fleetwood Mac as well as chronicle her years as a Costume Designer for many of the biggest bands of the eighties and nineties: Motley Crue, Jon Bon Jovi, Guns & Roses, John Cougar Mellencamp, Billy Idol, Slaughter, Queensryche,Cinderalla, Kiss and many, many more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

160 of 167 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really good book, July 2, 2007

By 

D. Smith (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac (Hardcover)

Great biography that comes across as fresh and rather unbiased. I think that all the members of the band come across in a reasonably good light considering the times and the massive drug use - save for Mr. Buckingham who is finally called out for beating Carol up on many occasions.

She could have taking 1/2 of his fortune as his common law wife but instead chose to leave with almost nothing. Why did she stay? The same reason that most people stay in an abusive relationship.

Good insight into the band during the period in which they were on top of the world.

118 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good but quite a Bubble-Burster at times, July 8, 2007

By 

D. Adams (NC, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac (Hardcover)

All in all, exciting reading with a lot of stories that I've never heard, especially the alarming extent of Lindsey Buckingham's anxiety and anguish over his controversial changing of musical direction for the "Tusk" album which followed "Rumours".

This book must be taken with a grain of salt. Carol Ann was Lindsey's girlfriend and therefore will naturally have some biases, but that's to be expected in a situation such as this. Some reviewers have expressed doubt over the author's "recall" issue for detailed conversations that happened 30 years ago, but the author did mention that she had made audio recordings for posterity during these years - one of which was the cause of Lindsey's lashing out. If you're an avid Stevie fan, the book is a bit bubble-bursting as far as showing the extent of her "competitiveness", but Stevie is, after all, a human being. Some of Lindsey's behavior makes me question his humanity at times though. Carol Ann does give the whole band well-deserved praise for their amazing musical talents and charisma.

Although nobody should expect Carol Ann to be a psychology major and be able to understand exactly what made her and Lindsey's relationship tick, she seems to miss what was pretty obvious to me about the physical abuse - Lindsey apparently had some nasty triggers that had more to do with dislike of "female gossip-type behavior" than anything else. I couldn't understand why Carol Ann doesn't seem to see this, as several of his "attacks" are coupled with comments in that direction. We cannot expect her to know what created these triggers since she says she never discussed this issue with Lindsey, but I do feel bad for the negative press this will cause him ... perhaps she should have titled it "Lindsey Dearest".

144 of 152 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An astonishing read from a writer to celebrate, July 4, 2007

By 

Joe Bosso (Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac (Hardcover)

No ghostwriter needed here. Carol Ann Harris, who recounts her eight-year relationship with Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, has penned a memoir brimming with vivid detail and winning prose. No mere rock and roll time capsule, this is a poetic act of will, a work of stunning courage and originality.

For fans of the Mac, Harris' recollections on her time with the band will make for juicy, page-turning reading. But it's when she turns the mirror on herself that the book really gets going. Being the girlfriend of a tortured genius is no easy task, and Harris takes us through the highs and lows, the euphroia and the horror, in an almost miraculous fashion, with a depth of feeling seldom found in even the best of celebrity tell-alls.

Welcome the arrival of an exciting new writer.
-- Joe Bosso