Mick Fleetwood’s marriage of 17 years has hit the skids just as his band has hit the road on its first tour in three years.
The band’s namesake drummer filed for separation from Lynn Frankel Fleetwood
on March 22, but it was only made public on Tuesday. The Fleetwoods were married in July 1995 and are the parents of twin 11-year-old girls. In the filing, Fleetwood requests that the children live with their mother in Woodland Hills, Calif., but he’s seeking joint legal custody. Fleetwood also has a home in Maui, Hawaii.
The reason for the split, according to court documents, is irreconcilable difference. No other reasons were given for the separation. The 65-year-old is seeking control of his royalties and other profits made prior to the marriage with his Grammy-winning band.
Fleetwood Mac kicked off its 2013 U.S. tour on April 4 in Columbus, Ohio and will be on the road through June. The band is planning to release an EP of new songs in the coming weeks. At their show Saturday in Philadelphia they played a new track called “Sad Angel,” which singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham said was some of “the best stuff we’ve done in a long time.”
Rumours, the band’s 1977 chart-topping album, was recorded during a time of romantic turmoil within the band, with the now-former member, singer Christine divorcing bassist John McVie before entering the studio. Singer Stevie Nicks broke up with Buckingham and Fleetwood split with his first wife, Jenny. “It was a complete disaster zone,” Fleetwood once told me of the period in 1976, leading up to the recording of the album. “It was emotional hell laced with musical pleasure. A lot of people on the outside of the band felt that we were never going to make it through.”