Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac

by Carol Ann Harris

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155652790X
• ISBN13: 9781556527906
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE July, 2007

STORMY RELATIONSHIP 'Cocaine-fuelled bitch-slaps' a-go-go as Lindsey's bird spills the beans. One day, in early 1977, a young woman named Carol Ann Harris drove down Hollywood Boulevard as Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" blared from the radio. Having worked as a studio manager where the album Rumours was mixed, Harris had heard the song many times before. But this time it sounded different, Harris thought. It sounded like a smash. She couldn't wait to tell her new boyfriend, Lindsey Buckingham. Harris's hunch couldn't have been more on the money. Rumours quickly became a worldwide smash, a phenomenon that would ultimately go on to sell over 30 million copies. In "Storms" Harris recounts, in often astonishing detail (she kept exhaustive notes and taped diaries), her tumultuous, passionate and sometimes violent eight-year relationship with Mac's tortured guitarist, to whom she served as muse, nurse (early in their courtship, Buckingham was diagnosed with epilepsy), drug buddy and constant companion. As an autobiographical account of a show business love affair spiralling out of control, "Storms" has the de rigeur script elements in place: the red carpets, limos, Lear jets, endless bottles of champagne, as well as break-ups, make-ups, and cocaine-fuelled bitch-slaps and chokeholds. But "Storms" really gets going when Harris casts a gimlet eye on the secret society that was the Mac, a collection of characters caught up in the mindless consumption (narcotic and otherwise) their long-overdue success afforded them. Band jealousies and resentments run rampant, but Harris doesn't take sides. In fact, she paints herself as an outsider longing to be accepted as a member of the group's inner circle. Even in the end, her dismissal of the abusive Buckingham is anything but loveless. As everyone surely knows, you can never break the chain. Joe Bosso for Classic Rock Magazine, Book Review

Incredible - mesmerizing - enthralling

This is the story of Fleetwood Mac that I have been trying to find and read for years! Carol Ann Harris finally did it right. Apologies to none, she tells it clearly and for the record, no appearnt axes to grind or ulterior motives. I'm sure it took her the 20 intervening years since she left Linsey to get over the trauma and to chronicle, fairly objectively, the tumultous ride that nearly killed her! I absolutely could not put this book down! Her style is perfect as this book reads more like a novel than a mere chronicle of events. The guest appearances of so many rock legends is icing on the cake. An absolute must read for anyone with an interest in the incredible Fleetwood Mac story. Thank You Carol Ann, FINALLY!

An incredibly written insight into the world of Fleetwood Mac

"Storms" tells the story of Fleetwood Mac just prior to the release of "Rumours" up into the early 80's. The author is a former girlfriend of Lindsey Buckingham and got to be in the inner circle of Fleetwood Mac. Unlike other biographies of the band, this one seems to go a bit deeper. Many of the stories shared in the book have been hinted at over the years but few details have emerged, "Storms" changes that. The book takes you inside the inner sactum of the band during it's peak in the 70's amid the whirlwind success of "Rumours". The lurid details of this era have only been hinted at up until now. You get to see different sides of the band members than we normally have seen. Either the author has an incredible knack for storytelling and has simply made up the stories in the book based on the what little information has been told over the years, or she's telling like it is. I tend to believe she's telling the truth for the most part. The only downside to the book is the author naturally comes off as the innocent bystander. She also shares very detailed conversations which after 30 years seems to be a bit hard to swallow. Perhaps she is simply taking poetic license and filled in the gaps to make it flow better. Nonetheless the book is an incredible read and very hard to put down once you start it. This is one of the better biographies written about the band. You feel like you're right there on tour and in the studio with the band. Very well written.

An astonishing read from a writer to celebrate

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

Really good book

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.