• Kristen Messner is a photographer and the wife of musician Lindsey Buckingham.
• She has an estimated net worth of over $1.5 million, while her husband has a net worth estimated to be over $100 million.
• Kristen met Lindsey when she was hired as a photographer for one of Fleetwood Mac's albums.
• Lindsey left Fleetwood Mac after Kristen became pregnant to avoid burdening the band.
• Kristen has been very supportive of Lindsey during his career and open heart surgery.

 

Who is Kristen Messner?

Kristen Messner was born on 28 February 1970, in Los Angeles, California, USA, and is a photographer, but probably better known for being the wife of musician Lindsey Buckingham. Her husband rose to fame as the lead guitarist and vocalist of the band Fleetwood Mac, before finding his path as a solo artist.

The Wealth of Kristen Messner

Kristen Messner’s net worth is estimated to be over $1.5 million, earned through success in her career in photography. She’s probably benefitted from the net worth of her husband as well, as Buckingham has a net worth estimated to be over $100 million. The couple resides in a luxurious mansion valued at over $20 million.

Life and Career

Kristen pursued a career in one of her passions, photography, at a young age. She met the band Fleetwood Mac as she gained a project with the band, doing photography for one of their albums. The band liked her as their photographer, and she would join the group as they made music during the 1980s. Around the same time, her future husband was in a well-publicized relationship with fellow vocalist Stevie Nicks. Stevie and Lindsey had an on-and-off relationship, which began sometime during the 1970s following the duo’s pursuit of a career in music.

Eventually, the two decided to call things off, and soon afterwards he started developing a strong interest towards Kristen. The two began dating while working with the band, leading to her pregnancy. Realizing that he would become a father, he opted to leave the band as he realized that he was still having trouble with his career, post-breakup with Nicks. He also didn’t want to burden the band as he had known other people who had problems with their respective bands after they started a family. Fleetwood Mac was also known for their constant clashes in terms of creative direction, as well as personal issues.

Lindsey Buckingham and Kristen Messner

Husband – Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey grew up as the youngest of three siblings living in Palo Alto, California. At a young age, he was encouraged to pursue competitive swimming but gave that up as he was more interested in music; he learned on his own and never took lessons. As he grew up, he became influenced by folk, folk-rock, and psychedelic music, which led to his first band called The Fritz Rabyne Memorial Band. During this time, he was close friends with Stevie Nicks and he invited her to start performing with his band.

The duo eventually left and began a relationship. In the early 1970s, they started recording demos leading to them signing with Polydor Record, and release of the album “Buckingham Nicks”, but were soon dropped as it did not produce the expected sales. However, The songs from the album were noticed by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, who was impressed by the guitar parts. He invited Buckingham to be a part of their band, but he didn’t want to join without Nicks, and Fleetwood agreed to his terms.

Buckingham’s Success with Fleetwood Mac

In 1975, Fleetwood Mac released their first album featuring their newly acquired duo, and it reached the top of the US charts. Lindsey became a pivotal force towards a new direction in their songwriting, contributing several hits. Their next album would be released two years later, and it became more successful than the first with many crediting it as the release that propelled the band to become superstars. Entitled “Rumours”, it would become one of the best-selling albums of all time with songs such as “Go Your Own Way” and “Never Going Back Again”.

Following the success of “Rumours”, the band was determined not to follow the same musical pattern, so their next release entitled “Tusk” featured more experimental takes on their music. The album produced several hit singles, namely “Think About Me”, “Sara” and the lead single “Tusk”. Around this time, his relationship with Nicks had mostly fallen apart, and he began dating aspiring model Carol Ann Harris. Fleetwood Mac went on a hiatus afterwards, leading him to start doing solo work and production efforts.

Solo Efforts and Departure

In 1981, Buckingham released his first solo project entitled “Law & Order”, which featured guest appearances from his band mates. The following year, he then returned to Fleetwood Mac to create their next album “Mirage”, which marked their return to the top of the charts. Many of the band members started working on their respective solo careers during this period, with Nicks experiencing a lot of success on her own. Due to this, the band didn’t release a new project until 1987’s “Tango in the Night”. During this time, Lindsey had already released another solo album, with another one as a work-in-progress.

After ending his relationship with Harris, he revealed that many of the inspirations of his early song recordings were his break-up with Stevie Nicks. He did several fundraising projects over the next few years, and despite the success of “Tango in the Night”, he left the band. He later admitted to leaving due to the strain within the band, as he never really got any closure with Nicks, and it was painful for him to see them grow apart. He also didn’t have a desire to tour with the band due to these emotional constraints.

Solo Work, Reunion, and Firing

After five years working in the studio, Lindsey released his third album entitled “Out of the Cradle” which dealt with a lot of the aftermath of him leaving the band. During an interview, he stated that he wanted the album to be his expression towards the band, so that he could move on. During the same year, Fleetwood Mac was reunited for a one-off performance at the request of newly elected President Bill Clinton, but the band had no desire to continue from that point on.

During the mid-1990s, he started collaborating with Mick Fleetwood once more, which led to the return of all of their former bandmates, and to a reunion tour called The Dance, though Christine McVie soon left the band due to her desire to be with her family. The band then released a new album called “Say You Will” which led to a world tour. In 2006, he released a fourth solo album entitled “Under the Skin” which had been recorded a few years previously, and briefly toured in support of the album. Following a few more solo projects and releases with Fleetwood Mac, he was fired from the band following disagreements after their performance during the MusiCares Person of the Year event.

Personal Life

Kristen married Lindsey in 2000 in a small wedding ceremony; they have three children together. She’s been very supportive of him during his career, and was there during his 2019 open heart surgery which was successful, but left damage to his vocal cords which he is still recovering from. Her husband has admitted that he still had a lot of problems with his former band, but he was still open to returning to them, but not in the near future.

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Author Benjy P.

Benjy is currently a reporter for BiographyPedia based in Adelaide, Australia. Prior to joining BiographyPedia in July 2019, he was a Bizarre TV reporter and theatre critic at TheSun. Benjy has also written for DailyMail and TMZ. Benjy studied journalism at Goldsmiths University of London, graduating in 2009. You can contact him at benjy@biographypedia.org.

5 Comments

  1. Lanie Ross Reply

    Kristen was not following FM around in the 80s as a photographer when she was a teenager, you daft wanker.

  2. Kris was not born in LA. She was born and raised in Wisconsin. Also if she can load film into a camera in less than 1 try I’m a leprechaun.

    • Yep she was born and raised in Wisconsin. Not LA! Went to HS with her.

  3. snowiespals Reply

    I think the people that wrote this article need to get the facts if Lindsey Buckingham‘s wife was born in 1974 she would’ve been at least five years old when she joined the band to do photography and photos of the band so they need to get the story straight she’s born in 1974 somewhere around the 80s she would’ve been four or five years old. .

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