Lindsey Buckingham has described his departure from Fleetwood Mac as not his doing or his choice.

The band announced in April that they would tour without the musician, who wrote and sang on some of their biggest hits.

Buckingham had been a member since he joined the group in 1974 with his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks.

He said in an interview in Los Angeles that there were factions within the band that had lost their perspective.

He said what that did was to harm the legacy of the 43 years he was with the group.

The group will tour this autumn with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House frontman Neil Finn.