McCartney, Paul
Paul McCartney
Singer, songwriter, guitarist
No one could have predicted that an English youth raised in poverty-stricken Liverpool would become the world’s wealthiest musician. Paul McCartney has done just that, principally by virtue of his memorable songs for the Beatles and his subsequent group Wings. McCartney’s wholesome good looks and affable manner helped to attract fans to the Beatles, but it was his songwriting abilities that kept those fans enthralled year after year. He is the only former Beatle whose solo career has matched, dollar for dollar, the success of the legendary Fab Four.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists McCartney as history’s most commercially successful musician, with more than 100 million albums and 100 million singles sold since 1961. Estimates of the singer’s wealth vary greatly, but most sources place it in the $500 million range, with annual revenues of $48 to $60 million. Such a fantastic fortune could hardly be achieved without talent, and over the years McCartney has proven his—both with and without the other Beatles. As a Time magazine contributor puts it, McCartney’s “bounteous melodic gifts [seem] to be reflected in the brightness of his step, the openness of his smile. His impishness, and his considerable charm, always had an ironic undercurrent of worldliness and assurance. Even now,… he has the surprised sophistication of a gremlin who has just been caught under the drawbridge compromising the fairy princess.”
McCartney was born June 18, 1942 in Liverpool, England. He grew up in public housing projects, the son of a school nurse and a cotton salesman. From his father he learned to play the piano by ear, but as a teenager he gravitated to the guitar, influenced by the American music of Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Although McCartney is righthanded, he restrung his guitar and played it lefthanded, a quirk that has lasted throughout his career. By 1956 he was sufficiently versed in guitar and vocals to seek work with a local band.
McCartney joined the Quarrymen, a “skiffle” (jug) band founded by John Lennon. Before long Lennon and McCartney were bosom buddies who spent long hours in McCartney’s home writing songs and improvising on their guitars. McCartney made his debut with the Quarrymen in 1957 at the Broadway Conservative Club in Liverpool. Under the name Johnny and the Moondogs the group toured Scotland and the smaller working-class towns outside of London, then signed for several lengthy engagements in Hamburg, Germany. The Hamburg audiences were notoriously demanding, and it was there that the group—renamed the Beatles—developed a confident stage presence and a generally outrageous act. Upon their return to Liverpool, the Beatles attracted a gifted manager, Brian Epstein.
For the Record…
Full name James Paul McCartney; born June 18,1942, in Liverpool, England; son of James (a cotton salesman) and Mary (a nurse) McCartney; married Linda Eastman (a photographer), March 12,1969; children: James, Mary, Stella.
Joined group the Quarrymen, founded by John Lennon, in June, 1956; group included George Harrison (guitar) and Pete Best (drums) and performed under names Johnny and the Moondogs, the Moonshiners, and Long John and the Silver Beatles. Name changed to the Beatles in 1962; Ringo Starr replaced Best on drums.
Group performed in Liverpool area and in Hamburg, Germany, 1960-62; signed with Capitol/EMI Records, 1962; released first single, “Love Me Do,” 1962; had first Number 1 hit, “Please Please Me,” 1963. Group subsequently sold more than 100 million singles and 100 million albums and toured in the United States, Europe, and the Far East. Appeared in motion pictures, including A Hard Days Night, 1964, Help, 1965, Yellow Submarine, 1969, and Let It Be , 1970. Group disbanded, 1970, and legally dissolved, December 30, 1974.
Released first solo album, McCartney, 1970. With wife Linda and others (principally studio musicians), formed group Wings, 1971; had first Number 1 hit with group, “Band on the Run,” 1973; subsequently produced numerous platinum singles and albums, including Band on the Run, Live and Let Die, Wings at the Speed of Sound, and Pipes of Peace. Has made live concert appearances in United States, Europe, and the Far East. Owner of MPL Communications, Ltd., a music publishing firm.
Awards: Numerous Grammy Awards for albums and singles both as a member of the Beatles and as a solo performer. Named Member of the Order of the British Empire, 1965.
Addresses: Office —MPL Communications, Ltd., 1 Soho Sq., London W1V 6BQ, England.
Epstein “cleaned up” the Beatles somewhat, dressing them in matching suits and suggesting new hairstyles. Within a year the group had a recording contract with EMI Records and its American counterpart, Capitol. By January of 1963 two Beatles songs, “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me,” had made the British Top 20; both were written by Lennon and McCartney. The group—which had added Ringo Starr on drums and George Harrison on guitar—made its triumphant debut in America in the early months of 1964.
The Beatles phenomenon has never been equalled in the history of popular music. In one year—1964—the group had five hits in the Top 10 simultaneously, another seven in the Top 100, and four albums in the Top 10 as well. Most of these songs were McCartney-Lennon collaborations. The pair had decided early on to attach both names even to songs that just one of them had written, so it is difficult to sort out exactly who wrote what. “John and Paul went together like peanut butter and jelly,” writes John Milward in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “They brought out the best in each other. Even in the later years of the Beatles, when the majority of Lennon-McCartney songs were written solely by one or the other, each man acted as the other’s most trenchant critic.”
Certainly Lennon and McCartney were pop music’s most successful songwriters as a team, but McCartney also authored timeless songs of his own, including the engaging ballads “Yesterday,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Hey, Jude.” As the Beatles matured—discovering social consciousness, hallucinogenic drugs, and Eastern religion—McCartney managed to maintain a comic perspective with songs such as “When I’m Sixty-Four.” This tongue-in-cheek wit, in sharp contrast to Lennon’s pessimism, would follow McCartney into his solo career.
The Beatles disbanded in 1970 and for some years thereafter quarrelled bitterly in legal and personal disputes. The period was traumatic for McCartney, especially since the critics panned his first solo efforts, McCartney and Ram. Lennon also stung his former partner with a song “How Do You Sleep,” that spoke of McCartney’s “pretty face” and his “Muzak” in pejorative terms. Undaunted, McCartney formed a group called Wings and continued to record, using his wife Linda as a backup singer and keyboardist. Within three years of the Beatles’ demise he was back on the charts with a platinum album, Band on the Run, and two hit singles, “My Love” and “Band on the Run.” The theme song he wrote for the motion picture Live and Let Die was nominated for an Academy Award.
With Wings or on his own, McCartney has achieved a success that rivals his Beatles days. For one thing, he owns the royalty rights to the Wings songs (Michael Jackson owns the entire Beatles library, to McCartney’s chagrin). His business concerns are managed by personnel he considers trustworthy. Most important, however, is the fact that Linda McCartney accompanies him in the studio and on tour—the two have been inseparable since they married in 1969. A Time reporter writes: “Smarmy as all this may sound to any fan used to high-voltage tales about the profligate life of rock stars, McCartney draws… sustenance from his rigorously imposed family structure…. Unlike most rock superstars, the McCartneys try to stay in touch with reality.”
McCartney’s solo work has been described as “middle of the road” pop, a somewhat disparaging classification for his catchy tunes and singable lyrics. It is fair to say that McCartney’s music fits in the pop format, but it falls into the same “pop as art” category as do the works of Phil Collins, Elton John, and Billy Joel. “As a Beatle, McCartney ebulliently proved that he could mix with the best of them,” writes the Time critic, “but at the moment he is having fun being flippant about rock’s old insistence on relevance. His tunes are elaborately homespun, lined with shifting, driving rhythms and coy harmonics, their lyrics full of flights of gentle, sometimes treacly fantasy…. Even during his Beatle days, McCartney was something of a sentimentalist, and not embarrassed about it. At this point in his development, he seems pleased to be a first-rate performer and a composer of clever songs.”
McCartney’s fans of the 1990s include those of his own generation as well as youngsters who were not even born when the Beatles disbanded. “McCartney still draws many of the Beatles faithful, to be sure,” writes the Time critic. “He has also found a whole new audience, his audience. They have come to hear him, not history.” In a candid interview for the CBS-Television series “48 Hours,” McCartney said that he has no intentions of retiring from songwriting or performing. “I’m just in the middle of my career,” he said. “I’m only 47,1 don’t feel like I’m finished.” He concluded: “I’m still planning to write better songs.”
Selected discography
With the Beatles
Introducing the Beatles, Vee Jay, 1963.
Meet the Beatles, Capitol, 1964.
The Beatles Second Album, Capitol, 1964.
A Hard Day’s Night, United Artists, 1964.
Something New, Capitol, 1964.
The Beatles Story, Capitol, 1964.
Beatles ’65, Capitol, 1964.
The Early Beatles, Capitol, 1965.
Beatles VI, Capitol, 1965.
Help, Capitol, 1965.
Rubber Soul, Capitol, 1965.
Yesterday… and Today, Capitol, 1966.
Revolver, Capitol, 1966.
This Is Where It Started, Metro, 1966.
Amazing Beatles and Other Great English Group Sounds, Clarion, 1966.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Capitol, 1967.
Magical Mystery Tour, Capitol, 1967.
The Beatles (White Album), Apple, 1968.
Yellow Submarine, Apple, 1969.
Abbey Road, Apple, 1969.
Hey Jude, Apple, 1970.
Tony Sheridan and the Beatles, Polydor, 1970.
Let It Be, Apple, 1970.
In the Beginning (Circa 1960), Polydor, 1970.
The Beatles 1962-1966, Apple, 1973.
The Beatles 1967-1970, Apple, 1973.
Rock ’N ’ Roll Music, Capitol, 1976.
The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, Capitol, 1976.
The Beatles Live! At the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany: 1962, Lingasong, 1977.
Love Songs, Capitol, 1977.
Rarities, Capitol, 1979.
The Decca Tapes, Circuit, 1979.
Rock ’N ’ Roll Music, Volume II, Capitol, 1980.
Reel Music, Capitol, 1982.
Twenty Greatest Hits, Capitol, 1982.
With Wings
McCartney, Capitol, 1970.
Ram, Capitol, 1971.
Wild Life, Capitol, 1973.
Red Rose Speedway, Apple, 1973.
Band on the Run, Apple, 1973.
Venus and Mars, Capitol, 1973.
Wings at the Speed of Sound, Capitol, 1976.
Wings over America, Capitol, 1977.
London Town, Capitol, 1978.
Wings Greatest Hits, Capitol, 1978.
Back to the Egg, Columbia, 1979.
McCartney II, Columbia, 1980.
Tug of War, Columbia, 1982.
Pipes of Peace, Columbia, 1983.
Give My Regards to Broad Street, Columbia, 1984.
Press To Play, Capitol, 1986.
All the Best, Capitol, 1987.
Flowers in the Dirt, Capitol, 1989.
On Video
The Beatles: Alone and Together, Fox Hills.
The Beatles Live: Ready, Steady, Go, SVS.
Beatles Scrapbook, Discvid.
Fun with the Fab Four, Goodtimes.
A Hard Day’s Night, MPI.
Help! MPI.
Magical Mystery Tour, MPI.
Yellow Submarine, MGM/UA.
I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Warner.
The Compleat Beatles, MGM/UA.
Give My Regards to Broad Street, CBS/Fox.
The Paul McCartney Special, SVS.
Sources
Books
Carr, Roy and Tony Tyler, The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Harmony Books, 1978.
Flippo, Chet, Yesterday: The Unauthorized Biography of Paul McCartney, Doubleday, 1988.
Norman, Philip, Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation, Simon & Schuster, 1981.
Schaffner, Nicholas, The Beatles Forever, McGraw, 1978.
Schaumburg, Ron, Growing Up with the Beatles, Harcourt, 1976.
Periodicals
New Republic, December 2, 1981; October 31, 1988.
Newsweek, February 24,1964; October 29,1973; May 17,1976; May 3, 1982.
New York Times Magazine, February 16, 1975.
Oakland Press Sunday Magazine, February 4, 1979.
People, November 14, 1983.
Philadelphia Inquirer, December 28, 1989.
Playboy, December, 1984.
Rolling Stone, June 17, 1976; July 12, 1979; June 26, 1980.
Time, May 31, 1976; December 22, 1980.
Washington Post, October 29, 1984.
—Anne Janette Johnson
McCartney, Paul
Paul McCartney
Singer, songwriter, guitarist
Paul McCartney cast an indelible imprint on the history of modern music during the 1960s as a member of rock and roll’s monumental band the Beatles. McCartney was widely accepted as a major driving force behind the Beatles and was responsible for composing an overwhelming majority of the tunes that brought the Beatles to the attention of serious music critics. In retrospective reviews of the late twentieth century, McCartney and his fellow Beatles were cited repeatedly as a cultural phenomenon. They are revered as the most successful band in the 50-year history of rock and roll, yet the foursome, which began recording in 1962, had effectively ceased all collaborations by 1970, having worked and performed actively for less than ten years. McCartney continued his songwriting and performance career as a solo artist beginning in 1970, repeatedly producing chart-topping songs. In the 1990s, he delved into classical composition, producing an oratorio and a symphony.
McCartney was born James Paul McCartney in Liverpool, England, on June 18, 1942. He was the first of two sons born to James and Mary McCartney. James McCartney was a cotton salesman by profession. Mary McCartney, a nurse, worked as a midwife until her untimely death from cancer in 1956. Paul McCartney was raised in a close-knit family environment and bonded with his parents, sibling, and also with his numerous cousins and relations. The family relocated on several occasions, always around the Liverpool area, and McCartney adapted easily. Energetic and bright, he was charismatic even as a schoolboy, attending the Stockton Woods infants school and later the prestigious Liverpool Institute on scholarship. As a youth, despite his melodic voice and natural sense of harmony, the choir at the Liverpool Cathedral rejected McCartney as a singer. Yet, ironically, in his early twenties as a member of the Beatles and an international superstar, he was distinguished as the Beatle with the sweet voice and cherub-like appearance—the Beatle who looked like a choirboy.
McCartney’s parents were fond of music, and his father was a pianist for a local band. McCartney, in fact, taught himself to play his father’s piano. The family, including aunts, uncles, and cousins were given to sing-a-longs, and McCartney enjoyed listening to records whenever possible. He also learned to play his cousin’s small banjolele. When his father gave him a trumpet, McCartney kept the instrument briefly before trading the horn for a guitar, and after reversing the strings to accommodate his left-handedness, McCartney taught himself to play.
The Beatles
On July 6, 1957, following a skiffle concert at St. Mary’s Church in Wooton, McCartney met a precocious 16-year-old performer named John Lennon. Skiffle, in
For the Record…
Born on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England; son of James and Mary Patricia (Mohin) McCartney; married Linda Eastman, 1969; children: Heather (stepdaughter), Mary, Stella, and James. Education: Attended Liverpool Institute.
Member of the Beatles, 1957-71; solo and with Wings, 1970-81; international tour, 1989; classical compositions, 1990s.
Awards: Order of the British Empire, 1965; Academy Award, Best Original Song Score (as a member of the Beatles), Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1970; Freedom of the City of Liverpool, 1984; Lifetime Achievement Award, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), 1996; Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire, 1997; Ivor Novello awards for International Achievement, 1980; International Hit of the Year (with Stevie Wonder), “Ebony and Ivory,” 1982; and outstanding contribution to music, 1989; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1999; Ivor Novello Fellowship, BACS, 2000; 14 Grammy Awards (including nine as a member of the Beatles, two as a member of Wings, and the Lifetime Achievement Award, 1990).
Addresses: Office —MPL Communications, Inc., 41 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019.
England, was an awkward precursor to rock and roll, and Lennon’s skiffle group at the time was called the Quarrymen. McCartney and Lennon bonded instantly. McCartney joined Lennon’s group, and the evolution of the Beatles was underway. In 1960, the Quarrymen— including guitarist George Harrison—moved to Hamburg, Germany, where they billed themselves as the Silver Beatles and worked in beer cellars. Ultimately they returned to the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where they added a new drummer, Richard “Ringo Starr” Starkey, and billed themselves as the Beatles.
Popular music by that time had evolved solidly into rock and roll, and the Beatles had changed styles with the times. In 1962 the Beatles cut their first record, a simple and rhythmic song called “Love Me Do,” written by McCartney and Lennon. “Love Me Do” met with sufficient success to justify the release of a follow-up single in January of 1963 called “Please Please Me.”
The song, also an original composition by McCartney and Lennon, became a number one hit in Britain. The popularity of the Beatles had escalated to unprecedented proportion in England by the end of that summer. In October, television personality Ed Sullivan witnessed a mob scene caused by the Beatles’ arrival at Heathrow Airport in London. He booked them for an American debut on his Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964, where they were seen by an estimated 70 million viewers. By the end of that year the Beatles had placed 29 hit records on the United States charts, many of which featured McCartney’s smooth lead vocals. Among the most popular was McCartney’s solo rendition of Meredith Wilson’s classic Music Man ballad “Till There Was You.” McCartney’s recording of the song sent schoolgirls swooning worldwide.
So great was the combined persona of the four musicians that by 1965, they had starred in two feature length films playing only themselves. Coincidentally, the songwriting efforts of McCartney and Lennon matured, and with the release of two hit albums that year, Help and Rubber Soul, the Beatles earned the respect of serious critics and musicians. In recognition of the Beatles’ popularity, in 1965, McCartney and the other Beatles were made members of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England. As the Beatles amassed millions of fans around the world, screaming battalions of hysterical admirers hounded the four Liverpudlians wherever they performed. Thus, in 1966, the Beatles ceased personal appearances, ending with a final concert in San Francisco. Thereafter they concentrated their musical efforts largely in the Abbey Lane sound studio in England where they experimented continually with new types of music for the duration of the 1960s and proved repeatedly that they were the most popular band in the history of rock and roll. Among the classic recordings released by the Beatles during those years, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band appeared in 1967, including a whimsical and much-recorded McCartney and Lennon song, “With a Little Help from My Friends.” In 1998, Time cited the Beatles as one of the 100 most influential musical forces of the twentieth century.
As the 1960s drew to a close, the exceptionally cohesive synergy that had served to define the Beatles had worn thin. Each of the four had married, including McCartney, who wed photographer Linda Eastman in London on March 12, 1969. The following year McCartney took the initiative to dissolve the Beatles and release a solo debut album around that same time, called simply McCartney. In 1971, with all legal issues resolved, the Beatles ceased to exist, and the books were closed on one of the epic chapters of modern music. Time’s Kurt Loder noted in retrospect that the Beatles were “the most fabulously successful band of all time,” having sold more than 100 million recordings at the time of the breakup. McCartney by then was a multimillionaire and not yet 30 years old.
Ex-Beatle
After the Beatles disbanded, McCartney settled into a countryside retreat in Sussex, England, and devoted himself largely to his new family. Professionally he assembled a band called Wings in 1972, and toured with that group through 1981. After working solo for nearly a decade during the 1980s, he embarked on an international tour in 1989.
McCartney, who cannot read music, diverged nonetheless into composing classical music in the 1990s. He used the advice of his 1967 Sgt. Pepper lyric and enlisted “a little help from his friends” in putting his classical compositions to paper. His Liverpool Oratorio of 1991 was produced by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa singing soprano and Jerry Hadley as tenor. The effort was a critical success, and again in 1997, McCartney composed a four-movement classical symphony called Standing Stone. The London Symphony Orchestra recorded the piece on an album that reached number one on the Billboard classical chart.
McCartney spent much of the 1980s and 1990s involved in social activism and charitable causes. In the late 1980s he initiated the establishment of the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts in the renovated structure of the Liverpool Institute where he had attended school. After six years of fundraising, restoration, and planning, the new school opened in 1995. In recognition of his exceptional life, on March 11, 1997, the Queen dubbed McCartney a Knight of the British Empire, and thus he became Sir Paul McCartney.
By 1998 McCartney’s monetary worth was estimated at $860 million, although the copyrights to the more than 200 songs that he wrote or co-wrote during his years with the Beatles remained in dispute after being sold and resold under questionable circumstances. Among them was the provocative ballad “Yesterday,” which McCartney penned in 1965 after hearing the song in a dream. By the late 1990s nearly 2, 500 artists had recorded the song, making it the most recorded song in history. The topic of McCartney’s songwriting career with Lennon was the focus of a 1997 biography by Barry Miles, Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now.
McCartney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony held on March 15, 1999. The following month, on April 30, 1999, he displayed 73 canvases at an exhibition at the Kunstforum Lyz in Siegen, Germany. The works were among a reported 600 paintings that he had completed as a hobby since 1982. Also in 1999, he released Run Devil Run, a vintage album in collaboration with popular artists including Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, McCartney retired to a 160-acre farm in Peasmarsh, England, following the tragic death of his wife Linda in 1998 after 29 years of marriage. His activities keep him frequently in the company of the couple’s four grown children and a grandchild. He continues to perform at special affairs and benefits.
Selected discography
Solo and with Wings
McCartney, Capitol, 1970.
Ram, Capitol, 1971.
Wild Life, Capitol, 1973.
Red Rose Speedway, Apple, 1973.
Band on the Run, Apple, 1973; remastered and bonus CD, Capitol, 1999.
Venus and Mars, Capitol, 1973.
Wings at the Speed of Sound, Capitol, 1976.
Wings over America, Capitol, 1976.
London Town, Capitol, 1978.
Wings Greatest Hits, Capitol, 1978.
Back to the Egg, Capitol, 1979.
McCartney II, Capitol, 1980.
Tug of War, Capitol, 1982.
Pipes of Peace, Capitol, 1983.
Give My Regards to Broad Street, Columbia, 1984.
Press To Play, Capitol, 1986.
All the Best, Capitol, 1987.
Flowers in the Dirt, Capitol, 1989.
Tripping the Live Fantastic, Capitol, 1990.
(Composer) Liverpool Oratorio, Angel, 1991.
Off the Ground, Capitol, 1993.
Paul Is Live, Capitol, 1993.
Venus & Mars (European import), 1994.
Flaming Pie, MPL, 1997.
(Composer) Standing Stone, Angel, 1997.
(With others) Run Devil Run, Capitol, 1999.
Liverpool Sound Collage, MCA, 2000.
With the Beatles
Introducing. .. the Beatles, Vee Jay, 1963.
Meet the Beatles, Capitol, 1964.
The Beatles’ Second Album, Capitol, 1964.
A Hard Day’s Night, United Artists (U.S.), 1964; Capitol (U.K.), 1964.
Something New, Capitol, 1964.
Beatles for Sale, Capitol, 1964.
The Beatles’ Story, Capitol, 1964.
Beatles VI, Capitol, 1964.
Beatles ’65, Capitol, 1965.
The Early Beatles, Capitol, 1965.
Help, Capitol, 1965.
Rubber Soul, Capitol, 1965.
Yesterday ... and Today, Capitol, 1966.
Revolver, Capitol, 1966.
This Is Where It Started, Metro, 1966.
Amazing Beatles and Other Great English Group Sounds, Clarion, 1966.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Capitol, 1967.
Magical Mystery Tour, Capitol, 1967.
The Beatles (White Album), Apple, 1968.
Yellow Submarine, Apple, 1969.
Abbey Road, Apple, 1969.
HeyJude, Apple, 1970.
Tony Sheridan and the Beatles, Polydor, 1970.
Let It Be, Apple, 1970.
In the Beginning: The Early Tapes, Polydor, 1970.
The Beatles 1962-1966, Apple, 1973.
The Beatles 1967-1970, Apple, 1973.
Rock ‘N’ Roll Music, Capitol, 1976.
The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, Capitol, 1976.
The Beatles Live! At the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany: 1962, Lingasong, 1977; re-released as The Beatles: 1962 Live at the Star Club in Hamburg, Walters, 2000.
Love Songs, Capitol, 1977.
Rarities, Capitol, 1979.
The Decca Tapes, Circuit, 1979.
Rock W Roll Music, Volume II, Capitol, 1980.
Reel Music, Capitol, 1982.
Twenty Greatest Hits, Capitol, 1982.
Sources
Books
Coleman, Ray, McCartney: Yesterday and Today, Dove Books, 1996.
Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd edition, Gale Research, 1998.
Periodicals
Billboard, November 3, 1997, p. 119; November 8, 1997, p. 62; June 10, 2000, p. 57.
Entertainment, March 17, 2000, p. 76.
People, May 4, 1998, p. 98; May 31, 1999, p. 63; April 3, 2000, p. 106.
Rolling Stone, February 4, 1999, p. 27.
Time, June 8, 1998, p. 144.
Online
All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (January 29, 2001).
Contemporary Authors Online, http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC (March 24, 2001).
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, http://www.grammy.com (March 24, 2001).
—Gloria Cooksey
McCartney, Paul
Paul McCartney
Singer, songwriter, guitarist
Paul McCartney cast an indelible imprint on the history of modern music during the 1960s as a member of rock and roll's monumental band, the Beatles. McCartney was widely accepted as a major driving force behind the Beatles and was responsible for composing an overwhelming majority of the tunes that brought the Beatles to the attention of serious music critics. In retrospective reviews of the late twentieth century, McCartney and his fellow Beatles were cited repeatedly as a cultural phenomenon. They are revered as the most successful band in the history of rock and roll, yet the foursome, which began recording in 1962, had effectively ceased all collaborations by 1970, having worked and performed actively for less than ten years. McCartney continued his songwriting and performance career as a solo artist beginning in 1970, repeatedly producing chart-topping songs as a solo artist and with the band Wings. Out of all the Beatles, McCartney had the most successful solo career.
McCartney was born James Paul McCartney in Liver-pool, England, on June 18, 1942. He was the first of two sons born to James and Mary McCartney. James McCartney was a cotton salesman by profession. Mary McCartney, a nurse, worked as a midwife until her untimely death from cancer in 1956. Paul McCartney was raised in a close-knit family environment and bonded with his parents, sibling, and also with his numerous relations. The family relocated on several occasions, always around the Liverpool area, and McCartney adapted easily. Energetic and bright, he was charismatic even as a schoolboy, attending the Stockton Woods infants school and later the prestigious Liverpool Institute on scholarship. As a youth, despite his melodic voice and natural sense of harmony, the choir at the Liverpool Cathedral rejected McCartney as a singer.
McCartney's parents were fond of music, and his father was a pianist for a local band. McCartney, in fact, taught himself to play his father's piano. The family, including aunts, uncles, and cousins, were given to sing-a-longs, and McCartney enjoyed listening to records whenever possible. When his father gave him a trumpet, McCartney kept the instrument briefly before trading the horn for a guitar, and after reversing the strings to accommodate his left-handedness, McCartney taught himself to play.
The Beatles
On July 6, 1957, following a skiffle concert at St. Mary's Church in Wooton, McCartney met a precocious 16-year-old performer named John Lennon. Skiffle, in England, was an awkward precursor to rock and roll, and Lennon's skiffle group at the time was called the Quarrymen. McCartney and Lennon bonded instantly. McCartney joined Lennon's group, and the evolution of the Beatles was underway. In 1960, the Quarrymen—including guitarist George Harrison—moved to Hamburg, Germany, where they billed themselves as the Silver Beatles and worked in beer cellars. Ultimately they returned to the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where they added a new drummer, Richard "Ringo Starr" Starkey, and billed themselves as the Beatles.
Popular music by that time had evolved solidly into rock and roll, and the Beatles changed styles with the times. In 1962 the Beatles cut their first record, a simple and rhythmic song called "Love Me Do" written by McCartney and Lennon. "Love Me Do," met with sufficient success to justify the release of a follow-up single in January of 1963 called "Please Please Me." The song, also an original composition by McCartney and Lennon, became a number one hit in Britain. The popularity of the Beatles had escalated to unprecedented proportion in England by the end of that summer. By the end of that year the Beatles had placed 29 hit records on the United States charts, many of which featured McCartney's smooth lead vocals.
So great was the combined persona of the four musicians that by 1965, they had starred in two feature length films playing only themselves. Coincidentally, the songwriting efforts of McCartney and Lennon matured, and with the release of two hit albums that year, Help and Rubber Soul, the Beatles earned the respect of serious critics and musicians. In recognition of the Beatles' popularity, in 1965, McCartney and the other Beatles were made members of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England. In 1966, the Beatles ceased personal appearances, ending with a final concert in San Francisco. Thereafter they concentrated their musical efforts largely in the Abbey Lane sound studio in England where they experimented continually with new types of music for the duration of the 1960s and proved repeatedly that they were the most popular band in the history of rock and roll.
As the 1960s drew to a close, the exceptionally cohesive synergy that had served to define the Beatles had worn thin. Each of the four had married, including McCartney, who wed photographer Linda Eastman in London on March 12, 1969. The following year McCartney took the initiative to dissolve the Beatles and release a solo debut album around that same time, called simply McCartney. In 1971, with all legal issues resolved, the Beatles ceased to exist, and the books were closed on one of the epic chapters of modern music. Time's Kurt Loder noted in retrospect that the Beatles were, "the most fabulously successful band of all time," having sold more than 100 million recordings at the time of the breakup. McCartney by then was a multimillionaire and not yet 30 years old.
For the Record …
Born on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England; son of James and Mary Patricia (Mohin) McCartney; married Linda Eastman, 1969 (died, 1998); married Heather Mills, 2002 (divorced, 2006); children: Heather (stepdaughter), Mary, Stella, James, and Beatrice Milly. Education: Attended Liverpool Institute.
Joined group the Quarrymen, founded by John Lennon, in June, 1956; name changed to the Beatles, 1962; group performed in Liverpool area and in Hamburg, Germany, 1960–62; signed with Capitol/EMI Records, 1962; released first single, "Love Me Do," 1962; had first number one hit, "Please Please Me," 1963; group subsequently sold more than 100 million singles and 100 million albums and toured worldwide; group disbanded,1970; released first solo album, McCartney, 1970; with wife Linda and others (principally studio musicians) formed Wings, 1971; had first number one hit with Wings, "Band on the Run," 1973; subsequently produced numerous platinum singles and albums, including Band on the Run, Live and Let Die, Wings at the Speed of Sound, and Pipes of Peace; wrote classical compositions, 1990s; owner of MPL Communications, Ltd., a music publishing firm; released Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, 2005.
Awards: Order of the British Empire, 1965; Academy Award, Best Original Song Score (as a member of the Beatles), 1970; Freedom of the City of Liverpool, 1984; Lifetime Achievement Award, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), 1996; Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire, 1997; Ivor Novello awards for International Achievement, 1980; International Hit of the Year (with Stevie Wonder), "Ebony and Ivory," 1982; and outstanding contribution to music, 1989; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,1999; Ivor Novello Fellowship, BACS, 2000; 13 Grammy Awards (including nine as a member of the Beatles, two as a member of Wings, and the Lifetime Achievement Award, 1990).
Addresses: Office—MPL Communications, Inc., 41 West 54th St., New York, NY 10019. Record company—Capitol, 1750 N. Vine St., Los Angeles, CA, 90028. Website—Paul McCartney Official Website: http://www.paulmccartney.com.
Ex-Beatle
After the Beatles disbanded, McCartney settled into a countryside retreat in Sussex, England, and devoted himself largely to his new family. At his new home, McCartney recorded his second solo album with the help of Linda. Ram was released in 1971 and later that year, McCartney gathered a group of musicians and he and Linda formed the band Wings. The new outfit released their first album, Wild Life, in late 1971. In 1972, traveling in a van, McCartney and Wings went on a small tour of the United Kingdom to play small venues and universities. McCartney and Wings released Red Rose Speedway in the spring of 1973, which launched international success with the ballad "My Love," and the band's first large tour of the United Kingdom. That same year, Wings recorded the title song for the James Bond film Live and Let Die, which became a top ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic. In late 1973, Wings finally got unanimously positive press when they scored a hit with the album Band on the Run. The title song and singles like "Jet" and "Bluebird" put the record at the top of the charts.
Wings Kept Him on Top of the Charts
Wings albums that followed, such as 1976's At the Speed of Sound and 1978's London Town, kept McCartney's songwriting at the top of the charts world-wide in the 1970s, just as he had in the 1960s with the Beatles. At the beginning of a Wings' Japanese tour for London Town, McCartney was arrested for marijuana possession and spent 10 days in jail before being released without any formal charges. After numerous line-up changes, and the release of McCartney's 1980 solo album McCartney II (on which he played every single instrument himself), Wings disbanded. Though McCartney had been part of two successful bands, he wanted to return to being a solo artist.
In 1982, McCartney had two hit singles on the radio: first was "Ebony and Ivory," a duet with Stevie Wonder from McCartney's George Martin-produced album Tug of War; the second was another duet, "The Girl is Mine" with Michael Jackson off Jackson's Thriller album. The next year, he had yet another popular duet with Jackson on the radio, the song "Say Say Say" from McCartney's 1983 record Pipes of Peace.
No stranger to the film world, in 1984, McCartney wrote and appeared in Give My Regards to Broad Street; Ringo Starr and Linda McCartney also appeared. While the movie went nowhere, its soundtrack spawned the hit song "No More Lonely Nights." McCartney wrote yet another movie theme song the next year, this time for the Dan Akroyd/Chevy Chase comedy Spies Like Us.
McCartney consistently continued to release solo albums in the 1980s like Press to Play (1986) and Flowers in the Dirt (1989). Many of the songs on Flowers in the Dirt were co-written with singer-songwriter Elvis Costello. The team also penned a few songs for Costello's Spike album that same year, including the hit"Veronica." The tour for Flowers resulted in the live album Tripping the Live Fantastic, the beginning of a string of live solo albums including an infamous MTV Unplugged album in 1991. McCartney soon delved into a career making classical music. His Liverpool Oratorio of 1991 was produced by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa singing soprano and Jerry Hadley as tenor. Curiously, in 1994, McCartney made a an ambient dance record under the name the Fireman.
McCartney and his wife spent much of the 1980s and 1990s involved in social activism and charitable causes; adamant vegetarians, they were most well-known for animal rights, speaking for PETA and other organizations. In the late 1980s he initiated the establishment of the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts in the renovated structure of the Liverpool Institute where he had attended school. After six years of fundraising, restoration, and planning, the new school opened in 1995. In recognition of his exceptional life, on March 11, 1997, the Queen dubbed McCartney a Knight of the British Empire, and thus he became Sir Paul McCartney. In the same year, he released Flaming Pie, which echoed back to classic McCartney pop. Time magazine's Christopher John Farley called Flaming Pie "a relaxed, easygoing album."
On April 17, 1998, McCartney's life changed forever when his wife Linda died from breast cancer. He stayed out of the spotlight for some time following her death. In 1999, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony. After a period, McCartney returned to what he does best: recording. In 1999 he released the pop album Run Devil Run and the classical album Working Classical. The next year he put out the unusual electronica album Liverpool Sound Collage, around the same time the first official Beatles biography, The Beatles Anthology, was published. He soon returned to the studio to record his first album of all new songs since Flaming Pie. Just before he released the new record, Driving Rain, McCartney released Blackbird Singing, a book of poetry and song lyrics.
In June of 2002, McCartney married anti-landmines activist Heather Mills. On October 28, 2003 the couple welcomed their first child together, Beatrice Milly. McCartney and Mills later divorced in 2006. In February of 2005, McCartney performed during the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX. Seven months later, he released the new album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. Produced by longtime Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich, the album was a return to form for McCartney, who played almost every single instrument on the record. Time magazine's Josh Tyrangiel called the album, "… adventurous, melodic and emotionally complicated—the first album in his post-Fab Four catalog that really matters."
Chaos gave McCartney some of his best reviews in over a decade; many critics compared the new songs to some of the best Beatles tunes, or early solo McCartney albums. People noted that McCartney's voice sounded better than ever, "unscarred by time, yet more resonant than ever, that is the standout instrument." Shortly after Chaos, McCartney released the children's book High in the Clouds. In February of 2006, McCartney performed at the Grammy Awards where he was nominated for three awards. He played two songs with his band and then returned toward the end of the show to perform with hip-hop star Jay-Z and rock band Linkin Park for an unforgettable collaboration.
Selected discography
Solo and with Wings
McCartney, Capitol, 1970.
Ram, Capitol, 1971.
Wild Life, Capitol, 1973.
Red Rose Speedway, Apple, 1973.
Band on the Run, Apple, 1973; remastered and bonus CD, Capitol, 1999.
Venus and Mars, Capitol, 1973.
Wings at the Speed of Sound, Capitol, 1976.
Wings over America, Capitol, 1976.
London Town, Capitol, 1978.
Wings Greatest Hits, Capitol, 1978.
Back to the Egg, Capitol, 1979.
McCartney II, Capitol, 1980.
Tug of War, Capitol, 1982.
Pipes of Peace, Capitol, 1983.
Give My Regards to Broad Street, Columbia, 1984.
Press To Play, Capitol, 1986.
All the Best, Capitol, 1987.
Flowers in the Dirt, Capitol, 1989.
Tripping the Live Fantastic, Capitol, 1990.
(Composer) Liverpool Oratorio, Angel, 1991.
Off the Ground, Capitol, 1993.
Paul Is Live, Capitol, 1993.
Flaming Pie, MPL, 1997.
(Composer) Standing Stone, Angel, 1997.
(With others) Run Devil Run, Capitol, 1999.
Working Classical: Orchestral and Chamber Music by Paul McCartney, Angel, 1999.
Liverpool Sound Collage, Capitol, 2000.
Driving Rain, Capitol, 2001.
Wingspan: Hits and History, Capitol, 2001.
Back in the U.S., Capitol, 2002.
Back in the World, MPL Communications, 2003.
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, Capitol, 2005.
With the Beatles
Introducing … the Beatles,Vee Jay, 1963.
Meet the Beatles, Capitol, 1964.
The Beatles' Second Album, Capitol, 1964.
A Hard Day's Night, United Artists (U.S.), 1964; Capitol (U.K.), 1964.
Something New, Capitol, 1964.
Beatles for Sale, Capitol, 1964.
The Beatles' Story, Capitol, 1964.
Beatles VI, Capitol, 1964.
Beatles '65, Capitol, 1965.
The Early Beatles, Capitol, 1965.
Help, Capitol, 1965.
Rubber Soul, Capitol, 1965.
Yesterday … and Today, Capitol, 1966.
Revolver, Capitol, 1966.
This Is Where It Started, Metro, 1966.
Amazing Beatles and Other Great English Group Sounds, Clarion, 1966.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Capitol, 1967.
Magical Mystery Tour, Capitol, 1967.
The Beatles (White Album), Apple, 1968.
Yellow Submarine, Apple, 1969.
Abbey Road, Apple, 1969.
Hey Jude, Apple, 1970.
Tony Sheridan and the Beatles, Polydor, 1970.
Let It Be, Apple, 1970.
In the Beginning: The Early Tapes, Polydor, 1970.
The Beatles 1962–1966, Apple, 1973.
The Beatles 1967–1970, Apple, 1973.
Rock 'n' Roll Music, Capitol, 1976.
The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, Capitol, 1976.
The Beatles Live! At the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany: 1962, Lingasong, 1977; re-released as The Beatles: 1962 Live at the Star Club in Hamburg, Walters, 2000.
Love Songs, Capitol, 1977.
Rarities, Capitol, 1979.
The Decca Tapes, Circuit, 1979.
Rock 'n' Roll Music, Volume II, Capitol, 1980.
Reel Music, Capitol, 1982.
Twenty Greatest Hits, Capitol, 1982.
Sources
Books
Coleman, Ray, McCartney: Yesterday and Today, Dove Books, 1996.
Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd edition, Gale Research, 1998.
Periodicals
Billboard, November 3, 1997, p. 119; November 8, 1997, p. 62; June 10, 2000, p. 57.
Entertainment Weekly, March 17, 2000, p. 76.
People, May 4, 1998, p. 98; May 31, 1999, p. 63; April 3, 2000, p. 106; September 26, 2005.
Rolling Stone, February 4, 1999, p. 27.
Time, June 8, 1998, p. 144; June 9, 1997; September 12, 2005, p. 93.
Online
Contemporary Authors Online, http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC (March 24, 2004).
MPL Communications, http://www.mplcommunications.com/mccartney/index.htm (February 24, 2006).
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, http://www.grammy.com (February 24, 2006).
"Paul McCartney," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (January 29, 2001, February 24, 2006).
McCartney, Paul
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney (born 1942), a member of the famous band The Beatles and later a solo artist, is one of the most successful rock stars in the history of the genre. His career spans four decades and has garnered him not only several hits but knighthood as well.
The most commercially successful rock star to date, McCartney was born James Paul McCartney in Liverpool, England, on June 18, 1942. His father, Jim, was a bandleader, and his mother, Mary, was a nurse. McCartney was an above-average student, attending school at The Liverpool Institute.
Teen Years Foundation for Future
When McCartney was 14, his mother died of breast cancer. He also wrote his first song that year and learned guitar before age 15. A mutual friend introduced McCartney to John Lennon at a church picnic during the summer of 1957. Lennon was in a skiffle band called the Quarrymen, which McCartney joined soon after they met. Lennon and McCartney began songwriting together at that point, agreeing to share all songwriting credits.
In 1960, the Quarrymen became The Beatles, and McCartney began playing bass guitar. The initial lineup featured John Lennon on guitar and vocals, George Harrison on guitar, and Stuart Sutcliffe on drums. Ringo Starr later replaced Sutcliffe.
The Beatles
The Beatles were signed by EMI in 1962, and Brian Epstein signed on as their manager. George Martin produced their first album. "Love Me Do," their debut single, reached the top 20 in the UK. Their second single, "Please, Please Me" went to number two. When their third single, "From Me to You," went number one in 1963, the Beatlemania craze had hit.
In 1964 "Beatlemania" hit the U.S. "Yesterday," released by The Beatles in 1965, became the most popular song in history, according to Rolling Stone, and was played more than six million times on the radio in the U.S. alone. Only a year later, in 1966, the Beatles gave up touring.
A Long-Lasting Romance
Paul met Linda Eastman, an American photographer, in 1967 while engaged to British girlfriend Jane Asher. The engagement was broken off, and McCartney saw Eastman on and off for a couple of years. The two married on March 12, 1969. The marriage was to become one of the most famously stable marriages in the entertainment industry.
Bob Spitz wrote in the New York Times, "Of all his accomplishments, McCartney points to his family as his proudest. His 28-year marriage remains one of the sturdiest in a profession littered by broken relationships." The McCartneys raised four children: Heather (born 1963), from Linda's first marriage, is a potter and jeweler; Mary (born 1969), a photographer and animal rights campaigner; Stella (born 1971), a fashion designer; and James (born 1977), a guitarist. The family, for a long time, lived in a two-bedroom home in Scotland.
Beatles Ended, Solo Career Began
In 1968, disagreements began an irreparable rift among The Beatles. When a new business manager was needed for the group, McCartney suggested his wife's father, Lee Eastman, an attorney. His bandmates, however, chose American businessman Allen Klein, creating further tensions within the group. McCartney later pointed to this incident as the principal reason for the group splitting up.
McCartney and the other Beatles began work on solo albums. McCartney was released in April 1970, a month before the last Beatles album, Let It Be, was released. McCartney played all the instruments; Linda performed backup vocals. The album featured the US number one hit "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," and "Another Day" which went to number two on the UK charts.
On April 10, 1970, McCartney told a magazine he was no longer with The Beatles, but it was not until December 31, 1970, that McCartney sued Klein and the other three Beatles, effectively ending their partnership.
The McCartneys Formed Wings
In 1971, McCartney released the single "Another Day" just prior to the release of his second album, Ram. Later that same year, he formed the group Wings with wife Linda on vocals, Denny Laine (formerly of the Moody Blues) on guitar, and Denny Seiwell on drums. The group's first album, Wildlife, was released in December 1971.
In 1972, Wings added Henry McCullough, a studio guitarist, and Geoff Britton, drummer, to their lineup. The group toured the UK and then released three singles: "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" (banned by the BBC), "Mary Had A Little Lamb," and "Hi, Hi, Hi"/"C Moon." They followed these in 1973 with the album, Red Rose Speedway, featuring the hit single, "My Love." McCullough and Seiwell left the band before the fourth album.
In 1973, Band on the Run, recorded by the McCartneys, was considered a great comeback and topped the charts in the United States, eventually selling three million copies. Singles "Band on the Run" and "Jet" were US and UK top 10 hits.
Jimmy McCullough (no relation to Henry) and Joe English on guitar and drums respectively were added to the lineup. The new Wings released 1975's Venus and Mars, and 1976's At the Speed of Sound, both hit albums. In 1976, the Wings Over the World Tour spawned the live album, Wings Over America. In 1978, Wings released London Town with the U.K. single, "Mull of Kintyre," which sold a record-setting two million plus copies in Britain. McCullough left the group later in the year, but Wings continued with 1979's hit album, Back to the Egg.
On the 1980 leg of the tour supporting Back to the Egg in Japan, McCartney was arrested at Narita on January 16 when customs officials found 7.7 ounces of marijuana in his luggage. McCartney spent 10 days in jail, but in the end, the prosecutor did not file charges. At Amsterdam's Schipol Airport on his return trip, McCartney told reporters (as quoted in The Globe and Mail) that marijuana "should be decriminalized. Reliable medical tests should be carried out and these would show it's not harmful."
Another Era Ends
Later that same year, on December 8, 1980, Lennon was murdered outside his New York City apartment. A distraught McCartney cancelled the Wings tour. Laine, the only permanent member of Wings other than the McCartneys, quit the band, effectively breaking it up.
During 1980, a solo album, McCartney II, was released, featuring the hits "Coming Up" and "Waterfalls." A third solo album, Tug of War, produced by George Martin, was released in 1982.
Back to the Top
The early 1980s began a renaissance of sorts for McCartney's flagging career. In 1982, McCartney had a number one hit, "Ebony and Ivory," with Stevie Wonder, featured on his Tug of War album, produced by George Martin. He also appeared on Michael Jackson's 1983 single, "The Girl is Mine," on Jackson's Thriller album. Jackson contributed vocals to the number one hit single "Say Say Say" on McCartney's 1983 Pipes of Peace album.
Two years later, in August 1985, Jackson paid ATV Music $40 million for the publishing rights to the 1964–1970 Beatles catalog, outbidding and angering McCartney. The two never recorded together again. (McCartney owns many other lucrative rights, however. In the 1970s, MPL Communications, Inc., McCartney's publishing company, purchased the entire catalog of Buddy Holly, as well as the Edwin H. Morris publishing company, thus gaining control of North American rights to musicals like Hello Dolly, Mame, A Star is Born, and others. MPL also controls two Beatles songs, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You.")
In 1984 McCartney branched out with a directorial film debut, Give My Regards to Broad Street. Critics panned the film and its accompanying album. The album did spawn a hit single, however: "No More Lonely Nights." And McCartney, not altogether dissuaded, followed up by writing the film score for the 1985 comedy Spies Like Us.
In 1986, McCartney worked with guitarist Eric Stewart on Press to Play. Three years later, in 1989, he teamed with Elvis Costello on some tracks for Flowers in the Dirt and cowrote a few songs with Costello on the latter's Spike.
That same year, McCartney went out on his first world tour in 10 years and broke attendance records in many countries. Music from the tour can be heard on the 1990 live release Tripping the Live Fantastic.
A Classical Spin
In 1991 McCartney changed the pace with the Liverpool Oratorio, composed in collaboration with Carl Davis. Written on commission from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, the piece has been performed over 100 times in 20 countries since its premiere. The premiere was recorded live by EMI Classics and released as a double-CD album.
McCartney continued to explore other styles in 1994 when he joined forces with former Killing Joke member Youth to create ambient music. The two called themselves "Fireman" and released an album titled strawberries oceans ships forest.
In 1995, EMI released The Leaf. The Prelude composed for solo piano was inspired by McCartney's interest in classical music during the three years he was writing the Liverpool Oratorio. A young Russian pianist and gold medal winner at the Royal College of Music, Anya Alexeyev, performed it at St. James' Palace and recorded it for EMI. That same year, the Prince of Wales appointed McCartney Fellow of The Royal College of Music.
Beatles Revisited
While working with BBC producers on a Beatles documentary, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr met and began working with EMI/Capitol to produce never-before-released songs, "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love," from two John Lennon demo tapes. These songs and other unreleased Beatles demos and outtakes were released on the double-album Anthology in 1996.
In 1997 McCartney's solo release, Flaming Pie, entered the charts at No. 2 in the U.S. and U.K. and was nominated for Album of the Year Grammy in the U.S. The album, produced by Jeff Lynne, featured Steve Miller on three tracks, and McCartney's son James contributed lead guitar to songs like "Heaven on a Sunday."
Knighthood
On March 11, 1997, Queen Elizabeth II knighted McCartney. Bob Spitz of the New York Times wrote, "The promise of knighthood to the former pesky Beatle … is a delicious paradox. It was the Beatles, after all, who were anointed gurus of upheaval at a time when the collapse of the Empire was lashed to the decline of a generation's morals."
On a commission from EMI to mark its 100th anniversary, McCartney wrote the classical tone poem Standing Stone and recorded it in the Abbey Road studios with the London Symphony Orchestra. The piece premiered at Royal Albert Hall in October 1997. McCartney won the National Public Radio New Horizon Award for Standing Stone "in recognition of his work in broadening the appeal of classical music."
On April 17, 1998, Linda McCartney died from breast cancer at the family ranch in Arizona. The following year, McCartney produced an album of songs, Wild Prairie, which Linda had written and recorded. Chrissie Hynde, lead singer of the Pretenders and a close friend of the McCartney family, said (according to Business Wire), "The legacy of Paul's music and the Beatles is one thing, but I think his real legacy is the love story he had with Linda."
On March 15, 1999, McCartney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. The event also marked his first public performance since the death of his wife. McCartney continued to record new material, as well. Later that year, the album Run Devil Run collected McCartney covers of vintage rock songs by Carl Perkins, Larry Williams, and Little Richard. In October of 1999, Working Classical featured three new short orchestral pieces. A Garland for Linda, an album to commemorate the life of his late wife and raise funds for cancer research, was released in January of 2000. The album featured McCartney's original music as well as that of other contemporary composers. For 2001's Driving Rain, McCartney's son James wrote two songs and played guitar. Wingspan (Hits and History) was released the same year, encapsulating Wings' contributions to popular music.
McCartney's former Beatles bandmate, Harrison, died of throat cancer in Los Angeles, California, on November 29, 2001. On the first anniversary of his death, McCartney and Starr reunited for a musical tribute, "Concert for George," at London's Royal Albert Hall.
A New Love
In 2000, McCartney began dating Heather Mills, a former model and anti-land mine advocate. A year later, they were engaged and in June 2002, the couple wed at an Irish castle. On October 30, 2003, Mills gave birth to their daughter, Beatrice Milly. McCartney toured Europe in the spring of 2004. He also produced a DVD titled Paul McCartney: The Music and Animation Collection.
Books
Miles, Barry, Many Years From Now, Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1997.
Turner, Steve, A Hard Day's Write, Harper Perennial, 1999.
Periodicals
America's Intelligence Wire, February 27, 2004.
Associated Press, August 14, 1985.
Associated Press Newswires, July 3, 1997; April 20, 1998; June 22, 1998.
Billboard, May 15, 2004.
Buffalo News, June 14, 1998.
Business Wire, October 27, 1998.
Canadian Press, November 30, 2002.
Globe and Mail, April 7, 1979; May 22, 1979; January 26, 1980; January 28, 1980; December 10, 1980.
Herald-Sun, December 1, 2001.
Los Angeles Times, August 15, 1985.
Mirror, May 29, 2003.
New York Times, June 15, 1997.
Orange County Register, April 12, 1999.
People, March 29, 1999.
Reuters News, October 18, 1998; October 30, 2003.
Scotland on Sunday, September 28, 1997.
Seattle Times, October 15, 1997.
Times Union, March 12, 1997.
Online
"Music: Paul McCartney Forever," BBC America,http://www.bbcamerica.com (January 6, 2004).
"Paul McCartney," theiceberg.com,http://www.theiceberg.com (January 6, 2004).
"Paul McCartney," Rolling Stone,http://www.rollingstone.com (January 6, 2004).
"Paul McCartney," 46th Grammy Awards,http://www.grammy.com (January 19, 2004).
McCartney, Paul
McCartney, Paul
McCartney, Paul, often regarded as the Beatle who stabilized the group’s appeal with audiences of all ages; b. Allerton, Liverpool, England, June 18, 1942. Paul McCartney was responsible for writing most of the group’s original material, in conjunction with John Lennon. The primary author of Beatles hits such as “Michelle” and “Hey Jude,” McCartney composed the classic “Yesterday,” which has been recorded by more than 2,500 artists and played more than six million times, making it the most frequently performed pop song in history. Moreover, McCartney was the most proficient musician and technically accomplished vocalist in the Beatles.
Paul McCartney’s first solo project outside of the Beatles was the soundtrack to the movie Family Way, released in 1967. He later met American photographer Linda Eastman and married her on March 12, 1969, by which time the Beatles were already suffering from internal tensions. The film of the Beatles’ final album release, Let It Be, aptly revealed McCartney’s attempt to dominate the group. The four were soon embroiled in personal and business disputes, as McCartney objected to the near-simultaneous release of Let It Be and his first solo album, McCartney, and the others sought to employ Allen Klein as financial advisor while McCartney sought the appointment of his father-in-law, Lee Eastman. In April 1970 the breakup of the Beatles was announced, and on Dec. 31, 1970, McCartney sued Klein and Apple Records for legal dissolution of the group’s corporate empire.
McCartney, recorded with Linda providing harmonies and Paul playing all instruments, contained ditties by Paul such as “Every Night,” “That Would Be Something,” “Man, We Was Lonely,” and, the one substantial song, “Maybe I’m Amazed.” McCartney topped the album charts and remained there for nearly a year. Following the smash-hit single “Another Day,” Paul and Linda McCartney recorded Ram with N.Y. session players. The album included “Heart of the Country” and yielded the top hit “UncleAlbert/Admiral Halsey”.
In August 1971 Paul McCartney formed his recording and touring band, Wings, with wife Linda, guitarist Denny Laine, and drummer Danny Seiwell. Session musician Seiwell had played on the Ram album, whereas Laine had been an original member of the Moody Blues and lead vocalist on the Moodys’ first blues-inflected hit, “Go Now.” Wild Life was generally considered to be McCartney’s weakest effort, failing to yield even a minor hit. Joined in January 1972 by guitarist Henry McCullough, the band scored major hits with the singles-only releases “Give Ireland Back to the Irish/’ McCartney’s feeble attempt at political consciousness; the inane “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Hi, Hi, Hi.” Red Rose Speedway did little to establish his artistic credibility, although it did yield the top pop and easy-listening hit” My Love.”
In 1973 Paul McCartney and Wings recorded the title song to the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, and the single became a top hit. It served as a prototype to the clever pop-style songs—replete with reprises, codas, changing time signatures, and multiple musical themes—that McCartney crafted so successfully on the subsequent album, Band on the Run. During 1973 Wings appeared in a British and American television special, successfully toured Europe, and scored a major hit with “Helen Wheels.” However, by July Henry McCullough and Danny Seiwell had dropped out of the group.
The McCartneys and Denny Laine traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, to record their next album, Band on the Run, at Ginger Baker’s new ARC Studio. Often regarded as McCartney’s finest post-Beatles work and certainly his most consistent, the album brought the group their first critical praise and yielded the smash hits “Jet” and the title track; it also contains “Let Me Roll It,” “Helen Wheels,” and the ditty “Mamunia.” Remaining on the album charts for more than two years and selling more than six million copies, the album effectively established McCartney as a pop-style songwriter-arranger.
Wings added Scottish guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, formerly with Thunderclap Newman and Stone the Crows, in May 1974 for the Nashville-recorded pop hits “Junior’s Farm” (a smash) and “Sally G.,” also a minor country hit. Drummer Joe English joined in February 1975 for the group’s next album, Venus and Mars Are Alright Tonight, recorded primarily at Allen Toussaint’s Sea Saint Studio in New Orleans. The album produced the top hit “Listen to What the Man Said,” the moderate hit “Letting Go” and the major hit “Venus and Mars Rock Show.” Between fall 1975 and summer 1976 Wings successfully completed their first worldwide tour, and Wings at the Speed of Sound was issued in spring. Considered the band’s first team effort, the album included McCulloch’s “Wino Junko,” Laine’s “Time to Hide,” and Linda’s first effort as a lead vocalist, “Cook of the House,” as well as Paul’s smash pop and easy-listening hits “Let ’Em In” and “Silly Love Songs,” the latter a gentle swipe at critics who had regularly attacked him for his inconsequential ditties.
The United States segment of the Wings tour, called Wings Over America, produced a live multirecord set that yielded the major hit “Maybe I’m Amazed.” Otherwise largely inactive during 1977, Wings scored a smash British hit with the singles release “Mull Of Kintyre” (ostensibly the biggest-selling single in British history), whereas the flip side, “Girls School,” became a moderate American hit. London Town, Wings’s final album of new material for Capitol Records, was recorded primarily on a chartered yacht in the Virgin Islands and produced during 1978 the hits “With a Little Luck,” “I’ve Had Enough,” and the title song. Following the album’s completion, Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English left Wings, to be replaced by session musicians.
By early 1979 Paul McCartney had signed a longterm contract with Columbia Records rumored to be the most lucrative ever in the history of popular music. Wings scored a smash hit on Columbia with the disco-style “Goodnight Tonight” and their debut Columbia album, Back to the Egg, yielded major hits with “Getting Closer” and “Arrow Through Me.” Scheduled to make his first appearance in Japan since playing there with the Beatles in 1966, McCartney was busted upon arrival on Jan. 16, 1980, for possession of nearly a half-pound of marijuana. Perhaps the most highly publicized drug bust in pop-music history, McCartney was deported after spending several days in jail. He subsequently wrote, engineered, produced, played, and sang all parts of his second “solo” album, McCartney II, with its hit, “Comin’ Up.” In April 1981 Wings officially disbanded.
For his next two albums McCartney utilized the services of George Martin, the Beatles’ former producer. Tug of War included “Here Today” (a tribute to slain Beatle John Lennon) and yielded the top pop and easy-listening hit “Ebony and Ivory,” sung in duet with Stevie Wonder, and the major hit “Take It Away.” McCartney and Michael Jackson scored a smash pop, R&B, and easy-listening hit with “The Girl Is Mine” in late 1982, and McCartney’s next album, Pipes of Peace, yielded another top pop hit for the duo with “Say Say Say” and a major hit for McCartney alone with “So Bad.” McCartney’s next project, his first solo feature film, Give My Regards to Broad Street, was a barely watchable flop, despite the inclusion of musicians Ringo Starr, Dave Edmunds, and John Paul Jones and actor Sir Ralph Richardson. The soundtrack album featured 13 rerecordings of Beatles and McCartney hits and included the smash hit “No More Lonely Nights.”
In 1985 Paul McCartney returned to Capitol Records, quickly hitting with the title song to the Chevy Chase-Dan Aykroyd movie Spies Like Us. Eric Stewart, formerly with lOcc, collaborated on many of the songs from McCartney’s debut Capitol album, as he had on Tug of War. Press to Play, however, produced only one hit, “Press.” In September 1987 McCartney recorded his most spirited album in years for the Russian label Melodiya. Released exclusively in the Soviet Union in 1988, the album contained remade oldies and was eventually released outside that country in 1991.
In 1989 Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello collaborated on two songs for Costello’s album Spike, the major hit “Veronica” and “Pads, Paws and Claws.” McCartney’s next effort, Flowers in the Dirt, included four songs coauthored by Costello: “Don’t Be Careless Love,” “That Day Is Done,” “You Want Her Too,” and the major hit “My Brave Face.” McCartney subsequently conducted his first tour in 13 years with the recording band, comprised of the McCartneys, lead guitarist Robbie Mclntosh (of the Pretenders), guitarist-bassist Hamish Stuart (of the Average White Band), keyboardist Paul “Wix”Wickens, and drummer Chris Whitten. Mixing Beatles, Wings, and McCartney favorites with more recent songs, the tour helped reestablish McCartney as a pop artist and produced the live 1990 set Tripping the Live Fantastic, released in both double (30 songs) and single (17 songs) CD versions.
In early 1991, with Blair Cunningham replacing Chris Whitten, McCartney and band performed on MTV’s Unplugged program. The album from the performance was the first album released from the popular, ongoing series. Later that year McCartney debuted his Liverpool Oratorio at Liverpool Cathedral, with mezzo-soprano Kiri Te Kanawa and a cast of more than three hundred. Written over a three-year period with American film and theater composer Carl Davis, it was politely received and later performed at Carnegie Hall. Paul McCartney toured with his band again in 1993 in support of Off the Ground. In 1995 another classical piece composed by McCartney, “A Leaf,” for solo piano, was debuted in London at a benefit concert for the Royal Coll. of Music. McCartney reunited with ex-Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison in late 1995 for a video/TV program/record package on the group’s history, recording two singles using demo tapes made by John Lennon in the late 1970s, ’Tree as a Bird” and “Real Love,” both with new lyrics by McCartney and over-dubbed vocals and instruments by the trio. His 1997 album Flaming Pie was well-received and up for a Grammy in 1998, the year his wife, Linda, died of breast cancer.
Discography
paulmccartney:Family Way (soundtrack; 1967); McCartney (1979); McCartney II (1980); Tug of War (1982) Pipes of Peace (1983); Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984); Press to Play (1986); All the Best (1970–1986) (1987); Choba B CCCP(re-leased in U.S.S.R. in 1988) (1991); Flowers in the Dirt (1989); Tripping the Live Fantastic (1990); Tripping the Live Fantastic—”Highlights” (1990); Unplugged (1991); Off the Ground (1993); Paul Is Live (1993); Standing Stone (1997); Flaming Pie (1997); Run Devil Run (1999); Working Classical (1999). paul and linda mccartney:Ram (1971). Paul MccArtney And Wings:Wild Life (1971); Red Rose Speedway (1973); Band on the Run (1973); Venus and Mars Are Alright Tonight! (1975); Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976); Wings Over America (1976); London Town (1978); Greatest Hits (1978); Back to the Egg (1979). paul mccartney andcarl davis:Liverpool Oratorio (1991).
Bibliography
George Tremlett, The P. M. Story (N.Y., 1975); John Mendelsohn, P. M.: A Biography in Words and Pictures (N.Y., 1977); Chris Welch, P. M.: The Definitive Biography (London, 1984); Chris Salewicz, McCartney (London, 1987); Chet Flippo, Yesterday: The Unauthorized Biography of P. M. (Garden City, N.Y., 1988).
—Brock Helander
McCartney, Paul
PAUL McCARTNEY
Born: James Paul McCartney; Liverpool, England, 18 June 1942
Genre: Rock, Pop
Best-selling album since 1990: Flaming Pie (1997)
Hit songs since 1990: "Freedom"
Paul McCartney was the bassist and one of the two principal singers and songwriters of the British pop innovators the Beatles. When the group disbanded in 1970, he kicked off a solo career and became the most commercially successful solo Beatle. As a solo artist, McCartney released more than twenty albums, numerous best-of collections, several movie soundtrack songs, and occasional oddities. He enjoyed many hit singles and embarked on several stadium world tours. His album sales dwindled in the 1990s, but he remained a top box office ticket on tour. With George Harrison living in seclusion and Ringo Starr not a major player, McCartney became the public face of the Beatles. He spent the 1990s anthologizing the band's legacy for future generations. He also dodged his reputation as a soft rock hit-maker by returning to the classic rock and R&B that influenced him as a teenager. At the same time he turned heads by making two ambient techno albums under a pseudonym. McCartney was highly visible after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He wrote "Freedom," an anthem to lift American spirits, and then he embarked on a world tour that was highly praised by critics and broke box office records.
Beginnings
McCartney was born in Liverpool, England, to a father who played in a local jazz band. His mother, who died of breast cancer in 1956, would figure into many of his future songs. Growing up in the 1950s, McCartney was greatly influenced by the New Orleans piano R&B of Fats Domino, the guitar rock of Eddie Cochran, and the gospel singing style of early rock hit-maker Little Richard. McCartney met John Lennon in 1956 and they soon formed the Beatles together. He married his future musical collaborator Linda Eastman in 1969.
McCartney released his first solo album in 1970, the year the Beatles broke up. The following year he formed the group Wings, his effort to continue the splendid harmony and collaborative spirit of the Beatles. Until the band's break-up in 1981, Wings enjoyed several Top 10 hits, performed stadium tours, and recorded Band on the Run (1973), which remains McCartney's solo masterpiece. The songs within songs are reminiscent of his Beatles work as are the accessible hooks—from the "ho, hey-ho" chorus of "Mrs. Vanderbilt" and the shout-outs in "Jet" and "Helen Wheels" to the soulful gospel sway of "Let Me Roll It." Most critics agree Band on the Run is the only solo McCartney album at the level of his best Beatles work.
Experimentation
In the 1980s McCartney experimented with funk and reggae. He collaborated with an array of artists including Motown legend Stevie Wonder, pop superstar Michael Jackson, and New Wave songwriter Elvis Costello. His album sales failed to meet the expectations of a McCartney album even though he found success with his 1989 world tour.
McCartney started writing classical music at the dawn of the 1990s but it received middling reviews throughout the decade. The pop album Off the Ground (1993) did not yield any hit singles. In the years to come McCartney concentrated on organizing the Beatles Anthology project—a video documentary series, compact disc series, and hard-cover book—as well as 1, a collection of Beatles hits which became an instant best-seller.
Despite his colossal responsibility as the public face of the Beatles, McCartney managed an almost subversive flair for unpredictability. In 1994 he released an ambient techno album under the pseudonym Fireman and later collaborated with the Welsh psychedelic pop band Super Furry Animals for a collection of oddball Beatles remixes. He also made a cameo on their album chomping vegetables.
Getting Back to Where He Once Belonged
McCartney's renewed spontaneity surfaced on Run Devil Run (1999), in which he returns to the rock classics of his youth. He sounds the most invigorated in years singing the collection of carefree covers (plus one original) of vintage rock nuggets by Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry.
Critics speculated that McCartney's back-to-basics drive was inspired by the death of Linda, his wife and long-time musical collaborator, to breast cancer in 1998. He weeded the production down on his follow-up album, Driving Rain (2001). Although his sunny sentimentality surfaces at times, it is a deceptively dark collection of mostly sparse and quiet songs that grapple with sadness and loss. It projects the idol as just another man who lost his wife. In 2000 he released A Garland for Linda, a collection of modern classical originals written in Linda's honor.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, McCartney rose to the occasion with the song "Freedom," and it became the centerpiece of a tour which grossed $70 million in the United States. The tour broke box office records and made him the highest-earning celebrity in the world. During the concert—which featured many Beatles songs—he paid separate tributes to Lennon and Harrison, who died in 2001.
Following the tour, McCartney sought to change the publishing credit he and John Lennon shared during their Beatles days. Although "Lennon/McCartney" reflected their early partnership, McCartney asserted the songwriters later wrote independently. McCartney lobbied Lennon's widow Yoko Ono to change the historical record. So no one would mistake Lennon as the writer of the McCartney ballad "Yesterday," he argued, the needed to be credited as "McCartney/Lennon." Ono refused. "I tried to ignore it, but it built into an insecurity. It became a major issue," McCartney told Rolling Stone magazine. On his two-disc live album, Back in the U.S. (2002), he switched the Beatles song credit to "Paul McCartney & John Lennon," which prompted Ono to consider legal action.
McCartney is a pioneer whose profuse songbook influenced generations of songwriters. He composes in many genres, from reggae to R&B to classical, and his music maintains an accessibility and upbeat sentimentality that are hallmarks of pop music.
SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:
McCartney (Apple, 1970); Pipes of Peace (Columbia, 1983); Press to Play (Capitol, 1986); Off the Ground (Capitol, 1993); Flaming Pie (Capitol, 1997); Run Devil Run (Capitol, 1999); Driving Rain (Capitol, 2001). With Wings: Band on the Run (Apple, 1973); Venus and Mars (Apple, 1975). Soundtracks: Give My Regards to Broad Street (EMI, 1984); Spies Like Us (Capitol, 1985); Live and Let Die (Capitol, 1990); Jerry Maguire (Sony, 1996); Vanilla Sky (Sony, 2001); The Family Way (XXI, 2003).
WEBSITES:
www.paulmccartney.com; www.thebeatles.com.
mark guarino