Paul
James Paul McCartney was born 18 June 1942 in Liverpool, England. While he will always be remembered as a central member of The Beatles, and for his songwriting collaboration with John, Paul has remained a force on the music scene to this day with a largely successful solo career.
Born to Jim and Mary (the real “Mother Mary” of “Let It Be”) McCartney, Paul is of Irish Catholic descent. Unlike John, Paul was a gifted and dedicated student, attending the prestigious Liverpool Institute, where he met George. Jim was an accomplished musician, leading a jazz band in the 1920s. He taught Paul to play piano and trumpet at a young age. Mary was a maternity ward nurse and a midwife who died of complications after a mastectomy when Paul was only 14. Shortly thereafter, Paul acquired his first guitar, a Framus Zenith model 17 acoustic, which he had to restring as he is left-handed. While his father enrolled Paul in formal music lessons, Paul preferred to learn by ear, and didn’t pay much attention.
Still just 15 years old, Paul met John and his Quarrymen at a party on 6 July 1957. Though John’s Aunt Mimi and Paul’s father Jim both disapproved of the friendship, the two boys bonded over the deaths of their mothers and soon became very close. Paul showed John that he was writing songs, and they began writing together, forming what would be one of the most powerful creative pairings of the 20th century. It was Paul who brought his young friend George into the band, despite John’s original misgivings.
By 1960, The Quarrymen were The Beatles, and their small following earned them a booking in Hamburg. Though Paul’s father didn’t like the idea of him travelling to Germany, he was convinced when Paul told him how much he would earn. Two pounds, ten shillings per day was more than Jim made himself. The Hamburg trip was a bit of a disaster. Paul and Pete Best were caught setting up a prank (hanging a burning condom on the wall of their accomodations) and spent three hours in jail before being deported. George was deported for working underage. John’s work permit was revoked and he went home. Though bassist Stuart Sutcliffe returned to Liverpool with just a cold, in less than two years he would quit the band, move to Hamburg to study art, and die of a brain hemorrhage.
Upon returning to Liverpool, The Beatles soon found a regular gig at the Cavern Club. While other local bands were mostly playing covers, Paul suggested they try to use more original material. When Stuart Sutcliffe left the band, Paul reluctantly switched to playing bass; first playing Sutcliffe’s right-handed model upside down, and later buying his own 1962 Hofner 500/1.
By February 1963 The Beatles had a new manager in Brian Epstein, a record contract with Parlophone, and their first album. “Please Please Me” featured 14 tracks, including eight songs co-written by “McCartney-Lennon”. By their next album, by mutual agreement, all songs written together or individually by either of the pair would be credited “Lennon-McCartney”. While often taking less than two hours to write a song together, McCartney also wrote songs for other musicians, including Peter & Gordon’s #1 hit “World Without Love”.
“Love is all you need.” -Paul
At this time Paul lived in central London, meeting longtime girlfriend and brief fiancee Jane Asher, and buying a sheepdog, Martha (yes, of the song “Martha My Dear”). Paul enjoyed the high life of an emerging celebrity, frequenting nightclubs and gambling clubs and picking up all sorts of women. It was at The Bag O’Nails club in Soho where he met first wife Linda Eastman, whom he would marry in 1969.
By 1966 the noise of the crowds was so loud that nobody could hear the band. At the urging of the other band members, Paul finally agreed to stop playing live concerts after a particularly noisy show in San Francisco on 29 August. He would later try to convince the band to return to touring, to which John replied, “I think you’re mad!” After John quit the band in September 1969, and George and Ringo took temporary absences, on 10 April 1970, Paul publicly announced that the band had broken up. One week later he released his first solo album, entitled “McCartney”.
By 1971, Paul had a second solo album and was touring with a newly formed band Wings, along with his wife Linda. The band found some success, scoring a #1 US hit with “My Love” in 1973, and winning two Grammy Awards for the album “Band on the Run”. Paul recorded the theme song for the James Bond flick “Live and Let Die”, and began acquiring the rights to other artists’ music including the Buddy Holly catalogue, and an obscure musical, Grease.
For all the public bickering between them, Paul and John continued to have a relationship throughout the 1970s, talking often on the phone, and playing together in a jam session in L.A. in 1974. In May 1976 they were watching an episode of Saturday Night Live together when Lorne Michaels offered $3000 cash if they would reunite on the show. They considered going to the studio, but were too tired.
Paul was horribly shaken up by John’s murder in 1980 and would not tour again until 1989, fearing that he too would be murdered. Wings was disbanded and Paul continued to record and release solo albums, and to collaborate with other big-name musicians. He continued to find success on the charts. In 1984 Paul wrote and starred in a movie, “Give My Regards to Broad Street”. While the film was a flop, the soundtrack did well and scored him yet another Top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the 1990s, Paul experimented with classical music, with some success. He reunited with the other surviving members of The Beatles to produce The Beatles Anthology albums and video. In 1997 he released yet another successful album, Flaming Pie, and was knighted by the Queen of England. Two years later he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He continues to record and tour successfully to this day.
Linda McCartney, an American photographer and animal rights activist, encouraged Paul to be vegetarian. The couple had three children together, photographer Mary, fashion designer Stella and musician James. Linda died of breast cancer in 1998. Four years later Paul married Heather Mills, a former model, who would give Paul another daughter: Beatrice. By 2006, the couple were in divorce proceedings.
Aside from good old Rock ‘n’ Roll, Paul is interested in and has experimented in Classical music, electronic music, film, painting and poetry. He is one of Britain’s richest men, with a fortune estimated at £760 million.
Tags: bass, Beatles, history, Paul, Quarrymen, vegetarian, Wings
bass, Beatles, history, Paul, Quarrymen, vegetarian, Wings
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