Happy Birthday, Paul

Paul McCartney was born on 18 June 1942.

James Paul McCartney was born at Liverpool Walton Hospital. His mother Mary had previously worked there as a nurse in the maternity ward.

In 1947 McCartney began attending Stockton Wood Road Primary school, before moving on to Joseph Williams Junior School. He passed his 11 Plus exam in 1953 and attained a place at the Liverpool Institute.

In 1954, while riding on the bus to the Institute, he met George Harrison, who lived nearby.

The following year the McCartneys moved to 20 Forthlin Road, now owned by the National Trust.

On 31 October 1956 Mary McCartney died of an embolism following a mastectomy. She had been suffering from breast cancer.

McCartney’s father Jim was a pianist and trumpet player who encouraged Paul and his brother Mike to become musical. He bought Paul a trumpet, which was swapped for a £15 Framus Zenith acoustic guitar when skiffle became a national craze.

McCartney is the wealthiest rock star ever, with an estimated worth over $1.5 billion. He is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful musician and contemporary songwriter in history.

He originally played guitar for The Beatles, he switched to bass when Stu Sutcliffe left. John Lennon and George Harrison both refused to switch from guitar.

His nickname is Macca.

As a youngster, he loved old songs and show tunes.

He was married to Heather Mills, a former swimwear model and disabled-rights activist. Her leg was amputated below the knee in 1993 after she was hit by a police motorcycle. They divorced in 2006 – until then he was the only Beatle never to get divorced.

His mother Mary and wife Linda both died of breast cancer.

He handled logistics for The Beatles when their manager Brian Epstein died of a sleeping pill overdose in 1967.

McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. His official title is “Sir” Paul McCartney.

In 1976, he bought the rights to all of Buddy Holly’s music. He does not own the publishing rights to most of The Beatles songs because Michael Jackson outbid him for them.

He is left handed.

When the Beatles were breaking up in late 1969, Paul thought he was through as a recording artist. It never occurred to him to record as a solo artist or form a new band. It was his wife, Linda, who encouraged him to continue with making music. Paul has said that she used “tough love” to tell him to stop feeling sorry for himself and to make more music.

In the late ’60s, rumors abounded that McCartney had died in a car crash and was replaced by a look-a-like. Some Beatles fans found innumerous clues in song lyrics and album covers to support the theory.

McCartney is known for the “There are seven levels” controversy. When he and the other Beatles first started to experiment with drugs, McCartney got high one night and experienced a hallucination that he had to write down. When he awoke the next morning, he couldn’t make heads or tails of what he had written down: “There are seven levels.” Later research shows that there are seven philosophical levels of energy in the body, called Chakras. Was McCartney seeing the body’s energies?

When he first toured with his band Wings, he refused to play any Beatles songs. In later years, he included lots of Beatles tunes in his sets, and even used John Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance” at many of his shows.

Paul was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. Once in 1988 as a member of The Beatles and in 1999 as a solo artist.

Paul McCartney wrote his first song, “I Lost My Little Girl”, when he was 14 in 1956.

Paul McCartney played every instrument on his solo albums McCartney and McCartney II.

There were four people in The Beatles, and I was one of them. There were two people in the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team, and I was one of them. I mean, right there, that’s enough for anyone’s life. And there was one guy who wrote ‘Yesterday’, and I was him. One guy who wrote ‘Let It Be’, ‘Fool On The Hill’, ‘Lady Madonna’ – and I was him, too. All of these things would be enough for anyone’s life. So to be involved in all of them is pretty surprising. And you have to pinch yourself.

Paul McCartney