Paul McCartney
Half of the most successful songwriting partnership popular music has produced, and the rare Beatle who built an entirely separate career on the other side of it. Paul McCartney met John Lennon at a church fete in Liverpool in July 1957, joined his skiffle group the Quarrymen, and by 1960 the two of them were writing songs together that would eventually be covered more than any other copyrighted material in history — Yesterday alone has over 2,200 recorded versions. When the Beatles ended in 1970, McCartney did not slow down. He formed Wings with his first wife, Linda, and turned it into one of the biggest bands of the decade, writing Band on the Run, Silly Love Songs and Mull of Kintyre, still one of the best-selling singles in UK chart history.
He is the only artist to have reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts under five different act names — the Beatles, Wings, Paul McCartney & Wings, Paul & Linda McCartney, and as a solo artist alone. Twenty-one Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two separate inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once with the Beatles in 1988 and once as a solo artist in 1999. He owns the publishing rights to more than 3,000 songs, including the entire catalogue of his childhood idol, Buddy Holly. Six decades on from Woolton, he is still touring.
Articles on Paul McCartney
The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby
"Eleanor Rigby" is one of the most famous Beatles songs ever recorded — and not a single Beatle plays an instrument on it.
The Beatles – Michelle
The only complete take of "Michelle" to survive its 1965 session has just been released — and the song it captures started life as Paul McCartney's joke about pretentious French folk singers.
Paul McCartney – Here Today (Live from the Tokyo Dome, Japan)
The Letter He Couldn’t Mail To John Lennon
Paul McCartney – Pipes Of Peace
His Only Solo Number One In Britain
Paul McCartney And Wings – My Love (from Rockshow)
The Guitar Solo McCartney Hated Until The Guitarist Improvised His Own
Paul & Linda McCartney – Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
These are two unfinished songs. An engineer stitched them together and added thunder.
Paul McCartney, Tina Turner and Friends – Get Back (1986)
Get Back — Paul McCartney, Tina Turner & Friends (Prince’s Trust Concert, 1986)
Paul McCartney – Coming Up
The Version of "Coming Up" That Hit No. 1 in America Wasn't the One on the Album — It Was a Live B-side Paul McCartney Didn't Even Know His Label Was Pushing
Happy Birthday, Paul
Paul McCartney – No More Lonely Nights
Paul McCartney's biggest 1980s ballad was carried by a guitar solo from a member of Pink Floyd — who liked the song so much he refused to take a fee for playing on it.
The Beatles – Hey Jude
Hey Jules, Don't Make It Bad