Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, born on 18 June 1942 in Liverpool, is an English musician and songwriter whose life in music runs from skiffle clubs and postwar council housing to some of the most widely heard songs of the modern age. He gained global fame with the Beatles, where he was the bassist and keyboardist, shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon, and became known for a melodic style of bass-playing, a versatile tenor voice, and a wide musical range.

McCartney’s early years shaped the way he heard music. His father, Jim, had been a trumpet player and pianist who led Jim Mac’s Jazz Band in the 1920s, kept an upright piano in the front room, and encouraged his sons to be musical. Paul taught himself piano, guitar, and songwriting as a teenager, preferring to learn by ear. Rock and roll on Radio Luxembourg changed the course of his playing: he traded a trumpet for a £15 Framus Zenith acoustic guitar so he could sing while he played. Little Richard was his schoolboy idol, and American rhythm and blues left its mark. He wrote his first song, “I Lost My Little Girl,” on that guitar, and composed an early tune on piano that would later become “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

Loss also entered his life early. His mother, Mary Patricia McCartney, a nurse and visiting midwife, died in 1956 when Paul was 14, from an embolism after surgery for breast cancer. That grief later became a point of connection with John Lennon, whose mother died in 1958. McCartney met George Harrison at school in 1954, and in 1957 joined Lennon’s skiffle group, the Quarrymen. By 1960, that group had evolved into the Beatles.

With the Beatles, McCartney became part of the most successful songwriting partnership in music history. Songs such as “And I Love Her,” “Yesterday,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Blackbird” rank among the most covered songs ever. From the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, he gradually became the band’s de facto leader, providing creative impetus for much of their music and film work. He also immersed himself in the London avant-garde scene and helped bring experimental aesthetics into the Beatles’ studio productions. Though known chiefly as the Beatles’ bassist, he also played keyboards, guitars, and drums on various songs across his bands and projects.

After the Beatles disbanded, McCartney released the solo album McCartney in 1970, then formed Wings with his first wife, Linda, and Denny Laine. Under his leadership, Wings became one of the most successful bands of the 1970s, with US or UK number-one hits including “My Love,” “Band on the Run,” “Listen to What the Man Said,” “Silly Love Songs,” and “Mull of Kintyre.” He resumed his solo career in 1980 and has toured as a solo artist since 1989. His other UK or US number-one hits include “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” with Linda, “Coming Up,” “Pipes of Peace,” “Ebony and Ivory,” with Stevie Wonder, and “Say Say Say,” with Michael Jackson.

McCartney is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of 100 million records, and one of only three recording artists to have sold over 100 million records both as solo artists and as principal members of a band. He has written or co-written a record 32 songs that topped the Billboard Hot 100. His honours include two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, 19 Grammy Awards, appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965, and a knighthood in 1997 for services to music. His words and melodies continue to travel because they join craft with plain feeling, moving easily through pop, ballads, classical ideas, electronica, and rock and roll.