| Paul McCartney |
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
James Paul McCartney |
| Born |
18 June 1942 (1942-06-18) (age 66)
Liverpool, Merseyside, England |
| Genre(s) |
Rock, pop rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock, rock and roll, classical, pop |
| Occupation(s) |
Singer-songwriter, musician, artist, activist |
| Instrument(s) |
Bass guitar, guitar, piano, keyboards, drums, mandolin, Vocals |
| Years active |
1957—present |
| Label(s) |
Hear Music
Apple Records
Parlophone Records
Capitol Records
Columbia Records
EMI Music Group |
| Associated acts |
The Beatles, The Fireman, The Quarrymen, Wings |
| Website |
www.paulmccartney.com |
| Notable instrument(s) |
Hofner 500/1
Rickenbacker 4001S
Gibson Les Paul
Epiphone Casino
Fender Jazz Bass |
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English rock singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record producer, film producer and animal-rights activist. He gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and "wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history".[1] After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman McCartney, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. He has worked on film scores, classical music, and ambient/electronic music; released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist; and taken part in projects to help international charities.
McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history, with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles.[2] His song "Yesterday" is listed as the most covered song in history - by over 3700 artists so far - and has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single.[3] (Three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so—in 1984—was Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", whose participants included McCartney.)
His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs,[4] including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease. McCartney is also an advocate for animal rights, vegetarianism, and music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt.
Early years: 1942–1957
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Paul McCartney was born in Walton Hospital in Liverpool, England, where his mother, Mary, had worked as a nurse in the maternity ward.[5] He has one brother, Michael, born January 7, 1944.[6] McCartney was baptised Roman Catholic but was raised non-denominationally: his mother was Roman Catholic, and his father, James "Jim" McCartney, was a Protestant turned agnostic.[6]
In 1947, he began attending Stockton Wood Road Primary school. He then attended the Joseph Williams Junior School, and passed the 11-plus exam in 1953 with three others out of the 90 examinees and thus gained admission to the Liverpool Institute.[7] In 1954, while riding on the bus to the Institute, he met George Harrison, who lived nearby.[8] Passing the exam meant that McCartney and Harrison did not have to go to a secondary modern school, which most pupils attended until they were eligible to work. It also meant that Grammar school pupils had to find new friends.[9]
20 Forthlin Road now attracts large numbers of tourists
In 1955 the McCartney family moved to 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton.[10] Mary McCartney rode a bicycle to houses where she was needed as a midwife, and an early McCartney memory is of her leaving when it was snowing heavily.[11] On 31 October 1956, Mary McCartney (who was a heavy smoker) died of an embolism after a mastectomy operation to stop the spread of her breast cancer.[12] The early loss of his mother later connected McCartney with John Lennon, whose mother, Julia, died when Lennon was 17.[13]
McCartney's father was a trumpet player and pianist who had led Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s. He encouraged his two sons to be musical.[14] Jim had an upright piano in the front room that he had bought from Harry Epstein's store, and McCartney's grandfather, Joe McCartney, played an E-flat tuba.[15][16] Jim McCartney used to point out the different instruments in songs on the radio, and often took McCartney to local brass band concerts.[16] After the death of his wife, Mary, Jim McCartney gave McCartney a nickel-plated trumpet, but when skiffle music became popular, McCartney swapped the trumpet for a £15 Framus Zenith (model 17) acoustic guitar.[17][18]
McCartney, being left-handed, found the Zenith difficult to play. He then saw a poster advertising a Slim Whitman concert, and realised that Whitman played left-handed, with his guitar strung the opposite way to a right-handed player.[18][19] McCartney wrote his first song ("I Lost My Little Girl") on the Zenith, and also played his father's Framus Spanish guitar when writing early songs with Lennon.[20] He later started playing piano and wrote "When I'm Sixty-Four".[21] Per his father's advice, he took music lessons, but since he preferred to learn 'by ear' he never paid attention in them.[21]
1957–1960: The Quarrymen and the Silver Beetles
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Fifteen-year-old McCartney met Lennon and The Quarrymen at the Woolton (St. Peter's church hall) fête on July 6, 1957.[22] At the start of their friendship Lennon's Aunt Mimi disapproved of McCartney because he was, she said, "working class", and called him "John's little friend".[23] McCartney's father told his son that Lennon would get him "into trouble", although he later allowed The Quarrymen to rehearse in the front room at 20 Forthlin Road.[24][25]
McCartney formed a close working relationship with Lennon and they collaborated on many songs. He convinced Lennon to allow Harrison to join The Quarrymen (Lennon thought Harrison was too young) after Lennon heard Harrison play at a rehearsal in March 1958.[26] Harrison joined the group as lead guitarist, followed by Lennon's art school friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, on bass, although McCartney was later dismissive about Sutcliffe's musical ability.[27][28] By May 1960, they had tried several new names, including The Silver Beetles; playing a tour of Scotland under that name with Johnny Gentle. They finally changed the name of the group to The Beatles for their performances in Hamburg.[29][30]
1960–1970: The Beatles
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Main article: The Beatles
Starting in May 1960, The Beatles were managed by Allan Williams, who booked them into Bruno Koschmider's Indra club in Hamburg. McCartney's father was reluctant to let the teenage McCartney go to Hamburg until McCartney pointed out that he would earn ₤2/10s per day. As this was more than he earned himself, Jim finally agreed.[31]
The Indra Club,Hamburg where the Beatles first played
The Beatles first played at the Indra club, sleeping in small, "dirty" rooms in the Bambi Kino, and then moved (after the closure of the Indra) to the larger Kaiserkeller.[32] In October 1960, they left Koschmider's club and worked at the "Top Ten Club", which was run by Peter Eckhorn.[33][34] When McCartney and Pete Best went back to the Bambi Kino to get their belongings they found it in almost total darkness. As a snub to Koschmider, they found a condom, attached it to a nail on the concrete wall of their room, and set fire to it. There was no real damage, but Koschmider reported them for attempted arson. McCartney and Best spent three hours in a local jail and were deported, as was Harrison, for working under the legal age limit.[35] Lennon's work permit was revoked a few days later and he went home by train, but Sutcliffe had a cold and stayed in Hamburg, and then flew home.[36]
The group reunited in December 1960, and on 21 March 1961, played their first of many concerts at Liverpool's Cavern club.[37][38] McCartney realised that other Liverpool bands were playing the same cover songs, which prompted him and Lennon to write more original material.[39] The Beatles returned to Hamburg in April 1961, and recorded "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan.[40] Sutcliffe left the band after the end of their contract, so McCartney reluctantly took over bass.[41] After borrowing Sutcliffe's Höfner 500/5 model for a short time, he bought a left-handed 1962 500/1 model Höfner bass.[42][43] On 1 October 1961, McCartney went with Lennon (who paid for the trip) to Paris for two weeks.[44]
The Beatles were first seen by Brian Epstein at the Cavern club on 9 November 1961, and he later signed them to a management contract.[45] The Beatles' road manager, Neil Aspinall, drove them to London on 31 December 1961, where they auditioned the next day, but were rejected by Decca Records.[46] In April 1962, they went back to Hamburg to play at the Star-Club, and learned of Stuart Sutcliffe's death a few hours before they arrived.[47] The Beatles were ready to sign a record contract on 9 May 1962, with Parlophone Records—after having been rejected by many record companies—but Epstein sacked Pete Best (at the behest of McCartney, Lennon and Harrison) before they signed the contract.[48] "Love Me Do" was released on 5 October 1962, featuring McCartney singing solo on the chorus line.[49] Over the course of the next two years, McCartney and his band mates would rise from relative obscurity to international stardom, an unprecedented feat at that time for a rock-music combo.
All Lennon-McCartney songs on the first pressing of the Please Please Me album (recorded in one day on 11 February 1963)[50] as well as the "Please Please Me" single, "From Me to You", and its B-side, "Thank You Girl", are credited to "McCartney-Lennon", but this was later changed to "Lennon-McCartney".[51] They usually needed an hour or two to finish a song, which were written in hotel rooms after a concert, at Wimpole Street, at Cavendish Avenue, or at Kenwood (Lennon's house).[52] McCartney also wrote songs for other artists, such as Billy J. Kramer, Cilla Black, Badfinger, and Mary Hopkin -and most notably he wrote two hit songs for the group Peter & Gordon-launching their career. One song, "World Without Love", became a #1 hit in the U.K. & U.S. (Peter was the brother of Jane Asher, McCartney's girlfriend at the time)[53]
Lennon, Harrison, and Starr lived in large houses in the 'stockbroker belt' of southern England,[54] but McCartney continued to live in central London: in Jane Asher's parents' house, and then at 7 Cavendish Avenue, St John's Wood, near the Abbey Road Studios.[54] It was at Cavendish Avenue that McCartney bought his first Old English Sheepdog, Martha, whose name ostensibly inspired the song "Martha My Dear", but which is actually about the end of McCartney and Asher's relationship.
McCartney often went to nightclubs alone, which offered 'dining and dancing until 4:00 a.m.' and featured cabaret acts.[55] McCartney would get preferential treatment everywhere he went, which he readily accepted.[56] He even once accepted an offer from a policeman to be allowed to park McCartney's car.[55] He later visited gambling clubs after 4:00am, such as 'The Curzon House', and often saw Brian Epstein there.[57] The Ad Lib club (above the Prince Charles Theatre at 7 Leicester Place) was later opened for the emerging 'Rock and Roll' crowd of musicians, and tolerated their unusual lifestyle.[58] After the Ad Lib fell out of favour, McCartney moved on to the Scotch of St James, at 13 Masons Yard.[59] He also frequented The Bag O'Nails club at 8 Kingly Street in Soho, London, where he met Linda Eastman.[60][61]
On 12 June 1965, The Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE); they received their insignia from Queen Elizabeth II at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 26 October 1965. They stopped touring after their last concert at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, on 29 August 1966. The other three Beatles had often talked about stopping touring, but after the Candlestick Park concert, and after having played so many concerts where they could not be heard, McCartney finally agreed that they should stop playing live concerts.[62]
Beatles Houston sculpture
McCartney was the first to be involved in a project outside of the group, when he composed the score for the film The Family Way in 1966.[63] The soundtrack was later released as an album (also called The Family Way), and won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Instrumental Theme, ahead of acclaimed jazz musician Mike Turner.[64] McCartney wrote songs for and produced other artists, including Mary Hopkin, Badfinger, and the Bonzo Dog Band, and in 1966, he was asked by Kenneth Tynan to write the songs for the National Theatre's production of As You Like It by William Shakespeare (starring Laurence Olivier) but declined.[65] In 1968 he co-produced the song "I'm the Urban Spaceman" by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and was credited as "Apollo C. Vermouth" because of contractual restrictions.[66]
McCartney later attempted to persuade Lennon and Harrison to return to the stage, and when they had a meeting to sign a new contract with Capitol Records, McCartney suggested "going back to our roots," to which Lennon replied, "I think you're mad!"[67] Although Lennon had quit the group in September 1969, and Harrison and Starr had temporarily left the group at various times, McCartney was the one who publicly announced The Beatles' breakup on 10 April 1970—one week before releasing his first solo album, McCartney.[68] The album included a press release inside with a self-written interview stating McCartney's hopes about the future. The Beatles' partnership was legally dissolved after McCartney filed a lawsuit on 31 December 1970.[69]
1970s: Paul McCartney (solo) and Wings
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Main article: Wings (band)
Paul and Linda McCartney at the 1974 Academy Awards.
McCartney released his debut solo album, McCartney, in April 1970. He insisted that his wife should be involved in his musical career so that they would not be apart when he was on tour.[70] McCartney's second solo album, Ram (1971) was credited to both Paul and Linda McCartney. In August of that year McCartney formed Wings with guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell (although membership in Wings would change several times during its existence) and released their debut album, Wild Life. In 1972, Wings started an unplanned tour of British universities and small European venues.[71] In February of that year, they released a single called "Give Ireland Back to the Irish",[72] which was banned by the BBC.[73] Wings then embarked on the 26-date Wings Over Europe Tour.
The first of Wings' two 1973 albums Red Rose Speedway spawned the band's first #1 in the United States, "My Love".[74] On 16 April, McCartney starred in a TV variety show called James Paul McCartney.[75] Wings then released the theme song for the James Bond film Live and Let Die.[71] It reunited McCartney with George Martin, who both produced the song and arranged the orchestral break. Their second 1973 album Band on the Run,[76] which won two Grammy Awards[77] is Wings' most lauded work. From it were released the singles "Jet",[78] and, in 1974, "Band on the Run" (the song) as well as the non-album single "Junior's Farm".[79] A jam session — with Lennon and McCartney — was recorded in California, in 1974, and released on the bootleg A Toot and a Snore in '74. The same year, he recorded an instrumental, "Walking in the Park with Eloise",[80] which had been written by his father. The song featured Wings, Floyd Cramer and Chet Atkins.[81] Venus and Mars was released in 1975, which featured "Listen to What the Man Said" and "Rock Show." Till 1976, Wings embarked on the Wings Over the World tour.
In 1977, McCartney released Thrillington under the name "Percy 'Thrills' Thrillington".[82] Wings also released "Mull of Kintyre". It stayed at #1 in the UK for nine weeks, and was the highest-selling single in the UK until 1984, when Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas beat its record.[73] Wings toured again in 1979, and McCartney organised the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea. McCartney's "Rockestra" theme won a Grammy award.[71] At Christmas 1979, McCartney released his (solo) "Wonderful Christmastime".[83]
Although McCartney's relationship with Lennon was troubled, they reconciled during the 1970s.[84] McCartney would often call Lennon, but was never sure of what sort of reception he would get,[85] such as when McCartney once called Lennon and was told, "You're all pizza and fairytales!"[85] McCartney understood that he could not just phone Lennon and only talk about business, so they often talked about cats, baking bread, or babies.[86]
1980s-1990s: Solo career
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McCartney played every instrument on the 1980 release McCartney II (as he had on McCartney before it), this time with an emphasis on synthesisers instead of guitars.[87][88] The single "Coming Up" reached #2 in Britain and #1 in the US.[89] "Waterfalls" was another UK Top 10 hit. McCartney's next album, 1982's Tug of War, reunited him with Ringo Starr and Beatles producer George Martin,[90] and the album hit No.1 on both sides of the Atlantic at the same time as it's lead single, a duet with Stevie Wonder, "Ebony and Ivory", did likewise.[91] Two further hit duets followed, both with Michael Jackson: "The Girl Is Mine",[91] from Jackson's Thriller album, and "Say Say Say", a single from McCartney's 1983 album, Pipes of Peace.[91]
McCartney wrote and starred in the 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street. The film and soundtrack featured the US and UK Top 10 hit[92] "No More Lonely Nights", and the album reached #1 in the UK, but the film did not do well commercially[93] or critically. Roger Ebert awarded the film a single star and wrote, "You can safely skip the movie and proceed directly to the sound track".[94] Later that year, McCartney released "We All Stand Together", the title song from the animated film Rupert and the Frog Song, which was the supporting feature to "Broad Street" in cinemas and which, when released on video cassette would become the year's top-seller. The following year, McCartney released Spies Like Us the title song to the Dan Ackroyd/Chevy Chase comedy which hit #7 on the Billboard chart (making it his last US Top 20 hit to date).
In the second half of the decade McCartney would find new collaborators. Eric Stewart had appeared on McCartney's Pipes of Peace album,[95] and he co-wrote most of McCartney's 1986 album Press to Play. The album and its lead single, "Press", became minor hits.[96] McCartney returned the favour by co-writing two songs for Stewart's band, 10cc: "Don't Break the Promises" (...Meanwhile, 1992), and "Yvonne's the One" (Mirror Mirror, 1995). In 1987, EMI released All the Best! which was the first compilation of McCartney's own songs.
In 1988, he released, initially in the Soviet Union only, Снова в СССР a collection of McCartney cover-versions of his favourite vintage Rock and roll classics which later had a general release in 1991. Around this time, McCartney also began a songwriting partnership with Elvis Costello (Declan MacManus)[97] from which songs would appear on singles and albums by both artists, notably "Veronica"on Costello's album Spike and "My Brave Face" from McCartney's Flowers in the Dirt, (which reached #1 in the UK on releas in 1989).[98] Further McCartney/MacManus compositions for surfaced on Costello's 1991 album Mighty Like a Rose and McCartney's 1993 album Off the Ground. In late 1989, McCartney started his first concert tour since Lennon's murder, also his first tour of the US in thirteen years.[99]
In a 1980 interview, Lennon said that the last time he had seen McCartney was when they had watched the episode of Saturday Night Live (May 1976) in which Lorne Michaels had made his $3,000 cash offer[100] to get Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr to reunite on the show.[101] McCartney and Lennon had seriously considered going to the studio, but were too tired.[102] This event was fictionalised in the 2000 television film Two of Us.
Reaction to John Lennon's murder
On the morning of December 9, 1980, McCartney awoke to the news that Lennon had been murdered outside his home in the Dakota building in New York.[103] Lennon's death created a media frenzy around the surviving members of The Beatles.[104] On the evening of 9 December, as McCartney was leaving an Oxford Street recording studio, he was surrounded by reporters and asked for his reaction to Lennon's death. He replied, "I was very shocked, you know—this is terrible news," and said that he had spent the day in the studio listening to some material because he "just didn't want to sit at home."[105] When asked why, he replied, "I didn't feel like it." He was then asked when he first heard the news, McCartney replied "This morning sometime," and one of the reporters asked "Very early?" McCartney said "yeah" and then asked the reporters if they all knew, they added "yeah." McCartney then said, "drag, isn't it?"[106] When published, his "drag" remark was criticised, and McCartney later regretted it. He furthermore stated that he had intended no disrespect but had just been at a loss for words, after the shock and sadness he felt over his friend's murder.[107] He was also to recall:
| “ |
I talked to Yoko the day after he was killed and the first thing she said was, "John was really fond of you." The last telephone conversation I had with him we were still the best of mates. He was always a very warm guy, John. His bluff was all on the surface. He used to take his glasses down, those granny glasses, and say, "It's only me." They were like a wall, you know? A shield. Those are the moments I treasure.[108] |
” |
In 1983 McCartney said:
| “ |
I would not have been as typically human and standoffish as I was if I knew John was going to die. I would have made more of an effort to try and get behind his "mask" and have a better relationship with him.'[108] |
” |
In a Playboy interview in 1984, McCartney said that he went home that night and watched the news on television—while sitting with all his children—and cried all evening. His last telephone call to Lennon, which was just before Lennon and Yoko released Double Fantasy, was friendly. During the call, Lennon said (laughing) to McCartney, "This housewife wants a career!"[109] which referred to Lennon's "house-husband" years, while looking after Sean Lennon.[105]
McCartney carried on recording after the death of Lennon but did not play any live concerts for some time. He explained that this was because he was nervous that he would be "the next" to be murdered.[107][110] This led to a disagreement with Denny Laine, who wanted to continue touring and subsequently left Wings, which McCartney disbanded in 1981.[110][111] Also in 1981, six months after Lennon's death, McCartney sang backup on George Harrison's tribute to Lennon, "All Those Years Ago," which also featured Ringo Starr on drums. McCartney would go on to record "Here Today", a tribute song to Lennon.
1990s: Classical music
The 1990s saw McCartney venture into classical music. In 1991 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society commissioned a musical piece by McCartney to celebrate its sesquicentennial.[112] McCartney collaborated with Carl Davis to release Liverpool Oratorio.[113] The Oratorio was premiered in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral,[114] and had its North American premiere in Carnegie Hall in New York on 18 November 1991, with Davis conducting.[115] McCartney's singers and musicians included the opera singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sally Burgess,[116] Jerry Hadley and Willard White, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of Liverpool Cathedral.[117] EMI Classics recorded the premiere of the oratorio and released it on a 2-CD album which topped the classical charts.[118] His next classical project to be released (in 1995) was A Leaf, a solo-piano piece played by Royal College of Music gold-medal winner Anya Alexeyev.[119] The Prince of Wales later honoured McCartney as a Fellow of The Royal College of Music.[118] Other forays into classical music included Standing Stone (1997), Working Classical (1999), and "Ecce Cor Meum" (2006).
In the early 1990s (after another world tour), McCartney reunited with Harrison and Starr to work on Apple's The Beatles Anthology documentary series. It included three double albums of alternative takes, live recordings, and previously unreleased Beatles songs, as well as a ten-hour video boxed set. Anthology 1 was released in 1995, and featured "Free as a Bird", which was the first Beatles reunion track, while Anthology 2, released in 1996, included "Real Love" (1996), the second and final in the reunion series. Both reunion tracks were co produced by Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne, who had worked with Harrison in The Traveling Wilburys. Both reunion tracks were completed by adding new music and vocal tracks to Lennon's demos from the late 1970s.[120]
In 1997, McCartney released Flaming Pie which was produced by Lynne and Martin. It debuted at #2 in the UK and the US, and was nominated in the Grammy Awards category Album of the Year. The same year, McCartney made his second venture into classical music with Standing Stone, which was commissioned by EMI Records to mark their 100th anniversary in autumn. On 11 March 1997, he was knighted as "Sir Paul McCartney" for his "services to music".[121] He dedicated his knighthood to fellow Beatles Lennon, Harrison, and Starr, and to the people of Liverpool.[122] In 1999, McCartney released another album of rock 'n' roll songs, titled Run Devil Run. That same year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. (Bitter that he had not been inducted sooner, McCartney brought his daughter to the stage with him and smiled as he pointed to her shirt, which read: "About Fucking Time.") In 1999, he released Working Classical.[123]
2000s
In 2000, McCartney released A Garland for Linda; a choral tribute album with compositions from eight other contemporary composers.[124][125] The music was performed by "The Joyful Company of Singers" to raise funds for The Garland Appeal, a fund to aid cancer patients.[126] In May 2001, he released Wingspan: An Intimate Portrait, a retrospective documentary that features behind-the-scenes films and photographs that he and Linda McCartney (who had died in 1998) took of their family and bands.[61] Interspersed throughout the 88 minute film is an interview by Mary McCartney with her father. Mary was the baby photographed inside McCartney's jacket on the back cover of McCartney, and was one of the producers of the documentary.[127]
Earlier in the year, McCartney worked on what would become his new album, Driving Rain, released on November 12. Driving Rain featured uplifting songs inspired by and written for his soon-to-be wife Heather. Clearly determined to follow the example of Run Devil Run's brisk recording pace, most of the album was recorded in two weeks, starting in February 2001. McCartney also composed and recorded the title track for the film Vanilla Sky, released later that year. The track was nominated for—but did not win—an Oscar for Best Original Song.[128]
McCartney, who witnessed the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from the JFK airport tarmac,[129] took a lead role in organising The Concert for New York City in response.[130] The concert took place on 20 October 2001.
In late 2001, McCartney was informed that George Harrison was losing his battle with cancer. Upon Harrison's death on 29 November, McCartney told Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, Good Morning America, The Early Show, MTV, VH-1 and Today that Harrison was like his "baby brother". Harrison spent his last days in a Hollywood Hills mansion that was once leased by McCartney.[131] On 29 November 2002—on the first anniversary of George Harrison's death—McCartney played Harrison’s "Something" on a ukulele at the Concert for George.[132]
In 2002, McCartney began a two-year world tour. He contributed to an album titled Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy Of Sun Records, which included a version of Elvis Presley's song "That's All Right (Mama)".[133] He performed during the pre-game ceremonies at the NFL's Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 and starred in the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005. In 2003, McCartney played a concert in Red Square, Russia. Vladimir Putin gave him a tour of the Square.[134]
In what would be his first British music festival appearance, McCartney headlined the Glastonbury Festival in June 2004.[135] McCartney and festival organiser Michael Eavis won the NME Award on behalf of the festival, which won 'Best Live Event' in the 2005 awards.[136] McCartney performed at the main Live 8 concert on 2 July 2005, playing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 to open the Hyde Park event, although Ringo Starr criticised McCartney for not asking him to play.[137]
On November 13, 2005, McCartney played a live concert at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, CA. Towards the end of the concert, a satellite link-up was made to the International Space Station so McCartney and those at the concert could see NASA Astronaut Bill McArthur and Russian Cosmonaut Valery Tokarev as they were awakening for the 44th day of their six month mission in space. McCartney proceeded to play the traditional wakeup song played on each space mission, a tradition that began during the moon missions. McCartney also performed "Good Day Sunshine", and "English Tea". Afterwards he and the concert goers talked with McArthur and Tokarev via a projection screen. This was the first time a live concert had been linked to a U.S. spacecraft.[138]
In March 2006, McCartney finished composing a 'modern classical' musical work named Ecce Cor Meum [Behold My Heart]. It was recorded with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and the boys of King's College Choir, Cambridge, Magdalen College School, Oxford, and was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 3 November 2006.[140].[141] It was voted Classical Album of the Year in 2007 in the Classical Brit Awards.[142]
On 18 June 2006, McCartney celebrated his 64th birthday, as in "When I'm Sixty-Four." Paul Vallely noted it in The Independent as "a cultural milestone for a generation. Such is the nature of celebrity, McCartney is one of those people who have represented the hopes and aspirations of those born in the baby-boom era, which had its awakening in the Sixties."[143]
McCartney joined Jay-Z and Linkin Park onstage at the 2006 Grammy Awards in a performance of "Numb/Encore" & "Yesterday" to commemorate the recent passing of Coretta Scott King. McCartney later noted that it was the first time he had performed at the Grammys and quipped, "I finally passed the audition," which was a reference to the Lennon comment at the end of the Let It Be film: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition."[144] McCartney was nominated for another Grammy Award in 2007 for "Jenny Wren"—a song from his 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, which itself had been nominated as Album of the Year in 2006.[145]
On 21 March 2007, McCartney left EMI to become the first artist signed to Starbucks's new record label, Los Angeles-based Hear Music, to be distributed by Concord Music Group. He made an appearance via a video-feed from London at the company's annual meeting.[146] "For me, the great thing is the commitment and the passion and the love of music, which as an artist is good to see. It's a new world now and people are thinking of new ways to reach the people, and that's always been my aim".[147]
On 2 April 2007, a fan drove through the security fence on McCartney's Peasmarsh county estate shouting that he had to "get at" the ex-Beatle. The incident echoed the murder of Lennon and the attempted murder of George Harrison. The assailant was arrested after a chase through Sussex country lanes.[148][149][150]
McCartney played "secret gigs" in London, New York, and Los Angeles to promote his album. Several live recordings from these shows have been released as B-sides to singles from Memory Almost Full. In New York, the crowd included only a few hundred contest winners and celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg, Elijah Wood, Kate Moss, Aidan Quinn, and Steve Buscemi.[151]
McCartney's BBC Electric Proms performance in Camden, London.
McCartney played at the BBC Electric Proms on October 25, 2007, at The Roundhouse in Camden, which is run by a music festival run by the British Broadcasting Corporation. On 13 November 2007, The McCartney Years, a 3-DVD set was released. It contains a commentary, behind the scenes footage, over 40 music videos, Wings' live performances, interviews with Melvyn Bragg and Michael Parkinson, LIVE AID, the Super Bowl XXXIX Halftime Show and the 2005 documentary Creating Chaos at Abbey Road.[152]
In February 2008, McCartney was awarded a BRIT award for outstanding contribution, the same as a Lifetime Achievement Award.[153] The minor planet 4148, discovered in 1983 was named 'McCartney' in his honour.[154] Yale University conferred an honorary Doctor of Music degree on Paul McCartney on 26 May 2008.[155] On 1 June 2008 McCartney celebrated Liverpool's year as European capital of culture by playing a concert there. It featured special guest Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. Grohl played guitar and sang backing vocals on "Band on the Run" and played drums on Back in the U.S.S.R. and I Saw Her Standing There. McCartney also played "A Day in the Life", marking the first time the song has been played live by a Beatle.[156]
In April 2008 it was revealed that McCartney was invited by Ukrainian tycoon Victor Pinchuk to play a free concert in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on 14 June 2008. He played in the city's main square Maidan Nezalezhnosti at a show dubbed the Independence Concert.[157] Over 350,000 concert goers braved adverse weather conditions as Paul McCartney played the biggest concert in the Ukraine’s history. Furthermore, McCartney will open a personal exhibition of his artistic works at the PinchukArtCentre[158].
On July 18, 2008, McCartney made a surprise cameo appearance at the Billy Joel concert at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York, which was appropriately titled "The Last Play at Shea", referring to the stadium's scheduled demolition in early 2009. Rumours had been circulating that McCartney might appear at this concert, since the Beatles were the first band to perform at Shea; McCartney arrived and played "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Let it Be" with Joel on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans, closing the stadium as a music venue the way it opened.[159]
McCartney played on the Plains of Abraham on July 20, 2008 as part of the celebrations surrounding Quebec City's 400th anniversary. McCartney delighted the crowd of more than 260,000[160] by addressing the crowd in French and by dedicating the song "Birthday" to Quebec City, a "great place", he said, that he was visiting for the first time.[161]
Creative outlets
During the '60s, McCartney was often seen at major cultural events, such as the launch party for The International Times, and at The Roundhouse (28 January and 4 February 1967).[162] He also delved into the visual arts, becoming a close friend of leading art dealers and gallery owners, explored experimental film, and regularly attended movie, theatrical and classical music performances. His first contact with the London avant-garde scene was through John Dunbar, who introduced him to the art dealer Robert Fraser, who in turn introduced McCartney to an array of writers and artists. McCartney later became involved in the renovation and publicising of the Indica Gallery in Mason's Yard, London—John Lennon first met Yoko Ono at the Indica.[163][164] The Indica Gallery brought McCartney into contact with Barry Miles, whose underground newspaper, The International Times, McCartney helped to start.[165] Miles would become de facto manager of the Apple's short-lived Zapple Records label, and wrote McCartney's official biography, Many Years From Now (1998).
While living at the Asher house, McCartney took piano lessons at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which The Beatles' producer Martin had previously attended. McCartney studied composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio.[166] McCartney later wrote and released several pieces of modern classical music and ambient electronica, besides writing poetry and painting. McCartney is lead patron of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, an arts school in the building formerly occupied by the Liverpool Institute for Boys.[167] The 1837 building, which McCartney attended during his schooldays, had become derelict by the mid-1980s.[167] On 7 June 1996, Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the redeveloped building.[167]
Electronica
After the recording of "Yesterday" in 1965, McCartney contacted the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in Maida Vale, London, to see if they could record an electronic version of the song, but never followed it up.[168] When visiting John Dunbar's flat in London, McCartney would take along tapes he had compiled at Jane Asher's house.[169] The tapes were mixes of various songs, musical pieces and comments made by McCartney that he had Dick James make into a demo record for him.[170] He later made tape loops by recording voices, guitars and bongos on a Brenell tape machine, and splicing the various loops together. He reversed the tapes, sped them up, and slowed them down to create the effects he wanted (which were later used on Beatles' recordings, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows"). McCartney referred to them as electronic symphonies and was heavily influenced by John Cage at the time.[171]
In the spring of 1966, while McCartney was part of a small group which included figureheads John Dunbar and (Barry) Miles, involved with giving birth to the Indica Gallery and the newspaper International Times, he rented a ground floor and basement flat from Ringo Starr at 34 Montagu Square, to be used as a small demo studio for spoken-word recordings by poets, writers (including William Burroughs) and avant-garde musicians.[172] The Beatles' Apple Records then launched a sub-label, Zapple with (Barry) Miles as its manager, ostensibly to release recordings of a similar aesthetic, (although few releases would ultimately result as Apple and The Beatles slid into subsequent business and personal difficulties.)[172]
In 1995, McCartney recorded a radio series called "Oobu Joobu"[173][174] for the American network Westwood One, which McCartney described as being "wide-screen radio".[175][176]
During the 1990s, McCartney collaborated with Youth of Killing Joke under the name of the Fireman,[177] and have released two ambient albums; Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (in 1993) and Rushes, in 1998. In 2000, he released an album, Liverpool Sound Collage,[178] with Super Furry Animals and Youth, utilising collage and musique concrete techniques which fascinated him in the mid-1960s. Most recently, in 2005, he worked on a project with bootleg producer and remixer Freelance Hellraiser, consisting of remixed versions of songs from throughout his solo career and released under the name Twin Freaks.[179]
Film
McCartney was interested in animated films as a child, and later had the financial resources to ask Geoff Dunbar to direct a short animated film called the Rupert and the Frog Song in 1981. McCartney wrote the music and the script, was the producer, and added some of the characters voices.[180] Dunbar worked again with McCartney on an animated film about the work of French artist Honore Daumier, in 1992, which won both of them a Bafta award.[181] They also worked on Tropic Island Hum, in 1997.[182] In 1995, McCartney directed a short documentary about The Grateful Dead.[183][184]
Painting
In 1966, McCartney met art gallery-owner Robert Fraser, whose flat was visited by many well-known artists.[185] McCartney met Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Peter Blake, and Richard Hamilton there, and learned about art appreciation.[185] McCartney later started buying paintings by Magritte, and used Magritte's painting of an apple for the Apple Records logo.[186] He now owns Magritte's easel and spectacles.[187]
McCartney's love of painting surfaced after watching artist Willem de Kooning paint, in Kooning's Long Island barn.[188] McCartney took up painting in 1983.[189] In 1999, he exhibited his paintings (featuring McCartney's portraits of John Lennon, Andy Warhol, and David Bowie) for the first time in Siegen, Germany, and included photographs by Linda. He chose the gallery because Wolfgang Suttner (local events organiser) was genuinely interested in his art, and the positive reaction led to McCartney showing his work in UK galleries.[190] The first UK exhibition of McCartney's work was opened in Bristol, England with more than 500 paintings on display. McCartney had previously believed that "only people that had been to art school were allowed to paint" - as Lennon had.[190]
In October 2000, Yoko Ono and McCartney presented art exhibitions in New York and London. McCartney said,
| “ |
I've been offered an exhibition of my paintings at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool where John and I used to spend many a pleasant afternoon. So I'm really excited about it. I didn't tell anybody I painted for 15 years but now I'm out of the closet.[191][192] |
” |
Writing and poetry
McCartney's English teacher, Alan Durband, in 1946.
When McCartney was young, his mother read him poems and encouraged him to read books. McCartney's father was interested in crosswords and invited the two young McCartneys (Paul and his brother Michael) to solve them with him, so as to increase their "word power".[193] McCartney was later inspired - in his school years - by Alan Durband, who was McCartney's English literature teacher at the Liverpool Institute.[194] Durband was a co-founder and fund-raiser at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where Willy Russell also worked, and introduced McCartney to Geoffrey Chaucer's works.[195] McCartney later took his A-level exams, but passed only one subject - Art.[196][197]
In 2001 McCartney published 'Blackbird Singing', a volume of poems, some of which were lyrics to his songs, and gave readings in Liverpool and New York.[198] Some of them were serious: "Here Today" (about Lennon) and some humorous ("Maxwell's Silver Hammer").[199] In the foreword of the book, McCartney explained that when he was a teenager, he had "an overwhelming desire" to have a poem of his published in the school magazine. He wrote something "deep and meaningful", but it was rejected, and he feels that he has been trying to get some kind of revenge ever since. His first "real poem" was about the death of his childhood friend, Ivan Vaughan.[200]
In October 2005, McCartney released a children's book called High In The Clouds: An Urban Furry Tail. In a press release publicizing the book, McCartney said, "I have loved reading for as long as I can remember," singling out Treasure Island as a childhood favourite.[201] McCartney collaborated with author Philip Ardagh and animator Geoff Dunbar to write the book.[202]
Relationships and marriages
McCartney had a three-year relationship with Dot Rhone in Liverpool, and they were due to get married until Rhone lost the baby she was expecting. In London McCartney had a five-year relationship with actress Jane Asher. They were engaged to be married until they broke up in 1968. McCartney married American photographer Linda Eastman in 1969 (McCartney was the last Beatle to get married). They had four children (Linda's daughter Heather who was adopted by Paul, followed by three more children) and remained married until Linda's death from breast cancer in 1998. In 2002, McCartney married former model |
