Paul McCartney biography, age, The Beatles, wife, children 2024

Biography of Paul McCartney

Sir Paul McCartney is a legendary and unique British musician and performer, a multi-instrumentalist. He was awarded the title of Knight Bachelor, and in 1965, he became a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He is an artist and writer, an animal advocate, and a vegetarian. His name has appeared in the Guinness World Records several times.

He is best known as a co-creator of the famous Liverpool quartet The Beatles. He has won sixteen Grammy Awards and other high honors, including international ones.

Childhood, Youth, Family

James Paul McCartney was born in the summer of 1942 to nurse Mary and cotton salesman James McCartney from Liverpool. After the birth of their first child, his mother switched from working as a nurse in a public maternity hospital to a well-paid private midwifery practice, which allowed the McCartney family to move from rented furnished rooms to their own apartment.

Paul McCartney as a child (pictured with his younger brother)

James earned less than his wife, who had to work anytime, day or night, and he was very concerned about this, especially after their second son, Peter Michael McCartney, was born in 1944.

Paul McCartney (right) with his parents and brother

Recalling his family, McCartney said his mother was caring, gentle, yet strict. She always demanded responsibility for one's actions from all family members, which was an unbreakable rule.

From a young age, Paul was passionate about jazz, not only playing the trumpet skillfully but also making music on the piano. In 1947, when it was time to go to school, his father insisted that the boys attend a public school instead of a Catholic one, as was customary. An agnostic by belief, he hoped they would receive knowledge there, not religious views. Paul McCartney made his musical debut at Stockton Wood Road School by performing a song about the coronation of Elizabeth II.

Paul studied and won prizes in local music competitions. But in 1956, tragedy struck the family—Mary died of cancer. Paul, deeply affected by the loss, became withdrawn and spent more time alone. He climbed trees and could sit for hours on branches, imagining himself as a recruit undergoing training for service in the royal army.

Paul's salvation came in the form of a gift from his father—on his 14th birthday, his dad gave him a trumpet. With his father's permission, Paul traded the instrument for a guitar, which attracted him much more, and he began learning to play. Being left-handed, he arranged the strings in reverse order. He listened to music and successfully imitated stars, including Elvis Presley. Soon, Paul started composing his first songs. His father encouraged his son's passion. Despite modest earnings, he did everything possible to give his children a diverse education.

In addition, he involved Paul in his traveling sales activities, which helped the boy overcome shyness, and took his sons to concerts, exhibitions, and the theater. Some premieres impressed the teenager so much that he decided to pursue a career as a theater director. However, not knowing how to properly fill out application documents, he submitted them late.

During this time, McCartney met John Lennon, who had already formed his first band, The Quarrymen, in 1957, playing skiffle, a branch of English folk music. McCartney joined the band through a mutual acquaintance, and his unique guitar playing style and vocal skills impressed John.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney in The Quarrymen

Though their personalities were opposite—John, a rebel and a hooligan, and Paul, a model boy—they bonded over similar life experiences. At 17, Lennon also had to cope with his mother's death. Their creative partnership grew into a friendship, and soon Paul invited his friend George Harrison to join the band. Around this time, the group began performing in Liverpool venues and changed their name to The Silver Beatles.

The Beatles. Global Success

Although John Lennon was considered the unofficial leader of the group, McCartney's opinion always carried significant weight within the band. Paul played an important role in a major reformation of the group—before one of the concerts in Hamburg in the early '60s, McCartney insisted on yet another name change. The band then became known as The Beatles.

The Hamburg tours were successful, and their fan base steadily grew. The songs My Bonnie and Long Tall Sally thrilled the audience. At the same time, McCartney individually wrote the songs Love Me Do and How Do You Do It? for the group, which soon became hits. After returning from Germany in 1961, The Beatles signed a contract with Parlophone Records. The group's manager Brian Epstein dismissed drummer Pete Best and replaced him with Ringo Starr. That was also when Paul officially became the bass guitarist. At this point, the "Fab Four" from Liverpool, who became a global legend, was formed.

The Beatles – She Loves You (1963)

"Beatlemania" became widespread after the song She Loves You topped the UK chart for a couple of months in 1963. The unique image of intellectual boys won the hearts of millions of fans, especially women. McCartney later recalled that the near-madness of female idol worship only distracted them from creativity and new ideas:

The Beatles stood out because they weren't vulgar. We were like members of an art club, and that feeling stayed with us after Hamburg. I remember we played a prank on a saxophonist from another band. When he knocked on the door, I grabbed a volume by Yevtushenko and started reading excerpts, and everyone around sat listening as if they were absorbing it… The saxophonist quietly slinked in, apologized, quietly packed up his sax, and slipped out silently. We howled. But such boldness allowed us to feel different from the rest.

The debut album Please Please Me, entirely composed of songs created by McCartney and Lennon, was released in 1963. After that, the band toured Europe and America, consistently drawing massive crowds of fans and followers. During this time, more than seventy million television viewers watched a program featuring The Beatles. The song Paul wrote for the film "A Hard Day's Night" received over three million advance requests. McCartney's ballad And I Love Her was wildly successful.

In July 1965, The Beatles released a feature film and a record under the same name—Help! The main "gem" of these projects was Paul's solo composition Yesterday, which later became the first in the American charts.

Discord

In 1965, during financial troubles at the Northern Songs label, the Beatles' publishers, all band members invested in real estate in rural Surrey, leaving only McCartney in the capital. Paul became a regular at jazz clubs, art galleries, and other cultural spots in London. He met prominent figures of the London bohemia, John Dunbar and Barry Miles. These people began shaping Paul's new musical interests.

Thanks to Barry Miles, Paul became interested in experimental jazz and symphonic music, while Dunbar enlightened Paul in modern poetry and literature, particularly introducing him to the nuances of psychedelic culture. Paul met experimental director Michelangelo Antonioni and London underground leader Robert Fraser. At Fraser's house, Paul met with Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, and Allen Ginsberg. The latter greatly influenced Paul's poetic work, which led to a radical change in the meaning of the Beatles' songs.

Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger at a recording session (1967)

Paul rented an apartment on Montagu Square, equipped it as a studio, and began experimenting with music in collaboration with sound engineer Ian Sommerville. Ian introduced Paul to his former boyfriend William Burroughs, who became a frequent guest at McCartney's apartment-studio. The ideas of the American Beatnik intrigued Paul, and he turned the apartment into an artistic laboratory, where he and Burroughs created sound effects that later formed the foundation of The Beatles' sound in the late sixties.

Most of the sound experiments associated with Lennon were actually created by Paul McCartney in collaboration with Burroughs and Sommerville.

McCartney increasingly distanced himself from the other band members. His interest in painting, avant-garde, symphonic music, and philosophy increasingly convinced him to choose a different path for creativity and self-expression. Discord occurred within the group when Paul's colleagues opposed his opinion for the first time. When choosing a new manager, McCartney was the only member who voted against Allen Klein. Subsequently, the three members sued the dishonest manager, but this conflict became one of the decisive factors during Paul's contemplation of his future in the band. Before leaving the group, McCartney managed to create three more timeless hits: Back in the USSR, Hey Jude, and Helter Skelter. All of them were included in the legendary "White Album" (1968) by The Beatles, which entered the Guinness Book of Records as the best-selling album. The last album of the band in which McCartney participated was Let it Be, released in 1970.

Paul McCartney on Who Broke Up the Beatles

As before, Paul was the main author of the compositions on the album. In 1971, he went to court to settle all legal issues regarding copyright, and The Beatles, the only band that ranked first among the fifty greatest world performers, winning an Oscar and numerous other awards, ceased to exist.

Depression, Drugs, and the Creation of Wings

The breakup with the band that brought McCartney worldwide fame, wealth, and friendship was not as painless for him as it might have seemed at first glance. Even during the early disagreements, Paul tried to explain to John his understanding and vision of the future existence of The Beatles, but Lennon disliked that McCartney increasingly became the "number one" in their quartet—John saw himself in that position.

Paul began to sink into depression, according to his own words, "largely because of drugs." It's no secret that in the musical and creative environment of the sixties, various substances were considered a means of expanding consciousness, through which many authors created their works. In the '60s, McCartney was one of the first musicians to admit his addiction and often expressed controversial thoughts about the use of marijuana and LSD, suggesting the legalization of marijuana.

McCartney openly declared his addiction to LSD

During disagreements with the other members of The Beatles, he turned to cocaine to relieve tension and stress. For a year, the musician used this soul and body-destroying drug until he realized that it was causing him increasingly prolonged and deep periods of depression. In one interview, McCartney admitted he was almost at the brink of an abyss and only a dream about his long-deceased mother, who told him everything would be alright, brought him immense relief, after which he wrote the famous Let it Be.

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be.

After leaving the band, Paul couldn't cope with another wave of depression and went to Scotland, where he spent some time alone with alcohol and drugs. Fortunately, not for long. His family and music saved him. In 1970, McCartney pulled himself together and released his first solo studio album, naming it after his own surname. The album went platinum twice and held a top-three spot in the charts for almost a month.

Paul McCartney after leaving The Beatles

Lennon, with whom they still hadn't reconciled by that time, called Paul's solo music "rubbish." McCartney took the former friend's criticism to heart and decided to create his own band, which, in his ambitious opinion, should "outshine The Beatles." Thus, the band Wings emerged on the scene, with which the musician worked for almost ten years. During this time, several albums were released, including Wild Life (1971), Red Rose Speedway (1973), and many others. After a European tour with the band in 1977, McCartney officially became the highest-paid musician in the world.

Wings & Paul McCartney – Mull of Kintyre

The song Mull of Kintyre, released by Paul in 1977, topped the UK singles chart for nine weeks, with the record selling two and a half million copies. United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim personally asked McCartney and Wings to hold charity performances in 1979, the proceeds of which went to support Cambodia, affected by drought.

The Death of Lennon, the Disbandment of Wings, and a Solo Career

Since the mid-70s, the relationship between the former friends had entered a calmer phase. Lennon was one of the first to learn that McCartney's father had died two days before the tour, and he offered his condolences. Paul didn't inform the band to ensure the scheduled performances took place on time. The musicians even performed together a few times and shared ideas about creating something jointly, but during that period, John fell under Yoko Ono's influence, who actively hindered the restoration of their creative union.

Yoko Ono Prevented Lennon and McCartney from Communicating

The former colleagues mainly communicated by phone. Sometimes they argued because Lennon could flare up over some careless expression by McCartney. A personal meeting kept getting postponed, as did the creation of a duet. In September 1980, they called each other again and talked peacefully. However, this conversation was their last. Paul was working on the composition "Rainclouds" when he learned about John's murder. The loss of a friend shook the musician so much that when a journalist asked for his thoughts on Lennon's murder, he simply said, "It's such a drag."

McCartney's Reaction to Lennon's Death

Less than a year after Lennon's death, McCartney decided to disband the group Wings he had formed. Rumor had it he feared being killed like John. To avoid falling into depression again, the musician immersed himself in working on the album "Tug of War." He dedicated the song "Here Today" to his prematurely departed friend, which was included in the album, hailed as Paul's best solo work. He also decided to buy several estates for his family and created a personal music studio in one of the mansions, where he began writing new compositions and releasing records.

Paul McCartney – Here Today

Although Paul's new albums didn't achieve the wild popularity of his earlier ones, fans and critics received them favorably. In his compositions, the musician addressed themes of disarmament and peace preservation, and he recorded duets with other globally beloved singers as Tina Turner, Elton John, and Michael Jackson. With the latter, McCartney faced a rather unpleasant incident, which he referred to as a betrayal. The issue was that the showbiz star secretly bought the rights to all The Beatles' songs for nearly fifty million dollars, after which McCartney severed all ties with Jackson.

Versatile and restless, the musician tried his hand at writing symphonies, recording some compositions with the London Royal Orchestra. However, McCartney's best classical work was the enchanting album with music for the ballet "Ocean's Kingdom." Performed by the London Royal Ballet troupe, the spectacle was spectacular. Paul also got into animation, even co-writing the script for the film "High in the Clouds" with his friend, Geoff Dunbar. In Britain, Sir Paul McCartney is also considered a talented artist—his brush has created more than five hundred paintings since the early eighties to the present day.

Personal Life of Paul McCartney

Artist Dot Rhone became McCartney's "first serious love" in 1959. After returning from Hamburg to Liverpool, he almost married her when she claimed she was expecting his child. Dot, however, later said she had a miscarriage, and Paul broke up with her to fully immerse himself in his work.

Paul McCartney and Dot Rhone, his first girlfriend

In 1963, Paul fell in love with young actress Jane Asher, who came from an educated but not very wealthy family. Their relationship lasted almost five years, including a seven-month engagement. McCartney expressed gratitude to Jane for introducing him to the arts and igniting his keen interest in classical music. He enjoyed visiting exhibitions and art galleries with the Asher family and interacting with their owners. However, the wedding never took place because Paul became infatuated with an obscure model, Frankie Schwartz, and cheated on his fiancée, which Jane couldn't forgive.

Paul McCartney's first wife was Linda Eastman, whom he met at a Beatles concert in 1967. Six months after meeting, the photographer and musician married and never parted. Paul, along with his wife and her daughter Heather from a previous marriage, settled in the countryside. Over thirty years of marriage, the couple had two daughters, Mary and Stella, and a son, James.

The wedding of Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman

In 1998, McCartney's wife passed away due to cancer. He later dedicated his new symphonic album, "Ecce Cor Meum," to her and made a film featuring Linda's photographs. He donated the proceeds to cancer treatment.

Children of Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman

A year after his wife's death, McCartney began dating former model Heather Mills. Three years later, they married at the Leslie estate in Ireland. Despite the birth of their daughter Beatrice Milly, their marriage didn't last. In 2008, the divorce proceedings concluded, with the musician paying his ex-wife nearly twenty-five million pounds.

Paul married for the third time in 2011. His wife is successful American businesswoman Nancy Shevell, whom he met during his marriage to Linda Eastman. Shevell had tried to dissuade McCartney from marrying Mills, warning him about the former model's unscrupulousness. Now, the couple lives in America, where they own an estate. Paul McCartney currently has eight grandchildren from his older children.

Nancy Shevell, Paul McCartney's current wife

Paul McCartney Now

Despite his venerable age, the maestro, who received the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II, still delights his fans with his performances today.

In April 2020, as part of the online concert of world stars "One World: Together at Home," Paul McCartney performed live from his own home alongside his famous colleagues Elton John, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and many others. The concert, organized in support of doctors who are on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus, lasted for eight hours.

In December 2020, McCartney released his eighteenth solo album "McCartney III." The album was recorded during the coronavirus lockdown, and Paul played all the instrumental parts himself. The record received positive reviews from critics and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. In 2021, "McCartney III Imagined," an album of remixes and cover versions of songs from "McCartney III," was released, featuring guest artists.

That same year, Paul co-authored and starred in the documentary series "McCartney 3,2,1," where he discussed his musical career and the creative process of songwriting with producer Rick Rubin.

In 2022, McCartney embarked on the "Got Back Tour." One of the most notable moments of the tour was his performance at the Glastonbury Festival, where he became the oldest headliner in the festival's history. During the performance, he sang a "virtual duet" with a hologram of John Lennon, performing "I've Got a Feeling."

Paul McCartney - I've Got a Feeling (feat. John Lennon) Glastonbury 2022

During the coronavirus pandemic, Paul sorted through his archives and discovered about a thousand photographs he took with a 35mm camera from late 1963 to early 1964. These photos captured moments when "Beatlemania" swept the UK, and after The Beatles' first visit to the USA, the band became world-famous. In 2023, McCartney published 275 of these photographs in the book "1964: Eyes of the Storm."

Teaser for the Photo Book "1964: Eyes of the Storm"

The book includes photographs from six cities: Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, and Miami. It features previously unpublished portraits of John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, as well as images reflecting the atmosphere of those days.