Who is Paul McCartney?

Sir James Paul McCartney, CH, MBE (born June 18, 1942, in Liverpool) is a British musician, singer-songwriter, composer, Oscar winner, and multiple Grammy Award winner. He became world-famous as the singer and bassist of the Beatles, for whom he wrote most of the songs together with John Lennon. The songwriting partnership Lennon/McCartney is considered one of the most famous and successful, and McCartney himself is regarded as the most successful songwriter in the history of pop music. His piece Yesterday is the most played pop song of all time.

After the end of the Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his wife Linda. Since the 1980s, he has worked almost exclusively as a solo artist and has also dedicated himself to new musical areas such as electronic and classical music.

Private life

McCartney grew up in Liverpool as the son of James “Jim” McCartney (1902–1976) and his wife Mary Patricia Mohin McCartney (1909–1956) in a respectable English middle-class family. McCartney has a brother (Michael, born January 7, 1944) and a half-sister (Ruth, born February 15, 1960).

He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and met George Harrison there.

From 1963 to 1968, McCartney was in a relationship with actress Jane Asher, with whom he got engaged in 1967. After separating from her, he married photographer Linda Eastman on March 12, 1969. The two have three children together: Mary (*August 28, 1969), Stella (*September 13, 1971), and James (*September 12, 1977). Eastman’s daughter Heather (* December 31, 1962) from his first marriage was adopted by McCartney. After Linda’s death from cancer on April 17, 1998, McCartney married former model Heather Mills on June 11, 2002. On 28 October 2003, their daughter Beatrice Milly was born. On 17 May 2006, McCartney and Mills announced their separation. On March 17, 2008, the marriage was dissolved in London by the city’s Supreme Court. McCartney was ordered to pay Mills a settlement of 32 million euros. Further details were not disclosed due to a confidentiality agreement.

On October 9, 2011, Paul McCartney married businesswoman Nancy Shevell, with whom he had been in a relationship since November 2007. The ceremony took place in London at the Old Marylebone Town Hall, where he had also married his first wife, Linda Eastman.

In 1980, the German Bettina Hübers (now: Bettina Krischbin, * 1962) from Neumünster claimed to be McCartney’s daughter, as her mother Erika had a brief affair with him. Several youth and tabloid magazines reported on the case. In April 1983, Hübers filed a paternity lawsuit with the family court in Berlin. The court ordered a blood test in October 1983. McCartney provided this blood sample in London, from where it was flown to Berlin for examination. In January 1984, the case was dismissed due to the negative result. In May 2007, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office reopened the case.

Since the 1970s, McCartney has lived vegetarian and is committed to animal rights.

Foundation and Rise

On July 6, 1957, McCartney met John Lennon at a church fair in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton and joined his school band, The Quarrymen. The first songs were created together, but the band mainly played current hits. In 1958, McCartney’s school friend George Harrison joined the band. With two other friends – Stuart Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums – the new formation took to the public stage in August 1960 under the name The Beatles at the Hamburg Indra Club and the Kaiserkeller. As early as the beginning of 1961, Stuart Sutcliffe left the band, and McCartney then played the electric bass. There followed further guest performances in Hamburg, in 1961 at the Top Ten Club and in 1962 at the Star-Club. In Hamburg, the Beatles met the drummer Ringo Starr. Shortly before signing their first record contract in 1962, Ringo Starr was brought into the band in place of Pete Best. Since that time in Hamburg, the left-handed McCartney played an electric bass, model Höfner 500/1 (in the corresponding left-handed version), which became his trademark.

In 1963, following the number 2 hit “Please Please Me,” they reached the top spot in the British charts with “From Me to You.” The Fab Four’s triumphal march began. Within just three years, the Beatles became the most successful and popular band in the world. Above all, their mix of rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues paved the way for beat music. McCartney and Lennon were the musical brains of the group.

McCartney’s role and strengths in the Beatles

During his time with the Beatles, McCartney established himself as an outstanding composer and top-notch bassist. In the early days of the band, McCartney and John Lennon wrote many songs together, although at first Lennon was seen as the head of the group and the busy McCartney, who also appeared partly as a frontman without an instrument in 1961 or had a solo performance in 1965, was probably held back to some extent. In 1963, John Lennon and Paul McCartney agreed to credit their songs as Lennon/McCartney, even for those titles that were predominantly composed by only one of the two. From around 1965, this songwriting partnership increasingly dissolved. Among the most successful compositions of this time attributed to McCartney are Yesterday, Penny Lane, Hey Jude, and Let It Be. He was also the leading Beatle in the conception of the albums Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road. McCartney was the most versatile instrumentalist of the Beatles. In addition to singing and playing bass, he often played guitar, piano, Mellotron (as in the piece “Strawberry Fields Forever”), and sometimes even drums (in “Back in the USSR,” “Dear Prudence,” and “The Ballad of John and Yoko”) on Beatles recordings.

Due to his diverse artistic interests and his numerous contacts with the artistic avant-garde scene of Swinging London in the mid to late 1960s, where he was known as a “party animal,” McCartney brought many musically and artistically sophisticated and innovative impulses to the band’s music. He was the creator of the sound collage heard at the end of the track Tomorrow Never Knows, and he also had the idea for the piano chord that ends the song A Day in the Life.

At the end of 1966, McCartney planned a solo album titled Paul McCartney Goes Too Far. However, that did not happen.

Drug scandal

In the pop music of the 1960s, the Beatles played a significant role. Another strong influence on the general mood of the time, alongside music, was new drugs and spiritualism. This also influenced McCartney and the other members of the Beatles, as well as many other musicians and artists of that era. There was a scandal when McCartney admitted in an interview – at the reporter’s urging, as he later said – that he had taken LSD a few times. McCartney had also asked the reporter not to publish this information, with regard to his social role model function for many young people, and warned his fans in the same interview against drug use in general. In 1996, McCartney also spoke in the Anthology about how, like every one of the Beatles, he had previously consumed marijuana without hesitation, but that the less appealing LSD had been forced upon him by the other band members thru peer pressure.

Musical peak of the band

The first rumors of the Beatles’ breakup emerged as early as late 1966, early 1967, when the band completely gave up touring due to the associated pressures; the press then believed that the Beatles were on the decline, while McCartney, as he said in 1996, used to laugh at such headlines, as the musicians, who were transforming into a more mature studio band, were already in the process of recording the double A-side single “Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane” and the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” at that time.

The title song of the Sgt. Pepper album was credited to McCartney. In the spring of 1967, he had traveled thru France for several weeks with Beatles road manager Mal Evans to shoot some scenes for the music video of the song The Fool on the Hill, which was included in the film Magical Mystery Tour. On the flight back to England, Evans asked McCartney if he wanted salt or pepper on his food. McCartney, however, misheard “salt and pepper” as “Sgt. Pepper,” and the sound of the name fascinated him. At the same time, his bandmate Lennon had been complaining for some time about the public image of the early Beatles as “kitsch producers for teenage girls,” which led McCartney to develop the concept of the Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as an alter ego for the Beatles from the aforementioned misunderstanding, in order to use this disguise to break the band out of the pre-fabricated role stereotype and be perceived as musically sophisticated.

During this time, McCartney met Linda Eastman. The two married in 1969. The marriage produced three children.

In 1968, McCartney read in a music critic’s article, presumably about The Who’s song “I Can See for Miles,” that it was the “loudest, most unbearable, and most obscene song of all time.” Inspired by this, McCartney set out to write the loudest and hardest song of all time – Helter Skelter, which was recorded the same year and released on the so-called White Album, is considered by many to be the first heavy metal piece in the modern sense.

Internal tensions and separation

The separation rumors grew louder in 1968. Internal tensions, especially between McCartney and Lennon, but also between McCartney and Harrison, strained the artistic collaboration, not least due to the death of their manager Brian Epstein in the summer of 1967. While Harrison had been bitter for years about being treated as a “second fiddle” (his compositions were often not treated equally), Lennon showed less and less interest in the group: he had initially hoped that fame as a musician would help him overcome depression and feelings of inferiority. But that had not happened.

The tensions had eased in mid-February 1968 during the band’s and their wives’ meditation retreat with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh (India). In these weeks, numerous compositions were created for the musically rich and diverse album The Beatles. Ringo Starr returned to England in early March, with McCartney following three weeks later. John Lennon and George Harrison did not leave India until mid-April, after Lennon’s friend Yanni Alexis “Magic Alex” Mardas spread the rumor that Maharishi had sexually assaulted Mia Farrow – a rumor that Farrow herself never confirmed and for which George Harrison later reportedly apologized to Maharishi.

McCartney tried to keep the group together with the film project Let It Be and the recordings for the album of the same name, but Harrison and Lennon increasingly distanced themselves from the Beatles.

In addition, the band faced financial problems due to the poorly organized Apple project. When the other three Beatles wanted to hire the American businessman Allen Klein as a corporate turnaround specialist and new band manager, McCartney blocked the decision with his veto, after which Lennon, Harrison, and Starr concluded the contract with Klein without McCartney. McCartney was obviously the only one of the four who was aware that the contract offered by Klein would not only bind them to this new manager for the rest of their lives, but would also allow Klein to withhold almost all of their income. To prevent this, McCartney had no choice but to sue his three bandmates, which also meant breaking up the band. At that time, only McCartney seemed to be interested in their cohesion.

In fact, McCartney announced the band’s breakup on April 10, 1970, simultaneously with the legal action, and presented his solo album a day later. McCartney and Lennon never again wrote together and were never again seen together in public. The last joint musical activity of the two took place in 1974, the last personal meeting in 1976.

The legal disputes among the four musicians, with Klein, with their old record company EMI, and with the handling of the failed Apple project, occupied a multitude of lawyers until the end of the 1970s, further straining the personal relationships among the four.

After George Harrison’s death, McCartney publicly expressed feelings of a close bond with him over all these years, right up to a visit at his deathbed.

In an interview on October 29, 2012, McCartney said that John Lennon’s second wife, Yoko Ono, was not to blame for the Beatles’ breakup.

Independent Action

The 1960s

In January 1967, The Family Way was released; it is the first studio album with new compositions by a member of the Beatles, but it is not considered a solo studio album by Paul McCartney, as he only contributed the compositions. During the Let It Be sessions in 1969, Paul McCartney recorded the song My Dark Hour with Steve Miller under the pseudonym Paul Ramon, which appeared on the Steve Miller album Brave New World in June 1969. Additionally, Paul McCartney musically supported artists such as Peter & Gordon, Cilla Black, The Scaffold, and Mary Hopkin in the 1960s.

The 1970s

Solo career

Paul McCartney’s first solo album was released on April 17, 1970, and bore the simple title McCartney. The album, recorded entirely by McCartney himself, received poor reviews but was commercially successful. Thus, the album reached number one in the US charts and number two in the UK. The title Maybe I’m Amazed has been covered by numerous other artists and has been part of Paul McCartney’s live repertoire almost continuously to this day. Although John Lennon announced that he wanted a “divorce” from the Beatles during a meeting with the other members on 20 September 1969, the press release for the McCartney album is considered the effective end of the Beatles. Paul McCartney used the self-penned Q&A to announce his departure from the group. In particular, he ruled out any future songwriting collaboration with Lennon. The time of differences with the other Beatles and Allen Klein Paul McCartney later described as a nightmare, but he saw the founding of his family with his wife Linda as a way out, as he realized that there was a life for him outside the Beatles.

While Lennon turned out to be the most self-sufficient Beatle at the time of the split, who was mainly interested in his music and his wife Yoko Ono, McCartney was dependent on the public’s recognition throughout his life. With the Beatles’ split, it was McCartney who fell into a deep depression; he retreated with his new family to a farm in Scotland for months, where he became a temporary alcoholic and increasingly disheveled until his wife, Linda McCartney, encouraged him to make new music together.

The following year, the first single “Another Day / Oh Woman Oh Why” (February 1971) and the album “Ram” (May 1971) were released. This was also poorly received by critics, but sold well, becoming the first number one album in the UK and reaching number two in the US charts. In contrast to Paul McCartney’s first solo album, Ram was a much more elaborate production; this time McCartney hired studio musicians to support him, and George Martin wrote the string arrangements for three songs.

While the British (The Back Seat of My Car) and German (Eat at Home) single releases achieved modest chart positions by “Beatles standards,” Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey became the first number-one single hit in the Billboard charts in the USA. Too Many People is one of three songs on the album that John Lennon felt were directed at him, the other two being Dear Boy and The Back Seat Of My Car. The song How Do You Sleep from the John Lennon album Imagine is a takedown of McCartney and a response to his Ram album. The lyric “those freaks was right when they said you was dead” is a reference to the Paul is dead conspiracy theory. The song contains further claims, including that Paul McCartney surrounded himself with “yes men” and that his music was inferior in John Lennon’s opinion and that his career would only last another year or two. The cover of the album Ram shows Paul McCartney on the front holding a ram by its horns. As a parody of the cover, John Lennon had a photo taken of himself with a pig in a similar pose and included it as a photo in his album Imagine.

The relationship between the two ex-Beatles was marred at that time by personal, financial, and subsequently creative differences.

Wings

With the American drummer Denny Seiwell and the guitarist Denny Laine, McCartney founded the group Wings in August 1971, in which his wife Linda played keyboards. The first album, Wild Life, was released in December 1971, but it only reached number 10 in the USA and, like its predecessors, received mostly negative reviews. The album contains the song Dear Friend, which is a response to John Lennon’s How Do You Sleep. Originally, McCartney planned to write a song titled Quite Well, Thank You as a response.

In 1972, the group, now reinforced by the Irish guitarist Henry McCullough, released three singles. In Give Ireland Back to the Irish (February 1972), McCartney addressed the Bloody Sunday in Derry, as John Lennon did shortly thereafter in his songs Sunday Bloody Sunday and The Luck of the Irish. Give Ireland Back to the Irish was blacklisted by the BBC and thus not played on their radio programs. The same happened to the rock single A-side Hi Hi Hi in December 1972, in whose lyrics the BBC music directors believed they could hear calls for drug use and unwanted sexual acts. More successful was its B-side, C Moon, a reggae-style song. In the meantime, in May 1972, the children’s song Mary Had a Little Lamb was released.

In addition, the group went on tour; from February 9 to 23, 1972, Wings gave eleven concerts at British universities, sometimes in front of only a few spectators. Thus, there were only 400 attendees in Newcastle and 750 in Birmingham. The first concert took place in the Portland Building of the University of Nottingham, without Paul McCartney being particularly announced on the posters. In the same year, Wings went on a European tour from July 9 to August 24 under the title Wings Over Europe Tour, followed by a UK tour from May 11 to July 10 in 1973.

With the next album Red Rose Speedway, released in May 1973, Wings reached the top position in the US charts for the first time, and the single My Love was also number 1 in the USA for four weeks. The artists were now referred to as “Paul McCartney & Wings,” as the record company hoped that mentioning McCartney would lead to better sales.

Later that same year, Paul McCartney and Wings achieved their greatest successes to date: The Oscar-nominated single “Live and Let Die” (June 1973), produced by George Martin and from the James Bond film of the same name starring Roger Moore, and the album “Band on the Run,” released in December 1973, which again topped the charts in the UK and the USA, with the single “Band on the Run” becoming another number-one hit in the USA, and the title “Jet” also being successful as a single. Shortly before the first sessions for Band on the Run, which took place in Lagos, Denny Seiwell and Henry McCullough had left the band.

In 1973, a sporadic musical collaboration between McCartney and Ringo Starr was recorded, which was musically reflected in the 1970s in the Ringo Starr albums Ringo (November 1973) and Ringo’s Rotogravure (September 1976). In the following decades, further joint projects followed, such as on the Starr albums Stop and Smell the Roses (November 1981), Vertical Man (August 1998), Y Not (January 2010), and Give More Love (September 2017). The relationship with John Lennon also relaxed, as Lennon and McCartney participated in a jam session at the Burbank Studios in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 1974. It was the last time both made music together, and these recordings were only released on bootlegs. A further musical collaboration with Paul McCartney, which John Lennon had in mind, was never realized. On April 24, 1976, Paul McCartney visited John Lennon in New York one last time. It was the last meeting of the two ex-Beatles.

In the period following the release of Band on the Run, McCartney took his time and released the single Junior’s Farm (October 1974) and the album McGear (September 1974), which is a solo album by Michael McCartney, Paul McCartney’s brother, who adopted the stage name Mike McGear and was also a member of the group The Scaffold. Meanwhile, the band Wings was reinforced with guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English.

The albums Venus and Mars (released in May 1975 with the number-one single Listen to What the Man Said) and Wings at the Speed of Sound (released in March 1976 with the hits Silly Love Songs and Let ’Em In) marked further commercial successes for Wings, along with the world tour (Wings Over the World Tour) from August 9, 1975, to October 21, 1976, which resulted in the successful live album Wings over America (December 1976). All three albums reached number one in the US charts. Thus, by the end of 1976, Paul McCartney had achieved eight top-ten albums in the USA, including six number-one albums and five number-one singles. The concert film Rockshow was recorded in June 1976 during the world tour in North America and had its theatrical premiere in November 1980.

Shortly after the release of Ram in 1971, Paul McCartney commissioned arranger Richard Hewson to create and record an orchestral version of the album Ram in a big band sound. The album, released in April 1977, was issued under the pseudonym Percy “Thrills” Thrillington, titled Thrillington. In the summer of 1976, Paul and Linda McCartney, with Denny Laine, recorded ten songs by Buddy Holly. Paul McCartney was already the owner of the rights to Buddy Holly’s songs at the time of the recording. Denny Laine took the lead vocals, and so the album was released as Holly Days by Denny Laine in May 1977. Other artists Paul McCartney collaborated with in the 1970s included Peggy Lee, Roger Daltrey, Carly Simon, Adam Faith, Roy Harper, and Godley & Creme.

Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English left the band in 1977 during the recording of the new album (London Town). The McCartneys and Denny Laine finished the album as a trio. In November 1977, the single “Mull of Kintyre” was released, becoming McCartney’s biggest success in Europe and even displacing the Beatles’ singles from the top of the all-time bestsellers list. Only in the US was the single not a success. In March 1978, the album “London Town” was released with the U.S. number-one single “With a Little Luck.” London Town is the first album by Paul McCartney to reach the top ten in Germany. In the US, it reached number 2 and in the UK, it reached number 4 on the charts.

From 1979 to 1984, Paul McCartney was under contract with the record company Columbia Records in the USA and Canada. Capitol Records was thus able to release a compilation album by Paul McCartney in December 1978, titled Wings Greatest. With a new lineup (Steve Holley: drums; Laurence Juber: guitar), Wings released the successful single “Goodnight Tonight” in March 1979. The album Back to the Egg, released in June 1979, did not meet the high expectations despite numerous prominent guest musicians on two songs and was also not commercially successful compared to the previous Wings albums. In November 1979, the Paul McCartney single “Wonderful Christmas Time” was released, marking his first solo single since 1971. From November 23 to December 29, 1979, Wings went on tour for the last time, with concerts only in the United Kingdom. At the Hammersmith Odeon, from December 26 to 29, 1979, Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim, the UN Secretary-General, held four charity concerts for the people of Cambodia. As part of this concert series, Wings gave their last concert on December 29, 1979. A Wings tour of Japan in January 1980 did not take place because McCartney was arrested for possession of hashish upon entry. Until September 1989, there would be no further concerts by Paul McCartney. Between July 1980 and January 1981, Wings worked on a new studio album and a compilation album of previously unreleased Wings/Paul McCartney songs called Cold Cuts. While only demo recordings were made for the new studio album, the album Cold Cuts was completed but not released. The official dissolution of Wings took place on April 27, 1981.

The 1980s

In May 1980, the solo album McCartney II was released. It astonished fans and critics alike, as McCartney once again ventured into new musical territory: The album features synthesizers more prominently, and fewer of the “classic” instruments like guitar and bass. The released single “Coming Up” became a hit in the UK, and in the USA, the live version recorded by Wings reached number one on the charts.

When John Lennon was shot in front of his apartment in New York on December 8, 1980, Paul McCartney initially halted work on the new album and withdrew from the public eye. Here Today, a song from the upcoming album, is a tribute to Lennon and was part of McCartney’s live repertoire for the coming decades. George Harrison probably re-recorded the song “All Those Years Ago,” originally intended for Ringo Starr, as a tribute to John Lennon in March 1981 at his home studio. To this end, Harrison changed the lyrics and invited Paul and Linda McCartney and Denny Laine to contribute backing vocals. Since Ringo Starr had played drums on the original recording in November 1980, this recording was the first time all three living Beatles had been involved in a new song. Another collaboration did not take place until 1994, when the Beatles documentary Anthology was being prepared.

In 1982, McCartney achieved the worldwide hit “Ebony and Ivory” in duet with Stevie Wonder, which became a number-one hit in Germany, the UK, and the USA. The accompanying album Tug of War (April 1982) also reached the number one position in these three countries and was highly praised by critics. During the recordings, McCartney once again collaborated with Ringo Starr and Beatles producer George Martin. In addition, he fulfilled a dream and recorded the piece Get It together with Carl Perkins, one of his idols from his youth.

In October 1983, the album “Pipes of Peace” was released with material that had partially already been recorded for “Tug of War”; it was the first album by Paul McCartney not to reach the top ten in the USA. The album also failed to match the predecessor in terms of reviews. The single “Say Say Say” with Michael Jackson, on the other hand, became a worldwide hit and the ninth and so far last number-one hit in the USA. The previous year, in October 1982, McCartney had already collaborated on Jackson’s hit “The Girl Is Mine.” The second single, Pipes of Peace, became the third and so far last number one in Great Britain. In the music video, McCartney referenced the Christmas truce between German and English soldiers during the First World War.

In November 1984, We All Stand Together from the animated film Rupert and the Frog Song was released. The film Broad Street, featuring Ringo Starr and his wife Barbara Bach, was a commercial failure, but the soundtrack, Give My Regards to Broad Street, released in October 1984 and again produced by George Martin, reached number one in the UK charts. The single “No More Lonely Nights” was also an international success. McCartney later attributed the film’s failure to the fact that he had written the screenplay alone, instead of passing his ideas on to experienced writers.

The following year, McCartney composed and sang the title song for the movie Spies Like Us. The single was released in November 1985, and it was to be his last Top Ten hit in the USA to date. Overall, Paul McCartney reached the top ten of the singles charts in the USA 22 times, including nine number-one hits.

Additionally, McCartney participated in charitable projects, such as the Live Aid concert for Africa initiated by Bob Geldof and the associated single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” In addition, he collaborated musically in the 1980s with The Crickets, Duane Eddy, Johnny Cash, and the Everly Brothers.

On June 20, 1986, Paul McCartney performed at the Wembley Arena with other artists to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Prince’s Trust. He performed the songs I Saw Her Standing There, Long Tall Sally and Get Back. The released vinyl album Recorded Highlights of the Prince’s Trust 10th Anniversary Birthday Party contains the song Get Back, a bundled 7″ vinyl single of the other two songs.

With the album Press to Play, on which he collaborated with Eric Stewart from the band 10cc, Paul McCartney tried to present a more contemporary sound in September 1986, but the commercial success was lacking.

In February/March 1987, Paul McCartney recorded several songs with Phil Ramone as producer; however, an album release did not occur. Two songs from these recording sessions were released as a single in Europe in November 1987, with the A-side “Once Upon a Long Ago” reaching the top ten of the UK singles chart. Overall, Paul McCartney reached the top ten of the UK singles chart 23 times, three of which were number-one hits. In the same month, the commercially very successful greatest hits album “All the Best!” was released.

In October 1988, the album Снова в СССР (Back in the USSR) was released, which exclusively contained classic rock ‘n’ roll pieces from the 1950s and was initially available only in the Soviet Union. A few years later, when many re-imports or bootlegs were available, the album was officially released worldwide in September 1991.

In May 1989, the charity single “Ferry Cross the Mersey” was released in aid of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster. The performers included Gerry Marsden, Holly Johnson and The Christians alongside Paul McCartney, and the song, written by Gerry Marsden, was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. The song was number one in the British charts for three weeks.

After the release of the album Flowers in the Dirt in June 1989, on which McCartney collaborated with Elvis Costello on some tracks, he went on tour again under the name The Paul McCartney World Tour from September 26, 1989, to July 29, 1990, for the first time since December 1979. With the album Flowers in the Dirt, Paul McCartney recorded an album with a fixed backing band for the first time since Back to the Egg, with most songs featuring Linda McCartney, Hamish Stuart, Paul “Wix” Wickens, Chris Whitten, and Robbie McIntosh (from September 1988). The band remained together, with the exception of drummer Chris Whitten, until the end of 1993. Paul McCartney continues to work musically with Paul “Wix” Wickens to this day (as of December 2019).

The album Flowers in the Dirt became the seventh and, for the time being, the last number-one album in the UK, the tour was also a great commercial success, and in November 1990, a live album titled Tripping the Live Fantastic followed. Richard Lester, director of the Beatles films Yeah Yeah Yeah and Hi-Hi-Hilfe!, directed the concert film Get Back at McCartney’s request, which was initially released in cinemas and later on VHS video cassette/DVD.

The 1990s

In January 1991, McCartney performed as part of MTV’s Unplugged show. McCartney did not rely solely on his own compositions for this performance, but also played rock ‘n’ roll pieces that had musically influenced him. After the concert, Paul McCartney decided to release the performance as his third live album, which then became the first unplugged album. Artists such as Eric Clapton and Mariah Carey subsequently released further unplugged albums. The album included the first composition by Paul McCartney, “I Lost My Little Girl,” which was released legally for the first time. The concert in a small venue by his standards inspired McCartney to do several similar performances in Europe from May 8 to July 24, 1991 (Unplugged Tour), which was released as an album in May 1991. On this album, the drummer Chris Whitten, who switched to the music group Dire Straits, was replaced by Blair Cunningham.

In October 1991, the first classical album by Paul McCartney followed: Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio; in the 1990s, two more classical works followed: Standing Stone (September 1997) and Working Classical (November 1999).

In February 1993, the album Off the Ground was released, which included Hope of Deliverance, his last Top 10 hit in Germany to date. Overall, Paul McCartney has reached the top ten of the single charts in Germany five times so far, two of which were number-one hits. The subsequent world tour titled The New World Tour from February 18 to December 16, 1993, fell short of expectations compared to the 1989/90 tour. The event of McCartney’s return to the stage was no longer new, so the audience’s interest was lower. Paul McCartney had increasingly relied on songs from the Beatles’ repertoire during these tours, and those were the most popular with the audience.

The commercially unsuccessful live album Paul Is Live was released in November 1993; in the same month, the instrumental album Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, a collaboration with Youth, was released under the pseudonym The Fireman. The concert film Paul Is Live In Concert On The New World Tour, released in March 1994, was filmed during the 1993 world tour.

Since McCartney had been working on the idea of a comprehensive Beatles documentary for some time, the resolution of various disputes with his former bandmates came just in time.

George Harrison and Ringo Starr collaborated with McCartney on the Beatles Anthology, which was released in 1995/96 as three double-CD albums featuring previously largely unavailable demo, live, or alternative versions of many Beatles songs, along with a ten-hour documentary. Two new Beatles songs produced by Jeff Lynne, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” were also released. These were based on demo recordings by John Lennon and were developed into finished songs by McCartney, Harrison, and Starr.

On January 28, 1995, Paul McCartney recorded the song “Hiroshima Sky Is Always Blue” with Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Linda McCartney, and his four children, which was broadcast on Japanese radio and is available on bootlegs. On 23 March 1995, a concert entitled An Evening with Paul McCartney & Friends, featuring Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Willard White, Michael Pollock, Sally Burgess and others, was broadcast on British radio on 17 April 1995. On 21 April 1995, a 5″ CD single titled Paul McCartney’s A Leaf was released from the concert, featuring Anya Alexeyev performing the piano piece composed by Paul McCartney.

In addition to Harrison and Starr, Paul McCartney worked in the 1990s with 10cc, Allen Ginsberg, and continued to collaborate with Elvis Costello, among others. McCartney discovered his love for painting, which became known thru various exhibitions, including abroad. He began to engage in charitable activities. In the 1990s, he was busy founding the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). In 2002, he designed a series of stamps for the Isle of Man.

His next solo album, Flaming Pie, released in May 1997, reached the top ten of the US charts for the first time since Tug of War and was considered by some critics to be his best album since Band on the Run. This album saw a return collaboration with Ringo Starr, Steve Miller and Jeff Lynne, who played most of the instruments. In December 1997, McCartney recorded the 1927 song “A Room with a View” for the benefit album Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward.

On April 17, 1998, his wife Linda died of breast cancer. Paul McCartney compiled the album Wide Prairie, consisting of songs sung by Linda McCartney, which was released in October 1998. Another instrumental album by the duo The Fireman, Rushes, was released in September 1998. While the predecessor album Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest mainly consists of remixes of already released recordings by Paul McCartney, new compositions were recorded for Rushes, which are essentially atmospheric instrumental music.

The next regular studio album, Run Devil Run (October 1999), consisted of rock ‘n’ roll pieces like Снова в СССР, but this time Paul McCartney also included two original compositions. On December 14, 1999, Paul McCartney performed with David Gilmour, Ian Paice, Mick Green, and Pete Wingfield in front of 300 people at a replica of the Cavern Club, and the performance is documented on the DVD Live at the Cavern Club! (June 2001).

In 1999, McCartney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The 2000s

In June 2000, the release of the Buddy Holly song “Maybe Baby,” which appeared on the soundtrack album of the same name, took place. Liverpool Sound Collage, released in August 2000, is Paul McCartney’s first experimental album; it does not contain songs, but rather sound collages that McCartney assembled from various recordings. In September 2000, the book “Paintings” was released, showcasing paintings and illustrations by Paul McCartney.

Paul McCartney’s third compilation album, Wingspan: Hits and History (May 2001), was commercially successful; alongside the release of the double CD, the documentary film Wingspan of the same name was broadcast on television in several countries. The film’s director, Alistair Donald, is the then-husband of Mary McCartney, who interviews her father Paul McCartney in the film. The documentary covers the period from the beginning of Paul and Linda McCartney’s relationship and essentially deals with the history of the band Wings until their dissolution in April 1981. The DVD of the same name was released in November 2001.

In March 2001, the book Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics 1965–1999, a poetry collection by McCartney, was published. In April 2001, the tribute album Brand New Boots and Panties was released in honor of Ian Dury, for which Paul McCartney contributed the song I’m Partial to Your Abracadabra. For the compilation album Good Rockin’ Tonight – The Legacy of Sun Records, Paul McCartney recorded the song That’s All Right, which was released in October 2001.

For the film Vanilla Sky, McCartney composed and sang the titular song, which was nominated for an Oscar; it was released in December 2001 on the soundtrack album Music from Vanilla Sky.

On October 20, 2001, a benefit concert organized by McCartney with several artists took place at Madison Square Garden in New York in favor of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The studio album Driving Rain (November 2001) did not sell well, reaching only number 46 in the UK album charts. No new studio album by Paul McCartney up to and including New has placed lower in the UK.

The last meeting of Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr took place on November 12, 2001 at Staten Island University Hospital (New York), where Harrison was being treated. On November 29, 2001, George Harrison died at the age of 58 in Los Angeles (California).

On June 11, 2002, Paul McCartney married former model Heather Mills, with whom he has a daughter. The marriage was dissolved on 17 March 2008.

On November 29, 2002, the Concert for George took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where Paul McCartney sang Harrison’s compositions For You Blue, Something, and All Things Must Pass. McCartney sang the song While My Guitar Gently Weeps with Eric Clapton. The Harrison composition “Something,” which Paul McCartney played in memory of George Harrison, who passed away in November 2001, was performed by McCartney on a ukulele, one of Harrison’s favorite instruments, and became part of the live repertoire in the following years.

In the years 2002/2003, new tours followed (Driving World Tour from April 1 to November 18, 2002, and the Back in the World Tour from March 25 to June 1, 2003), during which songs from the Beatles era clearly outshone the solo works. In November 2002, the live album Back in the U.S. was released in the USA; in the rest of the world, Back in the World was released in March 2003. For these live performances, McCartney assembled a new band: Paul “Wix” Wickens, who had been a member of his backing band from 1989 to 1993, as well as Abe Laboriel Jr. and Rusty Anderson, who were session musicians on the album Driving Rain. Brian Ray joined as a new member. In this lineup, Paul McCartney has been giving concerts to this day (as of June 2016). The North American tour in 2002 was documented on the DVD Back in the U.S., and two further concert films were made during the subsequent tours in 2004 In Red Square (04 Summer Tour from May 25 to June 26, 2004) and 2005 The Space Within US (The ‘US’ Tour from September 17 to November 30, 2005). From 2007 to 2009, Paul McCartney completed two tours in addition to solo performances: the Secret Tour 2007 from June 7 to October 25, 2007, and the short North American tour Summer Live ’09 from July 11 to August 19, 2009.

In September 2004, the Paul McCartney single “Tropical Island Hum / We All Stand Together” was released in the UK. The recording took place in December 1987 with George Martin as producer. The DVD The Animation Collection, featuring animated films produced by Paul McCartney, was released simultaneously.

The collaborative composition Whole Life by Paul McCartney and David Stewart was recorded in October 2003 at Abbey Road Studios by Paul McCartney’s band and the two songwriters of the song. The release took place in March 2005 on the compilation album One Year On 46664.

On July 2, 2005, Paul McCartney and U2, among others, performed at the Live 8 concert and played the song “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” which was released as a download single on the same day.

In September 2005, the top-ten album Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard, essentially recorded by Paul McCartney alone, was released and highly praised by the music press. Three months earlier, in June 2005, McCartney’s first remix album, Twin Freaks, was released. In October 2005, the book High in the Clouds, an animal fable by Paul McCartney, Geoff Dunbar, and Philip Ardagh, was published.

On September 25, 2006, the album Ecce Cor Meum was released. It is McCartney’s fourth album of classical music.

In March 2007, McCartney announced the signing of a contract with the American label Hear Music. He was the first artist of the label newly founded by Starbucks. In June 2007, the album “Memory Almost Full” was released on this label, which received good reviews and was nominated in three categories at the 2008 Grammy Awards, once again reaching the top five in the charts in the USA and the UK.

On September 25, 2008, McCartney gave the largest pop concert in the history of Israel in Tel Aviv in front of 45,000 spectators. He had previously been banned from performing there for 44 years.

On November 24, 2008, McCartney, together with Martin Glover as The Fireman, released their third album, Electric Arguments, which received good reviews. Musically, it is more like a regular McCartney studio album than the two previous instrumental albums by The Fireman. For the first time, it was officially confirmed who is behind the pseudonym.

After a joint performance with Ringo Starr at a benefit concert in New York on April 4, 2009, it was reported that both wanted to collaborate musically again. In January, Ringo Starr’s album Y Not was released, featuring two songs co-written with McCartney. Further musical collaborations in the 2000s included Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Klaus Voormann, Yusuf, Lulu, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Al Jarreau, George Michael, and Nitin Sawhney, among others.

On July 16 and 18, 2008, Billy Joel gave two concerts with multiple guests at Shea Stadium before it was demolished. One of the invited guests was Paul McCartney, who sang the songs I Saw Her Standing There and Let It Be with Billy Joel.

On July 17, 18, and 21, 2009, McCartney performed at the opening of the Citi Field baseball stadium in New York in front of almost 110,000 spectators, and a live album titled “Good Evening New York City” was released in December 2009. The Shea Stadium had been located at the same place, where the Beatles had played on August 15, 1965, in front of about 55,000 fans.

From December 2 to December 22, 2009, the Good Evening Europe tour followed, with stops in Hamburg, Berlin, Arnhem, Paris, Cologne, Dublin, and London.

The 2010s

In February 2010, the download single (I Want To) Come Home was released, McCartney recorded the song for the film Everybody’s Fine.

Paul McCartney went on a world tour again between March 2010 and October 2015 with interruptions, which was conducted under various titles: Up and Coming Tour from March 28, 2010, to June 10, 2011; On the Run Tour from July 15, 2011, to November 29, 2012, and the Out There Tour from May 4, 2013, to October 22, 2015.

On June 2, 2010, Paul McCartney performed at the White House and sang, among other songs, “Michelle” in the presence of First Lady Michelle Obama and Barack Obama.

In June 2011, the compilation album Rave On, which includes reinterpretations of Buddy Holly songs, was released, and McCartney contributed the song It’s so Easy.

On October 3, 2011, the album Ocean’s Kingdom was released. It is Paul McCartney’s fifth classical album and contains the music for the ballet of the same name, which was first performed by the New York City Ballet on September 22, 2011.

On October 9, 2011, Paul McCartney married his partner Nancy Shevell.

In February 2012, the album Kisses on the Bottom was released. It is an album with strong elements of jazz music. The songs My Valentine and Only Our Hearts were released as singles. On February 9, 2012, Paul McCartney gave a concert at the Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, which was released on the Blu-ray Disk Live Kisses in November 2012.

His performance of the song “Hey Jude” formed the musical finale of the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics, which began in London on July 27, 2012.

In December 2012, Paul McCartney released his second Christmas single, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), following Wonderful Christmastime from 1979. In the same month, he released Cut Me Some Slack, a download single that Paul McCartney recorded with former Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselić and Pat Smear. The song “Cut Me Some Slack” was performed in this formation during the benefit concert 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief on December 12, 2012, at Madison Square Garden in New York, where Paul McCartney also performed with his band. In June 2013, another download single, “Out of Sight,” was released under the artist name The Bloody Beets feat. Paul McCartney & Youth. Furthermore, Paul McCartney collaborated with his son James on his projects.

In October 2013, the album New was released. The album once again reached the top ten of the charts in Germany, Great Britain, and the USA. The single “New” reached number four on the Japanese charts.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed live on January 26, 2014, at the 2014 Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, playing the McCartney song “Queenie Eye.” He won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song for “Cut Me Some Slack” along with Grohl, Novoselic, and Smear. On January 27, 2014, McCartney once again performed together with Ringo Starr and other artists at The Nite That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles in Los Angeles. The concert was broadcast by CBS on February 9 and 12, 2014. They played the songs With a Little Help from My Friends and Hey Jude together.

On September 26, 2014, the video game soundtrack Destiny was released as a download. The performers are listed as Martin O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori, C Paul Johnson, and Paul McCartney. The song “Hope for the Future,” which is in the game but not on the soundtrack album, was released as a McCartney single on December 8, 2014.

At the turn of the year 2014/15, Kanye West released the collaborative composition “Only One” as a download single with Paul McCartney (under the artist designation “Kanye West featuring Paul McCartney”). On January 24, 2015, the song “FourFiveSeconds” followed as another single with Rihanna and Kanye West under the artist designation “Rihanna and Kanye West and Paul McCartney,” which the trio performed at the 2015 Grammy Awards on February 8, 2015. The single became an international top-ten hit. The third collaboration with Kanye West and Paul McCartney was released on March 2, 2015, as a download single titled “All Day,” with the performers listed as “Kanye West featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney.” In “All Day,” parts of the unreleased Paul McCartney song “When the Wind is Blowing” were used at the end of the track.

On April 13, 2016, McCartney began his One on One tour, which also included concerts in Düsseldorf, Munich, and Berlin. In June 2016, Paul McCartney’s fourth compilation album, titled Pure McCartney, was released, featuring songs from 1970 to 2014.

In August 2016, Capitol Records announced that Paul McCartney would be returning to his former label and that he was working on a new studio album. In November 2016, the soundtrack album Ethel & Ernest was released, to which McCartney contributed the song In the Blink of An Eye.

In January 2017, Paul McCartney sued Sony/ATV Music Publishing in the U.S. to regain the rights to the Beatles songs he co-wrote with John Lennon under the copyright Lennon/McCartney. In June 2017, it was announced that the two parties had reached a settlement.

In 2017, McCartney had a brief appearance in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge, the fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean saga.

On September 7, 2018, the album Egypt Station was released. It is McCartney’s 18th solo album, and at the same time, including the Wings albums, the The Fireman albums, the classical albums, the live albums, and the compilation albums, it is Paul McCartney’s 47th album. The album reached number one in the charts in Germany and the USA, making it the second number one album in Germany and the eighth in the USA. Overall, Paul McCartney has reached the top ten of the respective charts with his albums so far: 13 times in Germany, 20 times in the USA, and 28 times in the UK.

From September 17, 2018, to July 13, 2019, the new Paul McCartney tour called the Freshen Up Tour followed. During the tour, Paul McCartney performed the song “Get Back” with Ringo Starr on December 16, 2018, at the O2 Arena in London, and on July 13, 2019, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, he performed the songs “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and “Helter Skelter” during two McCartney concerts.

On January 1, 2019, the song “Get Enough” was released as a download single, which then became part of the expanded album “Egypt Station Explorer’s Edition,” released as a double CD in May 2019.

On July 12, 2019, the live album Ameba Gig was released, featuring a concert from 2007. In 2019, McCartney published two books, in January Less Meat, Less Heat, which highlights the connection between meat consumption and global warming, and in September Hey Grandude!, a children’s book illustrated by Kathryn Durst. In addition, an audiobook narrated by McCartney was released.

On November 22, 2019, the download single “Home Tonight / In A Hurry” was released. Both songs originated from the Egypt Station recording sessions but were not used for the album.

A musical collaboration took place in the 2010s alongside Ringo Starr with the Foo Fighters, James McCartney, Eric Clapton, Kanye West, Rihanna, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and other artists.

Social Engagement

The couple Paul and Linda McCartney were committed to animal welfare. Thus, the two campaigned against both animal testing and the use of animals for food and fur. Both became vegetarians in the 1970s. Musically, this is reflected in the song “Looking for Changes” on the album “Off the Ground.” In 2005, McCartney and Heather Mills supported the protest against seal hunting by taking photos with young seals in the Canadian Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

In an internet video, McCartney speaks out against the conditions in factory farming. He begins the video with the statement: “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.”

In addition, Paul McCartney was involved in several well-known musical charity projects:

• In 1979, Wings performed at the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea in London.
• He sang with Band Aid and Band Aid 20.
• In 1989, he re-recorded Marsden’s hit Ferry Cross the Mersey with Gerry Marsden (of the band Gerry & the Pacemakers), the Christians and Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The proceeds went to the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.
• McCartney performed at Live 8 on 2 July 2005 in London’s Hyde Park.
• Performance at the benefit concert Change Begins Within by the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace on April 4, 2009, at Radio City Music Hall, New York, among others with Ringo Starr, Donovan, Paul Horn, Ben Harper, Eddie Vedder, Sheryl Crow, and Moby. With the concert proceeds, the foundation aims to give socially disadvantaged children the opportunity to learn Transcendental Meditation.
• Together with his two daughters, Stella and Mary, he founded the Meat Free Monday campaign, which calls for a vegetarian day each week to combat global warming.
• In December 2010, Paul McCartney performed at the London music club 100 Club in front of 300 people at a benefit concert to save it from closing.
• On 12 December 2012, the remaining members of Nirvana played together on stage for the first time in years, with the support of Paul McCartney, at Madison Square Garden in New York. The occasion was a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. They played the piece “Cut Me Some Slack.”
  Awards
  Paul McCartney received countless music awards, platinum and gold records from all over the world. He also owns the only rhodium disk ever awarded by the Guinness Book of Records.

Additional awards:

• 1965: Order of the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) (together with the other Beatles members)
• 1980: Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the track Rockestra Theme from the album Back to the Egg (first time awarded)
• 1988: Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Performer (together with the other Beatles members)
• 1990: Namesake for the asteroid (4148) McCartney
• 1992: Polar Music Prize
• 1993: For the 1992 short animated film Daumier’s Law, based on Honoré Daumier’s lithographs, which McCartney produced with his wife Linda and for which he wrote the film music, he received the British Academy Film Award for ‘Best Animated Short Film.’ the film competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
• 1997: Elevated to Knight Bachelor (the title Sir) and thus into the (personal, not hereditary) nobility by Queen Elizabeth II.
• 1999: Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Performer
• 2001: World Award, awarded by Mikhail Gorbachev
• 2003: Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sussex
• 2008: Honorary Doctorate from Yale University
• 2008: MTV Ultimate Legend Award at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool
• 2010: Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress
• 2010: Kennedy Center Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts
• 2010: Grand Cross of the Order El Sol del Perú
• 2011: Grammy Awards 2011, award for the song Helter Skelter from the live album Good Evening New York City in the category Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
• 2012: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (as the last of the Beatles)
• 2012: Grammy Awards 2012, award for the band On The Run Deluxe Edition in the category Best Historical Album 2012: Induction as a Foreign Honorary Member into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2012: Appointment as Officer of the French Legion of Honor
• 2013: Grammy Awards 2013, award for the album Kisses on the Bottom in the category Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album 2014: Grammy Awards 2014, awards for the song Cut Me Some Slack in the category Best Rock Song and for Live Kisses in the category Best Music Film
• 2016: UK’s most successful albums act of all time (Paul McCartney reached the number one position in the UK 22 times, 15 times with the Beatles and 7 times in his solo career; these 22 albums spent a total of 191 weeks at number one on the charts)
• 2017: Order of the Companion of Honor (CH)
  The music magazine Rolling Stone ranked McCartney eleventh in the 100 greatest singers and second in the 100 greatest songwriters of all time (one position ahead of John Lennon).