Sir James Paul McCartney James Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney co-founded The Beatles, the best-selling band in history, and wrote ‘Yesterday’, the most covered song of all time. He has 60 gold discs and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. He has over 200 credited songs and holds a Guinness record for most records sold.
Paul McCartney by the numbers — life, work, and family.
The relatives of Paul McCartney — parents, partners, children, and siblings.
Paul McCartney — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
At age 14, Paul McCartney was traumatized by his mother Mary’s death from breast cancer and wrote his first song shortly after. His father Jim, a cotton salesman and jazz pianist, encouraged his musical interest. McCartney passed the 11-plus exam and attended Liverpool Institute for Boys from 1953 to 1960, where he studied art and English. In July 1957, he met John Lennon at a church fête and impressed him with his guitar skills, soon joining Lennon’s band The Quarrymen.
McCartney became a founding member of The Beatles in 1960, along with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The band’s breakthrough came with the 1963 hit I Want to Hold Your Hand, which launched Beatlemania. McCartney wrote many of the band’s most famous songs, including Yesterday, Let It Be, Hey Jude, and Eleanor Rigby. After The Beatles disbanded in 1970, he formed Wings, whose album Band on the Run won two Grammys in 1974. His solo career continued with hits like ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ and Mull of Kintyre. In 1997, he was knighted for services to music.
McCartney married Linda Eastman in 1969; they had four children together: Mary, Stella, James, and adopted Heather. Linda’s death from breast cancer in 1998 plunged him into depression. He married Heather Mills in 2002; the couple had daughter Beatrice before divorcing in 2008. In 2011, he married Nancy Shevell. McCartney was arrested in Japan in 1980 for marijuana possession, spent ten days in jail, and later witnessed the 9/11 attacks from a plane at JFK airport.
Paul McCartney holds Guinness records for most records sold and most number-one hits shared with John Lennon. His song Yesterday is the most covered in history, with over 3,000 versions. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice as a Beatle and solo artist and has received Kennedy Center Honors, the Gershwin Prize, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. McCartney’s music and activism have been widely recognized, and he is remembered as one of the most successful entertainers of all time.
Browse the complete filmography of Paul McCartney — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Paul McCartney's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Paul McCartney — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Paul McCartney — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.
I Figure I’ve Probably Got a Better Chance of Coming up with a Good Paul McCartney Song Than Oasis Has.
I’m Not Religious, but I’m Very Spiritual.
I Don’t Take Me Seriously. If We Get Some Giggles, I Don’t Mind.
We Didn’t All Get into Music for a Job! We Got into Music to Avoid a Job, in Truth and Get Lots of Girls.
I Used to Think Anyone Doing Anything Weird Was Weird. Now I Know That It Is the People That Call Others Weird That Are Weird.
If Slaughterhouses Had Glass Walls, Everyone Would Be a Vegetarian.
The Two of Us Were on Fire Every Time We Sat Down to Write.
No One Is Musically Educated Until They Have Heard the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’.
On His Childhood Home Now Part of the National Trust: It Gets Dangerous When You Start Believing Your Own Legacy. That’s Why I’ve Not Gone Back.
On His Vetting Every Photo Taken by His Hired Photographers: I Just Don’t Like to See Terrible Photos of Myself…it’s Straightforward Vanity. You Tell Me Someone Who Wants to See Terrible Photos of Themselves.
Before John Lennon Died I Got Back a Good Relationship with Him. That Was Very Special. the Arguments We Had Didn’t Matter. We Were Able to Just Take the Piss About All Those Songs; They Weren’t That Harsh. in Fact, I Have Been Thanked by Yoko Ono and Everyone Else for Saving the Beatles from Allen Klein. Everything Comes Round in the End.
On Suing the Other Three Beatles Over Allen Klein’s Management: I Was Placed in the Most Awkward Position I’ve Ever Been Placed In. I Had to Fight Three Mates to Save Their Legacy, Their Money, as Well as Mine, and I Did so Knowing It Would Put Me in a Very Dodgy Position. Anyone Who Didn’t Thoroughly Review the Whole Thing Would Be Forgiven for Thinking ‘What a Tosser’. so Yes, That Matters to Me, It Is Still a Haunting Episode… It Was Pretty Scary Having to Say to Johnny, Georgie, Ringo, I’m Suing You!
I Love John’s Songs. in the Beatles, If You Said It Was One of Your Songs, It Basically Meant It Was Your Idea. so Eleanor Rigby Was My Song, but John Helped Me Finish It. a Day in the Life Was His, but I Helped Him Finish It. He Came up with ‘I Read the News Today’ and I Came up with ‘He Blew His Mind Out in a Car.’
On His 2008 to Israel and the West Bank: I’m Not Very Politically Aware of the Situation, I Suppose Like the Average British Person. We Do Know There’s a Conflict, but We Didn’t Know All the Ins and Outs. You Don’t Have to Visit a Refugee Camp to Know There Are a Lot of Palestinians Who Have Become Dispossessed.
I’ve Learnt to Compartmentalise. There’s Me and There’s Famous Him. I Don’t Want to Sound Schizophrenic, but Probably I’m Two People. I’m the Guy Who Does Shows … but I’m Also the Guy Who Goes Home to the Kids. There I Am Just Dad.
On His Children: They’ve Not Been Cloistered Linda and I Were Very Conscious of That. They’re Likable People. If You’re as Well off as I Am, Inevitably They Will Benefit. They’ve Never Understood Hunger, Like I Did. I’m Still Hungry Because I Had That Hunger, I’ve Never Lost It. It’s Good to Have.
In Any Situation with a High Ranking Official, Any Boss, It’s Not Always a Good Idea to Tell Him He’s Crap. but I Try to Encourage People. We All Have Meetings the Best Ideas Carry the Day. If Someone Goofs up I Tell Them Off. There Have Been One or Two Moments When Somebody Has Been Out of Order.
I Used to Feel Sorry in a Way for Elvis When He Was in Vegas ‘Cos He’d Have About 50 People on Stage with Him and It Didn’t Sound Any Better Than His Early Records When There Were Three People on It.
Why Would I Retire? Sit at Home and Watch TV? No Thanks. I’d Rather Be Out Playing.
Many Years Ago I Was Fishing, and as I Was Reeling in the Poor Fish, I Realised, ‘I Am Killing Him All for the Passing Pleasure It Brings Me’. Something Inside Me Clicked. I Realised as I Watched Him Fight for Breath That His Life Was as Important to Him as Mine Is to Me.
If Anyone Wants to Save the Planet, All They Have to Do Is Just Stop Eating Meat. It’s Staggering When You Think About It. Vegetarianism Takes Care of so Many Things in One Shot: Ecology, Famine, Cruelty.
On His Knighthood in 1997: It’s a Fantastic Honor and I Am Very Gratefully Receiving It on Behalf of All the People of Liverpool and the Other Beatles, Without Whom It Wouldn’t Have Been Possible.
Playing Live Was Great Then and It’s Great Now. the Big Difference Is You Can Hear What You’re Doing. It Was More Like a Football Match in the Old Days. We Were All Part of Some Big Celebration. Now with Modern Stage Equipment, Good Sound and Video Screens It’s Much Easier. I Remember Going to See Genesis at Wembley Stadium and I Couldn’t See Who Was on Stage. All I Saw Were These Little Matchstick People Miles Away. I Couldn’t Tell Which One Was Phil Collins. It Was Like…where Is He? so I Developed the Idea That If Somebody Was Right at the Back of the Venue They’d Still Be a Part of My Show. I Enjoy Playing Live More Now. I’m a Lot More Comfortable with It.
When You Start off in the Music Business You Have the Idea People Are Gonna Hate You. You Think, ‘I’m No Good and They’re Gonna Boo Me Off.’ I’ve Now Got to the Stage Where I Think, ‘the Tickets Are Sold Out so These People Probably Want to See Me.’ Treat the Audience Like They’re Your Mates. I Feel Like I’m Playing to Family.
John and George Were Real Mates. I Have a Huge Fondness for Them. They Were Both Part of My Life and Who I Am. There Are Little Reminders of Them All the Time. Today, Somebody Brought Me a New Book by 1960S Photographer Duffy and I Saw a Picture of John in It. Now, If I Write a Song, I’m Always Cross Checking in My Mind, ‘Would John Have Let Me Write That Line or Is It Just Too Soppy?’ Sometimes, I Just Think, ‘Too Bad, It’s My Song.’ but I’m Always Cross Checking with Him.
The Combination of Those Four Guys Was Pretty Interesting. We Weren’t Together That Long but Think of the Work We Put In. Every Album Was Different. Album After Album, Single After Single Beat the Last One. the Nice Thing Now Is I Don’t Have to Be Modest About the Beatles Any More. I Can Call Them Great Because It’s Over. There Was Something Very Special About the Beatles.
Little-known facts about Paul McCartney — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
To honor the Sandy Hook victims, Paul McCartney demanded a tribute on Saturday Night Live before agreeing to appear.
Although all his Beatles songs are credited as Lennon-McCartney, McCartney individually wrote almost half of the 200 songs, including Yesterday, Let It Be, Helter Skelter, and Hey Jude.
His song Yesterday is one of the most popular of all time; he temporarily used the line Scrambled Eggs before finalizing the lyrics.
In one of his first solo recordings after The Beatles split in 1970, McCartney played all instruments and sang all vocals on ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’.
He plays 25 instruments: bass, piano, drums, guitar, cello, flugelhorn, tambourine, autoharp, shakers, spinet, maracas, Moog synthesizer, tubular bells, melodica, organ, triangle, toy glockenspiel, recorder, mandolin, saxophone, resonator guitar, sitar, ukulele, and harmonica.
McCartney met schoolmate George Harrison on the bus to the Liverpool Institute; they rode together daily with their guitars.
Yesterday features only McCartney and a string section; the record company considered releasing it as a solo song but Lennon objected.
McCartney is the only Beatle to have been nominated for an Academy Award in his own right, for Live and Let Die 1973 and Vanilla Sky 2001.
He wrote ‘When I’m 64’ for his father Jim’s 64th birthday.
Along with writing Hey Jude for Julian Lennon, McCartney once jokingly proposed to Cynthia Lennon after his own breakup with Jane Asher.
The band name Wings was inspired by daughter Stella’s traumatic birth; McCartney prayed she be born on the wings of an angel.
Producer George Martin respected McCartney for his superior musicianship, musical inventiveness, and multi-instrumental abilities.
On November 13, 2005, McCartney became the first musician to perform live for an audience in space, singing Good Day Sunshine and English Tea for NASA and Russian astronauts.
McCartney and John Lennon once considered appearing on Saturday Night Live after Lorne Michaels offered $3,000 for a Beatles reunion, but they decided it was too late.
He holds a Guinness World Record with 60 gold discs and sales of over 100 million singles.
Eleven years after The Beatles split, McCartney and Ringo Starr played on George Harrison’s All Those Years Ago, a tribute to John Lennon.
McCartney and Lennon quibbled in the press after the breakup, but in 1977 they met in New York and considered showing up on Saturday Night Live together.
He owns the copyrights to Buddy Holly’s song catalog and many other compositions.
McCartney loved Ray Charles’s cover of Eleanor Rigby, but Lennon did not.
He claims his nights in a Japanese prison in 1980 were the only time he was separated from wife Linda.
His four children with Linda are Heather adopted, Mary, Stella, and James.
McCartney played piano on Let It Be and performed it at Live Aid in 1985 with Bob Geldof, David Bowie, and others.
He was one of the first musicians to perform at Shea Stadium with The Beatles in 1965 and one of the last, joining Billy Joel in 2008.
Several of McCartney’s songs about John Lennon include Dear Boy, Too Many People, Dear Friend, Let Me Roll It, and Here Today.
At 5’11, he was the tallest Beatle, half an inch taller than George Harrison.
He had 62 top 100 singles from 1971 to 2005, with 17 reaching number one.
McCartney wanted The Beatles to do a club tour before they broke up, but Lennon disagreed, preferring stadium shows.
His favorite singers were Little Richard and Elvis Presley.
McCartney was lead vocalist, bassist, pianist, and songwriter for The Beatles, and also played lead guitar on Taxman, Drive My Car, and other hits.
He owns homes in London, New York, Beverly Hills, a Scottish estate, and an Arizona ranch.
He won five Grammys, including for Eleanor Rigby, Michelle, Band on the Run, and Rockestra Theme.
On vacation in Jamaica, McCartney met Dustin Hoffman, who challenged him to write a song about Picasso’s dying words, resulting in ‘Picasso’s Last Words’.
He was made an honorary detective by the NYPD for his 9/11 benefit concert in 2002.
Let It Be was written about his mother Mary, not the Virgin Mary, despite common belief.
McCartney was the only barefoot Beatle on the Abbey Road cover, a fact featured on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
He is a fan of Electric Light Orchestra, which was often compared to The Beatles.
He still plays the 1964 Epiphone acoustic guitar he used to compose Yesterday.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 1999.
His father Jim performed as Jim Mac in a jazz band; Paul often listened to him play piano.
He owned a ranch in Tucson, Arizona, where Linda McCartney died.
Close friends include Diana Ross, Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Tom Petty, and many others.
The three surviving Beatles appeared on separate episodes of The Simpsons: Starr in 1991, Harrison in 1993, and McCartney in 1995.
McCartney turned down Weird Al Yankovic’s request to parody Live and Let Die as Chicken Pot Pie because he is vegetarian.
He plays left-handed guitar.
He owns the double bass that once belonged to Elvis Presley’s bassist Bill Black.
He was fined $200 in 1973 for growing marijuana in Scotland and jailed in Japan in 1980 for carrying the substance.
McCartney was the only Beatle to graduate from British high school, majoring in art.
His fortune was estimated at £387 million in a High Court judgment.
During his engagement to Jane Asher, McCartney with Lennon wrote songs for her brother Peter’s duo Peter and Gordon, including World Without Love.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Paul McCartney.
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