Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney, born in Liverpool on 18 June 1942, became one of the principal songwriters, singers, and multi-instrumentalists in the Beatles. He met John Lennon in 1957 after a Quarry Men performance at St Peter's Church fete in Woolton. McCartney subsequently joined Lennon's group, which evolved through several names before becoming the Beatles. With George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Lennon and McCartney turned the Liverpool band into an international phenomenon after 1962. McCartney commonly played bass, sang lead or harmony vocals, and wrote with Lennon under the Lennon-McCartney credit, although their working methods varied substantially from song to song. Their partnership produced songs such as "Yesterday," recorded with a string quartet rather than the full band, "Eleanor Rigby," "Penny Lane," "Hey Jude," and "Let It Be." "Yesterday" appeared on Help! in 1965, while "Penny Lane" was issued as a double A-side single with Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" in 1967. McCartney conceived "Hey Jude" for Julian Lennon during Lennon's separation from Cynthia Lennon; its extended coda helped make it a seven-minute single. On Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, he was central to "Getting Better," "Fixing a Hole," and the title track. He also played many instruments on "Back in the U.S.S.R." After the Beatles ended, McCartney released his self-titled solo album McCartney in 1970, recording much of it at home. He and his wife Linda McCartney then formed Wings, whose personnel changed repeatedly. Wings scored major hits with "My Love," "Band on the Run," "Listen to What the Man Said," "Silly Love Songs," and "Mull of Kintyre." Band on the Run, credited to Paul McCartney and Wings, was made in Lagos in 1973 after two members, Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell, departed before the sessions. McCartney was arrested in Japan in 1980 for possessing marijuana, causing the cancellation of Wings' Japanese tour. His later catalogue includes collaborations with Stevie Wonder on "Ebony and Ivory" and Michael Jackson on "The Girl Is Mine" and "Say Say Say." McCartney wrote the 1980s theme song "We All Stand Together," recorded classical works including the Liverpool Oratorio with Carl Davis, and composed the score for the ballet Ocean's Kingdom. He has continued touring with a band since 1989, performing Beatles, Wings, and solo material. Knighted in 1997 for services to music, he also received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress in 2010. His work spans songwriting, recording, performance, painting, animal-rights advocacy.