P. McCartney

A brief biography of Paul McCartney will help you learn about the life of a musician and prepare for the lesson.

Paul McCartney biography short

He became interested in music in elementary school, where he first appeared on stage.

The future musician graduated from Joseph Williams Primary School, after which he became a student at the Liverpool Institute. In 1956, he experienced a terrible tragedy - his mother died suddenly of breast cancer.

In 1957, he met and became a member of The Quarrymen. In 1959, The Quarrymen mutated into the Silver Beetles, and a little later into just The Beatles.

In the fall of 1962, Paul wrote the song "Love Me Do", which became exactly the single, thanks to which the whole world learned about The Beatles.

Their debut album was called The Beatles Please Please Me. During his recording, Paul met sound engineer Jeff Emerick, who later made a huge contribution to the musician's work. Basically, the authors of all compositions were John Lennon And Paul McCartney.

November 1963 The Beatles released their second album. By this time, they were already drawing crowds of millions at their concerts. The best compositions of the time, written by McCartney, were "Can't Buy Me Love", "And I Love Her" and "Another Girl".

In August 1968 Paul McCartney wrote the song "Hey Jude".

In May 1970, the band released their last album, Let It Be.

After the collapse of the legendary band, the musician and his family moved to the west coast of Scotland. The feeling of devastation did not leave him for a long time, but thanks to the support of his wife Linda, Paul McCartney was able to overcome depression.

In April 1970, he released his first solo album, which went double platinum. A year later he founded a group Wings.

In total, the group Wings released seven albums and Paul McCartney in the late 1970s, he entered the Guinness Book of Records as the owner of 60 gold discs.

In the spring of 1981, Wings disbanded. His first solo compilation was McCartney II, released in May 1980.

The musician was actively engaged in solo work, collaborated with Michael Jackson and in 1987 he released a collection of his hits "All the Best!". Ten years later, he presented the disc "Flaming Pie", which was nominated for a Grammy Award.

In 2000, he dedicated the album "Driving Rain" to his second wife. Heather Mills. Two years later he went on tour around the world. Winter 2008 Paul McCartney was awarded the BRIT Award for his historical contribution to the development of music.

He was married three times and is the father of five children.

McCartney is widely known as an animal rights activist and supporter of vegetarianism. He also became famous as an opponent of the spread of genetically modified foods, anti-personnel mines, a ban on hunting, and as the organizer of many charity concerts in support of medicine or other good causes.

Popular British composer and musician, Knight of the British Empire, winner of 27 Grammy awards, member of The Beatles quartet, founder and leader of the Wings group, and later a successful solo artist.

James Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942 at Walton Hospital in Liverpool. Paul's mother, Mary, was a nurse at the facility and was given a bed in a separate room during the delivery. Paul's father, Jim, was a talented musician who played in his spare time in jazz bands (his main activity was the sale of cotton products).

The McCartney family moved several times until they finally settled in a house on Forthlin Road in Liverpool in 1955. A year after that, Paul's mother died of breast cancer, which was a strong blow for the teenager. Many years later, Paul dedicated a line to his mother in the song "Let It Be" ("When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me").

Shortly after his mother's death, Paul became interested in the "rythm-and-blues" songs he heard on the radio and asked his father to buy him a guitar. McCartney's first guitar was a Zenith acoustic instrument. At first, Paul did not have a relationship with the instrument, since he is left-handed, but later McCartney changed the arrangement of the strings on the guitar, taking into account this peculiarity, and things went well. Around the same time, Paul met George Harrison (George Harrison) - they studied at the same school, went to her on the same bus and shared an interest in music. Harrison introduced McCartney to John Lennon, who was then the frontman of The Quarrymen. In 1957, Paul joined the band as an additional guitarist.

The first songs ("Love Me Do", "I Saw Her Standing There"), which later became hits, were created by the Lennon-McCartney composer duo in a house on Fotlin Road. Around the same period, Paul wrote the song "When I'm 64" and the band played it at early shows. In 1960, the band's name changed to The Silver Beatles and then shortened to The Beatles. In the same period, the team went to Germany with concerts. In 1962, the quartet was formed in the final composition - John Lennon, who changed the guitar to bass Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (Ringo Starr) and functioned like this until its breakup in 1970. Harrison was included in the team at the insistence of McCartney, despite some resistance from Lennon.

At one of the club concerts, Brian Epstein noticed The Beatles - the group made such an impression on him that he decided to become its manager. Epstein arranged for The Beatles to audition for Decca, but they did not secure a contract. In May 1962, the manager still managed to sign an agreement with Parlophone Records. The quartet was produced by George Martin. The first single of the quartet "Love Me Do" reached the fourth line of the British charts. The first LP, Plese Plese Me, was released in March 1963. By August of that year, a song called "She Loves You" had been at the top of the chart for a total of seven weeks.

Around the same time, Paul began dating actress and designer Jane Asher. It is believed that some Beatles songs from that period ("We Can Work It Out" and "Here, There and Everywhere") were dedicated to this relationship.

The group became popular in America in 1964, after appearing on the television show Ed Sullivan (Ed Sullivan), which was watched by more than seventy million viewers. The Beatles became world famous. The passion for music (and the members themselves) of the quartet at that time became so widespread that a special term arose - "Beatlemania" (Beatlemania). During 1964, the group released more than 30 million records with their recordings in the United States alone (however, this figure includes not only full-length albums, but also various singles). In 1964, McCartney (as part of The Beatles) received his first prestigious Grammy Award - the quartet was nominated as "Best New Artists".

Paul McCartney became the first British pop musician to admit that he had used the drug LSD. Later, Paul told the press that all the members of the quartet took a variety of drugs, and this sometimes affected their music.

11. Paul and Linda

McCartney's song "When I'm 64" appeared on The Beatles' 1967 album "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". It is believed that Paul dedicated this track to his future wife, Linda Eastman, later Linda McCartney But in fact, Paul and Linda first met at the launch of the album.The couple got married in 1969. Linda already had a daughter from a previous marriage, Heather (later the McCartney couple had two more daughters, Mary and Stella, and son James Louis.) .

20. With beloved dog Martha

In 1970, McCartney released his first solo album. The record appeared around the same time as "Let It Be", the last collaboration between The Beatles. Some copies of Paul's solo album contained an additional interview in which the musician talked about the reasons for the breakup of The Beatles. Subsequently, experts called creative differences among the musicians as the reasons for the breakup of the group (McCartney began to play an increasingly important role, which did not quite suit Lennon). In addition, there were controversies related to the business: McCartney wanted Lee Eastman, Linda's father, to run The Beatles, the rest of the participants leaned in favor of New York manager Allen Klein (Allen Klein). In 1971, it was revealed that Klein was involved in financial fraud, and Lennon apologized to McCartney, which somewhat (but not much) improved relations between them. Meanwhile, John Lennon himself announced his departure from The Beatles in September 1969, although the group officially continued to exist until the appearance of McCartney's first solo record. Paul's solo work did not receive any special name and is known to listeners simply as McCartney (ten years later, in 1980, the musician released another "untitled" record - McCartney II).

In the future, relations between Lennon and McCartney continued to be tense. At the same time, Paul had ideas (which Lennon did not support) regarding the reunion of The Beatles. For example, in 2005, a $10.8 million contract with CBS Records dated 1979 was made public. A year before Lennon's death, McCartney told the record company that the quartet could re-record and perform with the original lineup.

In the year of his thirtieth birthday (1972), McCartney released two singles that were banned in the UK: "Give Ireland Back To the Irish" - due to political content, "Hi, Hi, Hi" - due to drug-related overtones . In addition, in 1971, the musician formed the Wings group, and his wife Linda became a full member of this group. In 1980, Paul was arrested for marijuana use, which led to the end of Wings' tour of Japan. A year later, this McCartney team ceased to exist. In December 1980, John Lennon was shot dead in New York, which destroyed any hopes for the revival of The Beatles.

In the eighties, Paul continued to engage in solo work, and also recorded several duets with a number of popular artists (in 1982 - with Stevie Wonder (Stevie Wonder), the song "Ebony and Ivory"; in 1982 and 1983 - with Michael Jackson (Michael Jackson ), the songs "The Girl Is Mine" and "Say Say Say". In 1984, the film-musical "Give My Regards To Broad Street", created by McCartney, was released on wide screens. The musician himself played one of the main roles; noted Linda McCartney and another of the "Beatles", Ringo Starr].

In 1997, Paul McCartney was made a Knight of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. A year later, the musician's wife, Linda, died, like his mother, of breast cancer. Although Linda is known to the general public primarily as the wife of the "ex-Beatle", she was a professional photographer and author of several books on vegetarian nutrition. After the death of his wife, McCartney continued to engage in creativity, and not only in the field of music: he showed the public his own paintings, and also published a book of poems called Blackbird Singing.

George Harrison died of cancer in 2001. On November 29, 2002, the anniversary of his death, McCartney took part in an event called "A Concert for George" held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. As part of the concert, McCartney performed the song with Ringo Starr; In addition to two former members of The Beatles, the event was attended by many other famous musicians, including Eric Clapton (Eric Clapton) and Tom Petty (Tom Petty). The concert was later released on CD and DVD.

26. Paul and his second wife Heather Mills

In 2002, Paul married for the second time; his chosen one was the model Heather Mills (Heather Mills). He met her in 1999 at one of the charity events. For Mills, this marriage was also not the first. She generally had a rather turbulent youth - at the age of nineteen she even starred for the erotic album "Die Freuden der Liebe" (English title - "The Joys of Love"). In 1993, as a result of injuries sustained during a transport incident, Mills had her left leg amputated below the knee. Mills willingly shared with reporters the details associated with the injury, and on one of the television shows she even removed her prosthesis in front of the cameras - the model believed that in this way she could draw attention to the problems of the disabled.

The musician continued to give concerts quite actively, and in 2003 he first came to Russia to perform in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Paul planned to visit Russia earlier, back in the eighties, but the Soviet authorities refused to accept the musician. A year later (in June 2004) McCartney once again came to St. Petersburg, this time as part of a European tour. In both Russian cities, the musician was given central squares for concerts: Red Square in Moscow and Palace Square in St. Petersburg. The concert program consisted of songs by The Beatles and Wings, as well as McCartney's solo work. The second event in the northern Russian capital was the musician's 3,000th performance. In the same year, Paul performed as a headliner at the largest music festival Glastonbury, which was the end of the tour.

27. Heather, Paul and V. Putin during a tour of Russia

In 2003, another daughter appeared in Paul's family, who was named Beatrice. On May 17, 2006, the McCartney couple announced that they planned to divorce. Numerous speculations appeared in the British newspapers regarding the reasons and circumstances of the divorce, and this forced Heather to announce on October 24, 2006 that she plans to sue the Daily Mail and Evening Standard, for spreading "false and harmful information." In addition, her lawyers plan to sue The Sun newspaper. On March 17, 2008, McCartney and Mills finalized their divorce. By court decision, the wife got 24.3 million pounds.

On October 9, 2011, McCartney married for the third time. His chosen one was an American Nancy Shevell (Nancy Shevell), vice president of the transport company founded by her father.

Paul McCartney has been a vegetarian and animal rights activist since his marriage to Linda. The musician claims that he was prompted to speak out for animal rights, in particular, by the scene of the murder of a mother deer in the cartoon "Bambi" (Walt Disney, 1942). After marrying Heather, McCartney began supporting the campaign to ban landmines.

McCartney constantly appears in the lists of the wealthiest people in the world and for a long time remained the richest representative of the music business in the UK. In 2004, he passed the job to Clive Calder, the former head of Zomba Records (the latter was worth an estimated £1.235 billion, while McCartney's was worth £760 million).

McCartney has won 27 Grammy awards. He is the only member of the illustrious quartet to receive this prestigious award not only for performances with The Beatles, but also for solo work. In addition to the Grammys, McCartney received other notable awards, including two Golden Globes (for the songs No More Lonely Nights, 1984, and Vanilla Sky, 2001), an Oscar (in 1970, as part of The Beatles, for the song Let It Be ) and the Gershwin Brothers Award from the Library of Congress for contributions to pop music. Also, Sir Paul was twice included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Rock "n" roll Hall of Fame) - as an ex-Beatle and as a solo artist. In 2002, McCartney was announced as the recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors, but was forced to withdraw due to the wedding of one of his daughters on the day of the award, the award was re-awarded to Sir Paul in 2010. In the same year, McCartney received the well-known Gershwin Prize of the US Library of Congress. In 2012, French President Nicolas Sarkozy awarded McCartney the Legion of Honor.

Used materials:

Paul McCartney awarded French Legion of Honor. — The Guardian, 08.09.2012

Love, Love Me Do: Sir Paul Weds Nancy Shevell. — sky news, 10.10.2011

Stephen Bates. All my loving: wedding bells again for Paul McCartney. — The Guardian, 09.10.2011

Sir James Paul McCartney. Born June 18, 1942 in Liverpool. British musician, multi-instrumentalist and producer, founding member of The Beatles, 16-time Grammy Award winner, Knight Bachelor, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) (1965). In 2011, he was recognized as one of the best bass players of all time according to a poll conducted by Rolling Stone magazine.

The Lennon-McCartney duo has become one of the most influential and successful songwriters' unions in the history of contemporary music. Paul McCartney has been repeatedly included in the Guinness Book of Records, in particular, as the most successful musician and composer of recent history: 60 of his discs have a "gold" status, the total circulation of singles has exceeded 100 million, the song "Yesterday" holds the first place in terms of the number of recorded covers of it. versions (more than 3700). "Mull of Kintyre" (Wings), which in 1977 became the first ever British single to reach the 2 million mark in Britain alone, continues to top the UK bestseller list of all time.

Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942 at the Walton Hospital in Rice Lane, Liverpool, where his mother Mary worked as a nurse in the maternity ward.

Irish on his mother's and father's side, Paul was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church, but Mary (Catholic) and father James McCartney (Protestant, later an agnostic) raised their son outside of religious traditions.

In 1947, Mary McCartney became an on-call midwife. It was hard and exhausting work, it could be called at any time of the day or night, but this allowed the family to move to the Sir Thomas White Gardens area in Everton; Mary received this apartment along with a new job.

The family did not beg, but lived very modestly: James McCartney worked at an arms factory during the war, but after it ended, he returned to the cotton exchange, where he earned 6 pounds a week, less than his wife, which was a matter of concern for him. The TV, as Paul recalled, appeared in the family only in the year of the Coronation, in 1953.

In 1947, Paul entered Stockton Wood Road Primary School, but due to overcrowding, many students were transferred to Joseph Williams Primary School in Belle Vale. Here Paul first appeared on stage, performing something (what exactly, he later could not remember) associated with the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, was awarded a prize for this and experienced his first stage fright.

Paul McCartney as a child

In 1954, having passed his 11+ exams, he was able to continue his education at a boys' high school called the Liverpool Institute.

In 1954, the McCartney family moved to the Wallacey area, then to Speke, and in 1955 to Allerton, where they settled at No. 20 Fortlin Road.

Paul experienced a severe shock in 1956 after the death of his mother from breast cancer.. Early loss subsequently became one of the reasons for Paul's rapprochement with, whose mother Julia died when he was 17 years old.

Subsequently, Paul paid tribute to many of the qualities of his mother, not least her dream of seeing her son as an outstanding person. She wrote and spoke beautifully and competently, insisting that Paul also speak in "royal English"; thanks to her, he practically did not have a Liverpool accent.

By the age of fourteen, his father gave his son an old pipe, which he (with the consent of the elder McCartney) exchanged for a Framus Zenith acoustic guitar. Paul, being left-handed, learned to play it, using the example of Slim Whitman, who arranged the strings in reverse order. While playing on his Zenith, Paul wrote his first song, "I Lost My Little Girl". As Michael McCartney later recalled, it was his father who, with his gift, helped Paul recover from the shock caused by the death of his mother. Since then, the latter has not missed concerts of skiffle groups, listened to Radio Luxembourg programs for hours at night, learned the hits of Elvis Presley and Little Richard, and skillfully copied the stars.

Paul's father, a former trumpeter and pianist (who played in his own Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s), brought up his sons in a friendly and creative atmosphere: all three often played together at home (where there was a piano) and attended local concerts.

James McCartney, who started working at the age of 14, retired at 62 and received 10 pounds a week. This did not prevent him "from being a wonderful father, for whom the education of children was of paramount importance."

After the death of his wife, James McCartney immediately attracted his sons to active work. “He quickly brought us out of the childish state. By the age of 12, I was already in fact a petty salesman: “Knock knock, would you like to become clients of our garden club?”, Paul recalled.

Such upbringing later played an important role: McCartney always felt at ease in communicating with people.

After the death of his mother, McCartney's house was filled with relatives; one of the most caring was Aunt Jean, also later mentioned, along with her husband, in McCartney's repertoire ("Let "Em In"), but for Paul there was a "terrible emptiness". For all his sociability, he spent a lot of time during his school years alone, more often in nature, wandering through the fields or climbing trees (imagining in such a way that he is preparing himself for military service; in part, memories of these adventures were reflected in the song "Mother Nature's Son").

Another notable hobby of his was long trips to the city center on the second floor of the bus: these impressions are reflected in many famous songs of The Beatles, in particular, in "A Day in the Life" (where the hero sits upstairs, lights a cigarette and falls asleep ) or "Penny Lane" - wherever Paul went, to school or to visit friends - the first thing the bus passed was this street.

With the submission of documents to the university, Paul was late: he was not familiar with the procedure for their execution. He owed his literary education to a school teacher, as well as to the well-known local theater figure Alan Durband, who interested his student in Chaucer and Shakespeare. He got his only A in his final exams in Literature.

Once, one of Paul's school friends, Ivan Vowen, who sometimes played in John Lennon's band The Quarrymen, invited Paul to an ensemble performance in the hall of St. Peter's Church in Walton. McCartney's first meeting with Lennon took place on July 6, 1957.

First of all, Paul taught John how to tune the guitar: before that, he paid money to a neighbor who had a musical education to do this work for him.

John used two-finger banjo chords taught to him by his mother Julia. Paul knew a lot more chords, but since he was left-handed, his partner had to do the hard work of mirroring the counterpart's technique.

The friendship that began between McCartney and Lennon was negatively received by relatives: Aunt Mimi, who raised John, considered Paul to come from “the bottom”, McCartney Sr. was wary of John (“Oh, son, he will involve you in some kind of trouble!”) . But John and Paul began to quickly play together, and already in the summer of 1957, during the summer holidays, they began to write songs together - in a house on Fortlin Road, arriving there three hours before James McCartney returned from work.

Paul recalled that they began writing in earnest and the first thing they did was to start a notebook, on each page of which they wrote: "Original Lennon-McCartney composition." “We immediately began to consider ourselves as a new great author duet!”, - he said.

The first song whose lyrics and chords appeared in the notebook was "Too Bad About Sorrows"; followed by "Just Fun", "In Spite of All the Danger" and "Like Dreamers Do" (which Paul considered "very bad" and gave to the Applejacks to play). Slightly better, he says, was “One After 909,” and finally “Love Me Do,” a sort of climax: “finally a song that could be recorded.”

Back in 1954, on the way to school on a bus, Paul met George Harrison, who lived nearby, by chance, with whom he soon became friends. Now he persuaded John to accept a young friend in the Quarrymen, especially since he himself was skeptical about the musical abilities of Stuart Sutcliffe, Lennon's school friend. By 1960, after going through several names, a group called The Silver Beatles headed to Hamburg, where they shortened the name to The Beatles.

Jim McCartney did not want to let his son go, but was forced to agree when Paul announced that he would earn up to 10 shillings a day: the argument turned out to be weighty for his father, who experienced chronic financial difficulties after the war.

In Hamburg, where The Beatles were under the tutelage of entrepreneur Bruno Koschmider (formerly a circus clown), Paul grew from an amateur musician to a professional; it is believed that it was 800 hours spent on the stage of three clubs in this city that turned The Beatles into a world-class group.

The first to accept The Beatles as residents of Indra. Living conditions were terrible: the musicians were placed in an abandoned cinema, they had to wash in the toilets. But performances seven days a week in a tight schedule (from 20:30 to two in the morning with three half-hour breaks) became an indispensable school of stagecraft for the group. In addition, “We constantly tried to attract passers-by to the club; it was a kind of learning experience: how to lure those who do not want to see you, ”recalled McCartney.

Then the band moved to Kaiserkeller: here the work schedule was more benign (an hour of play - an hour of rest, in shifts with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes), but the musicians found themselves in the thick of the enmity between the local "eksis" (from existentionalists) and "rockers". However, the legendary bouncer (and gangster) Hirst Fascher and his friends invariably defended the Beatles: “The most striking thing for us was when we got to know these people (and we got to know them very well), that they, it turns out, fell in love with us - well, just like brothers." According to Paul, the bandits who took care of them almost cried when it was time to leave.

Koschmieder's work ended shortly after The Beatles moved to a new, rival Top Ten club. This was largely due to McCartney, who during the audition made an indelible impression on the owners with his imitations of Little Richard. Ultimately, the Beatles went back to Liverpool thanks to Paul, with Pete Best setting a fire in the room he was moving out of. Bruno Koschmieder called the police, Paul and Pete spent three hours at the station, after which they were deported.

In December 1960, the Beatles began performing in Liverpool, notably on December 27 at Litherland Town Hall in what is considered the turning point of their career.

The Beatles

Paul McCartney wowed audiences with his performance "Long Tall Sally" and practically provoked in the hall (as B. Miles wrote) the first surge of Beatlemania. On March 21, 1961, Paul McCartney played his first show with The Beatles at the Cavern in Liverpool. Realizing that his competitors in the club scene played the same covers as he and John, he convinced the latter to work on original material.

In April 1961 the band returned to Hamburg and made their first recording there: "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan.

Until 1961, Paul, like John, played the rhythm guitar, and picked up the bass guitar only when Stuart Sutcliffe could not go on stage. McCartney became a permanent bass player only in the summer of 1961, when, after the expiration of the Hamburg contract, Sutcliffe left the group. The reason for this was a conflict during a concert in Hamburg, when (according to Bob Spitz's biography and according to Dot Ron) "Stu took off the bass guitar, put it on the floor, attacked Paul and they beat each other right on stage." “There is a theory that I kicked Stu out of the band in order to take over his bass guitar. Forget! Nobody dreams of playing the bass - at least not in those years. The bass guitar is what the fat boys stand at the back of the stage with,” Paul recalled. Be that as it may, from that time on he became a bass player, having received the Hofner 500/5 instrument, which Sutcliffe played, for his use. Later, in 1962, he purchased a Hofner 500/1, which was inexpensive and (due to its symmetrical "violin" shape) easy to convert to left-hand play.

On October 5, 1962, the single "Love Me Do" (with "P.S. I Love You" on the back) was released: both songs were written by Paul McCartney. It is believed that he dedicated the second of them to his then girlfriend Dot Ron, but Paul himself subsequently denied this, adding: "I never wrote letters from Hamburg, although some people claim that it is." John also agreed that it was Paul's song: in his opinion, he "tried to write something like 'Soldier Boy', like the Shirelles ... And he wrote it in Germany." Since the first single was practically Paul's solo work, George Martin even insisted on releasing it under the "sign" of Paul McCartney & the Beatles, but this idea was rejected by McCartney himself.

The single rose to number 17 in England (April 8, 1964, when released in the US, it climbed to the top of the charts). Exactly "Love Me Do" ushered in The Beatles' meteoric rise to worldwide fame. Sound engineer Norman Stone, who worked on the band's first recordings, said that Paul acted as musical director from the very beginning, he always had the last word. He was a true musician and even then - a real producer.

McCartney recalled that the band's musicians weren't thrilled about being adored by girls.

On February 11, 1963 in London, in just 12 hours, the entire material of The Beatles' debut album Please Please Me was recorded. A week later, in the course of mixing, Paul met sound engineer Jeff Emerick, with whom his entire creative life was subsequently connected: Emerick constantly worked with The Beatles, and after the group broke up, he became McCartney's main sound engineer. The songwriters on the first edition of the disc were McCartney-Lennon; the name order was later changed to Lennon-McCartney. Often, John and Paul created a composition in no more than an hour, mutually "pushing off" from each other's ideas. However, some early Beatles songs belonged almost entirely to one of them. So, the album Please, Please Me opened with "I Saw Her Standing There", a song by Paul, in which John only made a few minor changes.

On May 9, 1963, after a Beatles concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, Paul met 17-year-old actress Jane Asher. This novel lasted five years and had an indirect impact on both the worldview of the musician and his work.

“It was an educated middle-class family, all members of which were keenly interested in art. It was they who managed to arouse Paul's interest in classical music and the avant-garde, which ultimately led the Beatles to move away from pop-rock in favor of the rising wave of art-rock,” wrote A. Goldman. It is believed that it was Jane Asher Paul who dedicated his many famous songs, in particular, "We Can Work It Out" and "Here, There and Everywhere".

breakthrough the mega-hit that opened the door to world fame for The Beatles was "She Loves You", for 7 weeks led the British hit parade.

On November 4, 1963, the group performed on the Royal Variety Show: the program, which was watched by more than 26 million television viewers, had a huge resonance, the effect of which the Daily Mirror called "Beatlemania".

The Beatles

On November 22, 1963, The Beatles released their second album, With The Beatles, which became a British hit. Paul McCartney's main work here was "All My Loving", which he composed in a camper van while touring with Roy Orbison.

In January 1964, The Beatles gave concerts in Paris, and in February they flew to the United States, where Beatlemania was already rampant. The famous press conference of the band members took place at the airport. Lennon shone on it, but McCartney also made a significant contribution. In particular, to the question: "What do you say about the movement in Detroit, the goal of which is to end the Beatles?" - he replied: "The Beatles will start a campaign whose goal will be to end Detroit." The Beatles finally conquered America by performing on the Ed Sullivan Show in front of 73 million television viewers.

Paul McCartney's song was released as a single on March 20 "Can't Buy Me Love" from the film "A Hard Day's Evening" and its soundtrack. The single garnered a record 3,100,000 advance submissions in the US and England. Not a single work of art and literature knew such a first edition. Another McCartney song from the same album that was a huge success was the ballad "And I Love Her", which has since been covered over 500 times. “She is not dedicated to anyone in particular,” Paul said. - It's just a love song. Starting the title in the middle of a sentence (“And I love her”) seemed to me a pretty witty find.

Paul McCartney spent the beginning of 1965 on vacation in Tunisia, where he ended up on the recommendation of Peter Ustinov. This is where he wrote the song "Another Girl"(later included in the Help! album. On April 14 (that is, a year before Lennon made his first anti-war statements), Paul (the only member of the group) sent a welcome telegram to the participants in the Peace March for Nuclear Disarmament. “I stand in solidarity with you for one simple reason: bombs do no good to anyone...”, the message said.

June 12, 1965 The Beatles were awarded the Order of the British Empire: The presentation ceremony with the participation of Queen Elizabeth II was held at Buckingham Palace on October 26.

On July 29, 1965, the premiere of the second Beatle feature film Help! took place, and on August 6, the album of the same name was released in England. The central thing in it was "Yesterday", the first song recorded by McCartney without the participation of the other Beatles, to the accompaniment of an acoustic guitar and a string quartet. According to Mark Lewisohn's book, the song already existed in January 1964 (it was then that George Martin first heard it under the name "Scrambled Egg"). Paul said in an interview that he composed the melody even earlier, in 1963, in the London house of Jane Asher.

The Beatles

On October 1, 1965, the single "Yesterday" reached #1 in the US. The song was not released as a single in England. According to Paul, "John didn't want 'Yesterday' to come out as a 45. In his opinion, it would have turned out to be a McCartney solo record. Paul himself agreed because it didn't matter much to him. "Besides, this song ruined our rock 'n' roll image," he added.

Paul's other songs included on the album were "The Night Before", "I've Just Seen A Face", "Another Girl", "Tell Me What You See". In addition, it was he who composed the drums for Ringo on "Ticket to Ride".

On August 13, 1965, The Beatles began their second American tour in New York. During the tour, Paul met with Elvis Presley (this was preceded by a personal telephone conversation), as well as with members of The Byrds.

The Beatles in the USA

On December 1, 1965, the album Rubber Soul was released, marking a qualitatively new stage in the work of The Beatles. Paul McCartney's most famous song on this record is "Michelle"(John only owns the middle part here: "I love you, I love you, I love you ..."). The song, which soon topped several lists in the "Best Song of the Year" category, was also not released as a single. McCartney himself considered his descending passage on the bass guitar to be one of the main advantages of the piece (“It reminded me of Bizet,” he said).

In December 1965, Paul recorded and published (3 copies) Paul's Christmas Album, especially for John, George and Ringo. It included the combined results of noise experiments that he did at home, working with two tape recorders.

On August 5, 1966, The Beatles Revolver was released. McCartney's contribution to it - "Eleanor Rigby", "Here There and Everywhere", "Yellow Submarine", "For No One", "Got to Get You Into My Life" and "Good Day Sunshine" - is considered outstanding by music critics: all these songs have become song classics of the 20th century.

Having given their last concert in Candlestick Park, San Francisco, on August 29, 1966, The Beatles decided to give up touring activities and Paul McCartney concentrated on studio and songwriting work. As the first member of the band to work on the side, Paul wrote the soundtrack for the film "The Family Way", which was later released under the same title and won the Ivor Novello Award.

Released June 1, 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, who later topped many final and "historical" lists; many experts consider it the best album of all time. The idea for the record and the authorship of most of the compositions on the album, which, according to George Matrtin, "...transferred The Beatles from ordinary rock bands to the category of musicians who have made a significant contribution to the history of the performing arts", belonged to Paul McCartney. Regarding the pre-release single "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever", James Aldridge remarked, "Our workers don't have Mayakovskys, Byrons or Shelleys. Therefore, the closest living poets for them are The Beatles.

On August 27, 1967, Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, died. On September 1st, the group met at Paul's house to discuss their future, and Paul suggested that they start filming a movie called Magical Mystery Tour immediately. The group spent the end of the year working on the realization of this idea. The film, which premiered on 26 December on BBC 1, was met with devastating criticism.

At the end of 1967, The Beatles received 4 Grammys, and all for Sgt.Pepper: "Album of the Year", "Best Contemporary Rock and Roll Recording", "Best Sound Recording of the Year", "Best Record Design". In those years, McCartney's main vacation spots were - first, open exclusively to rock musicians and the public close to them, the Ad Lib club (7 Leicester Place, above the Prince Charles Theatre), then Scotch of St James and Bag O 'Nails'. In the last of these, on May 15, 1967, he met photographer Linda Eastman (1941-1998), future wife and member of Wings.

The Beatles spent early 1968 with the preacher of transcendental meditation, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in India.

Released as a single on August 30 "Hey Jude"(with Lennon's "Revolution" on the back), one of McCartney's most famous songs, featuring 40 symphony orchestra members. The single became a worldwide bestseller: its total circulation in 1968 amounted to 6 million copies. "Hey Jude, a song about Julian (Lennon, John's son from his first marriage to which Paul was attached), is a much more touching elegy about a child abandoned by his parents than anything John created during his solo years," the magazine wrote in 1985 Musician.

Paul McCartney - Hey Jude

On November 22, 1968, The Beatles' White Album was released, which (according to the Guinness Book of Records) held the American record as the fastest-selling music album until the very end of the 20th century. The idea to put both discs in a completely white sleeve belonged to Paul McCartney. According to another version, the author of the idea was designer Richard Hamilton, with whom Paul also designed the insert poster.

McCartney's most notable songs on this album include Back in the U.S.S.R. and "Helter Skelter". The second of these, recorded by the group on July 18, 1968, still retains the unofficial "title" of The Beatles' most infamous song, as it inspired Charles Manson (as he himself claimed) to commit crimes. (Hunter Davis, however, wrote that the gang, while committing their atrocities, sang a very different McCartney song, "Magical Mystery Tour".) However, "Helter Skelter" (created as a kind of response to Pete Townsend, who had recently boasted "Severity" of its "I Can See for Miles") went down in history as one of the first hard rock compositions. In 1987, Metal Hammer magazine named this song one of the top five hard and heavy songs.

The Beatles - Back in the U.S.S.R.

On January 2, 1969, filming began on Let It Be. The initiator of the event was Paul McCartney, who gathered colleagues at the Apple office and urged them to give up idleness. (“I told them: Let’s go guys! We can’t stand still. We have to do something, because we are the Beatles!”) In the end, it turned out that it was in the process of working on the film (in the words of Paul himself) that “the group became fall apart." “This film was made by Paul for Paul. That's the main reason for the breakup of the Beatles... We're all sick and tired of being Paul's second-rate musicians. It started after Brian's death: Paul was in focus, the rest were ignored. We felt it. Paul is God, and the rest are lying around somewhere, ”John Lennon said after the American premiere on May 2.

The split in The Beatles took shape on February 28, 1969, when John Lennon offered his personal manager Alan Klein to be the group's manager. McCartney, who had heard (primarily from Mick Jagger) about Klein's dubious scams, was the only Beatle who strongly objected. John, George and Ringo stood their ground and, as it turned out later, made a disastrous mistake (in 1973 they sued Klein, accusing him of financial fraud).

On July 31, 1969, The Beatles completed work on Abbey Road, their penultimate album. Work on it took place in an extremely painful atmosphere. “It was not the former, fleeting heaviness, ... in which you always felt some kind of space for yourself; no, it was a serious, painful burden that no longer left a place in itself and caused great discomfort, ”McCartney recalled. Released on August 26, Abbey Road won a Grammy in 1969 for production excellence in the category "Best engeneered non-classical recording".

On May 8, 1970, the last Beatle studio album, Let It Be, was released in England., with material recorded a year earlier. As in all albums of the second half of the 60s, Paul McCartney is the main author here: he owns "Let It Be", "Long and Winding Road", "Get Back", "I've Got a Feeling", "Two of us".

The Beatles - Let It Be

On December 31, 1970, Paul McCartney, through his lawyers, began a process to terminate the Beatles partnership and filed a lawsuit against Alan Klein, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. He believed that the situation in which the former members of the group found themselves had no other solution.

Breaking up with his Beatles colleagues made an extremely painful impression on McCartney (Linda even claimed that "the breakup of The Beatles destroyed" him). Secluded with his family on a remote High Park farm near Campbeltown on the west coast of Scotland, Paul lived for a time as a hermit in a tiny area.

Linda played a huge role in its revival. Danny Seiwell (Wings member) believed that if not for his wife, Paul would not have come out of depression. “It was she who got him back on his feet after he had to sue the rest of the Beatles. His heart was broken. He would have stayed in Scotland and simply drunk himself there. It was she who said to him: “Come on, go ahead!”.

In March 1970, Paul returned from seclusion with material from his first solo album, recorded on four-track equipment from EMI. In April 1970, the McCartney album climbed to the top of the Billboard lists, where it lasted 3 weeks and subsequently went double platinum) and reached No. 2 in Britain. Ram (1971), recorded January 10 - March 15 at Columbia Records in New York, was released as a collaboration between Paul and Linda McCartney. The album, which featured the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, topped the UK charts and was also number two in the US.

Press reaction to McCartney's first two solo albums was negative. John Lennon expressed the general opinion of critics, calling the first of them "garbage". In addition, bits of "Too Many People" lyrics and Ram's back cover artwork (with two copulating bugs causing insinuation in the press about "a hint of how he was treated by the Beatles") angered Lennon, and he responded with a tirade " How Do You Sleep?", a song from the album Imagine. McCartney admitted: “Yes, it was a serious blow. It became very sad: after all, we loved each other - although, at that time, this could hardly be suspected. But from the age of sixteen we were very close friends. And suddenly - such a strange turn. As soon as they collided on the business front, they grabbed each other's throats.

For some time, McCartney tried to realize the idea of ​​​​creating a supergroup, with the participation of Eric Clapton. When its impracticability became obvious, he took a different path. In August 1971, with Linda, guitarist Danny Lane (ex-Moody Blues) and Danny Sawell, Paul McCartney formed the supergroup Wings.

The group's debut album, Wild Life, was moderately received by critics, but at the end of the year, Record World magazine named Paul and Linda the best duet. Of the group's three singles in 1972, two were banned from the BBC: "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" (it was dedicated to the events of "Bloody Sunday" in Ireland) and "Hi Hi Hi" (censors were confused by the line: "I want so you get into bed and get ready for my body cannon").

In August 1972, Paul, Linda and Danny Saywell were arrested in Sweden for drug possession. and later fined (£800). After the musicians admitted that they received hemp by mail from London, the British police raided two Scottish McCartney farms and destroyed all hemp plantings there. Subsequently (March 8, 1973 in Campbeltown, Scotland) Paul and Linda were also fined £100 each.

In the fall of 1973, Paul McCartney and the band (whose line-up left McCulloch and Seiwell) went to Nigeria to record a new album. Here he had to perform the drum parts himself, and later this work was highly appreciated by Keith Moon himself. In Nigeria, the McCartney couple were in for a shock: at some point they were subjected to an armed robbery, later Paul suffered a severe attack of bronchial asthma, accompanied by fainting. Band on the Run (re-signed by Paul McCartney and Wings) topped the world's major charts and was named "album of the year" by Rolling Stone magazine, ahead of The Dark Side of the Moon in the list.

In 1973, when all the legal procedures related to the legacy of The Beatles were completed, Paul mentioned in the press the possibility of a reunion of the group. On March 28, 1974, for the first time since the breakup of the Beatles, Lennon and McCartney played together at Los Angeles' Burkbank Studios, performing "Midnight Special". On April 1, the jam continued with John, Paul, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson and a group of session musicians performing "Lucille", "Stand By Me" and a medley of Sam Cooke songs. Later (under the title A Toot and a Snore in "74) these recordings were released as a bootleg.

In April 1974, along with the updated Wings, Paul McCarney settled in Nashville, Tennessee. Here - with the participation of Chet Atkins, Floyd Kramer, Vassar Clements and the vocal group Cate Sisters - a new project, Country Hams, was spontaneously created. The group recorded three songs, including "Walking in the Park With Eloise" by Father McCartney, which was released as a single in October 1974. Few people knew that McCartney was involved with him, and the release (which EMI considered "unofficial") was not noticed. In 1982, when Paul included this song in his list of his favorites (for the Desert Island Disk series program), the single was re-released.

In May 1975 they released - first the single "Listen to What the Man Said", then the album Venus and Mars, which immediately topped the main hit parades of the world. On March 24th, celebrating the completion of the record, Paul and Linda McCartney hosted a star-studded party aboard the Queen Mary, featuring rhythm and blues band The Meters, as well as Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, George Harrison and more. This spontaneous concert subsequently released under the title Live on the Queen Mary.

A month later, McCartney purchased the Waterfall estate in Rye, Sussex, for £40,000, which became his main residence for many years.

1977 began for McCartney with the end of a six-year litigation with Allen Klein and the Beatles. On an emotional upsurge, he began to record two albums: Denny Lane's solo album Holly Days (it was released on May 6) and a collection of instrumental versions of the songs included in the Ram album. Thrillington, released on April 29 under the pseudonym Percy Trills, went largely unnoticed. McCartney admitted that he was the author of this hoax, only in 1994 in an interview with Mark Lewisohn.

On November 3, 1979, the London club Les Ambassadeurs honored Paul McCartney, who had recently been included in the Guinness Book of Records as "the most outstanding composer of all times and peoples": the author (at that time) of 43 songs that sold more than a million copies, and the owner of 60 gold discs (42 with the Beatles, 17 with the Wings, 1 with Billy Preston). That same month, McCartney's first solo single since 1971, "Wonderful Christmastime", was released (with the instrumental "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reggae" on the back).

In December 1979, at the personal request of UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, Paul McCartney organized a series of benefit concerts for the benefit of the drought-affected people of Kampuchea. The result of this event was the TV movie "Rock for Kampuchea", as well as the double live album Concert for the People of Kampuchea, recorded by Chris Thomas. In May 1980, McCartney received the Ivor Novello Special Award for organizing concerts for the benefit of the people of Kampuchea.

The last telephone conversation between Paul and John was in September 1980. A: He was friendly and calm. And yet, McCartney later regretted that he never met with his old friend to finally settle all the differences. The telephone conversation concerned mainly John's family, who, as Paul recalled, was enjoying life and making plans for his future career.

On the day John Lennon died, McCartney was working on the song "Rainclouds". The murder shocked him. “We, the three Beatles, learned this news in the morning, and here's the strange thing: we all reacted to it in the same way. Separate, but the same. That day we all went to work. All. No one could be alone at home with such news. We all felt the urge to go to work and be with the people we knew. It was impossible to survive. I had to force myself to move on somehow. I spent the whole day at work, but I did everything as if in a trance. I remember I came out of the studio and some reporter jumped up to me. We were about to leave, and he stuck the microphone in the car window, shouting, "What do you think about John's death?" Exhausted and shocked, I managed only: "This is such an anguish." I meant longing in the strongest sense, you know, as they say, putting their whole soul into one word: longing-ah-ah-ah ... But when you read this in a newspaper, you see only one dry word ".

On January 6, 1981, the last studio session of Wings took place. As Lawrence Juber said (in an interview with Beatlefan magazine), "... John's death discouraged Paul from concert activities, because he would have to flinch every 10 minutes, expecting some idiot to shoot him with a gun." On April 27, 1981, the band's dissolution was officially announced.

In 1981, Paul McCartney and producer George Martin began recording their next album at Air Studios on the island of Montserrat. The sessions included drummer Dave Mattacks, bassist Stanley Clarke, who replaced Mattucks Steve Gadd, Eric Stewart, Andy McKay, as well as Carl Perkins (who sang the "Get It" duet with Paul) and Stevie Wonder ("What's That Your Doing" and "Ebony and Ivory").

In 1981, McCartney took part in the recording of George Harrison's song "All Those Years Ago" dedicated to John Lennon - with Harrison, Ringo Starr and.

The Tug of War album was released on April 26, 1982, topped the charts on both sides of the ocean (like the single from it "Ebony and Ivory"), was well received by critics and is generally considered the best in McCartney's solo career after Band on the Run. The title track was anti-war (McCartney said that he tried to protest against the new wave of English militarism in it). One of the album's songs, "Here Today", was dedicated to the memory of John Lennon.

In May 1983, Paul received the Ivor Novello Award for "Ebony and Ivory" in the category "International Hit of the Year", the album Tug of War received the Bambi Award from the German Phonographic Academy.

In 1999, McCartney released a compilation of rock and roll standards, Run Devil Run, and was inducted (as a solo artist) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In May 2000, McCartney became a member of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. Guy Fletcher, chairman of this academy, noted the role that Paul played in the development of all British popular music.

The album Driving Rain (2001) was dedicated to Heather Mills, who became his wife on June 11, 2002. Almost simultaneously, the album A Garland for Linda, dedicated to Linda, was released, eight tracks for which were written by eight different contemporary composers. All proceeds from the sale of the record were donated to The Garland Appeal, a charity that provides financial assistance to cancer patients.

In 2001, the documentary "Wingspan: An Intimate Portrait" was released, which included many photographs and photographs taken by Linda, as well as an interview with Paul given to his daughter Mary (the one who, as a child, got on the back cover of the McCartney album). That same year, Paul wrote the theme song for the Oscar-nominated film Vanilla Sky.

On September 11, 2001, McCartney, while at Kennedy Airport, witnessed the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Shocked by what he saw, he organized a charity "Concert for New York" ("The Concert for New York City"), held on October 20. In November of that year, it became clear that George Harrison's days were numbered. Paul spent many hours at the bedside of his friend in the Hollywood Hills mansion, where Harrison lived out his last days. On November 29, George passed away, and exactly a year later McCartney played one of his most famous songs, "Something," at the Concert for George.

In 2002, Paul McCartney began the "Back In The World" world tour, during which he visited Russia for the first time and on May 24, 2003 gave a concert on Red Square in Moscow. To this day, this concert remains the only concert of a Western rock star on Red Square - all the rest, declared as such, were held on Vasilyevsky Spusk. The day before the concert, the then President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, accompanied the musician and his wife during their walk around the square and the Kremlin and received them at his Kremlin residence.

In June 2004, Paul headlined at the Glastonbury Festival, and then on June 20, as part of the 04 Summer Tour, he performed in St. Petersburg on Palace Square. According to some estimates, this concert was the three thousandth in Paul's career.

On July 2, 2005, Paul opened and closed the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, performing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

On November 13, 2005, after McCartney's concert in Anaheim, California, a satellite connection was established with the International Space Station, and the musician played the songs "Good Day Sunshine" and "English Tea" especially for cosmonauts Bill MacArthur and Valery Tokarev. In 2005, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, recorded with producer Nigel Godrich, was McCartney's last album for EMI. A year later, the album itself and the song from it, "Jenny Wren", were nominated for a Grammy.

On June 18, 2006, McCartney celebrated his 64th birthday, once "foretold" by the song "When I'm Sixty-Four": this birthday was celebrated by fans of the group and Paul around the world. That same year, Paul McCartney made his first appearance at the Grammy Awards: "Numb/Encore" and "Yesterday" he performed with rapper Jay Z and the band Linkin Park.

Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr - With a Little Help From My Friends

On March 21, 2007, McCartney left EMI and signed with Starbucks Corporation-owned Hear Music, becoming the label's first catalog entry. On June 4, his first 21-solo album Memory Almost Full was released here, in support of which he played several "secret concerts" in London, New York and Los Angeles.

On November 13, 2007, The McCartney Years 3-DVD box set was released, featuring live recordings, behind-the-scenes footage and the documentary Creating Chaos at Abbey Road (2005).

In February 2008, McCartney was nominated for a BRIT Award for Historical Contribution to Music.

On May 26, 2008, McCartney received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Yale University. On June 1, 2008, he played a concert at the Anfield stadium in honor of Liverpool, which became the cultural capital of Europe for a year.

On June 14, 2008, a free concert took place on Independence Square in Kyiv, which was attended by about 250 thousand people.

On July 18, 2008, Paul McCartney made a surprise appearance at a Billy Joel concert at Shea Stadium. The concert was called "The Last Performance in Shea", since the demolition of this sports complex was scheduled for 2009 (it is noteworthy that it was The Beatles who performed here first).

In 2009, Paul McCartney was awarded the Gershwin Prize, and in December 2010 - the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts (Kennedy Center Award).

In 2010, he continued touring with a group of three Los Angeles natives - guitarists Brian Ray and Rusty Anderson, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. - and British keyboardist Paul Wickens.

On December 14, 2011, as part of the On The Run tour, Paul McCartney's concert took place at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex in Moscow - the third in Russia and the fourth in the former USSR.

On February 9, 2012, Paul received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For her, he thanked all the members of The Beatles. On May 3, Paul and his wife nearly got into a plane crash.

September 8, 2012 Paul McCartney received France's highest award - the Order of the Legion of Honor (officer).

In 2013, the musician released a new studio album, New.

On May 19, 2014, it became known that Paul McCartney had contracted an unknown virus and was therefore forced to cancel his planned tour of Japan.

Paul McCarthy Personal Life:

Paul started dating girls after becoming a member of The Quarrymen.

One of his first girlfriends was called Layla (“a strange name for Liverpool,” he recalled), another close acquaintance, Julie Arthur, was the niece of comedian Ted Ray.

In 1959, Paul met his "first serious love", Dot Rhone, whom he met at the Casbah club. Dot (nicknamed "Bubbles") and Paul, John and Cynthia became an inseparable quartet. According to Dot's recollection, she and Cynthia Powell learned to "keep complete silence" when Paul and John sat down to discuss group business. “She froze like a rabbit under Paul’s angry gaze,” writes Spitz, author of The Beatles biography.

Paul McCartney and Dot Rhone

The real “sexual baptism” (according to his own recollections), Paul received in Hamburg (a city that had a reputation as the European sex capital). "There" was a sexual awakening. Before coming to Hamburg, we had almost no practical experience,” he admitted.

Upon his return from Hamburg in May 1962, Paul learned that Dot was pregnant; they planned a wedding, but Dot suffered a miscarriage in July and their mutual feelings soon cooled off. Later, Dot left Britain and settled in Toronto (Canada), where to this day she lives with her husband and children and has (according to Spitz's biography) "a very good job."

On April 18, 1963, when the Beatles arrived at the Royal Albert Hall for a concert organized by the BBC, during one of the photo shoots, they were joined by Jane Asher, a charming and energetic seventeen-year-old actress, co-host of the TV show "Juke Box Jury". In the evening of the same day, they all ended up visiting journalist Chris Hutchins together. Paul later believed that he won her over with one line: "Ful semily hir wympul pyrnched was" ("The only thing I remembered from Chaucer! ..").

On December 25, 1967, they announced their engagement, but in early 1968 they broke it off and ended their relationship. According to Jane, the reason was Paul's betrayal with a girl named Frankie Schwartz, although Schwartz herself claimed in an interview that Jane and Paul broke up without her participation.

Paul McCartney and Jane Asher

On May 15, 1967, at a club at a Georgie Fame concert, McCartney met photographer Linda Eastman., his future wife. In May 1968, McCartney met Linda again, and they were married six months later. Paul adopted Linda's child from his first marriage, Heather, later they had three children: Mary (born August 28, 1969), Stella (born September 13, 1971) and James (born September 12, 1977).

Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney

April 17, 1998 Linda died of breast cancer in Tucson, Arizona. According to Paul, during the entire marriage they were separated only once, for one week.

In April 1999, McCartney met former model Heather Mills at the Pride of Britain Awards. and started dating her.

On July 23, 2001, they got engaged, and on July 11, 2002 they got married. The wedding took place at Leslie Castle, Ireland. On October 28, 2003, Paul and Heather's daughter Beatrice Millie was born.

Paul McCartney and Heather Mills

The marriage to Heather Mills was short-lived and unhappy: in May 2006, a divorce hearing began, and on March 17, 2008, the marriage was annulled. As a result, McCartney had to pay his wife 24 million pounds.

In November 2007, McCartney began dating 47-year-old American Nancy Shevell.

“She is attractive, richly dressed and looks like a very charming person, who does not stop before acquiring someone from those around Paul,” Q correspondent described Shavell, who met with the spouses in 2010 backstage at one of the concerts. On May 7, 2011, their engagement became known. October 9, 2011 Paul McCartney married for the third time.

Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell

Paul McCartney and drugs:

The first serious acquaintance of Paul McCartney with drugs occurred in Hamburg. Members of The Beatles (except Pete Best, who preferred alcohol) used amphetamines - primarily preludin (known as "prellies"), which was brought mainly by Astrid Kirscher, Sutcliffe's girlfriend. McCartney showed restraint.

At the same time, although he did not excite himself so actively, he tried to go to bed as late as possible - again, for practical reasons: so as not to get hooked on sleeping pills.

“I guess I was a lot more circumspect than the other guys in rock 'n' roll at the time. Somehow my Liverpool upbringing instilled this caution in me,” he recalled.

Paul McCartney became one of the first in the rock business who openly admitted that he was using drugs, and more than once expressed bold and in many ways scandalous thoughts on this matter. On July 24, 1966, a petition was published in the London Times demanding the legalization of marijuana: it was paid for by McCartney, who ordered that £ 1,800 be allocated for this purpose and that this amount be attributed to the Beatles' advertising expense section. In an interview with the Daily Mirror correspondent on June 18, 1967, he stated: “Drugs expand the mind. It's like aspirin, but without the headache the next day."

In a 2004 interview with Uncut magazine, Paul McCartney spoke at length about his relationship with drugs, admitting that it was an important part of The Beatles' life and work.

"Got to Get You into My Life", according to McCartney, was written about "weed" (which no one knew at the time), "Day Tripper" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" about LSD. He took cocaine for about a year, but quit after he realized that the drug causes frequent bouts of deep depression. McCartney said that heroin "only tried ... and I'm glad I didn't get addicted, because I wouldn't have imagined myself going down that path."

In 1980, going to Japan and realizing that "you can't buy it" there, Paul took marijuana with him. He later admitted that it was "the most stupid thing" he did in his career.

On January 16, 1980, Paul McCartney was arrested at Okura Airport with 219 grams of marijuana.(found in Linda's luggage). Paul took the blame and was subjected to a five-hour interrogation, after which he ended up in a cell where he was denied not only the opportunity to take a shower, but also writing materials. The Minister of Justice of Japan said that according to the law, McCartney faces 7 years in prison. Paul spent 10 days in a cell, after which he was allowed to return to his homeland.

According to A. Goldman (the author of The Life of John Lennon, who cites the testimony of Fred Seaman, John's employee), on January 15, 1980, Paul McCartney, on his way to Japan, boasted to Yoko Ono that he "got hold of absolutely dynamite weed." The latter allegedly reported on Paul - for many reasons, but above all, because she did not want him to stay in the presidential suite of the Okura Hotel (where the Lennons had previously stayed). “He's going to ruin our hotel karma. So far we have had great karma in this hotel and I am very unhappy to know that they will bring their infection there. If Paul and Linda spend even one night there, we won't be able to go back to that suite again," John Lennon himself told (according to Goldman) to Fred Seaman that same evening, adding, "She (Yoko) and John Green took it case for yourself."

A year later, John Green (according to the book by A. Goldman) told Jeffrey Hunter: “She said she arranged all this herself. She told some bigwigs in the Japanese government that McCartney was very arrogant about the Japanese." Sam Green corroborated this story, adding: “One of her cousins ​​worked as a customs officer. One call and Paul was done."

However, the same John Green in his book "Dacota Days" claims something the opposite: Yoko, according to him, was sincerely upset by the news of Paul's arrest - primarily because she feared that it would plunge John Lennon into depression, from which he had just came out. Lennon, writes Greene, was not so much depressed as outraged by the incident (“Their meanness infuriates me ... It’s just the work of a tiny conceited nit who shows his power to the whole world, knowing that the longer he keeps it, the longer it will last.” own power").

Discography of Paul McCarthy:

McCartney, April 17, 1970
Ram, 28 May 1971 (with Linda McCartney)
McCartney II, May 16, 1980
Tug of War, April 26, 1982
Pipes of Peace October 31, 1983
Give My Regards to Broad Street October 22, 1984 (soundtrack)
Press to Play, September 1, 1986
Back in the USSR, October 31, 1988 (USSR) and September 30, 1991 (rest of the world)
Flowers in the Dirt, June 5, 1989
Unplugged (The Official Bootleg), May 20, 1991
Off the Ground February 1, 1993
Flaming Pie May 5, 1997
Run Devil Run October 4, 1999
Driving Rain November 12, 2001
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, September 12, 2005
Memory Almost Full, June 4, 2007
Ocean's Kingdom, music for the ballet 2011
Kisses on the Bottom, cover album 2012
New, studio album 2013.

Discography of Paul McCarthy with Wings:

Wild Life, December 7, 1971
Red Rose Speedway, May 4, 1973
Band on the Run, December 7, 1973
Venus and Mars, May 30, 1975
Wings at the Speed ​​of Sound, March 26, 1976
London Town, March 31, 1978
Back to the Egg, June 8, 1979.

United Kingdom, Liverpool

Sir James Paul McCartney - a genius, the author of half the best songs of the last century, was born on June 18, 1942 in Liverpool. When Paul was thirteen, his family moved from the working district of Enfield to the more presentable Ollerton - and it was there that the fifteen-year-old McCartney, who dropped in on a concert of the little-known band The Quarrymen, met John Lennon, who a week later invited the boy to his group ...
Paul's relationship with music was like a stormy romance: a year before the fateful meeting, he begged his father to give him a guitar (at the same time he "realized he was left-handed"); in every sense this year has passed under the sign of a guitar neck, over which Paul could conjure endlessly. It is not surprising that by the end of 1958, the Lennon-McCartney duo's creative baggage was measured in dozens of songs (it was then, among others, that Love Me Do was written). It's funny, but until 1961, Paul, like John, played rhythm guitar - and only with the departure of Stuart Sutcliffe completely switched to bass.
Then there were The Beatles, but this is a very special story that requires hundreds of pages and epithets and definitions that do not exist in human language. Let's leave this hard work to more courageous people, noting only that McCartney's desire for independence manifested itself even before the black spring of the seventies: in the 66th he wrote the music for the film The Family Way, and in November 69th he made rough sketches of the McCartney album.
In the same 69th, he marries the American journalist Linda Eastman. Their relationship immediately went beyond the ordinary notions of marriage (and how could it be otherwise!): first, Linda helped her husband with McCartney (vocal parts), then, in 71, she recorded an excellent Ram record with him and joined the (in keyboardist and vocalist) of another great Paul band, Wings. The first Wings album, Wild Life, was more than reservedly received by critics, but this did not bother the fans: the Wings tour in the early seventies was one of the brightest moments in Sir Paul's biography. Wings lasted until the spring of '81, recording a dozen albums - one more beautiful than the other. This was not an "accompanying line-up", as McCartney himself repeatedly emphasized: "Wings" was a unique living organism, equally comfortable in the studio and on open areas.
Over the next fifteen years, McCartney releases a dozen albums (the press frowns, the fans are delighted). In the nineties, he turned to classical music: in 91, the Liverpool Oratorio was published, written for the 150th anniversary of the Royal Philharmonic Society of Liverpool; in 1995, a piece for piano A Leaf; another classic disc, Standing Stone, was recorded by the musician in 1997.
April 17, 1998 Linda dies in Tuscon, Arizona. The hardest test for any person, for Paul, whose mother died in 1956 from the same disease, especially. McCartney answered all the questions of journalists like this: “This is the end” ... And yet it was another beginning. In 1998, he was nominated for a Grammy, and Queen Elizabeth II knighted the musician. In 1999, McCartney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland, Ohio). At the same time, Paul released a collection in an orchestral arrangement (Paul McCartney's Working Classical); the dedication album ends with The Lovely Linda, a one-minute piece, first heard on McCartney's 1970s CD, one of the most poignant and airy ballads ever composed by the musician.
The next three solo records - Run Devil Run (1999), Driving Rain (2001) and Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005) - became a kind of musical rethinking of the last four decades and naturally led Sir Paul to the deliberately minimalist, very traditional classic Ecce Cor Meum (2006) - an absentee dialogue between the great composer of the present and the greatest composers of the past. This disc was the fourth (and, admittedly, the best) full-fledged part of the classic series.
In June 2007, McCartney released a new work - the album Memory Almost Full, which was released by the artist's new label Hear Music. It includes songs written and recorded between 2003 and 2007 at five different studios - including the indispensable Abbey Road…

Discography
McCartney (1970)
Ram (1971)
Wild Life (1971)
Red Rose Speedway (1973)
Band on the Run (1973)
Venus and Mars (1975)
Wings at the Speed ​​of Sound (1976)
Wings over America (1976)
London Town (1978)
Wings Greatest (1978)
Back to the Egg (1979)
McCartney II (1980)
Tug of War (1982)
Pipes of Peace (1983)
Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)
Press to Play (1986)
All the Best! (1987)
"Back in the USSR" (1991)
Flowers in the Dirt (1989)
Tripping the Live Fantastic (1990)
Tripping the Live Fantastic: Highlights! (1990)
Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) (1991)
Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio (1991)
Off the Ground (1993)
Paul Is Live (1993)
Flaming Pie (1997)
Paul McCartney's Standing Stone (1997)
Band on the Run: 25th Anniversary Edition (1999)
Run Devil Run (1999)
Paul McCartney's Working Classical (1999)
Liverpool Sound Collage (2000)
Wingspan: Hits and History (2001)
Driving Rain (2001)
Back in the U.S. (2002)
Back in the World (2003)
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005)
Ecce Cor Meum (2006)
Memory Almost Full (2007)

Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Pop-rock, classical

Links
Paul McCartney official website
Paul McCartney on Wikipedia
Paul McCartney on MySpace
Paul McCartney discography on Wikipedia
Memory Almost Full album official forum
Album Memory Almost Full on Wikipedia
Hear Music official website
Paul McCartney video on YouTube
Russian fan site of The Beatles

PAUL MCCARTNEY - THE KNIGHT OF ROCK MUSIC

This musician does not need a detailed introduction. In any country of the world, even people far from music have heard the name at least once in their lives. Paul McCartney and know him as one of the leaders of the legendary group.

His work is marked by sixteen Grammy award statuettes, he became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, repeatedly entered the Guinness Book of Records, and he is also a talented producer, artist and active fighter for animal rights. Here he is so multifaceted and unique - sir.

Liverpool humble

Fate decreed that James Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool, which was one of the flagships of the industrial revolution. The future idol of millions was born in the difficult year of 1942. After the war, the McCartney family, although not in dire need, lived very modestly, which was reflected on Paul's upbringing and outlook. Even after becoming a millionaire, he always remained economical.

The boy took his first musical steps back in elementary school, where he first appeared on stage with a musical composition, which later, by his own admission, he could not even remember. Paul said that it was a kind of song associated with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Then such a young musician was awarded the prize for the first performance. Floor he experienced fear of the public, but the big stage already then beckoned him, leaving a mark on the soul of the child.

At 14 McCartney with his younger brother was left without a mother, she died of breast cancer. The father did not let the children shut up and withdraw into themselves with sad thoughts. He surrounded them with care, attention and love, focused on cultural education, took the boys to concerts and played the home piano with them, because the mother so wanted her children to become outstanding people and speak the language of English aristocrats. Later Floor often recalled the qualities instilled by his mother. Largely thanks to her efforts, McCartney spoke without a Liverpool accent, easily converged with people and had no problems in communication.

Paul McCartney's first guitar

To keep the child even more busy, the father gave Semi birthday old pipe. With the permission of McCartney Sr., he exchanged it for the first acoustic guitar in his life, on which he rebuilt the strings to his own way, because Paul is left-handed. He began to actively master playing the instrument, copied the stars of that time and tried to play the hits of the pioneers of rock - Little Richard and. At this time, the young musician began to try to write his own melodies. And then there was his acquaintance with.

It all started with the fact that one of the school friends Paula, who sometimes played in Lennon's band called The Quarrymen, invited McCartney to the performance of the band in the hall of one of the churches. The first meeting of the two musicians took place in the summer of 1957. It was this acquaintance that became fateful for both. Having performed several songs in front of the members of The Quarrymen, Paul proved in this spontaneous audition that he deserves to be a member of the ensemble. He will remember this summer vacation for the rest of his life. They got together with John, learned new chords, wrote down their trial creations in a notebook, without fail displaying on each page the phrase: "The original Lennon-McCartney composition." Soon Floor persuaded John to accept his friend George Harrison into the group, and then The Quarrymen acquired a new name -.

As part of the four

Climbing to the top of the musical Olympus of The Beatles was by no means so easy, the young talents from the ensemble went through a difficult path to success. For For all the years of the existence of this truly unique group, he was a real creative lighter, he constantly composed new songs, did not allow the group to succumb to star disease, in every possible way urged his comrades to give up idleness, tried to prevent stagnation and a creative crisis that often engulfs great musicians. Unfortunately, these efforts Paul McCartney was not enough, and on the eve of the new 1971, the musician decided to officially terminate the partnership with The Beatles. Paul filed a lawsuit against his colleagues and the band's manager, believing that the situation simply had no other solution.

Paul and Linda

Thus began his solo career, which continues to this day. He performs post-Beatle compositions and old, time-tested hits from the Liverpool Four. Creating your own project has become something of an outlet for McCartney. This was a kind of way out of the spiritual crisis in which he found himself after breaking off creative relations with the band members. It must be admitted that in many ways Paul remained a hostage to the songs created during the heyday of this ensemble.

Three years earlier, in one of the London nightclubs, he met photographer Linda Eastman. This meeting did not portend any romance - Linda wanted to make several photos of the foursome and dreamed of impressing Lennon. Their next meeting took place a year later in New York, where Paul and John were at the presentation of a new record label. Linda, going to the photo shoot, asked McCartney to spend a couple of hours with her 4-year-old daughter. When she returned, she noticed how her Heather and the world famous musician had become close in such a short period. Linda took some touching photos. Returning to London, Paul received a package with a large photo in which the girl hugged him so sincerely. This touched McCartney so much that their relationship began to develop at lightning speed. In March 1969, the lovers went down the aisle, and soon their first common daughter, Mary, was born. It is said that Paul and Linda were one of the most devoted and loving couples in show business. They lived on a large farm, walked through their favorite fields holding hands, raised three daughters and one son, raised horses and sheep. Linda took care of her husband, and he always serenaded her. This went on for thirty years until Linda's death from cancer separated them.

Solo album

Spring 1970 McCartney returned from Scotland, where he was in voluntary seclusion with his family, and brought material for the first solo album. Just a month later the record "McCartney" was at the top of the Billboard charts.

The album opened with the song "The Lovely Linda". For McCartney creativity and family life became inseparable. Floor did not even want to go on stage without his beloved wife. And having created a new group, he “booked” a keyboardist for Linda, who at that time did not know how to play any musical instrument at all. She was not at a loss and declared that she would sing with her husband, although she had never done this, and would play the piano, although she had never sat down to him in her life. By the way, it was Linda who came up with the idea to give the new group the name "Wings" ("Wings"), who could surprisingly combine the duties of a caring mother of four children, a loving wife, a housewife, and now also a keyboard player. In gratitude for this, he dedicated the incredibly sensual songs “Maybe I’m Amazed”, “Calico Skies”, “My Love”, “No More Lonely Nights” and many others to his beloved wife.

New achievements

In 1980, McCartney continued his experiments in creativity and prepared the album "McCartney II", in which he recorded all the parts himself. The next novelty was released a year later, and then there was the murder of John Lennon, which was a shock to Paul. By that time, their relationship had gradually improved. In memory of John, he recorded with George Harrison, Ringo Starr and the song "All Those Years Ago".

Paul was very active, releasing one release after another, for which he deservedly received his musical awards. At the same time, from the first years of The Beatles' existence, he created many compositions for other musicians. The most famous such "gift" was the song "I Wanna Be Your Man" performed by the outstanding Rolling Stones. One of the latest examples of McCartney's collaboration with colleagues is the song "FourFiveSeconds", recorded by singer Rihanna with the participation of Paul and American rapper Kanye West.

Active life position

He also became widely known as a supporter of vegetarianism and an active fighter for animal rights. He claims that his position was influenced by the impression produced by the Disney cartoon "Bambi" seen as a child. In addition, he participates in actions against the distribution of genetically modified products, the use of anti-personnel mines, supports the idea of ​​a ban on hunting and organizes many charity concerts.

Another serious hobby of Paul was painting. But his love for this art did not arise immediately. Like his friend John Lennon, McCartney used to think that only those people who graduated from the Academy of Arts could paint pictures. The first exhibition of his work was held in 1999, among the canvases of the exposition were portraits of Andy Warhol, John Lennon and.

Despite his considerable age, Paul McCartney's life is still in full swing, he has not lost his creative energy, continues to create new songs, searches for new forms of self-expression and never stops his social activities.

DATA

In one of the interviews, he said that as a child he was in love with the British Queen. He noted that Elizabeth II was a beauty with an attractive figure. At none of his meetings with the Queen, Sir Paul took the opportunity to tell her about his childhood feelings, although he often mentions this in the press, hoping that she will read.

He performed at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012 and received a nominal fee of 1 pound for this. In fact, Paul, along with other famous musicians, agreed to play at a grand show for free, but pedantic lawyers demanded that the fee be indicated in the contract. That's how the stars got less than a twentieth of the cost of the cheapest ticket to the opening games.

Updated: April 7, 2019 by: Elena