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Paul McCartney Biography
Born James Paul McCartney, 18
June 1942, Liverpool, England. Although commitments to the Beatles not
unnaturally took precedence, bass player/vocalist McCartney nonetheless
pursued several outside projects during this tenure. Many reflected
friendships or personal preferences, ranging from production work for
Cliff Bennett, Paddy, Klaus And Gibson and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band to
appearances on sessions by Donovan, Paul Jones and Steve Miller (on Brave
New World).
He also wrote "Woman' for
Peter And Gordon under the pseudonym Bernard Webb, but such contributions
flourished more freely with the founding of Apple Records, where McCartney
guided the early careers of Mary Hopkin and Badfinger and enjoyed cameos
on releases by Jackie Lomax and James Taylor. However, despite this
well-documented independence, the artist ensured a critical backlash by
timing the release of McCartney to coincide with that of the Beatles"
Let It Be and his announced departure from the band. His low-key debut was
labelled self-indulgent, yet its intimacy was a welcome respite from
prevailing heavy rock, and in "Maybe I'm Amazed", offered one of
McCartney's finest songs.
Ram,
credited to McCartney and his wife Linda (b. Linda Eastman, 24 September
1942, Scarsdale, New York, USA, d. 17 April 1998), was also maligned as
commentators opined that the singer lacked an acidic riposte to his often
sentimental approach. The album nonetheless spawned a US number 1 in
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", while an attendant single,
"Another Day", reached number 2 in the UK. Drummer Denny Seiwell,
who had assisted on these sessions, was invited to join a projected band,
later enhanced by former Moody Blues' member Denny Laine. The quartet,
dubbed Wings, then completed Wild Life, another informal set marked by an
indifference to dexterity and the absorption of reggae and classic rock
'n' roll rhythms. Having expanded the line-up to include Henry McCullough
(ex-Grease Band; guitar), McCartney took the band on an impromptu tour of
UK colleges, before releasing three wildly contrasting singles, "Give
Ireland Back To The Irish" (banned by the BBC), "Mary Had A
Little Lamb" and "Hi, Hi, Hi"/"C Moon" (all
1972). The following year, Wings completed "My Love", a sculpted
ballad in the accepted McCartney tradition, and Red Rose Speedway, to that
date his most formal set. Plans for the unit's fourth album were
undermined by the defection of McCullough and Seiwell, but the remaining
trio emerged triumphant from a series of productive sessions undertaken in
a Lagos studio.
Band On The Run was undeniably a major achievement, and did much to
restore McCartney's faltering reputation. Buoyed by adversity, the artist
offered a passion and commitment missing from earlier albums and, in turn,
reaped due commercial plaudits when the title song and "Jet"
reached both US and UK Top 10 positions. The lightweight, but catchy,
"Junior's Farm" provided another hit single before a
reconstituted Wings, which now included guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (b. 4
June 1953, d. 27 September 1979; ex-Thunderclap Newman and Stone The
Crows) and Joe English (drums), completed Venus And Mars, Wings At The
Speed Of Sound and the expansive on-tour collection, Wings Over America.
Although failing to scale the artistic heights of Band On The Run, such
sets re-established McCartney as a major figure and included bestselling
singles such as "Listen To What The Man Said" (1975),
"Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In" (both 1976).
Although progress was momentarily undermined by the departures of
McCulloch and English, Wings enjoyed its most spectacular success with
"Mull Of Kintyre" (1977), a saccharine paean to Paul and Linda's
Scottish retreat which topped the UK charts for nine consecutive weeks and
sold over 2.5 million copies in Britain alone.
Although regarded as disappointing, London Town nevertheless included
"With A Little Luck', a US number 1, but although Wings"
newcomers Laurence Juber (guitar) and Steve Holly (drums) added weight to
Back To The Egg, it, too, was regarded as inferior. Whereas the band was
not officially disbanded until April 1981, McCartney's solo recordings,
"Wonderful Christmastime" (1979), "Coming Up" (1980)
and McCartney II, already heralded a new phase in the artist's career.
However, if international success was maintained through duets with Stevie
Wonder ("Ebony And Ivory"), Michael Jackson ("The Girl Is
Mine") as well as "Say Say Say" and "Pipes Of
Peace", attendant albums were marred by inconsistency. McCartney's
1984 feature film, Give My Regards To Broad Street, was maligned by
critics, a fate befalling its soundtrack album, although the optimistic
ballad, "No More Lonely Nights", reached number 2 in the UK. The
artist's once-prolific output then noticeably waned, but although his
partnership with 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart gave Press To Play a sense of
direction, it failed to halt a significant commercial decline. Choba B
CCCP, a collection of favoured "oldies" solely intended for
release in the USSR, provided an artistic respite and publicity, before a
much-heralded collaboration with Elvis Costello produced material for the
latter's Spike and McCartney's own Flowers In The Dirt, arguably his
strongest set since Venus And Mars.
Paradoxically, singles culled from the album failed in the charts, but a
world tour, on which the McCartneys were joined by Robbie McIntosh
(ex-Pretenders; guitar), Wix (keyboards), Hamish Stuart (ex-Average White
Band; bass/vocals) and Chris Whitten (drums), showed that his power to
entertain was still intact. By drawing on material from the Beatles, Wings
and solo recordings, McCartney demonstrated a prowess which has spanned a
quarter of a century. The extent of his diversity was emphasized by his
collaboration with Carl Davis on the classical Liverpool Oratorio, which
featured opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Off The Ground received
lukewarm reviews and soon dropped out of the charts after a brief run. The
accompanying tour, however, was a different story. The ambitious stage
show and effects undertook a world tour in 1993, and was one of the
highest grossing tours in the USA during the year.
The
following year McCartney collaborated with UK producer Youth on a dance
music project, released under the pseudonym "The Fireman".
Various rumours circulated in 1994 about a reunion with the surviving
members of his most famous band. Both he and Yoko Ono appeared to have
settled their long-standing differences, as had George Harrison and
McCartney. The success of the Beatles At The BBC release indicated a ripe
time for some kind of musical reunion. This was partly achieved with the
overdubbing of "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" for
the magnificent Anthology series in 1996. The profile of the Beatles had
rarely been higher and this was celebrated in the new year honours list by
a knighthood for services to music to McCartney. Presumably this was in
recognition for his outstanding work with Lennon.
No doubt spurred on by the Anthology, Flaming Pie sounded like McCartney
meant it again. The addition of Steve Miller on three tracks added some
gutsy rock guitar credibility. Mostly however, it was a magnificent return
to form. Jeff Lynne's production was tempered to sound cooked to
perfection, unlike some of his previous overbaked concoctions. This was
most definitely for lovers of the Beatles' The Beatles. The varied
contents included "Heaven On A Sunday", with its descending
acoustic guitar duelling with the ascending lead guitar of son James, and
"Used To Be Bad", an excellent simple up-tempo blues featuring
Miller, both singers trading lines as their voices blended beautifully.
Further tracks included the Memphis soul of "Souvenir", and
"In It For The Money", which never loses pace for one moment.
The folk simplicity of "Calico Skys" was topped by the exquisite
"Somedays", a heart-tugging love song to Linda, and one of his
finest songs in many decades. His love for his wife shone through the
whole record. (Sadly, Linda lost her battle with cancer the following
year, but was honoured with a memorial service on 9 June in London's
Trafalgar Square.) Flaming Pie should ideally be listened to as one piece,
since, in that context, it sounds like a minor masterpiece.
Later in the year McCartney released his second classical piece, Standing
Stone. Following Linda's death he embarked upon another collaboration with
Youth as The Fireman. In March 1999, McCartney was inducted into the Rock
And Roll Hall Of Fame as a solo artist. Later in the year he recorded
another back-to-basics collection of 50s rock 'n' roll cover versions,
including three new tracks. Run Devil Run was an excellent collection and
included versions of "All Shook Up" and "Brown Eyed
Handsome Man" in addition to lesser known material, notably "No
Other Baby". This little known track, a smouldering slow blues, was
recorded by the Vipers Skiffle Group in the late 50s. On 14 December 1999,
McCartney took himself back to the famous The Cavern club with his studio
band, comprising guitarists Mick Green (ex-Pirates) and David Gilmour,
keyboardist Pete Wingfield, and drummer Ian Paice. In reality, it was a
rebuilt Cavern, next door to the original cellar. Musically however
McCartney seemed fired up, singing and playing with an energy not seen for
many years. In marked contrast, McCartney's next two releases were another
classical collection and a sound collage about Liverpool. In other areas
McCartney might be seen as an over-achiever, with his original paintings
getting media coverage in 2000, and his book of poetry the following year.
Driving Rain was McCartney's first proper album of new songs since the
death of Linda. Although much weaker than Flaming Pie it is still a
mystery why the album was such a commercial disaster. In the UK it arrived
at number 46 and departed the following week. Later in the year McCartney
contributed the title track to the soundtrack of Cameron Crowe's Vanilla
Sky. On 12 June 2002 McCartney married Heather Mills in Glaslough,
Ireland.
Paul McCartney Links
Paul
McCartney Official Website |
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