Paul maccarteny

Paul McCartney Biography
in full Sir James Paul McCartney
( 1942 – )

Related Works
* Albums
* 1960 McCartney
* 1971 Ram
* 1971 Wildlife
* 1973 Red Rose Speedway
* 1973 Band On The Run
* 1975 Venus And Mars
* 1976 Wings At The Speed Of Sound
* 1976 Wings Over America
* 1978 London Town
* 1979 Back To The Egg
* 1980 McCartney II* 1982 Tug Of War
* 1983 Pipes Of Peace
* 1984 Give My Regards To Broad Street
* 1986 Press To Play
* 1989 Choba B CCCP The Russian Album
* 1989 Flowers In The Dirt
* 1990 Tripping The Live Fantastic
* 1991 Unplugged - The Official Bootleg
* 1992 Off The Ground
* 1993 Paul Is Live
* 1997 Flaming Pie
* 2003 Back in the World
* 2005 Chaosand Creation in the Back Yard
* Compilations
* 1978 Wings Greatest Hits
* 1987 All The Best
* Choral Music
* 1991 Liverpool Oratorio
* 1997 Standing Stone
* 1999 Working Classical
* 2006 Ecce Cor Meum
* Solo albums
* 2001 Driving Rain
*
close» more
Related People
* Linda McCartney
* Ringo Starr
* George Harrison
* TheBeatles
* John Lennon
Related Sites
* Official Paul McCartney Web site
Watch Paul McCartney videos

(born June 18, 1942, Liverpool, Eng.) British vocalist, songwriter, composer, bass player, poet, and painter whose work with the Beatles in the 1960s helped lift popular music from its origins in the entertainment business and transform it into a creative, highly commercial art form. Heis also one of the most popular solo performers of all time in terms of both sales of his recordings and attendance at his concerts.
McCartney's father, James, worked in the Liverpool Cotton Exchange, and his mother, Mary, was a midwife, out at all hours on her bicycle to deliver babies. Her death from breast cancer in October 1956, when McCartney was age 14, had a profound effect on his life andwas the inspiration for his ballad “Let It Be” (1970). His younger brother, Michael, later changed his name to Mike McGear and had a number of hits in the satirical rock group Scaffold. Like fellow Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey), McCartney grew up in a traditional north of England working-class society, with an extended family frequently visiting the house at 20Forthlin Road in the Allerton area of Liverpool (the house is now owned by the National Trust). His father had been the leader of Jim Mac's Jazz Band, and in the evenings the family often gathered around the piano, an experience McCartney drew upon for such sing-along songs as “When I'm 64” (1967).
On July 6, 1957, he met John Lennon at Woolton Village Fete and joined his skiffle group, the Quarrymen,which, after several name changes, became the Beatles. When Lennon's mother was killed by a speeding police car in 1958, McCartney, with his own mother's death still fresh in his memory, was able to empathize with the distraught 17-year-old, creating a bond that became the basis of their close friendship. McCartney and Lennon quickly established themselves as songwriters for the group, and, by thetime the Beatles signed with EMI-Parlophone in 1962, they were writing most of their own material. By their third album the group stopped recording covers. Lennon and McCartney's songwriting partnership was very important to them, both financially and creatively; even in 1969, when they were estranged over business matters and supposedly not on speaking terms, Lennon brought McCartney his song“The Ballad of John and Yoko” and they worked together on the “middle eight” (the stand-alone section that often comes midway in a song). Their music transcended personal differences.
Though usually associated with ballads and love songs, McCartney also was responsible for many of the Beatles' harder rock songs, such as “Lady Madonna,” “Back in the USSR,” and “Helter Skelter” (all 1968), but above...