PAUL McCARTNEY

James Paul McCartney was born June 18, 1942 at Walton Hospital where his mother worked as a nurse. Walton Hospital is in the northern part of Liverpool not far from Paul's teen-age home at 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool. McCartney rose to fame as the bassist, pianist, guitarist, singer and a songwriter for The Beatles.

He wrote many songs with John Lennon, except some of their early songs, they rarely wrote together. One of them would write most of a song and the other would finish it or make a few changes. Their partnership was more a competition than a collaboration. Nonetheless, due to an early agreement between the two, all Beatles songs written by either of them but were credited to both. On Beatles records, the credit was Lennon-McCartney, but on Paul's own records it was McCartney and Lennon. One of McCartney's greatest songs is the ballad "Yesterday". McCartney conceived the melody in a dream, along with the lyric, "Scrambled Eggs...Oh my darling you've got lovely legs". In the years of the Beatles greatest popularity, Paul was regarded as the best looking and was the one who aroused most reaction from female audiences. Ironically, he was the last to marry. While involved in a long term relationship with actress, Jane Asher, McCartney met and fell in love with Linda Eastman, a photojournalist. He and Jane split, and Paul married Linda in 1969. He adopted Linda's daughter from her first marriage and they went on to have three other children together. They remained happily married until her death.

In the latter years of the Beatles reign, McCartney wrote several ballads such as "Hey Jude", "Let It Be", and "The Long and Winding Road". After the Beatles broke up, Paul immediately began a solo career, literally driving around Britain in a van, looking for somewhere to perform with his new band. That band developed into Wings and produced a number of good singles, including "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Band on the Run," "Uncle Albert," "Live and Let Die," and "Listen To What The Man Said". He insisted that Linda be in his band, in spite of her insistence that she was not talented enough, so they did not have to be apart while he toured. After hearing Linda sing, many of Paul's fans seconded her opinion. Linda later became a valuable member of the band and an inspiring musician throughout the remainder of her life.

Paul and his wife became outspoken vegetarians and animal-rights activists after owning cattle and watching them outside the window as they cooked and ate meat. In 1991, Linda introduced her own line of vegetarian meals to the general market. In 1995, Paul, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr released the first of the Beatles Anthology albums, consisting of alternate takes and live recordings of Beatles songs. Volumes two and three were released the next year. This was the first album of new material released since their last album, " Let It Be" in 1970. The Anthology certainly came as a surprise when it was released fifteen years after the death of John Lennon.

On March 11, 1997, Paul, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and in 1999 was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. And he was inducted with the rest of the Beatles in 1988. After Linda's death in 1998, Paul pledged to continue her line of food. Paul continues to release albums, " Run Devil Run", "Wingspan", " Driving Rain", as well as campaign for the groups Greenpeace and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, among others. Paul's daughter, Stella McCartney, is an award winning fashion designer and animal rights activist.

He married Heather Mills, a former model and anti-landmines campaigner, in June 2002 in a highly elaborate ceremony at a castle in rural Ireland. Under her influence, he has campaigned against landmines himself, and donated substantial sums to the cause. In early 2003, for example, he held a personal concert for the wife of banker Ralph Whitworth and donated one million dollars to Adopt-a-Landmine. Mills and McCartney had their first child, Beatrice Millie, on October 28, 2003. In April 2006, the couple announced they were separating after a short four year marriage. Paul McCartney continues to tour throughout the United States and the rest of the world. McCartney says he hopes to keep playing even after he is 64.

Achievements & World Records

1. Appears in the Guinness Book of Records several times. Once for the song "Yesterday" which is the most covered song in history. Once, for being the most successful popular-music
composer and recording artist ever with sales of 100 million singles and 60 gold disks. A third
time for having the largest stadium audience in history when 184,000 paid to see him
perform at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on April 1990. The fourth time is for having
the fastest ticket sales in history, which took place in 1993 when 20,000 tickets for 2 shows in
Sydney, Australia sold out in eight minutes.

2. "Yesterday" was confirmed as world's most popular song with 6,000,000 air-plays in the
USA.

3. Received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Sussex.

4. The first rock musician ever to receive Chile's Order of Merit for services to music, peace,
and human understanding

5. First recipient of the Swedish Polar Music Award the Nobel prize for music