Paul McCartney

Rock Musician / Songwriter

Paul McCartney was a singer, songwriter and guitarist for The Beatles, the biggest rock band of the 1960s. In 1957 Paul McCartney was invited to join John Lennon's band The Quarrymen. Eventually George Harrison and Ringo Starr joined and the new band became The Beatles. Almost all of their songs were written by McCartney and Lennon, who produced classics from "A Hard Day's Night" and "Yesterday" to "Let it Be" and "Hey, Jude." McCartney released his first solo album in 1970, just before the breakup of The Beatles. McCartney soon formed the band Wings (featuring his wife, Linda), touring extensively and recording albums including Band on the Run and Venus & Mars. Throughout the 1980s and '90s McCartney continued to record and perform, and was awarded the MBE in 1997, making him Sir Paul McCartney. After Linda McCartney died of breast cancer in 1998, he became more publicly active in charitable causes. McCartney married model and activist Heather Mills on 11 June 2002 at Castle Leslie at Glaslough in County Monaghan, Ireland. Their daughter Beatrice Milly was born in October 2003, but the couple separated in 2006; their divorce was finalized in 2008, with Mills getting a settlement of 24.3 million pounds.

Extra credit: Way back in 1979, McCartney was awarded with a special rhodium disc for selling over 200 million albums... McCartney plays guitar left-handed... He is often called "Macca" by fans... The name of The Beatles was a play on the name of Buddy Holly's band, The Crickets... McCartney's daughter Stella became a popular fashion designer.

McCartney's theme song for the 1973 James Bond movie Live And Let Die earns him a passing mention in our loop Played Bond. And speaking of passing, he's also in our loop I'm Not Dead Yet!, along with Scott Baio and Bob Hope.