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 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.
Paul McCartney Links
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. |
