Jimmy McCulloch
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| Jimmy McCulloch | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 June 1953 |
| Died | 27 September 1979 |
| Genre(s) | Rock |
| Affiliation(s) | Wings Thunderclap Newman Stone the Crows Small Faces The Dukes (band) |
| Notable guitars | Gibson SG |
| Years active | 1967 - 1979 |
Jimmy McCulloch (4 June 1953 – 27 September 1979) was a Scottish musician, born in Glasgow, who was best known for playing lead guitar in Paul McCartney's Wings from 1974 to 1977. Before that, McCulloch had been a member of Thunderclap Newman (at the age of 15) and Stone the Crows. He made appearances on a number of albums, most notably John Entwistle's Whistle Rymes in 1972 and as lead guitarist playing alongside a young Peter Frampton on two tracks — Apron Strings and I Feel Better. Jimmy was a friend of The Who, and his band Thunderclap Newman was discovered and produced by Pete Townshend.
In 1976, while rehearsing for the first concert of the Wings Over America Tour at the Fort Worth Convention Center, McCulloch was wrestling in a backstage dressing room with David Cassidy, and broke his wrist. This delayed the tour by weeks, and McCartney was not pleased.
McCulloch's rig normally consisted of a Gibson SG, Gibson Les Paul, and occasionally played bass when McCartney was at the piano or acoustic guitar.
After leaving Wings, he briefly joined a reunited Small Faces for a club tour and had minimal participation in the band's two comeback albums. McCartney allegedly phoned Steve Marriott and said "You Can Have Him".
Jimmy McCulloch's last band was The Dukes. His last recorded song, "Heartbreaker", was off of their first and only album "The Dukes."
McCulloch died from a heroin overdose in 1979 in his flat in Maida Vale, West London. He was 26. Ironically, he was the composer of the anti-drug song Medicine Jar on the Wings album Venus and Mars, and the similar Wino Junko on Wings at the Speed of Sound.
