Paul McCartney (solo)

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Paul McCartney
McCartney live in Prague, 6 June 2004
Background information
Birth name	James Paul McCartney
Born	18 June 1942 (1942-06-18) (age 65) Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Genre(s)	Rock, pop rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock, rock and roll, classical
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician, artist, activist
Instrument(s)	Bass guitar, guitar, piano, keyboards, drums, mandolin
Years active	1957—present
Label(s)	Swan Hear Music Apple Parlophone Capitol CBS EMI
Associated acts	The Beatles, The Fireman, The Quarrymen, Wings
Website	www.paulmccartney.com
Notable instrument(s)
Hofner 500/1 Rickenbacker 4001S Gibson Les Paul Epiphone Casino Fender Jazz Bass

The solo career of Paul McCartney began after the break up of The Beatles in 1970.

Contents 1 1980s 2 1990s 3 2000s 4 Notes 5 References

[edit] 1980s

As The Beatles were breaking up in 1970, McCartney was working on his debut solo album, McCartney. Backing vocals were provided by his wife, Linda, whom he had married the previous year. McCartney had insisted from the beginning of their marriage that his wife should be involved in his musical projects, so that they did not have to be apart when he was on tour.^[1] On his second solo album, Ram, McCartney added select outside musicians, including drummer Denny Seiwell, who had to perform in a secret audition for Paul and Linda before being chosen.^[2] (In 1977, McCartney supervised the release of an instrumental interpretation of Ram (recorded in June 1971, and arranged by Richard Hewson) with the release of Thrillington under the pseudonym of Percy "Thrills" Thrillington).

In August 1971, Seiwell and guitarist/singer Denny Laine joined Paul and Linda McCartney to record Paul's third post-Beatles project on Apple Records. The result was Wild Life, released December 7. It was the first project to credit Wings as the artist, and not McCartney.^[2]

McCartney carried on recording after the death of John Lennon in 1980, but did not play any live concerts for some time, saying that he was nervous that he would be the next to be murdered.^[3][4] This led to a disagreement with Denny Laine, who wanted to continue touring and subsequently left Wings, which McCartney disbanded in 1981.^[4][5] Also in 1981, six months after Lennon's death, McCartney sang backup on George Harrison's tribute to Lennon, "All Those Years Ago," along with Ringo Starr.^[6]

Like McCartney before it, McCartney played every instrument on the 1980 release of McCartney II, with an emphasis on synthesisers instead of guitars.^[7][8] The single "Coming Up" reached #2 in Britain and #1 in the US.^[9], and Waterfalls was another UK Top 10 hit. McCartney's next album, 1982's Tug of War, reunited him with Beatles' producer George Martin^[10] and Ringo Starr and featured McCartney's duet with Stevie Wonder on "Ebony and Ivory"^[11] as well as his tribute to Lennon, "Here Today". Two further hit duets followed, both with Michael Jackson: "The Girl Is Mine",^[11] from Jackson's Thriller album, and "Say Say Say", a single from McCartney's 1983 album Pipes of Peace.^[11]

McCartney wrote and starred in the 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street. The film and soundtrack featured the US and UK Top 10 hit^[12] "No More Lonely Nights" (and the album reached #1 in the UK), but the film did not do well commercially^[13] and received a negative critical response. Roger Ebert awarded the film a single star and wrote, "You can safely skip the movie and proceed directly to the sound track".^[14] Later that year, McCartney released "We All Stand Together", the title song from the animated film Rupert and the Frog Song and wrote and performed the title song to the movie Spies Like Us.

In the second half of the decade McCartney would find new collaborators. Eric Stewart had appeared on McCartney's Pipes of Peace album,^[15] and he co-wrote most of McCartney's 1986 album Press to Play. The album, and its lead single, "Press" became minor hits.^[16] McCartney returned the favour by co-writing two songs for Stewart's band, 10cc: "Don't Break the Promises" (...Meanwhile, 1992), and "Yvonne's the One" (Mirror Mirror, 1995). In 1987, EMI released All the Best!.

In 1988, he released Снова в СССР, which was a collection of old Rock and roll hits—written by others—that McCartney had admired over the years. It was originally released only in the USSR, eventually receiving a general release in 1991. McCartney also began a musical partnership with the singer-songwriter Elvis Costello (Declan MacManus).^[17] The resulting songs would appear on several singles and albums by both artists, notably "Veronica" from Costello's album Spike, and "My Brave Face" from McCartney's Flowers in the Dirt, both released in 1989.^[18] The album reached #1 in the UK. Further McCartney/MacManus compositions for "Flowers in the Dirt" surfaced on the 1991 album Mighty Like a Rose (Costello) and 1993's Off the Ground (McCartney). In late 1989, McCartney started his first concert tour since Lennon's murder, which the first tour of the U.S. in thirteen years.^[19]

[edit] 1990s

The 1990s saw McCartney venture into classical music. In 1991 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society commissioned a musical piece by McCartney to celebrate its sesquicentennial.^[20] McCartney collaborated with Carl Davis to release Liverpool Oratorio.^[21] EMI Classics recorded the premiere of the oratorio and released it on a 2-CD album which topped the classical charts.^[22] His next classical project to be released (in 1995) was A Leaf, a solo-piano piece played by Royal College of Music gold-medal winner Anya Alexeyev.^[23] The Prince of Wales later honoured McCartney as a Fellow of The Royal College of Music.^[22] Other forays into classical music included Standing Stone (1997), Working Classical (1999), and "Ecce Cor Meum" (2006).

In the early 1990s (after a world tour), McCartney reunited with Harrison and Starr to work on Apple's The Beatles Anthology documentary series. It included three double albums of alternative takes, live recordings, and previously unreleased Beatles songs, as well as a ten-hour video boxed set. Anthology 1 was released in 1995, and featured "Free as a Bird", which was the first Beatles reunion track, while Anthology 2, released in 1996, included "Real Love" (1996), the second and final in the reunion series. Both reunion tracks were completed by adding new music and vocal tracks to Lennon's demos from the late 1970s.^[24]

In 1997, McCartney released Flaming Pie. The album garnered the best reviews for a McCartney album since Tug of War. It debuted at #2 in the UK and the US, and was nominated in the category Album of the Year at the 1998 Grammy Awards. In 1999, McCartney released another album of rock 'n' roll songs, titled Run Devil Run. That same year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.^[25]

[edit] 2000s

In May 2000, McCartney released Wingspan: An Intimate Portrait, a retrospective documentary that features behind-the-scenes films and photographs that Paul and Linda McCartney (who had died in 1998) took of their family and bands.^[26] Interspersed throughout the 88 minute film is an interview by Mary McCartney with her father. Mary was the baby photographed inside McCartney's jacket on the back cover of his first solo album, McCartney, and was one of the producers of the documentary.^[27]

Earlier in the year, McCartney worked on what would become his new album, Driving Rain, released on 12 November. Driving Rain featured many uplifting songs inspired by and written for his soon-to-be wife Heather. Clearly determined to follow the example of Run Devil Run's brisk recording pace, most of the album was recorded in two weeks, starting in February 2001. McCartney also composed and recorded the title track for the film Vanilla Sky, released later that year. The track was nominated for—but did not win—an Oscar for Best Original Song^[28]

McCartney took a lead role in organising The Concert for New York City in response to the events of September 11.^[29] The concert took place on 20 October 2001.

In late 2001, McCartney was informed that his former classmate, neighbour, ex-Beatles' lead guitarist, and best friend of over 45 years, George Harrison, was losing his battle with cancer. Upon Harrison's death on 29 November, McCartney told Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, Good Morning America, The Early Show, MTV, VH-1 and Today that George was like his "baby brother". Harrison spent his last days in a Hollywood Hills mansion that was once leased by McCartney.^[30] On 29 November 2002—on the first anniversary of George Harrison's death—McCartney played Harrison’s "Something" on a ukulele at the Concert for George.^[31]

In 2002, McCartney went on another world tour that continued through the following two years. During the tour he contributed to an album titled Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy Of Sun Records—which included a version of the Elvis Presley hit "That's All Right (Mama)"—recorded with Presley band members, Scotty Moore on lead guitar and drummer D.J. Fontana.^[32] McCartney performed during the pre-game ceremonies at the NFL's Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, and starred in the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005. In 2003, McCartney went to Russia to play a concert in Red Square. Vladimir Putin gave McCartney a tour of the Square, and McCartney performed a private version of "Let It Be".^[33]

In what would be his first British music festival appearance, McCartney headlined the Glastonbury Festival in June 2004.^[34] McCartney and festival organiser Michael Eavis picked up the NME Award on behalf of the festival, which won 'Best Live Event' in the 2005 awards.^[35] McCartney performed at the main Live 8 concert on 2 July 2005, playing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 to open the Hyde Park event, although Ringo Starr criticised McCartney for not asking him to play.^[36]

On 18 June 2006, McCartney celebrated his 64th birthday, as in "When I'm Sixty-Four." Paul Vallely noted in The Independent:

“

"Paul McCartney’s 64th birthday is not merely a personal event. It is a cultural milestone for a generation. Such is the nature of celebrity, McCartney is one of those people who has represented the hopes and aspirations of those born in the baby-boom era, which had its awakening in the Sixties."[37]

”

McCartney joined Jay-Z and Linkin Park onstage at the 2006 Grammy Awards in a performance of "Numb/Encore" & "Yesterday" to commemorate the recent passing of Coretta Scott King. McCartney later noted that it was the first time he had performed at the Grammys and quipped, "I finally passed the audition," which was a reference to Lennon's comment at the end of the Let It Be film: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition."^[38] McCartney was nominated for another Grammy Award in 2007 for "Jenny Wren"—a song from his 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, which itself had been nominated as Album of the Year in 2006.^[39]

On 21 March 2007, McCartney left EMI to become the first artist signed to Starbucks's new record label, Los Angeles-based Hear Music, to be distributed by Concord Music Group. He made an appearance via a video-feed from London at the company's annual meeting.^[40] "For me, the great thing is the commitment and the passion and the love of music, which as an artist is good to see. It's a new world now and people are thinking of new ways to reach the people, and that's always been my aim".^[41]

On 2 April 2007, a crazed fan drove through the security fence on Paul McCartney's Peasmarsh county estate shouting that he had to "get at" the ex-Beatle. The incident echoed the murder of Lennon and the attempted murder of George Harrison. The assailant was arrested after a chase through Sussex country lanes.^[42][43][44]

McCartney played "secret gigs" in London, New York, and Los Angeles to promote his album. Several live recordings from these shows have been released as B-sides to Memory Almost Full's singles.

On 13 November 2007, The McCartney Years, a 3-DVD set was released. It contains an exclusive commentary, behind the scenes footage, over 40 music videos and two hours of Historic Live Performances. Discs 1 and 2 contain McCartney's music videos. Disc 3 contains live performances taken from Wings' Rockshow in 1976, Unplugged in 1991, and Glastonbury in 2004. Other footage includes LIVE AID, the Super Bowl XXXIX Halftime Show, interviews with Melvyn Bragg and Michael Parkinson, and the 2005 documentary Creating Chaos at Abbey Road.^[45]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References