James Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942 at Walton Road Hospital in Rice Lane, Liverpool. He was the first son of James and Mary. His brother, Peter, was born eighteen months later. His mother, Mary, was a midwife and his father, James, was a cotton salesman and a member of a Jazz band. In 1955, when Paul was just 14, his mother died of breast cancer. As a child, Paul had little interest in music. Both he and his brother were sent to piano lessons but they didn't last long. He taught himself how to play the trumpet which was a present from his uncle. His father's musical talent was probably passed onto Paul. Of all the Beatles, Paul's family was the only one with a musical background. Paul did very well in school, in 1957 he passed his 11-Plus examination and entered the Liverpool Institute. There, he met a younger student by the name of George Harrison. Paul was introduced to John by a mutuel friend, Ivan Vaughan. He invited Paul to see The Quarrymen play at the Woolton Parish Church Fete at St. Peter's Church. Paul didn't want to go but when he was told that it would be a great place to meet girls, his opinion changed. When Paul arrived, they were already on stage and John was singing his version of the Dell Vikings' "Come Go With Me" but since he had only heard it on the radio, his lyrics were hopelessly wrong. Having been introduced, Paul played Eddie Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock" with correct lyrics and chord changes. They were astonished and Paul was asked to join the band soon afterwards. After Paul's first performance with The Quarrymen, he played John some songs that he had written himself. John was impressed and later began writing some songs of his own. They began advising and motivating each other on their songs before deciding to collaborate and subsequently became the greatest writing partnership of all time. Having established themselves as songwriters, Paul and John would often write independently of one another. An early agreement between Paul and John ensured that all Beatles songs that either wrote would bear the trademark of "Lennon & McCartney". Some are now credited "McCartney & Lennon", as debated in the media 2003, and as mentioned in Paul's Back In The Wolrd tour (Manchester 2003). Paul met Jane Asher at a pop concert at the Albert Hall. The Radio Times asked her to go to the concert to give her impression of The Beatles. After the concert she joined them in their hotel for a drink. He wanted her to give up acting and spend all of her time with him but she refused. This led to a number of arguments but Paul was still obsessed with her. It was for Jane Asher that he wrote "I'm Looking Through You" and "And I Love Her". On Christmas Day 1967, Paul proposed to her and she accepted. This engagement lasted almost one year. In December 1968, Paul left for a holiday in Portugal. On his return, he met an American divorcee named Linda Eastman in the stars' hang-out The Bag O' Nails in London. Paul's relationship with Jane Asher ended. Beatle fans and the world media were stunned by the ending of this five year romance. Many young girls had idolised Jane because of her relationship with Paul and the arrival of Linda was not taken to kindly by many Beatles fans. In the end, however, she became Paul McCartney's wife in March 1969.Paul adopted Heather, Linda's daughter, and the couple had three children of their own, Mary, Stella and James. During Paul's career as a Beatle, a rumour of his death was spread and this fascinated many fans. Paul once said, "I am alive and well and concerned about rumours of my death, but if I were dead, I would be the last to know." There are many "clues" to his death throughout The Beatles' career. Apparantly, Paul's head looks fake on the cover of Rubber Soul. The cover of Revolver is the next "clue". Paul's head is the only one turned sideways and the little picture of him appears to be screaming. The coincidences really began to gather when the band suddenly stopped touring after this album was released. The yellow flowers on the cover of Sgt. Peppers seem to spell out "Paul". On the cover of Magical Mystery Tour, we see the band in costume. Is this so that we don't recognise the fake Paul? At the end of Strawberry Fields, John mutters something. It sounds like "I buried Paul". John mutters again on I'm So Tired. If you play this backwards, it sounds like "Paul is dead, miss him, miss him." When Revolution No. 9 is played backwards, it sounds like "Turn me on dead man". Then there is the "Abbey Road" cover. Here we see Paul walking barefoot, out of stride with everybody else and there is a hearse in the background. Thankfully this was all a rumour that obsessed fans read into fairly well because time has uncovered many more less obvious clues that were simply found because so many people had been analysing The Beatles in search of anything that might remotely suggest Paul's death. If you are interested in this rumour, click here for more information.
Paul's death - thanks to Tom Cronin for text.
When The Beatles disbanded, many believe that it was Linda behind the immediate formation of Paul's new band, Wings. Several albums were produced by this band in which Linda played the keyboard and sang. Although many albums were critically acclaimed, they failed to recapture the magic of The Beatles. The popularity of the Beatles Anthology albums showed that the world still loved The Beatles even though they were released in the 1990s. Paul released "Flaming Pie" soon after the Anthology albums. This was quickly followed by the release of "Standing Stone", a classical music work using computer technology to transcribe sound into musical score. April 17 1998 was the day Linda lost her battle against breast cancer.
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