Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney is truly a star among stars. Since his time with the Beatles Paul has gone on to broaden and expand his artistic endeavors. Not only did he achieve HUGE success as a solo artist he has become well known as a poet, a painter and a writer. He has done work in the film industry, has designed stamps, has become extremely active with a number of charities, fund raisers and the list goes on, and on.

Few, if any, will ever again be able to compare to the height that Paul has managed to achieve.

Sir James Paul McCartney as he is formally known was born on June 18th 1942. He was born in the Walton Hospital in Liverpool England where his mother (Mary) had actually worked as a maternity nurse. In 1944, Paul's only other sibling Michael was born.

Paul started school in 1947, at the Stockton Wood Road Primary School. He then moved on to attend Joseph Williams Junior School where he completed his 11-plus exams in 1953. By completing these exams Paul was eligible to go on to the Liverpool Institute. It was during this time that he met George Harrison while riding a bus.

Pau's family moved to number 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton in 1955. Here, his mother worked as a midwife while his father worked as a trumpet player and pianist. Paul's grandfather was also a musician, he played the E-flat tuba. Sadly, in 1956 Paul's mother (Mary) died during an operation to help prevent the spread of breast cancer.

Paul's first instrument was a trumpet which he swapped for a Framus Zenith acoustic guitar. Being left handed Paul found the instrument difficult to play, until he saw Slim Whitman in concert and realised that he could restring the guitar to suit a left handed playing style. It was using this guitar that Paul composed his first song "I Lost My Little Girl".

When Paul was 15, he met John Lennon who was a member of the Quarrymen. Together the two began to write songs and it was Paul who convinced John to let the younger George Harrison join the band. The group began touring together under a number of different names. It was not until after their shows in Hamburg that they settled on the name The Beatles.

Paul's first real love interest was with a girl named Dot Rhone, whom he met in 1959 in a club called the Cashba Club. When Rhone told Paul that she was pregnant in 1962, Paul proposed to marry her, but Rhone miscarried and the relationship "cooled off".

Paul's next real love affair was with Jane Asher. He met Jane, who was an actress at the time, at The Royal Albert Hall in 1963. Paul moved in with Jane's family, at 57 Wimpole Street. It was here that many of the Beatle's hits were composed including Yesterday and I Love Her. Paul lived there for close to three years before moving to number Seven Cavendish Avenue, London. Their engagement was announced in 1967. Jane broke off the engagement in 1968 after catching Paul sleeping with Francie Schwartz.

In May, of 1968 while Paul was in New York he met up with Linda Eastman whom he had met previously while she was on assignment in Britain. The two were married in 1969. Linda had one child at the time that she and Paul were married. The couple then had three more children together. Paul and Linda remained married until Linda's death from breast cancer in 1998.

Paul's second wife was Heather Mills whom Paul married in an elaborate ceremony, on June 11th 2002. They two had one child together before their divorce in 2008. The official reason for the divorce was that the couple had been separated for two years. Paul is now dating Nancy Shevell.

Paul's life has been primarily devoted to his family and his music but he is also known for his other artistic works which include both poetry and painting. Paul has also been involved in the film industry. He has not only done various sound tracks but has been both in front of and behind the camera.

Paul is also well known for his involvement in various charities, organisations and fund raisers. He supports animal rights and is a vegetarian. He is also very involved in the anti -landmine campaigns. The list of Paul's achievements and successes, are truly astounding and he still remains very active in all the different aspects of his life.

• Paul has six grandchildren.
• Rolling Stone voted The Beatles the Greatest Rock and Roll Band of all time.
• Paul and Linda owned a ranch in Tucson Arizona.
• Paul is 5"11. He was the tallest Beatle.
• Paul has one brother named Michael.
• June 18th is Paul's birthday.
• The scar on Paul's lip was caused by a motor cycle accident.
• In 1997 Paul was knighted.
• "Macca" is Paul's nickname.
• Paul was made an honorary detective by the New York Police department after the benefit concert he gave to support the victims of 9/11.
• Due to the fact that Paul is a vegetarian he turned down "Weird Al Yankovic's request to parody the song Live and Let Die with Chicken Pot Pie.
• In 1973 Paul was fined for growing pot on his farm in Scotland.
• Paul's fortune has been estimated at 387,012,000 pounds.
• He is in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Some Notable Milestones that Paul has Achieved.

• The University of Sussex gave Paul an honorary Doctorate of Music.
• Paul has four entries within the Guinness Book of Records.
  • Most covered song with the song "Yesterday" with 3000 versions recorded to date.
  • Largest stadium audience with 184,000 attending the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on April 1990 to watch him perform.
  • Most successful recording artist with sales of 100 million singles and 60 gold disks.
  • Fastest ticket sales in history, which took place in 1993 when 20,000 tickets for 2 shows in Sydney, Australia sold out in eight minutes.
• Paul is the first recipient of the Swedish Polar Music Award which is considered by many to be the "Nobel Prize for music".
• Paul is the first rock musician ever to receive Chile's "Order of Merit" awarded for "services to music, peace, and human understanding".
• Paul's song "Yesterday" has received the most radio airplay with over 6,000,000 airplays in the USA alone.

Some Notable Quotes from Paul

"I don't take me seriously. If we get some giggles, I don't mind."

"George wrote Taxman, and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what could happen to your money."

"I can't deal with the press; I hate all those Beatles questions."

"I don't ever try to make a serious social comment."

"I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird."

"Love is all you need."

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."

"Think globally, act locally."

The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds actually wasn't meant to say LSD. It was a drawing that John's son brought home from school. Lucy was a kid in his school."

"I'm not religious, but I'm very spiritual."

"Lyricists play with words."

"None of us wanted to be the bass player. In our minds he was the fat guy who always played at the back."

"There are only four people who knew what the Beatles were about anyway."

Paul's experience with LSD "It's like taking an aspirin without having a headache."

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