Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE was born on the 18th of June, 1942 in Liverpool, England. Out of all the former Beatles, Paul McCartney by far had the most successful solo career.

Recognised as an icon of the 20th century, McCartney is listed in The Guinness Book of Records as the most successful composer in popular music history. He has a record twenty-nine U.S. No. 1 singles, twenty of them with the Beatles, the rest with Wings and as a solo artist. McCartney has written or co-written over fifty top ten hits, more than any other songwriter, and has been an influential bassist as well as an accomplished singer, guitarist, pianist, and drummer. With the Beatles, he was one half of the highly successful songwriting team credited as Lennon/McCartney, along with fellow bandmate John Lennon. Their compositions for The Beatles remain among the best known songs in rock and pop music. The most notable of The Beatles' songs generally attributed to McCartney alone include "Can't Buy Me Love", "Yesterday", "Hello Goodbye", "Penny Lane", "Hey Jude", "Let It Be", and "The Long and Winding Road."

Following the break-up of The Beatles on April 10th 1970, McCartney launched a successful solo career (released his first album on April 17th 1970) and formed the band Wings, scoring 30 top ten singles in the United Kingdom and United States. The keyboardist for Wings was McCartney's first wife, Linda McCartney. At the time of its release in 1977, the Wings single "Mull of Kintyre" became the highest selling record in British chart history (and remained so until 1984). McCartney has also worked in the fields of classical music (with works such as Liverpool Oratorio) and ambient/electronic music (under the pseudonym The Fireman).

Aside from his musical work, McCartney is a painter (although until recently he kept his artwork private) and a strong advocate for animal rights, landmine action, vegetarianism, and music education.