Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June
1942) is an
English musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. With
John Lennon,
George Harrison, and
Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame as a member of the
Beatles, widely regarded as one of the most popular and influential acts in the history of rock music; his songwriting partnership with
Lennon is one of the most celebrated of the
20th century. After the band's break-up, he pursued a solo career and later formed
Wings with his first wife,
Linda, and
Denny Laine.
In
1979,
Guinness World Records described McCartney as the "most successful composer and recording artist of all time", with 60 gold discs and sales of over
100 million albums and 100 million
singles, and as the "most successful songwriter" in
United Kingdom chart history. More than 2,
200 artists have covered his Beatles song "
Yesterday", more than any other copyrighted song in history. Wings'
1977 release "
Mull of Kintyre" is one of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK. Inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in
March 1999, McCartney has written, or co-written 31 songs that have reached number one on the
Billboard Hot 100, and as of 2014 he has sold more than 15.5 million RIAA-certified units in the
United States. McCartney, Lennon,
Harrison and Starr received MBEs in
1965, and in
1997, McCartney was knighted for his services to music.
McCartney has released an extensive catalogue of songs as a solo artist and has composed classical and electronic music. He has taken part in projects to promote international charities related to such subjects as animal rights, seal hunting, landmines, vegetarianism, poverty, and music education. He has married three times and is the parent of five children.
album by
Paul McCartney consisting of material performed over three nights as the inaugural concert at
New York City's
Citi Field, 17, 18 and 21 July 2009, part of his
Summer Live '09 concert tour. Over
180,
000 tickets were sold within hours of the shows being announced. The album is McCartney's third release for
Hear Music, following
2007 album
Memory Almost Full and the live EP
Amoeba's Secret. Previous McCartney live albums such as
Back in the US proved to be huge sellers based on his record breaking live shows from the
2000s.
At the
53rd Grammy Awards, the recording of "
Helter Skelter" from the album won in the category of
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
- published: 20 Mar 2014
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