Paul McCartney(I)
- Music Artist
- Composer
- Actor
Sir Paul McCartney is a key figure in contemporary culture as a singer,
composer, poet, writer, artist, humanitarian, entrepreneur, and holder
of more than 3 thousand copyrights. He is in the "Guinness Book of
World Records" for most records sold, most #1s (shared), most covered
song, "Yesterday," largest paid audience for a solo concert (350,000+
people, in 1989, in Brazil). He is considered one of the most
successful entertainers of all time.
He was born James Paul McCartney on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool General
Hospital, where his mother, Mary Patricia (Mohin), was a medical nurse
and midwife. His father, James "Jim" McCartney, was a cotton salesman
and a pianist leading the Jim Mac's Jazz Band in Liverpool. He has
Irish and English ancestry. Young McCartney was raised
non-denominational. He studied music and art, and had a happy childhood
with one younger brother, Michael. At age 11, he was one of only four
students who passed the 11+ exam, known as "the scholarship" in
Liverpool, and gained a place at Liverpool Institute for Boys. There he
studied from 1953 to 1960, earning A level in English and Art.
At the age of 14, Paul McCartney was traumatized by his mother's sudden
death from breast cancer. Shortly afterward, he wrote his first song.
In July 1957 he met John Lennon
during their performances at a local church fête (festival). McCartney
impressed Lennon with his mastery of guitar and singing in a variety of
styles. He soon joined Lennon's band, The Quarrymen, and eventually
became founding member of The Beatles, with
the addition of George Harrison
and Pete Best. After a few gigs in
Hamburg, Germany, the band returned to Liverpool and played regular
gigs at the Cavern during 1961.
In November 1961, they invited
Brian Epstein to be their manager,
making a written agreement in January 1962. At that time McCartney and
Harrison were under 21, so the paper wasn't technically legal, albeit
it did not matter to them. What mattered was their genuine trust in
Epstein. He improved their image, secured them a record deal with EMI,
and replaced drummer Best with Ringo Starr.
With a little help from Brian Epstein and
George Martin,
The Beatles consolidated their talents and
mutual stimulation into beautiful teamwork, launching the most
successful career in the history of entertainment.
The Beatles contributed to music, film,
literature, art, and fashion, made a continuous impact on
entertainment, popular culture and the lifestyle of several
generations. Music became their ticket to ride around the world.
Beatlemania never really ended since its initiation; it became a
movable feast in many hearts and minds, a sweet memory of youth, when
all you need is love and a little help from a friend to be happy. Their
songs and images carrying powerful ideas of love, peace, help, and
imagination evoked creativity and liberation that outperformed the
rusty Soviet propaganda and contributed to breaking walls in the minds
of millions, thus making impact on human history.
All four members of The Beatles were
charismatic and individually talented artists, they sparked each other
from the beginning. Paul McCartney had the privilege of a better
musical education, having studied classical piano and guitar in his
childhood. He progressed as a lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist,
as well as a singer-songwriter. In addition to singing and songwriting,
Paul McCartney played bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, piano
and keyboards, as well as over 40 other musical instruments.
McCartney wrote more popular hits for the Beatles than other members of
the band. His songs Yesterday, Let It Be, Hey Jude, Blackbird, All My
Loving, Eleanor Rigby, Birthday, I Saw Her Standing There, I Will, Get
Back, Carry That Weight, P.S. I Love You, Things We Said Today, "Hello,
Goodbye," Two of Us, Why Don't We Do It in the Road?, Helter Skelter,
Honey Pie, When I'm 64, Lady Madonna, She's a Woman, Maxwell's Silver
Hammer, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," Mother Nature's Son, Long And Winding
Road, Rocky Raccoon, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Fool on
the Hill, You Never Give Me Your Money, Your Mother Should Know, The
End, Yellow Submarine, and many others are among the Beatles' best
hits. Yesterday is considered the most covered song in history with
over three thousand versions of it recorded by various artists across
the universe.
Since he was a teenager, McCartney honored the agreement that was
offered by John Lennon in 1957, about the 50/50 authorship of every
song written by either one of them. However, both were teenagers, and
technically, being under 21, their oral agreement had no legal power.
Still, almost 200 songs by The Beatles are
formally credited to both names, regardless of the fact that most of
the songs were written individually. The songwriting partnership of
John Lennon and Paul McCartney was really working until the mid-60s,
when they collaborated in many of their early songs. Their jamming on a
piano together led to creation of their first best-selling hit
'I Want
to Hold Your Hand' in 1963.
In total, The Beatles
created over 240 songs, they recorded many singles and albums, made
several films and TV shows. Thousands of memorable pictures popularized
their image. In their evolution from beginners to the leaders of
entertainment, they learned from many world cultures, absorbed from
various styles, and created their own. McCartney's own range of
interests spanned from classical music and English folk ballads to
Indian raga and other Oriental cultures, and later expanded into
psychedelic experiments and classical-sounding compositions. His
creative search has been covering a range of styles from jazz and rock
to symphonies and choral music, and to cosmopolitan cross-cultural and
cross-genre compositions.
Epstein's 1967 death hurt all four members of
The Beatles, as they lost their creative
manager. Evolution of each member's creativity and musicianship also
led to individual career ambitions, however, their legacy as
The Beatles remained the main driving force
in their individual careers ever since. McCartney and
The Beatles made impact on human history,
because their influence has been liberating for generations of nowhere
men living in misery beyond the Iron Curtain.
Something in their songs and images appealed to everybody who wanted to
become free as a bird. Their songs carrying powerful ideas of real
love, peace, help, imagination and freedom evoked creativity and
contributed to breaking chains and walls in the minds of millions. The
Beatles expressed themselves in beautiful and liberating words of love,
happiness, freedom, and revolution, and carried those messages to
people across the universe. Their songs and images helped many
freedom-loving people to come together for revolutions in Prague and
Warsaw, Beijing and Bucharest, Berlin and Moscow. The Beatles has been
an inspiration for those who take the long and winding road to freedom.
McCartney was 28 when he started his solo career, and formed his new
band, Wings. His first solo album, "McCartney," was a #1 hit and
spawned the evergreen ballad "Maybe I'm Amazed", yet critical reaction
was mixed. He continued to release music with Wings, that eventually
became one of the most commercially successful groups of the 70s. "Band
on the Run" won two Grammy Awards and remained the Wings' most lauded
work. The 1977 release "Mull of Kintyre" stayed at #1 in the UK for
nine weeks, and was highest selling single in the UK for seven years.
In 1978 McCartney's theme "Rockestra" won him another Grammy Award. In
1979, together with Elvis Costello, he
organized Concerts for the People of Kampuchea. In 1979, McCartney
released his solo album "Wonderful Christmastime" which remained
popular ever since.
In 1980 McCartney was arrested in Tokyo, Japan, for marijuana
possession, and after a ten-day stint in jail, he was released to a
media firestorm. He retreated into seclusion after the arrest, and was
comforted by his wife Linda. Yet he had another traumatic experience
when his ex-band-mate, John Lennon,
was shot dead by a crazed fan near his home in New York City on
December 8, 1980. McCartney did not play any live concerts for some
time because he was nervous that he would be "the next" to be murdered.
After almost a year of absence from the music scene, McCartney returned
in 1982 with the album "Tug of War," which was well received by public
and enjoyed great critical acclaim. He continued a successful career as
a solo artist, collaborated with wife
Linda McCartney, and writers
such as Elvis Costello. During the 80s,
McCartney released such hits as
'No More Lonely Nights' and his first
compilation, "All the Best." In 1989, he started his first concert tour
since the John Lennon's murder.
In 1994, the three surviving members of
The Beatles,
McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, reunited and produced Lennon's
previously unknown song "Free as a Bird." It was preserved by
Yoko Ono on a tape recording made by
Lennon in 1977. The song was re-arranged and re-mixed by George Martin
at the Abbey Road Studios with the voices of three surviving members.
The Beatles Anthology TV documentary series was watched by 420 million
people in 1995.
During the 1990s McCartney concentrated on composing classical works
for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, such as "The Liverpool
Oratorio" involving a choir and symphony, and "A Leaf" solo-piano
project, both released in 1995. That same year he was working on a new
pop album, "Flaming Pie," when his wife Linda was diagnosed with breast
cancer, and caring for his wife during her illness meant only sporadic
public appearances during that time. The album was released in 1997 to
both critical and commercial success, debuting at #2 on both the UK and
US pop charts. That same year he was knighted by
Queen Elizabeth II as Sir Paul
McCartney for his services to music.
In April 1998, Linda McCartney,
his beloved wife of almost 30 years, mother of their four children, and
his steady partner in music, died of breast cancer. McCartney suffered
from a severe depression and undergone medical treatment. He spent much
of the next year away from the public eye, emerging only to campaign on
behalf of his late wife for animal rights and vegetarian causes.
He eventually returned to the studio, releasing an album of rock n'roll
covers in 1999. "Run Devil Run" made both Entertainment Weekly and USA
Today's year-end top ten lists. McCartney also slowly returned to the
public spotlight with the release of his another classical album,
"Working Classical" in November 1999, in recording by the London
Symphony Orchestra. His 2000 release "A Garland for Linda" was a choral
tribute album, which raised funds to aid cancer survivors.
In 2000 he was invited by
Heather Mills, a disabled
ex-model, to her 32nd birthday. McCartney wrote songs dedicated to her,
he and Mills developed a romantic relationship and became engaged in
2001. However, the year brought him a cascade of traumatic experiences.
On September 11, 2001, Paul McCartney was sitting on a plane in New
York when the World Trade Center tragedy occurred in front of his eyes,
and he was able to witness the events from his seat. Yet there was
another sadness, as his former band-mate
George Harrison died of cancer
in November, 2001.
Recuperating from the stressful year, McCartney received the 2002
Academy Award nomination for the title song to the movie
Vanilla Sky (2001), and also went on
his first concert tour in several years. In June, 2002, Sir Paul
McCartney and Heather Mills married in a castle in Monaghan, Ireland.
Their daughter, Beatrice Milly McCartney, was born in October 2003.
Four years later, the high profile marriage ended in divorce, after a
widely publicized litigation. "Whenever you're going through difficult
times, I'm at the moment, it's really cool to be able to escape into
music" says Paul McCartney.
In 2003 Paul McCartney rocked the Red Square in Moscow with his show
"Back in USSR" which was attended by his former opponents from the
former Soviet KGB, including the Russian president
Vladimir Putin himself, who invited
McCartney to be the guest of honor in the Kremlin. In 2004 Paul
McCartney received a birthday present from the Russian president. In
June 2004, he and Heather Mills-McCartney stayed as special guests at
suburban Royal Palaces of Russian Tsars in St. Petersburg, Russia.
There he staged a spectacular show near the Tsar's Winter Palace in St.
Petersburg where the Communist Revolution took place, just imagine.
In 2005 the Entertainment magazine poll named
The Beatles the most iconic entertainers of
the 20th Century. In 2006, the guitar on which Paul McCartney played
his first chords and impressed John Lennon, was sold at an auction for
over $600,000.
On June 18, 2006, Paul McCartney celebrated his 64th birthday, as in
his song "when I'm Sixty-Four." McCartney's celebrity status, made it a
cultural milestone for a generation of those born in the baby-boom era
who grew up with the music of The Beatles during the 1960s. The
prophetic message in the song has been intertwined with McCartney's
personal life and his career.
In 2007 McCartney left his longtime label, EMI, and signed with Los
Angeles based Hear Music. He learned to play mandolin to create a
refreshing feeling for his latest album "Memory Almost Full," then
appeared in Apple Computer's commercial for iPod+iTunes to promote the
album. In June 2007 McCartney appeared together with Ringo Starr,
Yoko Ono,
Olivia Harrison and
Guy Laliberté in a live broadcast from the
"Revolution" Lounge at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
His 3-DVD set "The McCartney Years" with over 40 music videos and hours
of Historic Live Performances was released in November 2007. His
classical album "Ecco Cor Meum" (aka.. Behold My Heart), recorded with
the Academy of St. Martin of the Fields and the boys of King's college
Choir, was voted Classical Album of the Year in 2007. That same year,
Paul McCartney began dating Nancy Shevell. The couple married in 2011,
in London. Sir Paul's "On the Run Tour" once again took him flying
across world from July through December 2011 giving sold out concerts
in the USA, Canada, UK, United Arab Emirates, Italy, France, Germany,
Sweden, Finland and Russia.
In July 2012, Paul McCartney rocked the opening ceremony of the 2012
Summer Olympics in London. He delivered a live performance of
The Beatles's timeless hit "Hey Jude" and
engaged the crowd of people from all over the world to join his band in
a sing along finale. The show was seen by a live audience of close to
80000 people at the Olympic Park Stadium in addition to an estimated TV
audience of two billion people worldwide.
On the long and winding road of his life and career, Sir Paul McCartney
has been a highly respected entertainer and internationally regarded
public figure.
composer, poet, writer, artist, humanitarian, entrepreneur, and holder
of more than 3 thousand copyrights. He is in the "Guinness Book of
World Records" for most records sold, most #1s (shared), most covered
song, "Yesterday," largest paid audience for a solo concert (350,000+
people, in 1989, in Brazil). He is considered one of the most
successful entertainers of all time.
He was born James Paul McCartney on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool General
Hospital, where his mother, Mary Patricia (Mohin), was a medical nurse
and midwife. His father, James "Jim" McCartney, was a cotton salesman
and a pianist leading the Jim Mac's Jazz Band in Liverpool. He has
Irish and English ancestry. Young McCartney was raised
non-denominational. He studied music and art, and had a happy childhood
with one younger brother, Michael. At age 11, he was one of only four
students who passed the 11+ exam, known as "the scholarship" in
Liverpool, and gained a place at Liverpool Institute for Boys. There he
studied from 1953 to 1960, earning A level in English and Art.
At the age of 14, Paul McCartney was traumatized by his mother's sudden
death from breast cancer. Shortly afterward, he wrote his first song.
In July 1957 he met John Lennon
during their performances at a local church fête (festival). McCartney
impressed Lennon with his mastery of guitar and singing in a variety of
styles. He soon joined Lennon's band, The Quarrymen, and eventually
became founding member of The Beatles, with
the addition of George Harrison
and Pete Best. After a few gigs in
Hamburg, Germany, the band returned to Liverpool and played regular
gigs at the Cavern during 1961.
In November 1961, they invited
Brian Epstein to be their manager,
making a written agreement in January 1962. At that time McCartney and
Harrison were under 21, so the paper wasn't technically legal, albeit
it did not matter to them. What mattered was their genuine trust in
Epstein. He improved their image, secured them a record deal with EMI,
and replaced drummer Best with Ringo Starr.
With a little help from Brian Epstein and
George Martin,
The Beatles consolidated their talents and
mutual stimulation into beautiful teamwork, launching the most
successful career in the history of entertainment.
The Beatles contributed to music, film,
literature, art, and fashion, made a continuous impact on
entertainment, popular culture and the lifestyle of several
generations. Music became their ticket to ride around the world.
Beatlemania never really ended since its initiation; it became a
movable feast in many hearts and minds, a sweet memory of youth, when
all you need is love and a little help from a friend to be happy. Their
songs and images carrying powerful ideas of love, peace, help, and
imagination evoked creativity and liberation that outperformed the
rusty Soviet propaganda and contributed to breaking walls in the minds
of millions, thus making impact on human history.
All four members of The Beatles were
charismatic and individually talented artists, they sparked each other
from the beginning. Paul McCartney had the privilege of a better
musical education, having studied classical piano and guitar in his
childhood. He progressed as a lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist,
as well as a singer-songwriter. In addition to singing and songwriting,
Paul McCartney played bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, piano
and keyboards, as well as over 40 other musical instruments.
McCartney wrote more popular hits for the Beatles than other members of
the band. His songs Yesterday, Let It Be, Hey Jude, Blackbird, All My
Loving, Eleanor Rigby, Birthday, I Saw Her Standing There, I Will, Get
Back, Carry That Weight, P.S. I Love You, Things We Said Today, "Hello,
Goodbye," Two of Us, Why Don't We Do It in the Road?, Helter Skelter,
Honey Pie, When I'm 64, Lady Madonna, She's a Woman, Maxwell's Silver
Hammer, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," Mother Nature's Son, Long And Winding
Road, Rocky Raccoon, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Fool on
the Hill, You Never Give Me Your Money, Your Mother Should Know, The
End, Yellow Submarine, and many others are among the Beatles' best
hits. Yesterday is considered the most covered song in history with
over three thousand versions of it recorded by various artists across
the universe.
Since he was a teenager, McCartney honored the agreement that was
offered by John Lennon in 1957, about the 50/50 authorship of every
song written by either one of them. However, both were teenagers, and
technically, being under 21, their oral agreement had no legal power.
Still, almost 200 songs by The Beatles are
formally credited to both names, regardless of the fact that most of
the songs were written individually. The songwriting partnership of
John Lennon and Paul McCartney was really working until the mid-60s,
when they collaborated in many of their early songs. Their jamming on a
piano together led to creation of their first best-selling hit
'I Want
to Hold Your Hand' in 1963.
In total, The Beatles
created over 240 songs, they recorded many singles and albums, made
several films and TV shows. Thousands of memorable pictures popularized
their image. In their evolution from beginners to the leaders of
entertainment, they learned from many world cultures, absorbed from
various styles, and created their own. McCartney's own range of
interests spanned from classical music and English folk ballads to
Indian raga and other Oriental cultures, and later expanded into
psychedelic experiments and classical-sounding compositions. His
creative search has been covering a range of styles from jazz and rock
to symphonies and choral music, and to cosmopolitan cross-cultural and
cross-genre compositions.
Epstein's 1967 death hurt all four members of
The Beatles, as they lost their creative
manager. Evolution of each member's creativity and musicianship also
led to individual career ambitions, however, their legacy as
The Beatles remained the main driving force
in their individual careers ever since. McCartney and
The Beatles made impact on human history,
because their influence has been liberating for generations of nowhere
men living in misery beyond the Iron Curtain.
Something in their songs and images appealed to everybody who wanted to
become free as a bird. Their songs carrying powerful ideas of real
love, peace, help, imagination and freedom evoked creativity and
contributed to breaking chains and walls in the minds of millions. The
Beatles expressed themselves in beautiful and liberating words of love,
happiness, freedom, and revolution, and carried those messages to
people across the universe. Their songs and images helped many
freedom-loving people to come together for revolutions in Prague and
Warsaw, Beijing and Bucharest, Berlin and Moscow. The Beatles has been
an inspiration for those who take the long and winding road to freedom.
McCartney was 28 when he started his solo career, and formed his new
band, Wings. His first solo album, "McCartney," was a #1 hit and
spawned the evergreen ballad "Maybe I'm Amazed", yet critical reaction
was mixed. He continued to release music with Wings, that eventually
became one of the most commercially successful groups of the 70s. "Band
on the Run" won two Grammy Awards and remained the Wings' most lauded
work. The 1977 release "Mull of Kintyre" stayed at #1 in the UK for
nine weeks, and was highest selling single in the UK for seven years.
In 1978 McCartney's theme "Rockestra" won him another Grammy Award. In
1979, together with Elvis Costello, he
organized Concerts for the People of Kampuchea. In 1979, McCartney
released his solo album "Wonderful Christmastime" which remained
popular ever since.
In 1980 McCartney was arrested in Tokyo, Japan, for marijuana
possession, and after a ten-day stint in jail, he was released to a
media firestorm. He retreated into seclusion after the arrest, and was
comforted by his wife Linda. Yet he had another traumatic experience
when his ex-band-mate, John Lennon,
was shot dead by a crazed fan near his home in New York City on
December 8, 1980. McCartney did not play any live concerts for some
time because he was nervous that he would be "the next" to be murdered.
After almost a year of absence from the music scene, McCartney returned
in 1982 with the album "Tug of War," which was well received by public
and enjoyed great critical acclaim. He continued a successful career as
a solo artist, collaborated with wife
Linda McCartney, and writers
such as Elvis Costello. During the 80s,
McCartney released such hits as
'No More Lonely Nights' and his first
compilation, "All the Best." In 1989, he started his first concert tour
since the John Lennon's murder.
In 1994, the three surviving members of
The Beatles,
McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, reunited and produced Lennon's
previously unknown song "Free as a Bird." It was preserved by
Yoko Ono on a tape recording made by
Lennon in 1977. The song was re-arranged and re-mixed by George Martin
at the Abbey Road Studios with the voices of three surviving members.
The Beatles Anthology TV documentary series was watched by 420 million
people in 1995.
During the 1990s McCartney concentrated on composing classical works
for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, such as "The Liverpool
Oratorio" involving a choir and symphony, and "A Leaf" solo-piano
project, both released in 1995. That same year he was working on a new
pop album, "Flaming Pie," when his wife Linda was diagnosed with breast
cancer, and caring for his wife during her illness meant only sporadic
public appearances during that time. The album was released in 1997 to
both critical and commercial success, debuting at #2 on both the UK and
US pop charts. That same year he was knighted by
Queen Elizabeth II as Sir Paul
McCartney for his services to music.
In April 1998, Linda McCartney,
his beloved wife of almost 30 years, mother of their four children, and
his steady partner in music, died of breast cancer. McCartney suffered
from a severe depression and undergone medical treatment. He spent much
of the next year away from the public eye, emerging only to campaign on
behalf of his late wife for animal rights and vegetarian causes.
He eventually returned to the studio, releasing an album of rock n'roll
covers in 1999. "Run Devil Run" made both Entertainment Weekly and USA
Today's year-end top ten lists. McCartney also slowly returned to the
public spotlight with the release of his another classical album,
"Working Classical" in November 1999, in recording by the London
Symphony Orchestra. His 2000 release "A Garland for Linda" was a choral
tribute album, which raised funds to aid cancer survivors.
In 2000 he was invited by
Heather Mills, a disabled
ex-model, to her 32nd birthday. McCartney wrote songs dedicated to her,
he and Mills developed a romantic relationship and became engaged in
2001. However, the year brought him a cascade of traumatic experiences.
On September 11, 2001, Paul McCartney was sitting on a plane in New
York when the World Trade Center tragedy occurred in front of his eyes,
and he was able to witness the events from his seat. Yet there was
another sadness, as his former band-mate
George Harrison died of cancer
in November, 2001.
Recuperating from the stressful year, McCartney received the 2002
Academy Award nomination for the title song to the movie
Vanilla Sky (2001), and also went on
his first concert tour in several years. In June, 2002, Sir Paul
McCartney and Heather Mills married in a castle in Monaghan, Ireland.
Their daughter, Beatrice Milly McCartney, was born in October 2003.
Four years later, the high profile marriage ended in divorce, after a
widely publicized litigation. "Whenever you're going through difficult
times, I'm at the moment, it's really cool to be able to escape into
music" says Paul McCartney.
In 2003 Paul McCartney rocked the Red Square in Moscow with his show
"Back in USSR" which was attended by his former opponents from the
former Soviet KGB, including the Russian president
Vladimir Putin himself, who invited
McCartney to be the guest of honor in the Kremlin. In 2004 Paul
McCartney received a birthday present from the Russian president. In
June 2004, he and Heather Mills-McCartney stayed as special guests at
suburban Royal Palaces of Russian Tsars in St. Petersburg, Russia.
There he staged a spectacular show near the Tsar's Winter Palace in St.
Petersburg where the Communist Revolution took place, just imagine.
In 2005 the Entertainment magazine poll named
The Beatles the most iconic entertainers of
the 20th Century. In 2006, the guitar on which Paul McCartney played
his first chords and impressed John Lennon, was sold at an auction for
over $600,000.
On June 18, 2006, Paul McCartney celebrated his 64th birthday, as in
his song "when I'm Sixty-Four." McCartney's celebrity status, made it a
cultural milestone for a generation of those born in the baby-boom era
who grew up with the music of The Beatles during the 1960s. The
prophetic message in the song has been intertwined with McCartney's
personal life and his career.
In 2007 McCartney left his longtime label, EMI, and signed with Los
Angeles based Hear Music. He learned to play mandolin to create a
refreshing feeling for his latest album "Memory Almost Full," then
appeared in Apple Computer's commercial for iPod+iTunes to promote the
album. In June 2007 McCartney appeared together with Ringo Starr,
Yoko Ono,
Olivia Harrison and
Guy Laliberté in a live broadcast from the
"Revolution" Lounge at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
His 3-DVD set "The McCartney Years" with over 40 music videos and hours
of Historic Live Performances was released in November 2007. His
classical album "Ecco Cor Meum" (aka.. Behold My Heart), recorded with
the Academy of St. Martin of the Fields and the boys of King's college
Choir, was voted Classical Album of the Year in 2007. That same year,
Paul McCartney began dating Nancy Shevell. The couple married in 2011,
in London. Sir Paul's "On the Run Tour" once again took him flying
across world from July through December 2011 giving sold out concerts
in the USA, Canada, UK, United Arab Emirates, Italy, France, Germany,
Sweden, Finland and Russia.
In July 2012, Paul McCartney rocked the opening ceremony of the 2012
Summer Olympics in London. He delivered a live performance of
The Beatles's timeless hit "Hey Jude" and
engaged the crowd of people from all over the world to join his band in
a sing along finale. The show was seen by a live audience of close to
80000 people at the Olympic Park Stadium in addition to an estimated TV
audience of two billion people worldwide.
On the long and winding road of his life and career, Sir Paul McCartney
has been a highly respected entertainer and internationally regarded
public figure.