Sir Paul McCartney has reached another milestone in his life by reaching the youthful age of 80!
Both The Beatles that Sir Paul McCartney founded and himself as a solo artist have become a British institution due to the influence on Western culture has had since starting out in 1957.
What an achievement Sir Paul McCartney has had founding The Beatles that even today influences musicians and creative people in other sectors that draw on the themes of love, peace and looking at challenging social situations of our time.
Where did it all start
Sir Paul McCartney was born during three years of World War II in 1942, in the Northern-English shipping and manufacturing city, Liverpool.
Little did any member of The Quarrymen, the prerequisite to The Beatles, know that in two years they would burst onto the British music scene creating what are now classic hits that have continued to travel the world several times over.
Sir Paul McCartney first met fellow student at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, George Harrison on the bus travelling home at the start of their first school year in 1954.
Sir Paul McCartney like George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr all became fascinated when hearing Elvis Presley and the rest of new American music rhythm and blues.
The meeting which would become the most successful songwriting partnership in the history of music between Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon happened in one of the affluent parts of Liverpool, Woolton at St Peter's Church fete.
John Lennon was with his band The Quarrymen and Sir Paul McCartney joined his band starting out by playing rhythm guitar in 1957.
With Sir Paul McCartney in The Quarrymen and knowing George Harrison also played guitar and had a similar interest in the same music Sir Paul McCartney encouraged him to audition for a place in John Lennon's group.
In 1958 the lineup of The Quarrymen was John Lennon singer and guitarist, Sir Paul McCartney rhythm guitarist, George Harrison as the lead guitarist and two years later John's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe on bass.
Pete Best became their drummer in 1960 just as they shipped out for a residency in the Red Light district of Hamburg, Germany.
Playing their skiffle music, which was a mixture of country, folk, bluegrass and jazz they began to mould together as a musical unit.
We are an independent digital magazine and welcome financial support to keep our digital web platform continuing our much valued work in promoting the latest entertainment and independent artists and bands across the world.
Whilst playing in clubs for hours on end helped the group, which now became The Beatles replacing the second 'e' with an 'a' hence Be'a'tles, they became better musicians and a very tight band.
They became the backing band for English singer Tony Sheridan when he recorded and released My Bonnie.
Unfortunately, Stuart Sutcliffe who had pretty much left the group in 1961 he ended up lending Sir Paul McCartney's his bass guitar, and died in February 1962 of a brain haemorrhage, probably from a fight he had unwittingly gotten into after a performance in Liverpool, in which John Lennon suffered a broken finger.
In Liverpool a record shop owner and local businessman Brian Esptein was made aware of the song 'My Bonnie' when a fan came to request to purchase the 7” record.
Brian Esptein tracked down the song and made enquiries as to who the backing band was and then contacted The Beatles to represent them and eventually after many rejections from leading and independent record labels and even from pioneering in studio techniques producer Joe Meek, got a deal with Parlophone Records.
In those days of the 1960s studio technicians and even producers wore white coats because they were seen as engineers and that's the attire professionals wore.
When The Beatles entered Abbey Road Studios owned by the record company EMI, another important addition to them was producer George Martin who didn't like Pete Best's drumming and replaced him with session drummer Andy White on drums with Ringo Starr playing tambourine on Love Me Do and maracas on P.S. I Love You.
George Martin would help, nurture and be a pioneer in his own right with furthering the technological advances in recording music, especially adding new effects to make the recorded music sound interesting or at times strange.
The Beatles were now a combo or later known as The Fab Four of John Lennon as singer-guitarist, Sir Paul McCartney on bass , George Harrison as lead guitarist and Ringo Starr on drums.
All four members would take turns in lead and backing vocals throughout their recording careers and subsequent solo careers.
Their first album Please, Please Me (1963) reached number one in the UK music charts, which continued until their final album Let It Be (1970) and the ultimate split of the most iconic British group, ever!
Dyson has the latest in technology appliances that can make your life efficient and easier
Sir Paul McCartney released two solo albums McCartney (1970) and Rams (1971), then formed Wings and released their first album Wild Life (1971) and then disbanding the group in 1979 with the seventh and final album Back to the Egg.
From 1979 until now Sir Paul McCartney has released eighteen solo studio albums and has done numerous world tours to support the releases of his albums starting with The Beatles, Wings and as a solo artist with the latest one Got Back a 16-date North American tour.
Not only releasing music across the spectrum of pop and rock but five albums of classical compositions and three albums as one member of the duo band The Fireman, he formed with musician Youth.
Sir Paul McCartney got an OBE whilst in The Beatles in 1965 and as a solo artist awarded the MBE in 1997, for services to music.
While Sir Paul McCartney was living on his farm in Scotland and looking in the field of his flock of sheep he thought of the idea of eating them was too much and sad to see his flock of sheep and cute lambs being slaughtered and served on his plate, so he ended up becoming a vegetarian with his wife Linda in 1975.
This led to Linda and Sir Paul McCartney forming in 1991 The Linda McCartney Foods to produce and sell vegetarian products like burgers, sausages and pies in the UK, Australia, Austria, Ireland, Norway, South Africa and New Zealand.
Though sold several times, The Linda McCartney Foods is majority owned by American natural food company Hain Celestial, with the McCartney's still involved with the company and improvements to recipes.
Sadly, Linda McCartney died of cancer in 1998, aged just 56. She had four children, three with Sir Paul McCartney.
Sir Paul McCartney has found another beautiful soul and got married to Nancy Shevell in 2011.
Sir Paul McCartney has been an activist on animal rights, environmental causes, reducing landmines, and helping to raise funds to help people in times of poverty, war and famine since the 1970s.
The latest charitable endeavour Sir Paul McCartney has undertaken is contributing to the Dear NHS: 100 Stories to say Thank you during the Covid-19 pandemic, which proceeds goes to charities: NHS Charities Together and The Lullaby Trust.
Sir Paul McCartney's achievements are astronomical as with The Beatles they have sold 1.7 billion singles and over 600 million albums to date globally.
As a solo artist the Guiness Book of World Records recognised Sir Paul McCartney as the most "most honoured composer and performer in music" in 1979, and along with George, Ringo and posthumously John as The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988; and eleven years later as a solo artist in 1999.
As a member of The Beatles they won seven Grammy Awards, and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards, and they won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
As a member of The Beatles they have been awarded six Diamond albums, 20 multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums, and six Gold albums.
The Beatles have been granted a UNESCO World Day on the 16th January each year since it started in 2001, which is the day they first played The Cavern Club, Liverpool in 1957.
As a solo artist Sir Paul McCartney has been the only artist to have number one singles in six decades.
He has had a number one single, not just as a solo artist, but part of a duo, trio, quartet, quintet and as an ensemble.
Sir Paul McCartney has sold over 15 million albums since going solo and millions more with his band Wings, not to mention his singles, most of his work reaching top-spot in the UK Music Charts and the US Billboard, as well as the rest of the world.
Well, Sir Paul McCartney Happy Birthday!
