Paul McCartney

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Paul McCartney
McCartney performing in Prague, 6 June 2004
Background information
Birth name	James Paul McCartney
Born	18 June 1942 (1942-06-18) (age 66) Liverpool, England
Genre(s)	Rock, pop rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock, rock and roll, classical, pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician, artist, activist
Instrument(s)	Bass guitar, guitar, piano, keyboards, drums, mandolin, vocals
Years active	1957—present
Label(s)	Hear Music Apple Records Parlophone Records Capitol Records Columbia Records EMI Music Group
Associated acts	The Beatles, The Fireman, The Quarrymen, Wings
Website	www.paulmccartney.com

Sir James Paul McCartney MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English rock singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record producer, film producer and animal-rights activist. He gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and "wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history".^[1] After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman McCartney, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. He has worked on film scores, classical music, and ambient/electronica music; released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist; and taken part in projects to help international charities.

McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history, with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles.^[2] His song "Yesterday" is listed as the most covered song in history - by over 3,700 artists so far - and has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single.^[3] (Three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so—in 1984—was Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", whose participants included McCartney.)