Paul McCartney

James Paul McCartney was born June 18, 1942 in Liverpool, England. He was the son of Jim and Mary McCartney. He "inherited" his love of music from his father, who played in a jazz band. At an early age, he played piano and trumpet, but didn't care too much for either. When his mother died of breast cancer when he was 14, his father bought him a guitar to cheer him up. Paul was stumped at first, but soon realized that he could only play guitar left-handed. Paul met and joined the Quarrymen in 1957.

During his early years as a Beatle, Paul met Jane Asher. She was younger than he, but he was fascinated with the young actress. He tried to get her to quit acting, but she refused. He proposed to her on Christmas 1967, and she accepted. The next year, though, he met Linda Eastman and almost overnight his and Jane's 5 year romance was off. Paul and Linda were married on March 12, 1969.

After the Beatle break-up, Paul released his first solo album, McCartney in 1971. He also started a new band Wings. In 1973, they had their biggest success with Band on the Run. In 1980, he released McCartney II. Wings broke up in 1981, and the next year, he was teamed up with Michael Jackson. They produced songs such as Say, Say, Say in the early 80's. Paul spent the rest of the 80's re-establishing himself as a worldwide singer through touring, releasing in Russia, and through several albums.

In 1994, Paul reunited with the two remaining Beatles to recordFree As A Bird. In 1995, they released Real Love for the second Beatles Anthology. 1997 saw Paul release his latest album Flaming Pie (where he got back to the basics of songwriting), release his first classical composition, Standing Stone, and saw him become knighted. Sadly, 1998 started off badly for Paul as his beloved Linda died of cancer on April 17. His latest honor was becoming an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.