Paul (James Paul McCartney) was born in Liverpool, England on June 18, 1942. Later in his middle-class home in Allerton, not far from Lennon's home in Woolton, Paul was also fascinated by Elvis Presley. Growing up in a musical family, he was bound to a music-related career. He grew up with George Harrison, who lived a few blocks away. He had heard of John Lennon, and decided to ask if he could join. He introduced George Harrison to John and his group. They approved of his skill in playing the guitar. Paul was the most musically inquisitive of the Beatles, probably because a rather more advanced musical culture flourished in his home. In 1963 the Beatles recorded their first U.K. hit, Love Me Do. Paul contributed some of his lyric writing skills to the group by writing P.S. I love You on their first album Please, Please Me. Paul McCartney continued to contribute great songs, plus lead vocal on many of them.

McCartney's father, a self-taught pianist, actually led his own Jim Mac Jazz Band in the 1920s. In 1941 he married Mary Mohin, a nurse and midwife. The McCartneys had a piano in their house, although Paul seems to have ignored it after a few lessons. He also took up the trumpet briefly, and taught himself to pick out a few tunes. But what really excited him was the music he was hearing on Radio Luxembourg, which played some of the American pop records that were making their way across the Atlantic. Imported rock was not the only music to engage young Lennon and McCartney. In January 1956, just a few months before Elvis's 'Heartbreak Hotel' began to electrify the airwaves, a skiffle craze broke out all over England, instigated by Lonnie Donegan's hit recording of "Rock Island Line'. The song was another American import, an old tune made famous by the blues singer Huddie Ledbetter, better know as Lead Belly. Skiffle was based on country blues, and its attraction was that anybody could join in. The guitar, or sometimes the banjo, was the central instrument in a skiffle band, which might also include a percussionist who used a thimble to scrape away on a washboard, and a bassist who played an instrument made from a tea-chest, a single string and a broomstick.

Like Lennon, McCartney clamored for a guitar. When he got one, there was a problem: being left-handed, he had trouble coaxing his fingers to make the chord shapes he was trying to learn. His solution was to restring the guitar backwards, so that he could play it upside down. Thereafter, he spent night and day alternately picking at the instrument and perfecting an imitation of Little Richard's screaming vocal style. Once he heard Elvis, Lennon disdained crooning and soft pop. But McCartney was not so immune to it. He later cited 'White Christmas' and 'Over the Rainbow' as early favorites. And from the middle ground between light pop and Elvis, he was particularly fond of the Everly Brothers, an American duo whose close, beautifully worked-out harmonies would serve as a model for the early Beatles. But apart from an attempt to form a duo with his younger brother in 1957, his musical development was fairly solitary. McCartney made his first appearance with the Quarry Men on October 18, 1957, and apparently had designs on the lead guitar spot, an ambition he dropped after botching his solo moment. He was, on the other had, not shy about pointing out musical weaknesses elsewhere in the band. Virtually from the start, his criticisms were a source of tension that the group had not known when the sole controlling voice was Lennon's. This was an important difference between Lennon and McCartney, one that would remain in high relief through the Beatles years. Lennon knew what he wanted, and he was usually able to persuade his band mates to at least approximate the sound he had in mind. But he was also something of a bohemian, and when perfection seemed out of reach, he settled for the attempt.

McCartney was a perfectionist, and was loath to abandon ideas that he knew could be achieved. That his collaborators might consider his demands unreasonable did not faze him: the result was all that mattered. More rock 'n' roll songs were introduced into the act and Paul encourage John to write and use some of their own material. Paul and John started writing songs together and their musical and writing talents work perfectly together. Although John was the leader of the group, Paul was the one who seemed to have the greater drive for success and he worked hard to achieve it. Paul switched from guitar to bass guitar when Stuart Sutcliffe left the band in 1961. The songs from John and Paul were mainly written in the early days of The Beatles. After they had become established, John and Paul mainly wrote their own songs but agreed to credit all songs as "Lennon/McCartney" numbers. While John's songs were more head on rock 'n' roll or cutting edge songs, Paul preferred romantic numbers and songs which indicated the influence of Hollywood musicals. Songs like "Yesterday", "Michelle", "When I'm Sixty-Four", and "Lovely Rita" are typical McCartney songs. Paul seemed to be more cultural then the other Beatles. When The Beatles moved to London Paul stayed in the city while the others chose to live in houses out in the suburbs. Paul attended the theater and collected paintings by artists such as Magritte. His long time girlfriend Jane Asher helped him to develop his artistic tastes. After a five year romance, Paul and Jane broke up much to the shock of the media.

After Brian Epstein was found dead in August 1967, Paul was determined to prevent the group from losing interest in their career and encouraged them to film "Magical Mystery Tour". This caused some friction between Paul and John because John felt like Paul was trying to become leader of the band. Paul directed The Beatles promotional film for "Hello Goodbye" that year. In 1968, Paul began seeing Linda Eastman and the couple were married in March 1969. Paul adopted Linda's daughter Heather and the couple had three children of their own, Mary, Stella, and James. During the filming and recording of the "Let It Be" project, Paul and George got into several arguments one eventually lead to George walking out. After some convincing George came back, but The Beatles were not the team they use to be. Paul became angered even more when the other three Beatles appointed Allen Klein as the head of Apple Corps. against Paul's wishes. After the release of Paul's first solo album "McCartney", Paul formally announced that he was no longer a member of The Beatles due to "Musical differences". Paul had quickly formed his own group called "Wings" which included his wife Linda on keyboards. Paul made several albums through out the 70's and 80's and also made several television appearances in the 80's and 90's.

In honor of Linda McCartney

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