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Paul McCartney music biography continued...

to Jim McCartney, a cotton salesman, former jazz musician, and volunteer fireman and Mary McCartney, a nurse. His mother died of breast cancer when he was 14 and to distract himself from his sorrow, McCartney took up the guitar. Fifteen-year-old McCartney met John Lennon and The Quarrymen, who were performing at a church hall, in July 1957. McCartney, who had already composed his first song, joined the group with his friend George Harrison. With the addition of Peter Best, they became The Beatles and started playing regular gigs in first Hamburg, Germany and then back in Liverpool. Under the guidance of manager Brian Epstein, they replaced Best with drummer Ringo Starr and scored their first record contract with EMI in 1961, launching what would be the most successful career in the history of modern entertainment. Besides being the chief songwriter of scores of legendary hits ranging from "Yesterday" to "Let It Be" to "Get Back," he served as a lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, playing bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, piano and keyboards, as well as over 40 other musical instruments. Though they split up in the late 60s, Paul McCartney and The Beatles influenced not only music, but film, literature, art, and fashion, and made a continuous impact on entertainment, popular culture and the lifestyle of several generations.



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." He continued to release music with Wings, which 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. 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. During the 1990s McCartney concentrated on composing classical works for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society. In 1997, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II as Sir Paul McCartney for his services to music. Despite the death of his wife Linda and divorce from his second wife, Heather Mills, McCartney has continued to record and perform in the new millennium as each new generation of music lover is turned on to his tremendous talent and legacy.