Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, was born in June 1942 in Walton Hospital in Liverpool. His father was a trumpet player and pianist who had led Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s, and he used to point out different instruments in songs on the radio to Paul, and took him to local brass band concerts. After the death of Paul’s mother, in 1956, his father gave him a nickel-plated trumpet, but eventually McCartney swapped it for a Framus Zenith (model 17) acoustic guitar, on which he wrote his first song ("I Lost My Little Girl"). He took music lessons on his father’s advice, but since he preferred to learn 'by ear', never paid attention in them. Having met George Harrison whilst on a bus to the Liverpool Institute when he was 12, a 15 year old McCartney met John Lennon at a local fete in July 1957. Despite Lennon's Aunt Mimi disapproving of McCartney (she said he was "working class") and McCartney’s father telling his son Lennon would get him ‘into trouble’, McCartney joined Lennon’s band The Quarrymen, forming a close working relationship with him. He convinced Lennon to allow Harrison to join the band as lead guitarist (Lennon thought Harrison was too young), and the line-up was completed with Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe on bass. By May 1960, they had tried several new names, including The Silver Beetles (playing a tour of Scotland under that name with Johnny Gentle), but finally settled on The Beatles, and a legend was born.

Whilst in The Beatles, McCartney wrote songs for other artists, such as Billy J. Kramer, Cilla Black, the Bonzo Dog Band, Badfinger, and Mary Hopkin, and he wrote 2 hit songs for the group Peter & Gordon, one of which, "World Without Love", became a number 1 hit in the UK & US (Peter was the brother of Jane Asher, McCartney’s girlfriend at the time). McCartney was also the first to be involved in a project outside of The Beatles, composing the score for the 1966 film “The Family Way” (the soundtrack was later released as an album, winning an Ivor Novello Award for ”Best Instrumental Theme”).

Although Lennon had quit The Beatles in September 1969, and Harrison and Ringo Starr had temporarily left the group at various times, McCartney was the one who publicly announced The Beatles' breakup in April 1970, a week before releasing his first solo album, “McCartney” (the baby photographed inside his jacket on the back cover of the album was his daughter Mary). Second solo album “Ram” followed in 1971, but in August of that year McCartney formed Wings with guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell, releasing their debut album, “Wild Life”. Wings released 2 albums in 1973, the first, “Red Rose Speedway”, spawned the band's first US number 1, "My Love", and the second, “Band on the Run”, won 2 Grammy Awards. That same year Wings also released the theme song for the James Bond film “Live and Let Die”. In 1974, McCartneyrecorded an instrumental, "Walking in the Park with Eloise", which had been written by his father, featuring Wings, Floyd Cramer and Chet Atkins. Wings’ fourth album “Venus and Mars” was released in 1975, containing the singles "Listen To What The Man Said" and "Rock Show", and in 1977, the single “Mull of Kintyre" stayed at number 1 in the UK for 9 weeks, was the highest selling single in the UK until 1984 (when it was beaten by Band Aid's “Do They Know It's Christmas?”) and was the first to sell over 2 million copies in the UK. Also in 1977, McCartney released “Thrillington” under the name Percy 'Thrills' Thrillington.

The 1980’s begun with McCartney playing every instrument on “McCartney II” (as he had on “McCartney” before it), with the single "Coming Up" reaching number 2 in the UK, and number 1 in the US, and "Waterfalls" achieving another UK Top 10 position. After disbanding Wings in 1981, McCartney sang backup on George Harrison's tribute to John Lennon, "All Those Years Ago," which also featured Ringo Starr on drums. Next album, 1982's “Tug of War” topped the Album charts on both sides of the Atlantic, with lead single, “Ebony and Ivory”, a duet with Stevie Wonder, topping both Singles charts. 2 further hits also came in the form of duets, both with Michael Jackson, "The Girl Is Mine" (from Jackson's “Thriller” album) and "Say Say Say", from McCartney’s 1983 album “Pipes of Peace”. McCartney wrote and starred in the 1984 film “Give My Regards To Broad Street”, with the soundtrack (which reached number 1 in the UK) containing the UK and US Top 10 hit "No More Lonely Nights". Later that year, McCartney released "We All Stand Together", the title song from the animated film “Rupert and the Frog Song”, which was the supporting feature to "Give My Regards To Broad Street" in cinemas and, when released on video, became the year's top seller. In 1985, McCartney released “Spies Like Us”, the title song to the Dan Ackroyd/Chevy Chase comedy which made number 7 on the Billboard chart. 10cc’s Eric Stewart co-wrote most of McCartney’s 1986 album “Press to Play” - McCartney returned the favour by co-writing 2 songs for 10cc, "Don't Break the Promises" (from “...Meanwhile”, 1992), and "Yvonne's the One" (from 1995’s “Mirror Mirror”). In 1987, EMI released “All the Best!”, the first compilation of McCartney’s own songs. Around 1988, McCartney began a songwriting partnership with Elvis Costello (real name Declan MacManus), producing songs that appeared on albums by both artists, notably "Veronica" (on Costello's album “Spike”), "My Brave Face" from McCartney’s “Flowers in the Dirt” (another number 1 album in the UK when released in 1989), and various tracks from Costello's 1991 album “Mighty Like A Rose” and McCartney’s 1993 album “Off the Ground”.

In 1991 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society commissioned a piece by McCartney to celebrate its sesquicentennial, and continuing with the classical theme, he collaborated with Carl Davis to release “Liverpool Oratorio”, which was premiered in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral. McCartney’s singers and musicians included the opera singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sally Burgess, Jerry Hadley and Willard White, along with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of Liverpool Cathedral. EMI Classics recorded the premiere of the oratorio and released it on a 2 CD album which topped the classical charts. His next classical project to be released (in 1995) was “A Leaf”, a solo piano piece played by Royal College of Music gold medal winner Anya Alexeyev. The Prince of Wales later honoured McCartney as a Fellow of The Royal College of Music. Also in the 1990s, McCartney reunited with Harrison and Starr to work on “The Beatles Anthology” documentary series, including 3 double albums of alternative takes, live recordings and previously unreleased Beatles songs, as well as a 10 hour video boxed set. In 1992, McCartney and Geoff Dunbar worked on an animated film about the work of French artist Honore Daumier, which won both of them a Bafta award. In 1997, McCartney released “Flaming Pie”, which debuted at number 2 in the UK and the US, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Album of the Year”. The same year, McCartney released another classical offering, “Standing Stone”, commissioned by EMI Records to mark their 100th anniversary, and he was also knighted for ‘services to music’ (which he dedicated to Lennon, Harrison, and Starr, and to the people of Liverpool). In 1999, he released “Working Classical”. Also during the 1990s, McCartney collaborated with Youth of Killing Joke under the name of the Fireman, releasing 2 ambient electronic albums, “Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest” (1993) and “Rushes” (1998).

In May 2000, he was given a Fellowship by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, released “A Garland for Linda”, a choral tribute album to his late wife (who had died in 1998) with compositions from 8 other contemporary composers, and also released an album entitled “Liverpool Sound Collage” with Super Furry Animals and Youth, utilising collage and musique concrete techniques. In November 2001, the album “Driving Rain” was released, most of it recorded in 2 weeks. He also composed and recorded the title track for the 2001 film “Vanilla Sky”, with the track nominated for an Oscar for “Best Original Song”. In 2005, he and bootleg producer and remixer Freelance Hellraiser remixed versions of songs from throughout his solo career, releasing under the name Twin Freaks. 2005’s ”Chaos and Creation in the Backyard” was his next LP, nominated for “Album of the Year” in 2006, and with the single “Jenny Wren” receiving a 2007 Grammy Award nomination. In March 2006, McCartney completed the composition of a 'modern classical' musical work named “Ecce Cor Meum” (Behold My Heart), recorded with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and the boys of King's College Choir, Cambridge, and Magdalen College School, Oxford, premiering at the Royal Albert Hall in London in November 2006. It was voted “Classical Album of the Year” in 2007 in the Classical Brit Awards. In February 2008, McCartney was awarded a BRIT award for outstanding contribution, the same as a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Paul McCartney took up painting in 1983, and in 1999, he exhibited his paintings (featuring his portraits of John Lennon, Andy Warhol, and David Bowie) for the first time in Siegen, Germany. The positive reaction led to McCartney showing his work in UK galleries, with the first opening in Bristol with more than 500 paintings on display. In 2001 McCartney published “Blackbird Singing”, a volume of poems, some of which were lyrics to his songs, and gave readings in Liverpool and New York. In the foreword of the book, McCartney explained that when he was a teenager, he had ‘an overwhelming desire’ to have a poem of his published in the school magazine, and he wrote something ‘deep and meaningful’, but it was rejected, and he feels that he has been trying to get some kind of revenge ever since.
In October 2005, McCartney released a children's book called “High In The Clouds: An Urban Furry Tail”

Paul McCartney has achieved 29 number 1 singles in the US (20 with The Beatles, and 9 with Wings and as a solo artist), and has been involved in more number 1 singles in the UK than any other artist (although Elvis Presley has achieved more as a solo artist), topping the UK chart 24 times. He is the only artist to reach the UK number 1 as a soloist ("Pipes of Peace"), a duo ("Ebony and Ivory" with Stevie Wonder), a trio ("Mull of Kintyre", Wings), a quartet ("She Loves You", The Beatles), a quintet ("Get Back", The Beatles with Billy Preston) and an ensemble for charity ("Let It Be", Ferry Aid). His song "Yesterday" is the most covered song in history with more than 3,500 recorded versions and has been played over 7 million times on US TV and radio (for which he received an award). In July 2005, he was involved in the fastest released single in history when his performance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 at Live 8 was released only 45 minutes after it was performed – it reached number 6 on the Billboard charts just hours after the its release, and made number 1 on numerous online download charts across the world. Over his career, McCartney has played 2,523 gigs with The Beatles, 140 with Wings, and 325 as a solo artist. He has sold over 100 million singles worldwide, and has 60 gold discs.