Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. With John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame as a member of the Beatles, one of the most popular and influential groups in the history of pop music; his songwriting partnership with Lennon is one of the most celebrated of the 20th century. After the band's break-up, he pursued a solo career and formed Wings with his first wife, Linda, and Denny Laine. McCartney has been recognised as one of the most successful composers and performers of all time, with 60 gold discs and sales of over 100 million albums and 100 million singles of his work with the Beatles and as a solo artist. More than 2,200 artists have covered his Beatles song "Yesterday", more than any other copyrighted song in history. Wings' 1977 release "Mull of Kintyre" is one of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK. A two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of The Beatles in 1988, and as a solo artist in 1999), and a 21-time Grammy Award winner (having won both individually and with the Beatles), McCartney has written, or co-written 32 songs that have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and as of 2014 he has sold more than 15.5 million RIAA-certified units in the United States. McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Starr received MBEs in 1965, and in 1997, McCartney was knighted for his services to music.

Links To Peel
Throughout the late 1960s Peel retained his high opinion of the Beatles, playing their new records as they appeared, and after the band split up in 1970 their solo records also featured in his playlists, especially Paul's solo and Wings musical outputs. However by the mid 70's when punk became influential, Peel lost interest in Paul McCartney's solo career and rarely played any of his music.

Shows Played
1973 1976 TOTP
 * 18 December 1973: 'Jet (LP-Band On The Run)' (Apple/Emi)
 * 20 August 1976: 'Band On the Run / Jet (LP-Band On The Ryn)' (Apple)
 * 25 December 1982 (TOTP): Ebony & Ivory (with Stevie Wonder)


 * 22 December 1983 (TOTP): Pipes Of Peace
 * 05 January 1984 (TOTP): Coming Up
 * 03 January 1985 (TOTP): (JP: “Staying at No.3 in our Top 10 rundown, a bit of quality – “We All Stand Together”) We All Stand Together


 * 02 January 1986 (TOTP): (JP: 'Next, we got Paul McCartney in a entirely frog free environment') Spies Like Us