James Paul McCartney, was born June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England. His was a relatively average life until a certain special time in the late-50s and early 60s, when Paul made the acquaintance of several young musicians in his hometown. In 1957, a young man named John Lennon formed a band called The Quarrymen. The Quarrymen were a skiffle group. Skiffle was a form of music that utilized unusual objects to render sound, such as washboards and tea-chest bass. The overall sound was a rhythmic, near-mechanical beat, thought to have originated with African immigrants in the US. Skiffle was an obscure genre in the USA, but it became hugely popular in the UK in the late-50s, thanks largely to skiffle-crazy Lonnie Donegan. Donegan’s humorously-titled “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It’s Flavour (On The Bedpost Over Night)” – complete with that grammatically incorrect “it’s” – made the number 3 spot in Britain, having been recorded in 1959. The sound and the cheeky lyrics appealed to British working-class youth, and many sought to emulate it. John Lennon was cheekier than most, and McCartney met him in July 1957. He joined Lennon’s band almost right away. Next came George Harrison, a young guitarist, followed by the tragic Stu Sutcliffe, a drummer. They called their band The Quarrymen.
McCartney’s voyage of discovery began in some of the seediest locations, where the beer flowed and modesty was in short supply. Being Liverpool lads, Paul, John and Co. weren’t shay about taking to the seas in a search for adventure; in early 1960, the band decided to travel to Hamburg, West Germany. There, they learned the ways of the music business, and, fueled by artificial stimulants, stayed up all night every night, playing to clubs full of rowdy German sailors and dock-workers. The hours were long and grueling but the four lads from Liverpool were gaining incredibly valuable experience every moment they spent there. From a strip club called the Indra, they progressed to the Star Club. Skiffle quickly became rock ‘n’ roll, and they drove the Germans wild, especially the girls. The Quarrymen bounced between The Indra, the Kaiserkeller, the Top Ten Club and the Star Club, but their crazed bohemian dream was jarred into wakefulness when bassist Stu Sutcliffe died of a cerebral hemorrhage, the result of a violent brawl in England.
Paul McCartney returned from Hamburg and became a Silver Beetle and finally a Beatle. The band’s name was now set and their subsequent residence in Liverpool’s Cavern Club at the head of the caffeine-fueled Merseybeat avalanche is remembered as the beginning of something great. From rock ‘n’ roll covers to their own incomparable songs, Lennon and McCartney, along with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, took the world by storm and became the most famous pop group in history. That was decades ago and we have yet to see another band steal their crown!
From the very start the Beatles were at the cutting edge of style. Robert Freeman’s half-light portraits on the cover of With the Beatles was a new technique at the time. The later Rubber Soul cover was a revolutionary concept that in time would embody the psychedelic look. Designer Charles Front created a bottom-heavy font that resembled a swelling droplet of liquid, which, when combined with Freeman’s distorted pic of the Fab Four, launched the new face of 60s cool on an unsuspecting world. The Beatles were growing their hair longer now, and wearing the latest styles from Swinging London. Their next album, Revolver, broke new bounds in concept Rock, and its successor, Sergeant Pepper, even more so. The mop-topped Liverpudlians had progressed from skiffle and bad suits to world leaders in fashion and music. Lennon and McCartney were revered as demi-Gods by this time, something which seemed to go to John’s head slightly more than it did the more down-to-earth Paul.

Inevitably the Beatles imploded, and each went his separate way. Paul McCartney took his mammoth songwriting talents and embarked on a crazed tour of the British Isles in a minibus. He formed the band Wings, which was the only post-Beatle group to enjoy any kind of longevity. Even today, the sound of Wings conjures special memories in those who were there, and many who weren’t still feel the magic. The 197os were a time of glam and glitz, and Paul McCartney rose to the top of this scene as effortlessly as he had the previous decade with the Beatles. Wings provided us with a soundtrack to an era, with brilliant tracks like “Listen to What the Man Said” and “Let ‘em In”. Wings were very much a real band, and not just some post-hippie project. Their rocking hits, “Live and Let Die” and “Jet” remain as two of the greatest singles from the ’70s, capturing the sense of jaded open-mindedness and post-innocent possibility.

Paul McCartney went on to a solo career in which he played with the biggest and the best in the world. Don’t miss out on hearing and seeing these amazing songs played to you live by the guy who wrote them all. Paul McCartney tickets are a rare commodity; you’ll want to keep them in a frame to remind you of the time you heard history in the making.