Established & Sons

 September 23, 2006 

Hello Vienna

 

September 18, 1976 

The birth of Stella and the name "Wings"

 September 13, 1971 

Not Your Average Millionaires (1981)

The McCartney family in 1981 

 

Not Your Average Millionaires

By David Lewin

The Toronto Star

September 6, 1981

    Mr. and Mrs. Paul McCartney are a nice average couple with rather more than average achievements. They have four kids, three houses, and enough money in the bank to buy and sell your average millionaire 40 times over.

     At 39, McCartney is worth, to be precise, $40 million, and another couple of million rolls in like the sea every year.  Mr. McCartney writes songs. He is the most successful music maker in history. 100 million LPs sold. 100 million singles. Mrs. McCartney takes photographs, is a key member of her husband's group Wings, and makes cartoon films. She is also a mother, bringing up a family of young children who will inherit the vast family fortune.

     Paul and Linda McCartney are both aware of the problems that such an inheritance can bring. Their children are aged between 18 and three and a half. The youngest is a boy, James Louis. The other three are girls: Heather, 18, from Linda's first marriage; Mary, 11; and Stella, 9. The children have one bedroom, but not each, just between them in the four-room cottage on the farm in Sussex, which is their main home. 

    Paul McCartney said, "We may have to build a third bedroom now because our youngest is a boy, but we have deliberately kept them in one room because I want a close family, just as I had when I was growing up in Liverpool. I don't want a mansion where I have to telephone from the East Wing to make an appointment to see my kids in the West Wing. 

    "Of course, they are going to get a lot of money, but Linda and I are trying as much as possible to make their growing up an ordinary one. We don't have a chauffeur, and I drive my youngest kids to the local primary school. We don't send them to be privately educated, and they get 50 cents pocket money a week, just about enough to buy a packet of crisps.

     "When people come and visit us in the country, they tend to drive past our cottage the first time because they're looking for a bigger house. They think ours must belong to the gardener. The children go out visiting sometimes and come home and say,  'Daddy, our friend's parents must be rich. You should see how big a house they have got.'"

     The McCartney approach to money is typified by a recent trip they made to the south of France. They flew to Nice as tourists. Then they chartered a private jet to get back in time to have dinner with the family. "Money should make you free," said Linda McCartney. "So we don't waste it, but we use it when it is necessary."

     Linda McCartney was wearing a white jacket, a pair of faded blue jeans and yellow socks; her millions self-evidently don't go on clothes. "The jacket I got free from a film I appeared in," she said. "The socks are the most expensive item. They cost $2. The jeans cost less. They aren't designer-made."

     Paul McCartney wore a gray jacket, gray socks, and white trousers; he would be the despair of any boutique owner.

     I asked him whether having so much money blunted ambition. He thought for a moment and said, "Probably. Well, really, the answer has to be 'Yes, it does.' When we started, the Beatles used to say, 'Let's write a house,' then we'd say 'Let's write a car,' and finally it was 'Let's write a swimming pool.' But when you have got your houses and your cars and your swimming pool, there isn't much else to write. For me, music is a hobby, as the actress said to the bishop. 

    "I like it, so I'll go on doing it. If I stopped, I'd do woodwork. My goals now? Oh, happiness, the kids, stuff like that."

     Whatever happens, the royalties from his music will keep right on rolling in. "But we have no trust fund for the children," said Linda McCartney. "That would put too much pressure on them. Of course, they have expectations, but the important thing is for them to get their value structure right and not use the money as a crutch. It is difficult, but it can be done if we keep things as ordinary as possible."

     The McCartneys are different in temperament. Linda McCartney said, "We are opposites in fact. I am not intellectual. Paul is. I am the calming influence. In fact, I'm rather dull, falling asleep sometimes right after supper.  Paul stimulates me. I wait. He moves.

     "Of course, we have rows because at first, when we were married, I had an identity problem. Paul's life was the Beatles, and when they broke up, I had to make a new life for myself in England."

     Paul said, "There were moments when our marriage might not have worked. I'm not the charming Paul of my public image, and if someone knocks something I have written, which I think should be a masterpiece, I can be shattered."

     How do they resolve their fights? "In bed," said Paul. His wife hit him. Then she said, "My domain is the house. I don't mean doing the housework, but having it my way at home. Paul's domain is his work. Super stardom doesn't turn me on. Really, I'm very ordinary. I hope that doesn't hold Paul back. I want the marriage to last."

     It has for 12 years, the longest of any of the Beatles. Paul McCartney looked at his wife and said, "I can see us both growing old gracefully, but Linda won't be alone. I'll be around, and with her too."

Paul and the fam in Holland

 August 19, 1976 

The traveling family

 August 11, 1981 -  Heathrow Airport 

My Love Does it Good Part 2 (1975)

My Love Does It Good

By Cindy Rosenthal

The Write Thing

Jan/Feb 1976

    My other big day was in Manchester. We were at a hotel checking on prices. It was just down the street from the theater. Prices were too high for us, and we wondered if Paul would stay there. Then we saw a sign that said the Mel Bush organization would be in a certain room at 3:30.  Mel Bush was the promoter of Paul's tour. We went and checked out the room mentioned on the sign and found it set up for a press conference. We were waiting to see when they'd get there. Ken and Madeline were also waiting, so we were talking to them.

     Suddenly, the bus drove up. I hadn't really expected them to show up. MaryAnn and I ran into the foyer area, and off stepped Linda. She smiled at me, and I took her photo. Then Paul stepped off, looking ever so good. Stella was right behind him, and as she got off, she started to cry a little. Paul picked her up, and she got a kiss from both her parents. Paul was holding a Wing sign about the size of a card that was usually passed out at concerts. Stella had obviously drawn all over it. They stood and posed for a real photographer, so we had a chance to take photos too.

     As Paul came near me, I said "The concerts were great!"  I said it with a lot of feeling. He asked, "Did you like that?"  And I said "Yes!"  We almost touched hands, but he had Stella in his arms. I felt we touched mentally, though.  Good vibes. Then he let me take a close-up of him. Linda thanked me for the badges we had given them the night before. That surprised me too. 

    Inside, Paul put Stella on the receptionist's desk, and he was standing with his hands in his pockets and yawning. He looked like he had been sleeping on the bus. Mary was running around. I noticed she has freckles on her nose. She kept going outside, and Stella yelled, "McCartney!" Linda yelled, "Mary!" And she came back in. I just stood watching them because I didn't know what to do. I'd run out of film. 

    They had all went upstairs. We were standing there deciding what to do next when suddenly Brian, Paul's manager, yelled, "Are you going to the sound check now?" to someone behind us, I turned around and there was Paul and Linda, arm in arm, walking toward the front door. Paul said, "No, we're going to get something for Stella (it was her birthday that day, September 13.) He was bopping at a fast pace. Outside, some fans stopped them to get a photo, so we took the opportunity. Also, when Paul saw a crowd beginning, he said, "Hurry up, John!" to the guy taking their picture. Then they waved across the street. Well, they walked across the street, and when they stopped at the corner, he turned around and bowed and waved. I have a blurry shot of that one. What a ham! They went down to a bookstore and then bopped out of view. He looked so good. No one on the street even recognized him,

Photo taken by Cindy Rosenthal in Manchester
Copyright held by Sara Schmidt 

     At the concert that night, the Macca kids were sitting two rows in front of us. Mary was directly in front of me. Mary was posing toothlessly for me. She got the same expression as her dad and  the same wide-eyed look. Mary was waving at her parents most of the concert, but only Stella got a hello from Mum. They were clapping to the music and having a great time.

     It would take me 1000s of words to go through every concert and every day. I can only mention special moments, special rare moments. In my mind, the concerts are all one blur. Too much happened too fast. I remember the hours of waiting for tickets and riding on trains, and then the fleeting moments that made all those hours worth it. In Bristol, I was standing by the stage door in the falling rain. Suddenly, the maroon Rolls drove up, and I saw Paul point at me. I'll never really know why he pointed at me, but I had on a Venus and Mars shirt, so I imagine he was pointing at that.

     Then there were the frustrations of knowing he was staying six miles outside the city, so I couldn't go see him at all. But the concert meant more to me for some reason. I got very frustrated when I did see him at hotels because I wanted to be more than just a fan among the crowd greeting the star. I had those two days to say something to him, and as usual, I couldn't remember all the things I wanted to ask him. I was usually in awe when I saw him, and if he said something to me, I would be dumbfounded.

      Whenever I did see him, he looked great, always dressed so nicely in a suit, and in Liverpool, he had on the red and white T-shirt that he had worn 10 years before. I never got the feeling that the kids were bothered by the chaos around them; the only time there was a hint of that was in the hotel, after the Manchester concert. I was in the lobby with camera ready, and Stella came walking and yelling, "Pictures, pictures, pictures."

     The concerts were always the best, and forgetting all the hours of waiting and hunger, my eyes would be glued on all five feet 11 inches of him on the stage. He has the same facial expressions as he did 10 years ago. The cute smiles, the look sideways or upwards to the balcony. He usually got into the music more than you could imagine. Some nights he seemed very loose, and others a little uptight. When mistakes happened, he handled them with poise and charm. There weren't that many, but concerts would be boring if they were all perfect. The music was so good that I can hardly bear to listen to his album now, because the songs just don't have the power that came from the stage. 

    He was always aware of the fans; unless he was being filmed, then you could see him put everything into his performance, forgetting that we were out there being trampled on. In Newcastle, I was right up front, almost in front of him, and the crowd was just too rowdy for me. I'd already had a hard day's night. I could barely take photos, and the sweaty bodies next to me were making me go crazy. I was seriously thinking about getting out of the crowd. I had had enough of crowds by then. I was making strange faces as I got pushed, pulled, and stepped on. Just as I was contemplating how I was going to get out, Paul winked at me. It was almost as if he knew how frustrated I was getting. It wasn't just a wink in my general direction. It was for me. Believe me, If you've ever been winked at by Paul, you would know it.

     And at the last concert, he was acting awfully sexy, if you can describe it like that. During "Jet", he looked at MariAnn and me with this look, and my mouth fell open, but Paul does that to you if you let him. It's just fleeting moments like these that I wish would last forever. I could go on and on. I only wish it had never ended. I really miss those concerts. They were the best 13 nights of my life

    . I'm sure I could go on talking about the little things that happened at concerts and stage doors, but words can never describe the feeling. I just know that Paul still has that something that makes him a star. Fans are still going crazy over him. In the Manchester Hotel, a small crowd waited for Wings to arrive from the concert. Despite a van full of coppers and warnings to get lost, the minute Paul arrived, he was swarmed. All I saw was Paul and Linda trying to get in the door with fans pulling on them, and Paul laughing the whole time. The fans were all left on the outside as Wings disappeared. I turned and saw a girl crying her eyes out on her friend's shoulder while she sobbed. "I can't believe I saw Paul". It could have been 1964 all over again.

Enjoying the Jamaican sun

 

Injury Clips Wings (1976)

 Injury Clips Wings: McCartney Tour Delayed

No author listed

The News of Cumberland County

April 2, 1976

    Paul McCartney and Wings have postponed their American tour because of an injury to one of the group's members. Guitarist Jimmy McCulloch suffered a broken hand when he slipped in a bathroom. The injury came following the conclusion of the group's European tour.

     The American tour, entitled "Wings Over America", was to have encompassed 20 cities and 31 performances. The tour will be herland the debut of Wings in America, and also be McCartney's first personal appearance on a US concert stage in almost 10 years. 

    The ex-Beatle and his group were to have played Spectrum on May 12 and 14th. A spokesman for the group said Tuesday that the tour was being rescheduled to begin in May, but could not say whether the Spectrum dates for the group would be changed.

     Wings over America is the culmination of many months of planning and is the fourth and final leg of the Wings World Tour, which began in England in late 1975 and proceeded to Australia and Europe. Wings will be performing a set lasting between two and two and one half hours with no intermission. New sound and light apparatus, as well as special staging, have been designed especially for the tour.

     Wings will be arriving in the United States directly from Paris, where the group concluded its triumphant European tour on March 26. During the third leg of the World Tour, Wings performed to sold-out houses in Denmark, Holland, and Berlin, Germany. Wings consists of Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Danny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, and Joe English. The four-member brass section that accompanied Wings in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the European segment of the Wings World Tour will perform on the American tour.

     The band will be performing material from all prior Paul McCartney and Wings albums, as well as songs that have been associated with Paul McCartney throughout his career. Also included will be selections from Wings' latest release, Wings at the Speed of Sound, the album, which has recently been released on the Capitol label, includes songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney as well as Jimmy McCulloch and Denny Laine, who will also perform their compositions during the course of the concert tour. 

    The album was certified gold immediately upon its release in the US. The brass section on the tour consists of leader, Tony Dorsey (trombone), who also arranged the horn section on Wings at the Speed of Sound, Steve Howard (trumpet, and fuglehorn), who has been featured on albums with Labelle, and has worked with Alan Tossant. Thaddeus, Richard (flute, sax) has worked with Johnny Taylor and Tony Dorsey over the last few years, and Liverpudlian  Howie Casey (Tenor sax) has backed such music luminaries as Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Wilson Pickett, T Rex, and John Entwistle.

Honoring Stella McCartney

 

Living in a Home in the Heart of the Country

 

Tracks posted these photographs on Facebook with the following text:

Two previously unseen snapshot photographs taken at High Park Farm, the Mull of Kintyre farm owned by Paul McCartney. The images were captured shortly before Wings departed for their Wings University Tour in February 1972 and offer a rare, candid glimpse into life at the farm.

One photograph shows Denny Laine (left), Henry McCullough (centre) and Paul McCartney (right) relaxing outside a stone outbuilding, surrounded by several of McCartney’s dogs and puppies.

The second photograph features Paul’s adopted daughter Heather McCartney together with his daughters Mary McCartney and Stella McCartney, alongside Henry McCullough’s daughter Jesse McCullough, seated in the fields with the family’s pets.

Both photographs come directly from the estate of Henry McCullough and have not previously been published. Preserved within his personal archive, they provide an authentic and intimate glimpse into the relaxed environment surrounding Paul McCartney and those close to him at his Kintyre farm during this formative period.

McCartney in Angry Clash with Camera Men (1981)

 McCartney in Angry Clash with Camera Men

No writer listed

Liverpool Echo

February 18, 1981

Paul McCartney called the cameramen "monsters."

 Paul McCartney was involved in an angry clash with press photographers on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, where he and fellow ex Beatle Ringo Starr are making a record. A Jeep driven by McCartney was in a collision with a car containing the photographers, and McCartney got out and shouted at the cameramen. 

    Photographer Doug Jennings said that McCartney called them monsters and angrily lectured them for 20 minutes on why they should not bother him. No one was injured in the collision. The photographers claim McCartney deliberately rammed their car. Jennings said the incident happened as McCartney, his wife, Linda, and three children were on their way to a recording studio for a session with Ringo Starr. McCartney told the cameramen, "We're here only to record. There is no story. There is no Beatles reunion!"

The Cavendish Zoo

 February 1976

In their Mullet era

 

Home for the Holidays

 December 1975

My files say that these photos were taken in the Hamptons with Linda's family 

EMI Welcomes Wings

 

A Day on a farm

 

November 5, 1975 - Adelaide, Australia 

VH1 Vogue Awards 2000

 October 20, 2000

Band on the Run by Bus (1975)

 Band on the Run by Bus

By Donald Bruce

Daily Record

September 19, 1975

    You'd think that with a group called Wings, Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, would travel by plane, but they don't. They go by luxury coach.

     In our exclusive picture, Paul, Linda, and their three-year-old daughter Stella are on their way to Scotland. They star in Edinburgh tomorrow. They come to Glasgow on Sunday with dates after that, in Aberdeen and Dundee. All are complete sellouts.

     The McCartneys and their children (Heather, 13, and Mary, five, are the other two.) go by coach because they like it that way. "It's different," they say.  It's a hired coach, but on it is a bar, and a kitchen where Linda and a nanny do the cooking. Music plays all the time, and of course, there's a color television. 

    This is the last tour Paul will do in Britain for about two years because of his commitments abroad. The fans stopped his show twice in Liverpool this week, with their clamor for "more and more and more" because Paul, still steeped in nostalgia as an ex-Beatle, sings a song like "Yesterday."

     Paul doesn't attempt to explain his success as a solo and group performer the second time around; he doesn't need any explanations. His music does that for him.

    Out today comes his new single, taken from his album. It's called "Letting Go." Sounds appropriate.

Live 8 Memories

 July 2, 2005