This will be my fourth time seeing Paul in concert. He will be playing at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas, on Saturday, April 30. The music legend is 73 years old. I don’t know how many more years he can tour, but I hope to be able to say I saw Sir Paul McCartney on his last concert tour.
At the age of 14, Paul and his younger brother Michael lost their mother to breast cancer. Paul wrote his first song, “I Lost My Little Girl,” shortly after his mother’s death. Paul named his daughter Mary after his mother, and the reference to “Mother Mary” in the song “Let It Be” came from a dream Paul had about his mother during a tense period for the band in 1968.
Paul’s humble life changed forever at the age of 15 when he met 17-year-old John Lennon at a church festival in Liverpool. John and his skiffle band The Quarrymen were performing at the festival. The young Paul McCartney impressed John with his rendition of Eddie Cochran’s song “Twenty Flight Rock.” John immediately asked Paul to join The Quarrymen — thus beginning one of the greatest musical partnerships of all time. In seven short years, John and Paul wrote nearly 200 songs together — most of those becoming hits and considered classics.
Shortly after joining the Quarrymen, Paul asked John to consider including 14-year-old guitarist George Harrison in the group. George impressed John with his guitar instrumental of Bill Justis’ 1957 hit “Raunchy.”
By 1958, these three self-taught musicians — John, Paul and George — formed the core of what would become the greatest band of the 20th century. The band was complete in 1962 when Ringo Starr became the permanent drummer.
By the mid-1960s Paul McCartney had surpassed John Lennon as the leader of the “Fab Four.” The band stopped touring in 1966 to focus on studio recording. The Beatles released their eighth studio album, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” in 1967. This was the beginning of the end for the band. As each bandmate matured and focused on family, the closeness of the bandmates diminished and tensions increased.
By 1969 the end was in sight. The last live Beatles’ performance was the impromptu concert atop Apple headquarters in downtown London in January 1969. The 42-minute performance, recorded for the Beatles’ film “Let It Be,” came to an abrupt end when police threatened to arrest the band for disturbing the peace. John Lennon ended the performance saying, “I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we’ve passed the audition.”
Despite the end of the “Fab Four,” each member went on to highly successful solo careers. Of the four Beatles, Paul McCartney was the most successful financially. He and his wife Linda formed the band Wings in 1971 and recorded and toured as a group until 1981. As a solo artist, Paul has released 24 studio albums and eight live albums. He stages worldwide tours annually, and his current “One On One” tour makes its stop in North Little Rock Saturday, April 30. His concert will mark the first time the former Beatle has performed in Arkansas.
