Paul was born in Liverpool, England, June 18, 1942. His upbringing was ideal; he was born into a healthy middle-class home. His father Jim McCartney was the leader of a band called Jim Mac's Jazz Band who also brought his music home, playing piano and singing with his family. This practice inspired Paul's writing, and it shows in "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "Honey Pie". Paul's mother was a very loving woman, a nurse, who died of breast cancer when Paul was 14.

McCartney joined John Lennon's band The Quarrymen after amazing John by playing "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and tuning a guitar. After original bassist Stuart Sutcliff quit the band Paul reluctantly took over on bass (only because no one else would). He went on to write the Beatles' two most successful songs; "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" (a song of inspiration to Julian Lennon after John left him and his mother for Yoko Ono). After meeting American photographer Linda Eastman he broke up his engagement with British actress Jane Asher and married Eastman instead.

Paul called in his brother-in-law as legal help in sorting out the Beatles' financial problems after manager Brian Epstein died, however John had called in Rolling Stones manager Alan Klein. The fighting was too much for Paul, who, after recording Abbey Road, recorded his first solo album McCartney and with it issued a press statement that he had quit the Beatles, stunning the world. Later in the year he wrote to John, suggesting the breakup of the band's financial relationship.

Forming his own band, Wings, Paul enjoyed an emmensely successful solo career. He later got involved with music publishing, specializing in dead singers like Buddy Holly. In 1979 The Guiness Book of World Records named him the most successful composer of all time, and later he became one of the wealthiest men in Britain.