Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE was born on 18 June 1942 is an iconic English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles.

McCartney and John Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and "wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history." On leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda McCartney.

He has worked on film scores, classical music, and ambient/electronic music; released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist; and taken part in projects to help international charities. McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular-music history, with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles.

His song "Yesterday" is listed as the most covered song in history and has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio.

Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single (three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so—in 1984—was Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", whose participants included McCartney).