Macca at 80: Jamming with Springsteen then headlining at Glastonbury
Paul Mccartney celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday, with tributes pouring in from around the world.
The former member of the Beatles, who has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, won 18 Grammy Awards and has received both an MBE and a knighthood, was born June 18 1942 in Liverpool.
Mccartney’s bandmate Ringo Starr paid birthday tributes on social media, tweeting “they say it’s your birthday Saturday, happy birthday Paul love you man have a great day, peace and love”.
Sean Ono Lennon, the son of John Lennon, also shared an acoustic rendition of Beatles’ song Here, There and Everywhere, with the caption “Thank you for all the beautiful music. You have mine and the whole world’s undying love and respect. This version is a bit rough because it’s such a pretty song I kept getting choked up and starting again!”
On Friday Bruce Springsteen joined Mccartney on stage in New Jersey yesterday to perform a couple of songs on the last night of the American leg of the former Beatle’s Got Back tour. The pair sang Springsteen’s Glory Days together before fellow local hero Jon Bon Jovi then popped up to sing “Happy Birthday”.
Mccartney headlines Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage next week.
Mccartney’s solo career began in Scotland, as after buying his Scottish hideaway, High Park Farm, in Kintyre, he wrote the songs for his first solo album, Ram.
He reflected: “Going up to Scotland was real freedom. It was an escape – our means of finding a new direction in life and having time to think about what we really wanted to do.”
It was in Kintyre where Mccartney discovered vegetarianism after watching lambs. He said: “It was like the penny dropped, and we thought, we might just give this up.”