Paul McCartney is famous as one of the former members of Beatles. He wrote most of the band’s hit songs like “Yesterday”, “Hey Jude”, “Let It Be”, “Yellow Submarine” and “Hello, Goodbye”. After the Beatles disbanded in the 1970, he went solo and released his album “McCartney”. He also formed a band group “Wings” in the 1970s which remained popular throughout the 70s and won two Grammy Awards .

Fact 1:
Paul McCartney first musical instrument was not the guitar as many thought, though he played it very well. He was given the trumpet as a present but soon bought a guitar. Being left-handed, he had difficulty playing the instrument so he had it customized which jump started his career in music and the rest is history .

Fact 2:
His mother, Mary Patricia McCartney was a nurse and his father, James McCartney was a firefighter during the World War 2. James McCartney was a trumpet and pianist player for the Jim Mac’s Jazz Band in the 1920s. He had a piano in their front room and encouraged his sons to be musically inclined. Paul McCartney was encouraged to take piano lessons but he preferred to learn by ear .

Fact 3:
Paul McCartney was the lead vocal for the Beatles but he’s also a good drummer. He played the drums to their hit songs “Back In The USSR”, “Dear Prudence”, “The Ballad of John and Yoko” .

Fact 4:
Paul McCartney’ inspiration in his song “Helter Skelter” was Peter Townshend’s comment when he described “I Can See For Miles” as the loudest, rawest and dirtiest song ever recorded (during that time). He was challenged so he wrote a more louder, rawer and dirtier song.

Helter Skelter may have been the first, or one of the first heavy metal songs due to heavy bass drums and loud vocals. The song has been covered by several artists such as Aerosmith, Motley Crue and Caliban .
Fact 5:
Paul McCartney and Pete Best were arrested in Hamburg in 1960 after lighting a condom on fire. The Beatles were staying in Bambi-Filmkunsttheater cinema owned by Bruno Koschmider when their show was terminated. The place was dark with no lights available and they need to pack their belongings. A condom attached to a nail was by far the best option to light a fire instead of fabrics.

Koschmider was angry accusing the McCartney and Best in burning his property, though there was no damage done except for a burn mark on the wall where the condom eventually extinguished. McCartney and Best were arrested and spent the night in jail before the were released the next day .

Fact 6:
Paul McCartney almost won an academy award for the song “Live and Let Die” he and wife Linda McCartney wrote for the Bond movie. The song reunited McCartney and his veteran producer George Martin and the Wings recorded the song. Live and Let Die reached number two in the US and was nominated for the Best Original Song at the 1973 Academy Awards .

Fact 7:
Paul McCartney is not only a musician but also a painter. He was 11 years old when he won a prize for a church art. In fact, when he and John Lennon were young, they used to skip school to visit an art gallery.

It was around 20 years ago when he seriously became a painter producing a total of 600 art pieces. His art usually depict landscapes, shells, flowers, people’s faces and Celtic mythology. His paintings were first seen publicly in 1999 in a local gallery in Siegen, Germany .

Fact 8:
Many speculated that Paul McCartney wrote his song “Martha My Dear” as a love message to Jane Asher who he intended to marry in 1968. In 1997, McCartney clarified that the song was about his first dog, an Old English Sheepdog puppy whom he bought in 1965 and named Martha. He said the dog was very dear to him .

Fact 9:
Paul McCartney thought of the name Wings for his band after his wife Linda gave birth to their daughter Stella. While in the hospital he was thinking about life’s mysteries and angels and thought about their wings and thought it was a good name for a band .

Fact 10:
When he was young, Paul McCartney was one of the four students to pass the exams and gain entrance to the Liverpool Institute where he scored 90% for Latin .