The Beatles Boxed Set (11 page)

            Also
in 2010, Paul performed at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
and a year later performed at the first concerts at the new Yankee Stadium and
released the classical work,
Ocean’s Kingdom.
He also had tours, and was
on the road since 2001 with guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray,
keyboardist Paul “Wix” Wickens and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr.

            There
was also an upcoming tribute album in the works to coincide with Paul’s 70
^th
birthday. It would contain recordings of his songs by Billy Joel, Kiss, Steve
Miller, Garth Brooks and a host of other artists. His most recent release was
Kisses
on the Bottom
, featuring a collection of standards.

            In
February 2012, Paul was hailed MusiCares Person of the Year, two days before
his performance at the 54
^th
Grammy Awards. And on June 4, 2012, Paul
closed the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert held outside Buckingham Palace. He
performed a repertoire that included
Let It Be
and
Live and Let Die.
It was also announced that Paul would close the opening ceremony of the 2012
Summer Olympic Games in London.

Being
famous and being a member of an equally famous band certainly had its perks. Now
that the Beatles were famous and rich, they could have as many women as they
wanted. Wherever the Beatles were, there were girls, girls, and more girls. It
became easier to throw money around and could buy everything they fancied,
including procuring drugs.

            They
were not the first, and certainly not the last band to experiment with drugs.
At the height of their fame, it almost seemed as though they had everything at
their beck and call and could get away with it. Paul wasn’t a saint, and he had
fallen victim to the allure of both women and drugs.

Being
a handsome and charming lad, it wasn’t hard for Paul to surround himself with
beauties, and to get himself a girlfriend. One of his first girlfriends was a
girl named Layla, in 1959, who was a bit older than Paul and used to ask him to
babysit with her. There was also a brief fling with Julie Arthur, the niece of
an English comedian.

            His
first serious girlfriend was Dorothy “Dot” Rhone, a 17-year-old girl whom Paul
met at the Casbah Club in 1959. Dot was a blonde who resembled Brigitte Bardot,
the French starlet that both Paul and John idolized. She was welcomed by Jim
McCartney in the family and found stability among Paul’s family.

Paul and his first serious girlfriend,
Dot Rhone

            While
Paul clearly loved Dot, he could be a willful boyfriend, having strong opinions
about the clothes Dot wore and how she did her hair and makeup. He forbade her
from seeing her friend and smoking cigarettes though he was a smoker at the
time. Paul also paid for her to have her hair done in the style of Brigitte
Bardot.

            When
Paul and the Beatles first went to Hamburg, he regularly wrote to Dot. She even
accompanied Cynthia Powell, John’s Lennon girlfriend at that time, to Hamburg
when the Beatles returned there in 1962. Dot claimed that Paul bought her a
gold ring in Hamburg, along with a leather skirt, and took her sightseeing.

            Two
years into their relationship, Dot found out that she was pregnant and told
Paul who had just returned from Hamburg. They brought the news to Jim, whom
they expected would be shocked. But Jim was delighted and told the couple that
the baby would not be put up for adoption. That meant that Paul would have to
face his responsibility and marry Dot. Paul agreed and set their wedding date
for November.

            But
all talks of marriage came to a halt when Dot miscarried. And Paul felt no
obligation to remain faithful to Dot. He began a short-lived relationship with
Iris Caldwell, a professional dancer and younger sister of Rory Storm. Iris was
the complete opposite of Dot. While Dot was a vulnerable girl who put up with
Paul’s directives, Iris was a girl who refused to bow to Paul’s demands. They
always fought. One night, the couple was with their friends at a coffee shop
and Paul began impersonating Quasimodo. Iris was so annoyed that she poured a
bowl of sugar over his head, then ran out to avoid Paul’s wrath. When Paul
showed up the next day for their scheduled date, Iris had to surreptitiously
phone her new boyfriend, George Harrison, to cancel their date.

            Paul
and Dot’s relationship ended shortly after her miscarriage, and Paul’s
relationship with Iris was also doomed to failure.

            The
next girl to catch Paul’s attention was an actress. The Beatles were performing
at the Royal Albert Hall when Paul first met Jane Asher after a photographer
asked the band to pose with her. Jane then interviewed the Beatles for the BBC,
and Paul got up the nerve to later ask the actress to be his girlfriend.

Paul and Jane Asher at his brother’s
wedding

            Paul
was welcomed with open arms by Jane’s parents, Richard and Margaret, and her
siblings, Peter and Clare. Richard was a physician while Margaret juggled being
a mother to her children and a music teacher. The family liked Paul so much
that they invited him to live with them at 57 Wimpole Street, London, and Paul
lived with them for almost three years. It was at the Ashers’ house that Paul
wrote his hit song,
Yesterday
; he and John would sometimes work on their
songs in the basement music room. Paul had written the songs
And I Love Her
,
You Won’t See Me
and
I’m Looking Through You.

            In
April 1965, Paul bought a three-storey Regency house at 7 Cavendish Avenue, St.
John’s Wood in London, and he and Jane moved in. In 1967, the couple announced
their engagement.

            But
there were no wedding bells for the couple. Jane broke off their engagement in
1968 when she came home from an acting assignment in Bristol to find Paul in
bed with a woman, Francie Schwartz. Schwartz came from New York and was trying
to convince Apple Corps on a film script. Paul and Jane tried to give their
relationship another chance, but finally broke up in July 1968. Paul then asked
Francie to move into his Cavendish house.

            Paul
and Jane were still together when he met his future wife, Linda Eastman at a
concert in London on May 15, 1967. Linda was in the UK on an assignment to take
photographs of the “swinging sixties” musicians in London. They met for the
second time at a launch party for the Beatles’
Sgt. Pepper
album, but
after this, Linda flew back to New York.

Paul met his first wife, Linda Eastman,
when he was still with Jane Asher

            It
would be in 1968 when Paul saw Linda again, in New York, when Paul and John
were there to announce the formation of Apple Corps. In September of that year,
Paul contacted Linda and asked her to visit him.

            They
were married six months later, when Linda was four months pregnant with their
first child, Mary McCartney. According to Paul, it was Linda who “gave me
strength and courage to work again” after the Beatles broke up. Paul adopted
Linda’s daughter from her first marriage, Heather, and had three children
together: Mary, Stella, and James. Paul taught his wife to play the keyboard
and included her in the line-up of Wings.

            Paul
and Linda were together until her death on April 17, 1998, due to breast
cancer.

            Paul
fell in love again when he met Heather Mills in April 1999 during the Pride of
Britain Awards, where he was to present an award to an animal rights activist. During
this event, Heather presented an award to Helen Smith and made an appeal on
behalf of the Heather Mills Health Trust while Paul presented an award
dedicated to his late wife, Linda McCartney. Paul later donated to Heather’s
charity an amount of £150,000.

            The
two met again in the autumn of 1999 when Heather and her sister recorded
“VOI!CE” with Paul singing backing vocals. They appeared publicly together in
January 2000 to celebrate Heather’s 32
^nd
birthday.

            They
were married on June 11, 2002 at an elaborate ceremony in Castle Leslie in
County Monaghan, Ireland. Paul had especially written the song
Heather
for the occasion, a track included on the 2001 album,
Driving Rain.

Paul’s second marriage was with Heather
Mills

            Heather
accompanied Paul on every tour during their marriage and helped to design the
stage sets and lighting and helped Paul to write songs. Paul claimed that
Heather inspired him and said, “Being in love with her makes me want to write
songs” and she inspired
Too Much Rain
and
See Your Sunshine.
The
bridal march used at their wedding was also a composition of Paul and inspired
by Heather.

            Heather
gave birth to their daughter, Beatrice Milly McCarthy on October 28, 2003. The
baby was named after Heather’s mother and Paul’s aunt.

            Their
marriage didn’t last long as Heather discovered that life with Paul wasn’t what
she wanted. She began complaining to her friends about her marriage, saying
that Paul was “a boring old fart,” particularly because he had no social life. She
also found out that living at their remote home in Pearsmarch was too
constricting. “The only thing he ever does is occasionally go to the pub with
his roadie. We never have parties or do fun things.”