Paul McCartney – an enduring talent

Paul McCartney is an astonishing 80 years old, the one Beatle who has remained constantly singing, writing and playing through six decades. He is one of the most successful composers and performers of all time and his song-writing partnership with John Lennon remains the most successful in history. Reckoned one of the wealthiest musicians, he has an estimated fortune of £800 million.

  He was born 18 June 1942 maybe 2pm Liverpool, England into a working class family with his father an amateur musician who encouraged his musical interests. His midwife mother died in his teens. He met John Lennon when he was 15 and their joint careers took off into the stratosphere with the Beatles when he was barely 20 as the tumult of Uranus Pluto in Virgo livened up the 1960s.

 His Sun is in Gemini, a favourite sign for pop singers, and is close to lucky, confident Jupiter in Cancer. He has a showy Leo Moon square Venus in throat-ruling Taurus.  His Uranus is in a creative trine to Neptune. What is eye-catching about his chart, especially for a seemingly laid-back, boy-next-door temperament is a high-octane, super-determined and can-be-ruthless Mars Pluto in Leo sextile Saturn Uranus in Gemini. That will have given him the backbone and grit to survive in a cut-throat business and weather ongoing crises. It will stem from his tough childhood and indeed is a family signature since his father had Mars Pluto in Gemini and his mother a Mars square Pluto.

  His first wife Linda, 24 September 1941, like his mother and John Lennon, was a Sun Libra and Linda also had a confidence-boosting Jupiter conjunct his Sun. The relationship with John Lennon was not easy with Lennon’s overly intense Aquarius Moon opposition Pluto clashing with Paul’s Mars Pluto. But the heat certainly produced creative tension.

 His disastrous second marriage to Heather Mills, occurred four years after Linda’s death when his Solar Arc Uranus Saturn had collided with his Mars Pluto – not a happy time. His present wife since 2011, Nancy Shevell, 20 November 1959, is totally different having a Sun Mars in Scorpio.  

  Linda was undoubtedly the love of his life with a composite Sun Venus conjunction in their relationship chart.

5 thoughts on “Paul McCartney – an enduring talent

    • I saw Paul McCartney on tv some years ago singing at a major gig and he was embarrassingly bad – his voice had gone. But it is difficult for performers to give up. I saw Nureyev perform towards the end of his life and it was incredibly sad. He was riddled with AIDs and his body didn’t function the way it had. He said he was doing it for himself not for his audience. “The main thing is dancing, and—- I will keep dancing till the last moment, the last drop.”

  1. Astonishing talented singer and songwriter and if he wants to keep playing and people keep want to listen I don’t see the problem.
    Music is his life.
    The Beatles songs sound just as fresh now as they were in the 60s
    I can’t think of a single band who comes close to that.

  2. “he has an estimated fortune of £800 million.”
    I heard somewhere that he is the largest private landowner in Scotland. But I don’t know if that’s true.

    His music has been a joy to hear throughout all of my life.

    Both Lennon and McCartney seemed bemused by the popular idea that Lennon was responsible for everything aggressive or modern sounding in the Beatles, while McCartney was always sweet and traditional. When actually he could be just as aggressive and postmodern.

    He was yet again feautured on a magazine at the grocery store the other day. A close up photo of his face filled the cover. For the first time in my life, I thought, “Paul McCartney finally looks old.”

    “he could put his tireless energy to use supporting younger talent (IMO!)”
    So many older musicians have done that so graciously!

    At the show you were at, there could have been a problem with the sound system. Sometimes singers can’t clearly hear the other musicians they need to hear. But for a performer as experienced as he is, I would expect a remark to the crew to get that sorted. Rather than soldiering on regardless.

    Most instrumenalists can keep on playing well into their older years, unless they were famous for playing fast and fancy – never Macca’s claim to fame. Most rock singers seem to have a much shorter useful career life than formally trained opera singers. They often have naive, aggressive vocal technique that can’t be sustained over as many decades. They have the band tune down, but everntually they need to give it up. If he’s performing as a singer while unable to really sing any more, that’s sad.

  3. He is indeed a legend but doesn’t seem to realise that there is a time to retire gracefully. Instead of undermining his stardom due to poor hearing and an inability to carry the song anymore, he could put his tireless energy to use supporting younger talent (IMO!). I heard him no so long ago and he was clearly deaf and barely able to sing. The band played on regardless. The fans appeared to be too ‘out of it’ to care. I was shocked, tickets at unbelievable prices for a performance that was entirely based on former glory. When I asked people what they thought the responses were mostly along the lines of “what do you expect at his age, but now I can say I have seen Paul McCartney live!” Words fail me.

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