A diamond geezer gets married and turns 60

During the four decades he’s been having hits, he has become the only chart act to have No 1s as a solo artist, part of a duo, trio, quartet, quintet and charity group and his achievements don’t stop there.

His song Yesterday is the most recorded song in music history and has been played more than seven million times on US radio alone. His live shows have attracted record audiences and he’s picked up countless awards as well as a knighthood.

It’s not the career that his teachers at Liverpool Institute expected - they thought he would go to university - but with hindsight they would no doubt say that his audition in 1957 to join local skiffle band the Quarry Men was a good move. The then 15-year-old became the band’s guitarist and the magical partnership of Paul McCartney and John Lennon was born.

When the Quarry Men eventually became the Beatles they revolutionised the world of pop music.

They broke the tradition of singing hits written by the Tin Pan Alley songwriting machine by writing their own songs and Sir Paul and Lennon’s output was so prolific they even wrote for other acts.

Throughout the 60s they became the world’s most successful group, achieving unprecedented record sales. In 1967 they released Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever which broke their long run of No 1 singles. Colin Larkin, author of the Virgin Encyclopaedia Of Popular Music, calls it ‘‘their greatest pairing on disc’’ but it showed their increasingly differing musical styles.

By the time the 70s dawned, tension had grown within the band, their different songwriting styles and personal disagreements revealed to the world in the film Let It Be. While Sir Paul wasn’t directly the cause of the band’s split, he certainly didn’t help matters.

"He was bossing them around and organising them too much," says Larkin. "George Harrison in particular was becoming very frustrated with him. They didn’t want to be organised at that time because they were falling apart.

"They became different people musically. Paul was going down the same path which he’s never really changed from, but George and John were going down more creative paths. If you listen to the last proper album, The White Album, there’s a Paul song, a John song and then a George song. It was amazing that they were still recording together."

In the fall-out of the Beatles, Sir Paul released two solo albums before forming Wings, his backing band throughout the 70s.

"He realised that he needed a band to play some gigs," explains Larkin. "He was mates with Denny Laine who was in the Moody Blues and the two of them got a few other musicians together and they went out on the road. Paul’s wife Linda joined them as well. But after a few years he dropped the name Wings because it was irrelevant really, it was always Paul McCartney whoever he played with and Wings never lasted more than one album before there was a line-up change."

Since then Sir Paul’s solo work has been of varying success. A minor Beatles revival occurred in 1995 when the three remaining band members got together to record around some old vocals of the late John Lennon on the No 2 hit Free As A Bird.

His 1997 album Flaming Pie was warmly received by critics. Written around the time his wife of 29 years was losing her battle with cancer, it was an ‘‘emotional and gutsy’’ record. His most recent solo album, however, marked a decline in the success of his music. Run Devil Run, released in 1999, dropped out of the album charts after two weeks.

"‘It stiffed because he had nothing to say again,’’ says Larkin. ‘‘He’s happy and in love."

It’s his love life, rather than his music, that now holds the interest of the media. In 1999, a year after the death of Linda, he met Heather Mills at a charity awards ceremony. Although she is 26 years his junior, their relationship developed.

He said recently: "We had three or four meetings to talk about charity stuff, all prim and proper. I fancied her from the start but I was playing it cool."

In 2000 they announced they were an item and then, a year later, they were engaged. But it hasn’t all been a bed of roses. It’s been reported that his children aren’t at all trusting of Mills and even Sir Paul has admitted there’s tension.

"‘I think a second marriage is hard for the children no matter who it is. They find it difficult to think of me with another woman."

But with the children, Stella, James, Mary and stepdaughter Heather, all attending the wedding this week, it seems the rift has been healed. Perhaps they have come to understand their father’s need for a companion in his life.

As Peter Brown, the former head of the Beatles’ record company Apple, and the man who introduced Sir Paul to Linda says: "Linda kept him sane. She was his anchor. He’s a man who needs one."