Paul McCartney is a cultural touchstone. As one half of the legendary Lennon-McCartney song-writing duo he helped transform popular music, moving from the simplistic pop of 'Love Me Do' to the avant-garde symphonies of 'A Day in the Life' to generation-binding anthems such as 'Hey Jude'. McCartney's own ambitions fuelled much of the group's progress. But even as he steered himself from childhood tragedy to his meeting with John Lennon to the gestation of the Beatles and their rise to international acclaim, the same appetites that drove the group to its greatest creative and commercial heights also served to tear the band members apart. Neither McCartney's career nor the bonds between the Beatles ended with the Beatles' break-up. And in this definitive biography, Peter Ames Carlin examines McCartney's entire life, casting new light not just on the Beatles era, but also on his years with Wings and his thirty-year relationship with his first wife, Linda McCartney. Carlin presents McCartney as a musical visionary, capable of crafting pop gems such as 'Band on the Run' and 'Maybe I'm Amazed'.
But he also reveals a layered and often conflicted figure, as haunted by his legacy - and particularly his relationship with John Lenin - as he was inspired by it. Built on years of research and fresh, revealing interviews with friends, bandmates and collaborations spanning McCartney's entire life, Carlin's lively biography captures the many faces of Paul McCartney and paints a vivid portrait of one of our era's living legends. Peter Ames Carlin is author of bestselling Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. He is a journalist and lives in the States.