"Born on June 18: Paul McCartney, one of the Fab Four — 84 and timeless"

Born in 1942 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, the Beatles’ bassist and lead songwriter (alongside his alter ego John Lennon) is celebrating his 83rd birthday today.

Throughout his career, he composed dozens of memorable songs and continues tirelessly to release albums that, while perhaps more low-key, are always created with the same childlike joy. His latest album, titled “McCartney III” (2020), doesn’t shy away from experimenting with gentle electronic sounds—a rather unexpected direction for the venerable grandfather of rock.

It’s always risky—if not impossible—to capture a legend in just a few lines. So I’ll limit myself to a few anecdotes, some personal, others more universal.

The Beatles’ songs have always been a part of my life, as they have been for most of you, but I didn’t buy my first Wings album until 1978. It was London Town, which I found on sale at HMV (a record store chain) in Richmond, a suburb on the outskirts of London, where I was learning English at a secondary school in Twickenham, not far from Pete Townshend’s home— the drummer of The Who. Just for good measure—and to maintain my “street credibility” back when punk was taking England by storm — I picked up Eddie & The Hot Rods’ Life On The Line right after that. Both were adorned with a giant price tag announcing their bargain price: 50 pence, or the equivalent of 50 euro cents. On the way back, in the creaking trunk, “With A Little Luck” set the mood for our teenage longing for slow dances. Without much success!

Ever since concerts in Rio moved to Copacabana Beach, attendance figures have skyrocketed, but Macca still holds the record at Maracanã Stadium with an official crowd of 184,000 on April 21, 1990.

While the Beatles had recorded “Back In The U.S.S.R.” in November 1968, Paul McCartney wanted to take advantage of a relative opening in the Soviet Union by offering them an exclusive release of his seventh solo album, “Choba B CCCP” (the Russian translation of “Back to the U.S.S.R.”), on the state-run Melodyia label. Recorded in two days under live conditions, it features eleven covers of rock ’n’ roll classics such as “Lucille” (Little Richard) and “Ain’t That a Shame” (Fats Domino). During a visit to Moscow in November 1989, I was lucky enough to find two copies at the GUM department store on Red Square, across from the Kremlin.

The mischievous Macca’s latest coup came in late 2023, just as the Rolling Stones released “Hackney Diamonds,” their first studio album since 2016, McCartney managed to steal the show with John Lennon’s voice, emerging from beyond the grave, with the song “Now And Then” —which has racked up 66 billion streams on Spotify…

Both surprisingly insatiable and utterly good-natured, Paul McCartney continues to dip his pen in the inkwell. As touching as they may be at times, the fourteen songs he has just compiled on "The Boys of Dungeon Lane" (2026) are steeped in nostalgia, even if they will likely not go down as a milestone in his discography. Although they have regularly collaborated on their respective recordings, their duet on “Home To Us” is nonetheless a first in half a century. Since the Beatles’ breakup, McCartney has released about 23 studio albums—first with Wings and then as a solo artist (often with excellent backing). Not to mention his classical recordings, his covers of rock and jazz standards, and even—though somewhat under the radar—the three interesting electronic music albums he made with producer Martin “Youth” Glover in the 1990s. McCartney is truly a chameleon!

Photo: Paul McCartney on the steps of the Opéra Garnier in Paris (France) on March 7, 2016, after his daughter Stella McCartney’s fashion show