Paul McCartney and Wings
Paul McCartney and Wings, often billed simply as Wings, were an English-American rock band formed in 1971 in London by former Beatles bassist, guitarist and singer Paul McCartney, his wife Linda McCartney on keyboards, session drummer Denny Seiwell, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings were noted for their commercial successes, musical eclecticism and frequent personnel changes; going through three lead guitarists and four drummers. However, the core trio of the McCartneys and Laine remained intact throughout the group's existence.
"Wings (band)" redirects here. For the American folk rock band, see Wings (1968 band). For the South Korean K-pop duo, see Wings (duo).
Paul McCartney and Wings
Wings
Suzy and the Red Stripes
The Country Hams
London, England
1971–1981
Created following the McCartneys' 1971 album Ram, the band's first two albums, Wild Life (1971) and Red Rose Speedway (1973) (the latter featuring guitarist Henry McCullough), were viewed as artistic disappointments beside Paul's work with the Beatles. After the release of the title track of the James Bond film Live and Let Die, McCullough and Seiwell resigned from the band. The McCartneys and Laine then released 1973's Band on the Run, a commercial and critical success that spawned two top-ten singles in "Jet" and the title track. Following that album, the band recruited guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton, only for Britton to quit shortly afterwards and be replaced by Joe English. With the new line-up, Wings released 1975's Venus and Mars, which included the US number one single "Listen to What the Man Said", and undertook a highly successful world tour over 1975–76. Intended as more of a group effort, Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976) was issued midway through the tour and featured the hit singles "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In".
In 1977, the band earned their only UK number one single, with "Mull of Kintyre", which became one of the best-selling singles in history. Wings experienced another line-up shuffle, however, with both McCulloch and English departing before the release of the group's 1978 album London Town. The McCartneys and Laine again added new members, recruiting guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holley. The resulting album, Back to the Egg, was a relative flop, with its singles under-performing and the critical reception negative. During the supporting tour, Paul was arrested in Japan for cannabis possession, putting the band on hold. Despite a final US number one with a live-recorded version of "Coming Up" (1980), Wings discontinued in 1981 after Laine departed from the band. In total, the band had six number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100.
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
After the Beatles' break-up in 1970, McCartney recorded two solo albums: McCartney (1970), credited to himself, and Ram (1971), with his wife, Linda McCartney. He had insisted from the beginning of their marriage that Linda should be involved in his musical projects, notwithstanding her lack of previous experience as a musician, so that they did not have to be apart when he was on tour.[3] Ram was recorded in New York City, where McCartney auditioned a number of drummers and guitarists, selecting Seiwell and guitarist David Spinozza.[4] When Spinozza became unavailable because of other session commitments, Hugh McCracken was enlisted to take his place.[5]
1971–1973: First line-up[edit]
After the release of Ram, McCartney decided to form a new group and asked Seiwell and McCracken to join. Seiwell accepted, but McCracken declined, so McCartney invited Denny Laine, whom he had known since the early 1960s, to join.[6] Laine, who was working on a solo album at the time, got a phone call from McCartney enquiring if he would like to work with him, as McCartney said: "I'd known him in the past and I just rang him and asked him, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'Nothing', so I said, 'Right. Come on then!'"[4] Laine then dropped plans for his album there and then.[4] As he had in the Beatles, McCartney would serve as the chief bassist and lead singer for Wings and he doubled on guitar, keyboards, drums and assorted instruments at various times. When asked why he stayed on bass guitar rather than change back to guitar after the Beatles disbanded, he has explained that by then, he was "a bass player pretty much, who also happened to play guitar" and also considers himself a bassist who happens to play piano.[7]
In August 1971, Seiwell and Laine joined Paul and Linda McCartney to record Paul's third post-Beatles album for Apple Records. The result was Wild Life, released 7 December. It was the first project to credit Wings as the artist. The band name is said to have come to McCartney as he was praying in the hospital while Linda was giving birth to their second child together, Stella, on 13 September 1971.[3][4] Paul McCartney recalled in the film Wingspan that the birth of Stella was "a bit of a drama"; there were complications at the birth and that both Linda and the baby almost died. He was praying fervently and the image of wings came to his mind. He decided to name his new band "Wings."[3]
In an attempt to capture the spontaneity of live performances, five of Wild Life's eight songs were first takes by the band.[8] The album included a cover of Mickey & Sylvia's "Love Is Strange".[9] Like Ram, Wild Life left music critics cold,[10][11] a response that typified the anti-McCartney sentiments that prevailed among the music press following the Beatles' break-up.[12][13] In their 1975 book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler called Wild Life "rushed, defensive, badly timed, and over-publicized", and wrote that it showed McCartney's songwriting "at an absolute nadir just when he needed a little respect".[14] Wings similarly struggled to gain artistic credibility, particularly during the early 1970s,[15] with critics, fans and McCartney's musical peers alike ridiculing the inclusion of Linda as a keyboard player and backing vocalist.[16][17]
On 24 January 1972, McCartney added to the Wings line-up guitarist Henry McCullough, after he had tried out for the band.[4] The new line-up immediately mounted an impromptu tour of UK universities (with the group driving around in a van),[18] followed by a tour of small European venues. Although this was the first tour including an ex-Beatle after the Beatles broke up, Wings played no Beatles numbers during the tour, to show that it was a new band in its own right.[19]
In February 1972, Wings released a single called "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", a response to the events of Bloody Sunday.[20] The song was banned by the BBC for its anti-Unionist political stance.[21] Despite limited airplay, it reached number 16 in the UK,[22] as well as number 1 in both the Republic of Ireland and Spain. Wings released a children's song, "Mary Had a Little Lamb", as its next single, which reached the top 10 in the UK.[22] Although some critics interpreted it as a sarcastic reaction to the ban on "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", it was in fact a serious effort by McCartney to record a song for children.[23] Wings followed it with December 1972's "Hi, Hi, Hi", which was again banned by the BBC, this time for its alleged drug and sexual references.[21] The B-side, "C Moon", was played instead.[3] The single peaked at number 5 in the UK.[22]
The band were renamed "Paul McCartney and Wings" for the 1973 album Red Rose Speedway (and for the follow-up Band on the Run),[24] which yielded their first US number 1 hit, "My Love".[25] The album included two tracks left over from the Ram sessions and was originally intended as a two-record set.[26] After producer Glyn Johns had walked out on the project, however,[27] McCartney conceded to EMI's opinion that the material was "substandard" and cut it down to a single disc.[28] Among the unreleased songs from the seven-month sessions was the Linda composition "Seaside Woman", which was finally issued in 1977, credited to "Suzy and the Red Stripes".
Legacy[edit]
Wings had twelve top-10 singles (including one number one) in the UK and fourteen top 10 singles (including six number ones) in the US. All 23 singles released by Wings reached the US top 40, and one two-sided hit, "Junior's Farm"/"Sally G", reached the top 40 with each side. Of the nine albums released by Wings, all went top 10 in either the UK or the US, with five consecutive albums topping the US charts. Paul McCartney was unquestionably Wings' leader and dominant creative force, but Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, and Linda McCartney all contributed a little in songwriting, and Laine, McCulloch, Joe English, and Linda McCartney all performed a few lead vocals.
The success of Wings was a vindication for McCartney.[64] His first few post-Beatles albums were highly criticized and often dismissed by critics as "lightweight" next to the more serious nature of his former bandmates' solo output. But by the mid-1970s, the solo careers of the other three former Beatles were in varying degrees of decline, with John Lennon putting his career on hold in 1975 for the first five years of his son Sean's life. A year later, George Harrison had all but retired from live performances, with his new releases failing to match the success of his initial solo output. Ringo Starr was living in Los Angeles and was writing and recording, but as a solo artist had not been performing onstage other than rare guest appearances. Meanwhile, Wings continued to tour regularly and enjoy much commercial success. According to author Robert Rosen, by 1980, Lennon was envious enough of McCartney's continuing success to make his re-emergence on the music scene.[65]
One of the criticisms of Wings was that the other members were little more than sidemen backing up a solo McCartney.[66] Guitarist Henry McCullough quit the band because he grew tired of being told by McCartney exactly what to play, and said that Wings were never a "real band."[67] On the other hand, other former members of Wings such as Joe English and Laurence Juber have said that they were allowed a degree of creative freedom. In an interview, Juber, Wings' third lead guitarist, said, "I was a sideman, but the job assignment very much included considering myself a part of the band ... In all its incarnations Wings sounded like a band, not like a solo McCartney project and I think that reflects well not only on Paul's ability to share in the creative process, but also on the importance of Denny and Linda's contributions, too. The other players brought their own personalities to the scene."[66]
In addition to its own output, Wings recorded several songs that were released through various outlets both before and after the band's break-up. Denny Laine's 1977 solo album Holly Days was a joint effort by Laine with Paul and Linda McCartney;[68] three songs on Laine's 1980 solo album Japanese Tears were performed by Wings with Laine on lead vocals; Laine also contributed to several songs on Paul McCartney's 1982 and 1983 solo albums Tug of War and Pipes of Peace, respectively. Juber's instrumental "Maisie"—which was backed by members of Wings—appeared on his solo album Standard Time. The McCartneys and Laine contributed backing vocals to George Harrison's 1981 tribute to John Lennon, "All Those Years Ago". Linda McCartney continued to tour and record with her husband up until her death in 1998, after which a compilation of her songs entitled Wide Prairie was released that featured seven Wings songs written or co-written by her. Wings also backed Paul's brother Mike McGear on the McGear album, as well as McGear's band the Scaffold on the single "Liverpool Lou" and its B-side "Ten Years After on Strawberry Jam". Paul McCartney also used three unreleased Wings songs as B-sides of his solo singles several years after Wings' break-up.
Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre"/"Girls School" is still the biggest-selling non-charity single in the UK (although Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" sold more, its sales include a reissue in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust),[69] and it ranked fourth in the official list of all-time best-selling singles in the UK issued in 2002.[70]
In 2001, Wingspan: Hits and History was released, a project spanning an album and a television special retrospective.
Founding member Denny Laine died on 5 December 2023, at the age of 79.[71][72]
Live in the studio album from 1974, One Hand Clapping, finally saw the release in 2024.
Collaborations
Live