Paul McCartney is most famous for being the bassist and a composer for The Beatles. However, his solo career has spanned more than 5 decades since The Beatles broke up. In 1970 he released his first solo album McCartney, where he wrote, performed and produced the whole album. McCartney has since released two sister albums where he does all of the work, McCartney II and McCartney III.
Although McCartney is known for his music during his career he has done numerous side projects, some of which even turned into main projects. The biggest being his animal rights activism. After living on a farm in Scotland for many years in 1975 McCartney and his family became vegetarian, vowing to never eat anything with a face ever again. He has since been very vocal about vegetarianism and has collaborated with organizations to spread awareness. His daughters, Stella and Mary McCartney and him founded Meat Free Monday in 2009. The non-profit organization’s main goal is to raise awareness for the environmental impact the animal and industrial fishing industries have on the environment.
In 1968 Paul McCartney did his first bit of activism by writing, recording and releasing the song “Blackbird” with The Beatles. He wrote the song about desegregation in American schools, more specifically about black girls being integrated into schools. He spoke about this in an interview when the song released however, due to John Lennon saying The Beatles were bigger than Jesus his comments about racism were overshadowed.
John Lennon was murdered in 1980 by gun violence. We have since seen more and more gun violence happening all over the world. McCartney has actively spoken out against this and advocated for stricter gun laws. In 2018 he marched in the “March for Our Lives” protest to bring more awareness to the issue.
Among all of his activism and success McCartney has remained a humble person. He is more than willing to have a conversation with a fan; however, he no longer signs things or takes photos. He continues to tour even though he is 82 years old giving us his voice and spreading joy as he goes along.
