Sir Paul McCartney has opened up about life after The Beatles, admitting that he didn’t know what to do with himself after the band split in 1970
Sir Paul McCartney formed one quarter of the legendary Beatles foursome that took the globe by storm during the 1960s. Yet when The Beatles disbanded publicly in April 1970, each member was forced to forge their own path forward.
Sir Paul retreated to Scotland before launching Wings a year later – a group that would go on to shift 22 million albums in its own right.
A new book titled, ‘Wings: the Story of a Band on the Run’ offers an intimate glimpse into the group’s formation and Paul’s experiences in the immediate wake of The Beatles’ demise.
The 83-year-old revealed the initial period proved challenging, as the band had consumed his entire existence for such an extended period, leaving him uncertain about his next steps.
Paul reflected: “Leaving the Beatles, or having the Beatles leave me, whichever way you look at it, was very difficult because that was my life’s job. Soo, when it stopped, it was like ‘What do we do now?’
“In truth, I didn’t have any idea. There were two options: either don’t do music and think of something else, or do music and figure out how you’re going to do that.”
Though Paul had reached extraordinary heights with the Beatles, he successfully sustained that acclaim through Wings.
Moreover, Paul’s appeal extended well into the 2000s and remains strong throughout the 2020s, culminating in his Record of the Year triumph at the 2025 Grammys. Paul McCartney has added another accolade to The Beatles’ extensive list by using artificial intelligence (AI) to isolate John Lennon’s voice from a 1978 home demo for the 2023 single ‘Now and Then’.
Despite the song becoming the first AI-assisted track to win a Grammy, Paul has voiced his concerns about the technology, urging people not to let it exploit artists.
In a chat with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Paul cautioned about AI creating a “Wild West” that failed to adequately safeguard artists.
He said: “You get young guys, girls, coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don’t own it. They don’t have anything to do with it. And anyone who wants can just rip it off.
“The truth is, the money’s going somewhere. Somebody’s getting paid, so why shouldn’t it be the guy who sat down and wrote Yesterday?”.
“I think AI is great, and it can do lots of great things….But it shouldn’t rip creative people off. There’s no sense in that.”