His biggest claim to fame is being a Beatle, and while it is admittedly pretty hard to top that, but Paul McCartney has still had a significant career and prominence in the media since then. In addition to being in groups like Wings and the Quarrymen, he has also become an icon for various social issues. Let’s take a look at his career over the years, starting with his net worth!
Paul McCartney Net Worth: $1.2 Billion
Paul McCartney’s net worth is estimated to be around $1.2 billion. Let’s take a look at his career over the years just to see how he came so far!
The Early Years
Born in Liverpool, England, McCartney’s start in the music industry came at the age of fifteen when he met John Lennon and his band, the Quarrymen, which also included future Beatle George Harrison, and asked him to join. It was this band that would eventually evolve into The Beatles, eventually gaining fourth prominent member, Ringo Starr. One of the group’s biggest songs, “Yesterday,” had been one of McCartney’s own compositions, featuring the influence classical music with their normal style.
1966-1970
Ultimately, the Beatles would have its final commercial concert at the end of their 1966 US tour. The same year, McCartney would begin his first musical project outside of the group, a film score for the film, The Family Way. Although the band gave up performing around this time, the Beatles still released content, notably their first concept album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the animated film, Yellow Submarine, which did not feature the band members voicing themselves. Eventually, by the end of the decade, the band disbanded by 1970.
1971-1981
By 1971, McCartney moved onto his next musical project, the band Wings, which had their first concert tour in 1972, having success with songs like “My Love” and “Silly Love Songs,” ultimately producing a total of seven studio albums, two of which topped the UK charts and four the US charts. Eventually, however, the band disbanded by 1981, over disputes concerning royalties and salaries. In late 1980, McCartney’s Beatle bandmate and collaborator, John Lennon, was shot four times by gunman Mark David Chapman, ultimately losing his life.
1982-1999
Moving more towards a solo career, his next big project was the Tug of War LP, which featured the song “Ebony and Ivory”, with Stevie Wonder. In 1984, he starred in the musical film, Give My Regards to Broad Street. By the 1990’s he started to experiment with orchestral music, producing Liverpool Oratorio. In 1994, he broke away from his solo career to collaborate with Apple’s Beatles Anthology project, working with Harrison and Starr. In 1997, he was knighted for his contributions to the entertainment industry. With the start of a new decade, McCartney released the electronica album Liverpool Sound Collage. In 2001, McCartney lost another Beatle bandmate, George Harrison, lost his life to lung cancer.
2011-Present
In 2018, McCartney especially returned to the public eye with his involvement with the March For Our Lives demonstration, for him, the fight for gun control had been a personal one due to loosing Lennon’s death by shooting. In a statement with CNN, McCartney issued the following statement:
“One of my best friends was killed by gun violence right around here so it’s important to me not just to march today but to take action tomorrow.”