Happy Birthday Paul McCartney

Happy Birthday to Paul McCartney, who turns 71 years old today (June 18th). To date, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in history, having written or co-written 30 U.S. Number One hits. McCartney met his original songwriting partner John Lennon on July 6th, 1957 at a church social where Lennon was performing. After joining Lennon's band, the Quarrymen, McCartney persuaded Lennon to add his friend George Harrison in 1958, and the seeds of the Beatles were born. Ringo Starr joined the group in 1962.

Over 50 years since starting his musical career, and having written some of the most beloved music of the 20th century, McCartney is still unable to read or write a note of music: "I can think songs up, I can think arrangements, I can structure things, but I can't physically write stuff down on a page. I always had a kind of dyslexia when I was a kid. I was taking piano lessons -- I took them at a few points in me life. Whenever I did, it always seemed boring, it always seemed like homework -- I don't wanna put any students off who are learning properly. I always had great difficulties with it."

McCartney is currently working on his first new original album since 2007's Memory Almost Full, and admits that his past figures in quite heavily when working up new material.