| Mike McCartney | |
|---|---|
 A Mike Barnes photo taken in 2005
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Peter Michael McCartney |
| Born | 7 January 1944 Liverpool, England |
| Genres | Rock Pop rock |
| Occupations | Photographer, musician |
| Instruments | Piano, guitar |
| Years active | 1966–1981 (musician) 1966-present (photographer) |
| Labels | Parlophone Island Warner Bros. Carrere Conn |
| Associated acts | The Scaffold Grimms Paul McCartney |
| Website | Mike McCartney Website |
Mike McCartney (born Peter Michael McCartney, 7 January 1944, at Walton General Hospital, Liverpool), known professionally as Mike McGear, is a British performing artist and rock photographer and the younger brother of Paul McCartney. He attended the Liverpool Institute two years behind his brother.
Contents |
Early years
Michael (b. 7 January 1944) and his brother Paul (b. 18 June 1942) were both born in the Walton General Hospital in Liverpool, where their mother, Mary McCartney, had previously worked as a nursing sister in charge of the maternity ward.[1][2] Michael was not enrolled in a Catholic school as his father, Jim McCartney, believed that they leaned too much towards religion instead of education.[1] At age 17, McCartney started his first job at 'Jackson's the Tailors' in Ranelagh Street, Liverpool. The year after he took an apprenticeship at 'Andrew Bernard', a hairdresser for ladies in the same street.[3]
Musical career
At the time the Beatles became successful, Mike McCartney was still working as an apprentice hairdresser.[4] However, he was also a member of the Liverpool comedy-poetry-music group The Scaffold, which included Roger McGough and John Gorman and had formed in 1962 (the year of The Beatles' first hit). McCartney decided to use a stagename, so as not to capitalize on his family connections to the Fab Four. After first dubbing himself "Mike Blank",[5] he settled on "Mike McGear", using the Liverpudlian equivalent of "Fab".[4] The band was subsequently signed to Parlophone, the same EMI label which recorded The Beatles.
The Scaffold recorded a number of UK hit singles between 1966 and 1974, the most successful being the 1968 Christmas number one single, "Lily the Pink". McCartney composed the band's next biggest hit, 1967's "Thank U Very Much". In 1968, he and McGough released a "duo" album (McGough & McGear) that included the usual Scaffold mix of lyrics, poems, and comedy. The Scaffold ended up hosting a TV program, which limited the musical portion of their career, and they were dropped by Parlophone. McCartney then signed to Island Records and released a solo musical album entitled Woman in 1972,
sample (help·info) which again included many tracks co-written with McGough, and The Scaffold subsequently released their own album on the label, Fresh Liver.
The Scaffold then added several other members and released two albums on Island in 1973 as Grimms (an acronym for Gorman-Roberts-Innes-McGear-McGough-Stanshall).[4] However, McCartney quit Grimms after the second album due to tension between himself and one of the poets added to the group.
McCartney then signed to Warner Bros. Records and in 1974 released his second "serious" musical album, McGear, in which he collaborated with his brother Paul and Paul's band Wings. Although four singles were released from these sessions, only "Leave It" enjoyed any moderate chart success (#36 UK). However, also recorded during McCartney's sessions with Wings was a Scaffold "reunion" song, "Liverpool Lou", which became The Scaffold's last top-ten hit. This led to the group's re-formation in 1974, and they recorded and performed together through 1977.
Individually, McCartney released a few more singles. His final release, while still using the name Mike McGear, was the 1981 release, "No Lar Di Dar (Is Lady Di)." This was a satircal tribute to Lady Diana Spencer, released at the time of her wedding to Prince Charles.
In the 1980s, after retiring from music, Mike McCartney decided to end his use of the "McGear" pseudonym and revert to use of his family name.
Photographic career
McCartney was a photographer during his entire musical career, and has continued with photography since then. Beatles' manager Brian Epstein nicknamed him "Flash Harry" back in the early 1960s because he was always taking pictures with a flash gun.[6]
He has published books of pictures that he took of The Beatles backstage and on tour, and he recently brought out a limited edition book of photos he took spontaneously backstage at Live8.[4] In 2005, McCartney premiered and exhibited a collection of photographs that he had taken in the 1960s, called "Mike McCartney's Liverpool Life", both in Liverpool[6] and other venues, such as The Provincial Museum of Alberta.[7] In addition, an exhibition book was published of the collection.[8]
He also took the cover photograph for Paul McCartney's 2005 solo album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.[5]
Personal life
McCartney married (in 1968) and later divorced Angela Fishwick. He later married Rowena Horne. McCartney has six children between his marriages, three from each, including Josh McCartney, who was the drummer in the band The Famous Last Words (formerly known as Trilby).
Solo discography
Singles
UK Releases
- "Woman" / "Kill" (Island WIP 6131) Apr., 1972
- "Leave It" / "Sweet Baby" (Warner Bros K 16446) Sept., 1974 [#36 UK]
- "Sea Breezes" / "Giving Grease a Ride" (Warner Bros K 16520) Feb., 1975
- "Dance the Do" / "Norton" (Warner Bros K16573) July, 1975
- "Simply Love You" / "What Do We Really Know" (Warner Bros K 16658) Nov., 1975
- "Do Nothing All Day" / "A to Z" (EMI 2485) June, 1976
- "All The Whales In The Ocean" / "I Juz Want What You Got - Money!" (Carrere CAR 144) May, 1980
- "No Lar Di Dar (Is Lady Di)" / "God Bless Our Gracious Queen" (Conn CONN 29781) July, 1981
US Release
- "Leave It" / "Sweet Baby" (Warner Bros WBS 8037) Oct., 1974
Albums
UK Releases
- MCGOUGH AND MCGEAR (Parlophone PMC 7047 [mono], PCS 7047 [stereo]) [LP] May, 1968
- WOMAN (Island ILPS 9191) [LP] Apr., 1972
- MCGEAR (Warner Bros K 56051) [LP] Sept., 1974
- MCGOUGH AND MCGEAR (Parlophone PCS 7332) [LP] Apr., 1989 [Reissue of the 1968 album]
- MCGOUGH AND MCGEAR (EMI CDP 7 91877 2) [CD] Apr., 1989 [Reissue of the 1968 album]
- MCGEAR (See For Miles SEECD 339) [CD] Apr., 1992 [Reissue of the 1974 album, with two additional tracks]
- WOMAN (Edsel EDCD 507) [CD] Feb., 1997 [Reissue of the 1972 album, with four short tracks omitted]
- A COLLECTION OF SONGS FOR THE YOUNG HOMELESS OF MERSEYSIDE (Merseyside Accommodation Project) [CD] Dec., 1996 [Multi-artist commemorative release, including one newly-recorded track by Mike McCartney]
US Releases
- MCGEAR (Warner Bros BS 2825) [LP] Oct., 1974
- MCGEAR (Rykodisc RCD 10192) [CD] Sept, 1990 [Reissue of the 1974 album, with one additional track]
Discography Notes
- The album, MCGOUGH AND MCGEAR, is by Roger McGough and Mike McGear.
- The single, "No Lar Di Dar (Is Lady Di)," is by Mike McGear (McCartney) and The Monarchists.
- The track "Take It Into Your Hearts," on the Merseyside Accommodation Project release, is by Mike McCartney.
- All other releases by Mike McGear.
- See also The Scaffold Discography.
- See also Grimms Discography.
Notes
- ^ a b Miles 1998 p4.
- ^ Spitz 2005 p75
- ^ Mike McCartney biog on Beatles Ireland iol.ie/~beatlesireland- Retrieved 16 October 2007
- ^ a b c d Mike McCartney’s biog mikemccartney.co.uk - Retrieved: 6 October 2007
- ^ a b Barry O'Brien, "The Scaffold: Airbrushed from History?". Retrieved 17 October 2007.
- ^ a b Mike McCartney's Liverpool Life exhibition, Museum of Liverpool Life, 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
- ^ ‘Liverpool Life’ Exhibition artvisionexhibitions.com - Retrieved 16 October 2007
- ^ Press release for exhibition book, dated March 2004. Retrieved 17 October 2004.
References
- Harry, Bill (Rev Upd edition 2001). The Beatles Encyclopedia. Virgin Publishing. ISBN 978-0753504819.
- Miles, Barry (1998). Many Years From Now. Vintage-Random House. ISBN 0-7493-8658-4.
- Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Little, Brown and Company (New York). ISBN 1-84513-160-6.
External links
- Mike McCartney Website
- Michael's solo albums
- Mike McCartney’s Liverpool Life
- Michael McCartney's 'beatleireland' biog
- Honorary Fellowships awarded 2005
- National Gallery portraits
- McCartney's Live 8 book
- Liverpool Echo tags
- BBC tags
- Mike McCartney To Open Chambré Hardman's Home
- Save Woolton cinema
- Scaffold and the Grimms history
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