Sir Paul McCartney is celebrating his 80th birthday this weekend and he made a huge revelation regarding his career with the Beatles.
Paul McCartney outlines how he almost left the Beatles
It is quite a scary task to imagine The Beatles without Paul McCartney. The rocker achieved international superstardom when the Liverpudlian four-piece shot to fame in the 1960s, but Paul admitted that he was so overcome with stage fright he considered quitting.
Asked by a fan on his website www.paulmccartney.com in 2017 what his biggest fear was, the star replied: “Performing, it was always the idea that the audience didn’t like you and you had to prove yourself. I think that’s why a lot of people get stage fright and get nervous. You think, ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna be terrible, they hate me, and it’s all terrible.’
“And so I think that was one of the earliest fears. I remember nearly giving it all up when we were doing a concert in Wembley – which was a Poll-Winners concert – in the really early days of The Beatles. And I remember feeling physically sick with a knot in my stomach thinking, ‘I should give this up, this is just too painful, what am I doing?’ I got over it. And as you can see I didn’t give it up! So that’s two different kinds of fears.”
The singer went on to admit that although he still has a bit of stage fright his nerves are a lot better. He has been world-famous since he was 21, and for very good reason. His immense success with the Beatles, writing and performing songs the world still sings today and becoming a transformative figure in popular culture has made him the huge star that he is.
He has been making some great music ever since, at a rate of productivity and creativity almost unrivaled in his field. His megahit era may have tailed off in the mid-1980s but last year his 18th solo studio album McCartney III (of 47 if you count all bands and side projects) went to number one in the UK.
