Paul McCartney and Wings

After the Beatles' break-up in 1970, McCartney recorded two albums: McCartney (1970), credited to himself, and Ram (1971), with wife Linda. He had insisted from the beginning of their marriage that Linda should be involved in his musical projects, notwithstanding her lack of previous experience as a musician, so that they did not have to be apart when he was on tour.[4] Ram was recorded in New York City, where McCartney auditioned a number of drummers and guitarists, selecting Seiwell and guitarist David Spinozza.[5] When Spinozza became unavailable due to other session commitments, Hugh McCracken was enlisted to take his place.[6]

After the release of Ram, McCartney decided to form a new group and asked Seiwell and McCracken to join. Seiwell accepted, but McCracken declined, so McCartney invited Denny Laine, whom he had known since the early 1960s, to join.[7] Laine, who was working on a solo album at the time, got a phone call from McCartney enquiring if he would like to work with him, as McCartney said: "I'd known him in the past and I just rang him and asked him, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'Nothing', so I said, 'Right. Come on then!'"[5] Laine then dropped plans for his album there and then.[5] As he had in the Beatles, McCartney would serve as the chief bassist and lead singer for Wings and he doubled on guitar, keyboards, drums and assorted instruments at various times. When asked why he stayed on bass guitar rather than change back to guitar after the Beatles disbanded, he has explained that by then, he was "a bass player pretty much, who also happened to play guitar" and also considers himself a bassist who happens to play piano.[8]

In August 1971, Seiwell and Laine joined Paul and Linda McCartney to record Paul's third post-Beatles album for Apple Records. The result was Wild Life, released 7 December. It was the first project to credit Wings as the artist. The band name is said to have come to McCartney as he was praying in the hospital while Linda was giving birth to their second child together, Stella, on 13 September 1971.[4][5] Paul McCartney recalled in the film Wingspan that the birth of Stella was "a bit of a drama"; there were complications at the birth and that both Linda and the baby almost died. He was praying fervently and the image of wings came to his mind. He decided to name his new band "Wings".[4]

In an attempt to capture the spontaneity of live performances, five of Wild Life's eight songs were first takes by the band.[9] The album included a cover of Mickey & Sylvia's "Love Is Strange".[10] Like Ram, Wild Life left music critics cold,[11][12] a response that typified the anti-McCartney sentiments that prevailed among the music press following the Beatles' break-up.[13][14] In their 1975 book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler called Wild Life "rushed, defensive, badly timed, and over-publicized", and wrote that it showed McCartney's songwriting "at an absolute nadir just when he needed a little respect".[15] Wings similarly struggled to gain artistic credibility, particularly during the early 1970s,[16] with critics, fans and McCartney's musical peers alike ridiculing the inclusion of Linda as a keyboard player and backing vocalist.[17][18]

On 24 January 1972, McCartney added to the Wings line-up guitarist Henry McCullough, after he had tried out for the band.[5] The new line-up immediately mounted an impromptu tour of UK universities (with the group driving around in a van),[19] followed by a tour of small European venues. Although this was the first tour including an ex-Beatle after the Beatles broke up, Wings played no Beatles numbers during the tour, to show that it was a new band in its own right.[20]

In February 1972, Wings released a single called "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", a response to the events of Bloody Sunday.[21] The song was banned by the BBC for its anti-Unionist political stance.[22] Despite limited airplay, it reached number 16 in the UK,[23] as well as number 1 in both the Republic of Ireland and Spain. Wings released a children's song, "Mary Had a Little Lamb", as its next single, which reached the top 10 in the UK.[23] Although some critics interpreted it as a sarcastic reaction to the ban on "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", it was in fact a serious effort by McCartney to record a song for children.[24] Wings followed it with December 1972's "Hi, Hi, Hi", which was again banned by the BBC, this time for its alleged drug and sexual references.[22] The B-side, "C Moon", was played instead.[4] The single peaked at number 5 in the UK.[23]

The band were renamed "Paul McCartney and Wings" for the 1973 album Red Rose Speedway,[25] which yielded their first US number 1 hit, "My Love".[26] The album included two tracks left over from the Ram sessions and was originally intended as a two-record set.[27] After producer Glyn Johns had walked out on the project, however,[28] McCartney conceded to EMI's opinion that the material was "substandard" and cut it down to a single disc.[29] Among the unreleased songs from the seven-month sessions was the Linda composition "Seaside Woman", which was finally issued in 1977, credited to "Suzy and the Red Stripes".

Paul and Linda McCartney at the Academy Awards, April 1974

Near the end of the Red Rose Speedway sessions, in October 1972, Wings recorded the theme song to the James Bond film Live and Let Die, which reunited McCartney with Beatles producer/arranger George Martin. Issued as a non-album single in mid-1973, "Live and Let Die" became a worldwide hit and has remained a highlight of McCartney's post-Wings concert performances (often accompanied by pyrotechnics). That same year, McCartney and Wings filmed a TV special, the critically maligned James Paul McCartney, which featured footage of the group performing in outdoor settings and in front of a studio audience.[30]

After a successful British tour in May–June 1973, Wings went into rehearsals for their next album. McCullough and Seiwell abruptly left the band in August, however, at the end of rehearsals.[31] Both musicians were disenchanted with the group's musical direction and Linda's inclusion;[32] McCullough also objected to McCartney's domineering attitude towards him as a guitar player,[33] while Seiwell had long felt aggrieved at the lack of a formalised financial arrangement and his status as a lowly paid sideman.[34][35]

With the band reduced to a trio, the McCartneys and Laine cut what turned out to be Wings' most successful album, Band on the Run, at EMI's primitive eight-track recording studio in Lagos, Nigeria. The album went to number 1 in both the US and UK[23] and spawned three hit singles: the rockers "Jet" and "Helen Wheels" (originally included only on the US version of the album) and the title track—a suite of movements recalling side two of Abbey Road. It also included "Let Me Roll It", which was seen as an affectionate impersonation of John Lennon's vocal style,[15] and "No Words", the first Wings song on which Laine received a co-writing credit beside the McCartneys.[36] Band on the Run enjoyed a highly favourable response from music critics and restored McCartney's tarnished post-Beatles image.[37][38]

After Band on the Run, Jimmy McCulloch, former lead guitarist in Thunderclap Newman and Stone the Crows, joined the band. The first Wings project with McCulloch was McGear, a 1974 collaboration between Paul and his younger brother Mike McGear, with session musician Gerry Conway playing drums. Warner Bros. Records chose not to play up the "Wings" angle in its marketing for McGear, and the album sold poorly. However, the sessions also generated a single credited to McGear's group the Scaffold, "Liverpool Lou", which became a top-10 hit in the UK. Shortly thereafter, Geoff Britton joined Wings on drums, and the first recording session with this full line-up was held in Nashville, where the band stayed at the farm of songwriter Curly Putman Jr.[39] The trip was immortalised in the 1974 non-album single "Junior's Farm", backed with a straight country track entitled "Sally G", the group's last release on Apple Records. In a rare occurrence for this era, both sides of the single separately reached the Billboard Top 20 in the US. During these sessions, Wings (with guest musicians Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer) also recorded a single that was attributed to "the Country Hams" entitled "Walking in the Park with Eloise", a song written years before by Paul's father James.[39]

Paul McCartney with Linda McCartney in 1976

Wings began recording sessions for its next album in London in November 1974, then moved to New Orleans to complete Venus and Mars (1975), the first release from the group on Capitol Records. The album topped the charts and contained the US number 1 single "Listen to What the Man Said", which also featured Dave Mason, formerly of Traffic, on guitar and Tom Scott on saxophone. When the Venus and Mars recording sessions moved to New Orleans, Britton quit Wings and was replaced by Joe English who won the job at a secret audition before McCartney.[40] In late 1975 Wings embarked on the Wings Over the World tour,[41] following a postponement to allow McCulloch to recuperate from a hand fracture. Starting in Bristol, the tour took them to Australia (November), Europe (March 1976), the US (May/June), and Europe again (September), before ending in a four-night grand finale at London's Wembley Empire Pool. For this tour, added to Wings' stage act was a horn section consisting of Tony Dorsey, Howie Casey, Thaddeus Richard and Steve Howard, on saxes, brass and percussion.

Denny Laine during the 1976 tour

In between sections of the tour, Wings recorded Wings at the Speed of Sound, which was released at the end of March 1976, just prior to the US leg of the world tour. It represented a departure from the previous Wings template in that each of the five members of the band (including English) sang lead on at least one song. However, the two singles, "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In" (the former a US number one), were both sung by Paul. Four of the album tracks were played in the 1976 portion of the tour, which also included five Beatles songs. One of the Seattle concerts from the American leg of the 1975–76 world tour was filmed and later released as the concert feature Rockshow (1980). The tour's American leg, which also included Madison Square Garden in New York City and Boston Garden in Massachusetts, spawned a triple live album, Wings over America (1976), which became the fifth consecutive Wings album to reach number 1 in the US.[42] From this album came a single release of the live version of "Maybe I'm Amazed"[43] originally from the McCartney album.[44] The single's flipside was "Soily", a previously unreleased rocker that was often used as a closer for the concerts.

Jimmy McCulloch (left) and Paul McCartney during the 1976 Wings Over the World tour

After the tour, and following the release of "Maybe I'm Amazed" in early 1977, Wings took a break. Later in the year, the band started recording their next album in the Virgin Islands, but the sessions were interrupted by Linda's pregnancy and then by the departures of both McCulloch and English. McCulloch, who joined Small Faces, died of morphine and alcohol poisoning in 1979. English joined Chuck Leavell's band Sea Level and later founded the Christian-oriented Joe English Band.

Undeterred by their departure, Wings released the already-completed McCartney–Laine ballad "Mull of Kintyre", an ode to the Scottish coastal region where McCartney had made his home in the early 1970s. Its broad appeal was maximised by a pre-Christmas release. It became an international hit, dominating the charts in Britain (where it was Wings' only number 1 single), Australia and many other countries over the Christmas/New Year period. Ultimately, it became the first single to exceed sales of 2 million in the UK, eclipsing the previous all-time best-seller (the Beatles' "She Loves You"), and remains one of the biggest-selling UK singles of all time. However, it was not a success in the US, where the B-side "Girls School" received most of the airplay but barely reached the top 40.

The core trio of Wings then released the album London Town in 1978. Though only the remaining trio are pictured on the sleeve, much of the album included McCulloch and English, having been recorded before their departures. Laine, however, remained and was co-credited on five of the tracks, including the title song.[45] It was a commercial success, although it became the first Wings album since Wild Life not to reach number 1 in the US (peaking at number 2).[46] London Town featured a markedly softer-rock, synth-based sound than previous Wings albums. "With a Little Luck" reached number 1 in the US and number 5 in the UK,[23] but "I've Had Enough" and "London Town" were commercial disappointments in both countries.

Steve Holley, the group's last drummer

Later in 1978, lead guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holley joined the band, restoring Wings to touring strength. In 1979, McCartney signed a new record contract, leaving Capitol, the company he had been with in the US and Canada since he was a Beatle, and joining Columbia Records, while remaining with Parlophone in the rest of the world. Influenced by the punk and new wave scenes, Wings abandoned its mellow touch and hired Chris Thomas to help in the production process. The result was a somewhat less polished sound. This new version of Wings released the disco-oriented single "Goodnight Tonight", backed by "Daytime Nighttime Suffering", which reached the top 5 in both the US and UK.[23] However, the subsequent album Back to the Egg was not favourably received by critics and although it went platinum in the US, sales were disappointing in comparison to its immediate predecessors. It contained the Grammy-winning song "Rockestra Theme", the result of an October 1978 superstar session with members of Wings, the Who, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd, among others.[47] Three singles, "Old Siam, Sir" (UK only), "Getting Closer",[48] and "Arrow Through Me" (US only), were culled from the album, but performed poorly on the charts. During much of 1979, Wings were inactive as McCartney worked on a new solo album (McCartney II) without the band.

In November and December 1979, Wings toured the UK, once again adding the horns and brass section consisting of Tony Dorsey, Howie Casey, Thaddeus Richard, and Steve Howard. This tour climaxed with a massive "Rockestra" all-star collection of musicians in London in aid of UNICEF and Kampuchean refugees. Also during this tour, a live version of the McCartney II track "Coming Up" was recorded in Glasgow and became Wings' sixth US number one hit the following year.

Paul McCartney and his family arrived in Japan on 16 January 1980 for the planned eleven-date Wings' concert tour of Japan (due to visit Budokan Hall, Tokyo from 21 to 24 January 1980; Aichi-Ken, Taiiku-Kan, Nagoya on 25–26; Festival Hall, Osaka on 28; Osaka Furitsu-Kan, Osaka on 29; Budokan Hall, Tokyo from 31 January to 2 February 1980).[49][50] McCartney was arrested immediately upon arriving at New Tokyo Airport for possession of 219 grams (7.7 ounces) of marijuana (with an estimated street value of 600,000 yen) hidden in Paul's luggage.[51][52] The arrest put the tour in jeopardy and Wings' music was immediately banned from all television and radio stations across Japan.[50] Wings' Japanese promoters claimed that almost 100,000 tickets for the concerts had been sold, representing a possible loss of well over 100 million yen.[53] The promoters had no option but to cancel all of the tour dates the day after McCartney's arrest.[50] The other band members of Wings, except Linda, left Japan and returned to England on 21 January 1980.[49][50] McCartney spent ten days in jail before being (unexpectedly) released without charge on 25 January 1980 and deported.[49][50][52] After returning to England, McCartney decided to release his solo album McCartney II and plans for a US tour were subsequently dropped. Meanwhile, Denny Laine released the single "Japanese Tears" and formed the short-lived Denny Laine Band with Steve Holley and released a solo album Japanese Tears that December.

By 1980, McCartney was growing weary of maintaining Wings and his personal and professional aspirations began to diverge from the group. The McCartneys now had three school-age children and had moved out of London to the countryside of East Sussex, desiring that their children have a normal upbringing. Musically, McCartney was dissatisfied by the band's performances during the 1979 UK tour, and when rehearsals for the next album began in October, it was apparent his latest songs were not a good fit for the band. Consequently, he and George Martin, who would be producing the album, decided not to use Wings for recording. Instead, top session musicians and guest artists were brought in to make the best possible album.[54] In November 1980, Holley and Juber were told they would not be needed for the new album and other than sessions in January 1981 to finish work on the Cold Cuts album of previously unreleased tracks, no further activities were scheduled for Wings. Juber has said he could see the "writing on the wall" regarding Wings' future at that point and moved to New York to continue his career there.[55]

Laine stayed on for the Tug of War sessions in Montserrat in February 1981 but his relationship with McCartney had become strained over business and personal matters. Laine had begun to feel that he was not being adequately compensated for his role in Wings, and was particularly bitter that he was employed as a contract writer on "Mull of Kintyre", a song he co-wrote with McCartney. He had been paid a flat fee for his contributions so when the song became a hit, he did not share in the royalties.[nb 1] Laine was also upset with McCartney over his drug arrest in Japan which meant a loss of extra income from the tour as well as putting future tour plans in doubt. Laine's marriage was also troubled, and his wife and the McCartneys did not get along well, adding to his upset with Wings.[57] In April 1981, Laine announced he was leaving Wings, citing the lack of tour plans as the reason. While Laine's departure effectively ended the band, a spokesman for McCartney said that Wings still continued as an active concept.[58] McCartney finally acknowledged the band no longer existed while promoting the release of Tug of War in 1982.[59]

Suzy and the Red Stripes was a pseudonym used by the group for the release of the Linda McCartney and Wings single "Seaside Woman" in 1977. It was written and sung by Linda McCartney. It was the only release by Wings under that name. Linda said that the "Suzy and the Red Stripes" pseudonym came about because she had been called "Suzi" in Jamaica because of "a fantastic reggae version of 'Suzi Q'", and Red Stripe is Jamaica's leading brand of beer.[60]

In March 1997, Denny Laine, Laurence Juber and Steve Holley did an impromptu "Wings" reunion at a Beatlefest convention in East Rutherford, New Jersey.[61] This was not a planned event, and no further reunions were intended. However, ten years later, in July 2007, Laine, Juber and Denny Seiwell reunited for one show at a Beatlefest convention in Las Vegas. Among other songs, they performed "Band on the Run", "Mull of Kintyre" and "Go Now".[62] Laine and Seiwell appeared again at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Secaucus, New Jersey, in March 2010[63] and were joined by Juber at the Fest in Chicago in August 2010.

Laine, Juber and Seiwell performed together at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Los Angeles, California, in October 2014; the setlist included "Hi, Hi, Hi", "Live and Let Die" and "Rockestra Theme". In August 2017, the trio performed at the festival once again, this time joined by drummer Steve Holley.

Laine, Juber, Seiwell and Holley performed together in January 2018 at Grand Oak Live, a music venue in Upland, California, headlining an event called Imagine Something Yesterday.[64]

Laine, Juber and Holley performed again in March 2019 at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Jersey City, New Jersey performing songs from the band's final album Back to the Egg.