Wings (band) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paul McCartney and Wings
Wings, 1975. L–R: Joe English, Denny Laine, Linda McCartney, Jimmy McCulloch and Paul McCartney.
Background information
Also known as	Suzy and the Red Stripes The Country Hams
Origin	England
Genres	Rock hard rock soft rock
Years active	1971–1981
Labels	Apple Capitol Parlophone Columbia
Past members	Paul McCartney Linda McCartney Denny Seiwell Denny Laine Henry McCullough Jimmy McCulloch Geoff Britton Joe English Steve Holley Laurence Juber

Paul McCartney and Wings, also known simply as Wings, were a British-American rock band formed in 1971 by former Beatle Paul McCartney with his wife Linda on keyboards, session drummer Denny Seiwell, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings were noted for frequent personnel changes as well as commercial success, going through three lead guitarists and four drummers. However, the core trio of the McCartneys and Laine remained intact throughout the group's existence.

History

Created following the McCartneys' 1971 album Ram, the band's first two albums, Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway (the latter featuring guitarist Henry McCullough), were viewed as artistic disappointments beside Paul McCartney's work with the Beatles. After the release of the title track of the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, McCullough and Seiwell resigned from the band. The McCartneys and Laine then released 1973's Band on the Run, a commercial and critical success that spawned two top ten singles in "Jet" and the title track. Following that album, the band recruited guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton, only for Britton to quit shortly afterwards and be replaced by Joe English. With the new line-up, Wings released Venus and Mars, which included the US number one single "Listen to What the Man Said", and undertook a highly successful world tour over 1975–76. Intended as more of a group effort, Wings at the Speed of Sound was issued midway through the tour and featured the hit singles "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In".

In 1977, the band earned their only UK number one single, with "Mull of Kintyre", which became the then-best-selling UK single in history. Wings experienced another line-up shuffle, however, with both McCulloch and English departing before the release of the group's 1978 album London Town. The McCartneys and Laine again added new members, recruiting guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holley. The resulting album, Back to the Egg, was a relative flop, with its singles under-performing and the critical reception negative.

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. McCartney finally acknowledged the band no longer existed while promoting the release of Tug of War in 1982.

Legacy

Wings had twelve top-10 singles (including one number one) in the UK and fourteen top 10 singles (including six number ones) in the US. All 23 singles released by Wings reached the US top 40, and one two-sided hit, "Junior's Farm"/"Sally G", reached the top 40 with each side. Of the nine albums released by Wings, all went top 10 in either the UK or the US, with five consecutive albums topping the US charts. Paul McCartney was unquestionably Wings' leader and dominant creative force, but Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, and Linda McCartney all contributed a little in songwriting, and Laine, McCulloch, Joe English, and Linda McCartney all performed a few lead vocals.

The success of Wings was a vindication for McCartney. His first few post-Beatles albums were highly criticized and often dismissed by critics as "lightweight" next to the more serious nature of his former bandmates' solo output. But by the mid-1970s, the solo careers of the other three former Beatles were in varying degrees of decline, with John Lennon putting his career on hold in 1975 for the first five years of his son Sean's life. A year later, George Harrison had all but retired from live performances, with his new releases failing to match the success of his initial solo output. Ringo Starr was living in Los Angeles and was writing and recording, but as a solo artist had not been performing onstage other than rare guest appearances. Meanwhile, Wings continued to tour regularly and enjoy much commercial success. According to author Robert Rosen, by 1980, Lennon was envious enough of McCartney's continuing success to make his re-emergence on the music scene.

One of the criticisms of Wings was that the other members were little more than sidemen backing up a solo McCartney. Guitarist Henry McCullough quit the band because he grew tired of being told by McCartney exactly what to play, and said that Wings were never a "real band."

In addition to its own output, Wings recorded several songs that were released through various outlets both before and after the band's break-up.

Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre"/"Girls School" is still the biggest-selling non-charity single in the UK (although Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" sold more, its sales include a reissue in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust), and it ranked fourth in the official list of all-time best-selling singles in the UK issued in 2002.

In 2001, Wingspan: Hits and History was released, a project spanning an album and a television special retrospective.

Personnel

Line-ups

Discography

• Wild Life (1971)
• Red Rose Speedway (1973)
• Band on the Run (1973)
• Venus and Mars (1975)
• Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976)
• London Town (1978)
• Back to the Egg (1979)

Collaborations

• McGear (credited to Mike McGear) (1974)
• Holly Days (credited to Denny Laine) (1977)

Live

• Wings over America (1976)
• Wings over Europe (2018)

Tours

Wings played five concert tours during their ten-year existence:

• Wings University Tour – 11 shows in the UK, 1972
• Wings Over Europe Tour – 25 shows, 1972
• Wings 1973 United Kingdom Tour – 21 shows, 1973
• Wings Over the World Tour – 66 shows, 1975–1976
• Wings 1979 United Kingdom Tour – 20 shows, 1979

Awards

Music Week Award

Yugoton Award

Brit Award

American Music Award

Academy Award

Million-Air Award

The Guinness Book of Records

Q Awards

RIAA award

NME Awards

Capitol Radio music Awards

Daily Mirror Readers Awards

Ivor Novello Awards

Juno Awards (Canadian Music awards) and Nominations

Grammy Awards and Nominations

Images for kids

• 

  Paul and Linda McCartney at the Academy Awards, April 1974

• 

  Paul McCartney with Linda McCartney in 1976

• 

  Denny Laine during the 1976 tour

• 

  Steve Holley, the group's last drummer

• 

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

See also

In Spanish: Wings (banda) para niños