"He [Paul] likes being looked after by a wife and he likes waking up with someone next to him. He has been talking excitedly about plans for seeing more and more of Nancy and that worries Stella, Mary and James. [MORE]
James McCartney's very first fan-site. He's
working on his first album so I thought it would be nice to start a fan site
for him. This is only a fan-site, we have no contact with James.
Friday, April 4, 2008
James had a small mention on an article about Paul and Nancy.
Posted by ChesterDEAN at 9:18 PM
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
James McCartney is making an album with his father, music legend Sir Paul
He was the one member of the family who shunned the limelight,working as a waiter to make ends meet. Then he fell out with his father over Heather. Now James McCartney is living in a £1m flat and making an album with a pop legend...his Dad...
Rippingly shy, deeply introspective and terrified about being compared with his legendary father, James McCartney has spent most of his life trying to hide from his showbusiness heritage.
While his sisters, Stella and Mary, have prospered from their father's fame, Sir Paul McCartney's only son often refused to tell new friends his surname, lived a meagre student existence in Brighton (complete with long hair and worn clothes) and even waited on tables in a restaurant to earn his keep.
But over the past few months something has dramatically changed.
Now aged 30, James is happily mingling with A-list stars at exclusive London parties with either his father or his glamorous sisters.
He has lost more than two stone in weight, cropped his hair and is wearing designer clothes. He is living in a £1 million mansion flat in London and gets around town by driving his dad's Mercedes.
What is more, he has a smile on his face.
"Wow, this guy has really changed," said one society photographer who has bumped into James several times over the past few months.
"I used to see him around a bit with his dad and he was really reclusive.
"He seems totally different. He looks good and even engaged in a bit of banter with me. He doesn't look like an outsider any more."
Now James has made the biggest leap of all.
The talented guitarist, who was terrified of trying to live up to his father's extraordinary output, is to work on an album with the one man who can help him banish those fears: his dad.
"I'm actually doing some recording with my son, James," Paul told music magazine Billboard, with obvious excitement.
"We're looking at the idea of him making an album. He's doing it all. He's writing it all.
"It's sensational.
"There's nothing set in stone yet - the plan is for me just to do some recording with him. But it's really exciting."
Sir Paul's reclusive son James steps out of the shadows
There is even talk that Paul and James - who looks like a blond version of his father - will do some of the recording at the Abbey Road studios, still revered as a shrine by Beatles fans who turn up in their droves every day to scrawl graffiti and have their picture taken on the famous zebra crossing.
"It's early days, but Paul is really excited by this project," one aide said yesterday.
"It is going to be really good."
But what an extraordinary turnaround for James. Recording an album with Paul is going to involve a huge amount of pressure. The album will be talked about around the world.
And unless it really is very, very good, James is likely to come out bloodied like his contemporary Sean Lennon, whose own music has been compared unfavourably with that of his father, John.
Indeed, James's decision is one that has stunned some of the McCartney family circle who recall a man so morbidly shy he can sometimes barely talk.
"He is incredibly quiet and unassuming," said one friend of Stella.
"It doesn't seem like he has a lot of friends, although he is very sweet and polite.
"I think there was a girlfriend on the scene at one point, but I haven't seen her around recently. His sisters seem to be his best friends.
"He has always avoided the limelight and is a bit introverted.
"He is the antithesis of all those kids who become D-list celebrities simply because their dad is famous.
"I've always admired him for that and I am surprised that he is doing this album."
A former aide of McCartney added: "He is very much like his mother Linda.
"He has her gentleness and sensitivity and is a deep thinker.
"From his dad he has his witty and slightly sarcastic sense of humour - and his musical talent. He really is a very good guitarist.
"Ironically, he first wanted to learn after seeing Michael J Fox playing a guitar in Back To The Future, and not because his dad was in the world's biggest band.
"He has never wanted to trade on the McCartney name, although it seems it is impossible to avoid."
The youngest of Paul and Linda's children - Mary and Stella are eight years and six years older respectively while stepsister Heather, from Linda's previous marriage, is 15 years his senior - James has always been the baby of his family.
"His sisters have always been incredibly protective of James," continued Stella's friend.
"They still talk about him like he is a child - even though he is a grown man."
Reaching the landmark age of 30 in September may have been part of the reasoning behind this album, say sources close to the family.
"James has realised that he needs to do something with his life," said one.
"He has seen Stella become a massive success in the fashion world, Mary become an accomplished photographer and their stepsister Heather is also doing really well with pottery exhibitions in the States.
"And what has he done?
"James has trained as an architect and is also a skilled potter, but hasn't really pursued a career.
"For the past few years he seems to have been drifting. He has even become a glorified babysitter for his sisters' children.
"When Mary split from her husband, he was around a lot to help with her two boys.
"He has been playing the guitar since the age of six and that has always been where his heart lies.
"And after four difficult years - when Paul's relationship with his children was strained by his marriage to Heather Mills - James and his dad are now really close again. It is inevitable that talk should turn to working together."
Indeed, it seems the biggest spur for this new father-and-son love-in is the incredibly bitter divorce battle still raging between Paul and Heather.
Since the pair announced their separation in May last year, what was supposed to be an amicable break-up has become increasingly acrimonious. Paul's family have rallied around the star as he has put up with allegations that he was a cruel drunk and dopehead who tried to choke his wife.
Paul recently said: "I'm going through great struggles, but I'm feeling pretty good.
"I have a lot of good support, particularly from my family. In difficult moment like this, it's when a loving family shines through."
His children famously struggled to get on with their stepmother, a former soft-porn star and alleged high-class call girl.
"James hated, really hated, Heather," Paul's former aide said.
"He disliked her even more than his sisters. I'm not sure whether he even went to their wedding.
"Understandably, it caused a lot of friction with his father, who was desperate for his family to like Heather.
"And Paul was really hurt by James' attitude as - being the only boys - they were particularly close.
"But once Paul's marriage started breaking up - and Paul realised just what Heather really is - he has needed the support of his family.
"He was really, really hurt by everything that has happened and James, in particular, has been his rock."
James was just 19 when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. He was the only one of the McCartney children still living with his parents at their rural hideaway in Peasmarsh, East Sussex, during her three-year battle with the disease.
He found therapy in playing guitar with his father and features on Paul's Flaming Pie album which was released in 1997.
Despite being an art student at Bexhill College, on the south coast, he continued to work on his music with his parents and recorded a track with Linda, The Light Comes From Within, a month before her death in 1998. The whole family came together at their ranch in Arizona for Linda's final few weeks.
But after her death, while they were still grieving, James's sisters all returned to their lives in London. Only Paul and James returned to live in Peasmarsh, where they scattered Linda's ashes on one of her favourite walks.
The two devastated McCartney men slept in the same room for weeks as they struggled to get over her loss. They sought solace in writing a song about her.
But Paul admits he found it so hard to cope that he cried every day. James wasn't doing much better, although he decided to do something positive in memory of his mother, an animal rights activist, and pledged to become completely vegan.
"I'll never forget seeing James after Linda died," said one of Stella's friends.
"You just wanted to reach out and hold him. He seemed lost."
One can only imagine how James must have felt when Paul met Heather little more than 12 months after Linda's death.
Like all of the McCartney children, he instantly took against her.
She was loud and bossy. She was extremely self-important. She was no Linda.
And her attempts to try to win him over - by taking his side in family disputes, for example - only increased his dislike.
Knowing how his son felt, Paul practically moved out of Peasmarsh when he was wooing Heather. He bought a house in nearby Hove, where the two of them would spend most of their time.
But Paul never stopped trying to get his children to like Heather and, for a while, father and son continued to jam together, with James contributing to Paul's 2001 Driving Rain album.
Then in 2004 James left home altogether, renting a small flat while he attended a college in Brighton to work on his music.
Determined not to live on his father's £725 million fortune, he waited on tables to pay the rent.
The arrival of Beatrice, Paul's daughter with Heather, four years ago, did mean James visited his father more often - even now, all the siblings adore their half-sister.
But it was only when the marriage broke down that Paul's relationship with his older children was truly repaired.
Bitterly bruised by the break-up, he needed their support. And none was more supportive than the caring James.
Now, as a sign of his father's gratitude, James lives in a sprawling four-bedroom, £1 million flat Paul bought him in a mansion block near his own London house. (Paul also bought one each for his other children.)
He also has keys to his dad's house and to his car - frequently using the Mercedes estate that Paul has owned for the past 11 years. The two also enjoy weekends in Peasmarsh together.
And Paul, as well as Stella and Mary, have introduced James to the London party scene where he appears to have finally come out of his shell.
At one such party last month, held by Stella's husband Alasdhair Willis, James enjoyed talking to the ravishing actress Thandie Newton and catching up with old friend Dhani Harrison, son of Paul's bandmate George.
A few days later he was happily gossiping with Kate Moss at his father's BBC concert at the Roundhouse in North London.
"I saw him at one party and he seemed to be in good spirits,' said a friend of Stella's.
"His shyness was still there, but he seemed somehow happier and more content with himself."
There is only one cloud on the horizon. Having decided to expose himself to the world with the new album, it would be horrible if it all backfires.
"It is a brave thing to do and I can only hope he will cope," added the friend.
"He has had long enough to work out who he is, to come to terms with what he is.
"He has been around fame all his life and is aware of all the pitfalls.
"But the bar has been set so high around him - not just with Paul but his sisters too - that it could devastate him if it fails."
Source: Daily Mail
Thanks Laura for this one.
He was the one member of the family who shunned the limelight,working as a waiter to make ends meet. Then he fell out with his father over Heather. Now James McCartney is living in a £1m flat and making an album with a pop legend...his Dad...
Rippingly shy, deeply introspective and terrified about being compared with his legendary father, James McCartney has spent most of his life trying to hide from his showbusiness heritage.
While his sisters, Stella and Mary, have prospered from their father's fame, Sir Paul McCartney's only son often refused to tell new friends his surname, lived a meagre student existence in Brighton (complete with long hair and worn clothes) and even waited on tables in a restaurant to earn his keep.
But over the past few months something has dramatically changed.
Now aged 30, James is happily mingling with A-list stars at exclusive London parties with either his father or his glamorous sisters.
He has lost more than two stone in weight, cropped his hair and is wearing designer clothes. He is living in a £1 million mansion flat in London and gets around town by driving his dad's Mercedes.
What is more, he has a smile on his face.
"Wow, this guy has really changed," said one society photographer who has bumped into James several times over the past few months.
"I used to see him around a bit with his dad and he was really reclusive.
"He seems totally different. He looks good and even engaged in a bit of banter with me. He doesn't look like an outsider any more."
Now James has made the biggest leap of all.
The talented guitarist, who was terrified of trying to live up to his father's extraordinary output, is to work on an album with the one man who can help him banish those fears: his dad.
"I'm actually doing some recording with my son, James," Paul told music magazine Billboard, with obvious excitement.
"We're looking at the idea of him making an album. He's doing it all. He's writing it all.
"It's sensational.
"There's nothing set in stone yet - the plan is for me just to do some recording with him. But it's really exciting."
Sir Paul's reclusive son James steps out of the shadows
There is even talk that Paul and James - who looks like a blond version of his father - will do some of the recording at the Abbey Road studios, still revered as a shrine by Beatles fans who turn up in their droves every day to scrawl graffiti and have their picture taken on the famous zebra crossing.
"It's early days, but Paul is really excited by this project," one aide said yesterday.
"It is going to be really good."
But what an extraordinary turnaround for James. Recording an album with Paul is going to involve a huge amount of pressure. The album will be talked about around the world.
And unless it really is very, very good, James is likely to come out bloodied like his contemporary Sean Lennon, whose own music has been compared unfavourably with that of his father, John.
Indeed, James's decision is one that has stunned some of the McCartney family circle who recall a man so morbidly shy he can sometimes barely talk.
"He is incredibly quiet and unassuming," said one friend of Stella.
"It doesn't seem like he has a lot of friends, although he is very sweet and polite.
"I think there was a girlfriend on the scene at one point, but I haven't seen her around recently. His sisters seem to be his best friends.
"He has always avoided the limelight and is a bit introverted.
"He is the antithesis of all those kids who become D-list celebrities simply because their dad is famous.
"I've always admired him for that and I am surprised that he is doing this album."
A former aide of McCartney added: "He is very much like his mother Linda.
"He has her gentleness and sensitivity and is a deep thinker.
"From his dad he has his witty and slightly sarcastic sense of humour - and his musical talent. He really is a very good guitarist.
"Ironically, he first wanted to learn after seeing Michael J Fox playing a guitar in Back To The Future, and not because his dad was in the world's biggest band.
"He has never wanted to trade on the McCartney name, although it seems it is impossible to avoid."
The youngest of Paul and Linda's children - Mary and Stella are eight years and six years older respectively while stepsister Heather, from Linda's previous marriage, is 15 years his senior - James has always been the baby of his family.
"His sisters have always been incredibly protective of James," continued Stella's friend.
"They still talk about him like he is a child - even though he is a grown man."
Reaching the landmark age of 30 in September may have been part of the reasoning behind this album, say sources close to the family.
"James has realised that he needs to do something with his life," said one.
"He has seen Stella become a massive success in the fashion world, Mary become an accomplished photographer and their stepsister Heather is also doing really well with pottery exhibitions in the States.
"And what has he done?
"James has trained as an architect and is also a skilled potter, but hasn't really pursued a career.
"For the past few years he seems to have been drifting. He has even become a glorified babysitter for his sisters' children.
"When Mary split from her husband, he was around a lot to help with her two boys.
"He has been playing the guitar since the age of six and that has always been where his heart lies.
"And after four difficult years - when Paul's relationship with his children was strained by his marriage to Heather Mills - James and his dad are now really close again. It is inevitable that talk should turn to working together."
Indeed, it seems the biggest spur for this new father-and-son love-in is the incredibly bitter divorce battle still raging between Paul and Heather.
Since the pair announced their separation in May last year, what was supposed to be an amicable break-up has become increasingly acrimonious. Paul's family have rallied around the star as he has put up with allegations that he was a cruel drunk and dopehead who tried to choke his wife.
Paul recently said: "I'm going through great struggles, but I'm feeling pretty good.
"I have a lot of good support, particularly from my family. In difficult moment like this, it's when a loving family shines through."
His children famously struggled to get on with their stepmother, a former soft-porn star and alleged high-class call girl.
"James hated, really hated, Heather," Paul's former aide said.
"He disliked her even more than his sisters. I'm not sure whether he even went to their wedding.
"Understandably, it caused a lot of friction with his father, who was desperate for his family to like Heather.
"And Paul was really hurt by James' attitude as - being the only boys - they were particularly close.
"But once Paul's marriage started breaking up - and Paul realised just what Heather really is - he has needed the support of his family.
"He was really, really hurt by everything that has happened and James, in particular, has been his rock."
James was just 19 when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. He was the only one of the McCartney children still living with his parents at their rural hideaway in Peasmarsh, East Sussex, during her three-year battle with the disease.
He found therapy in playing guitar with his father and features on Paul's Flaming Pie album which was released in 1997.
Despite being an art student at Bexhill College, on the south coast, he continued to work on his music with his parents and recorded a track with Linda, The Light Comes From Within, a month before her death in 1998. The whole family came together at their ranch in Arizona for Linda's final few weeks.
But after her death, while they were still grieving, James's sisters all returned to their lives in London. Only Paul and James returned to live in Peasmarsh, where they scattered Linda's ashes on one of her favourite walks.
The two devastated McCartney men slept in the same room for weeks as they struggled to get over her loss. They sought solace in writing a song about her.
But Paul admits he found it so hard to cope that he cried every day. James wasn't doing much better, although he decided to do something positive in memory of his mother, an animal rights activist, and pledged to become completely vegan.
"I'll never forget seeing James after Linda died," said one of Stella's friends.
"You just wanted to reach out and hold him. He seemed lost."
One can only imagine how James must have felt when Paul met Heather little more than 12 months after Linda's death.
Like all of the McCartney children, he instantly took against her.
She was loud and bossy. She was extremely self-important. She was no Linda.
And her attempts to try to win him over - by taking his side in family disputes, for example - only increased his dislike.
Knowing how his son felt, Paul practically moved out of Peasmarsh when he was wooing Heather. He bought a house in nearby Hove, where the two of them would spend most of their time.
But Paul never stopped trying to get his children to like Heather and, for a while, father and son continued to jam together, with James contributing to Paul's 2001 Driving Rain album.
Then in 2004 James left home altogether, renting a small flat while he attended a college in Brighton to work on his music.
Determined not to live on his father's £725 million fortune, he waited on tables to pay the rent.
The arrival of Beatrice, Paul's daughter with Heather, four years ago, did mean James visited his father more often - even now, all the siblings adore their half-sister.
But it was only when the marriage broke down that Paul's relationship with his older children was truly repaired.
Bitterly bruised by the break-up, he needed their support. And none was more supportive than the caring James.
Now, as a sign of his father's gratitude, James lives in a sprawling four-bedroom, £1 million flat Paul bought him in a mansion block near his own London house. (Paul also bought one each for his other children.)
He also has keys to his dad's house and to his car - frequently using the Mercedes estate that Paul has owned for the past 11 years. The two also enjoy weekends in Peasmarsh together.
And Paul, as well as Stella and Mary, have introduced James to the London party scene where he appears to have finally come out of his shell.
At one such party last month, held by Stella's husband Alasdhair Willis, James enjoyed talking to the ravishing actress Thandie Newton and catching up with old friend Dhani Harrison, son of Paul's bandmate George.
A few days later he was happily gossiping with Kate Moss at his father's BBC concert at the Roundhouse in North London.
"I saw him at one party and he seemed to be in good spirits,' said a friend of Stella's.
"His shyness was still there, but he seemed somehow happier and more content with himself."
There is only one cloud on the horizon. Having decided to expose himself to the world with the new album, it would be horrible if it all backfires.
"It is a brave thing to do and I can only hope he will cope," added the friend.
"He has had long enough to work out who he is, to come to terms with what he is.
"He has been around fame all his life and is aware of all the pitfalls.
"But the bar has been set so high around him - not just with Paul but his sisters too - that it could devastate him if it fails."
Source: Daily Mail
Thanks Laura for this one.
Labels: articles
By ALISON BOSHOFF
05-jun-04
JAMES McCARTNEY generally finds it easy to pass through life unnoticed. He lives a slow-paced student existence in a small rented flat on the south coast and only a few trusted friends are aware that this unassuming young man is the only son of Sir Paul, the former Beatle with a $1.98 billion fortune.
Those who first enter James's social orbit are seldom trusted with his real surname – such is the desire of the youngest child of Paul and Linda McCartney to lead an anonymous life.
To an extent, he is able to blend in at college because he is a typical student. He sleeps late and likes to drink, favouring bourbon whisky. He makes ends meet with short-term, dead-end jobs, such as waiting on tables in local restaurants.
His hair is long and his clothes scruffy. Only his extreme vegan lifestyle (James touches no meat or animal products, abstaining from both milk and honey) marks him out as being a little different from the crowd. But photographed last month walking with his sister, Mary, there could be no doubt of his true identity.
His features closely echo his father's: that soft-cheeked moon face, the expressive doe-eyes and the small, downturned mouth are pure Paul. Only his strawberry blond hair, shared with sister Stella, is owed to his late mother, Linda.
James's heritage, though, might be described as both a curse and a blessing. He is a talented guitarist and more than passable songwriter – talents which presumably have run in the family from father to son.
However, seven years after recording his first track at the family studio with his father, he is still shying away from openly pursuing a musical career – paralysed, it seems, by the spectre of Paul's success. It also seems he wants no part of his father's fame or wealth, although these might be said to be his birthright, too.
While his fashion designer sister Stella moves happily in A-list circles and another sibling, Mary, a photographer, is self-confident enough to accept the patronage of high-powered friends, baby brother James prefers to fade into the background.
Although he is expected to inherit a great deal of money, for now James is happy to be almost broke.
For the McCartney heritage is responsible for some darker realities of James's life, too. The murder of John Lennon in 1980 – when James was just three – cast a long shadow over his childhood.
Born in September 1977 – two months before his father's group Wings had their biggest hit, Mull Of Kintyre – James missed out on the freewheeling upbringing of his sisters and much older step-sister Heather.
Mary and Stella (who are nine and six years older than him respectively) spent their early schooldays on the road, being privately tutored while touring the world with Paul, Linda and the band. But James's arrival came very much at the tail end of the childhood-on-the-road experiment.
It was Lennon's assassination, at the hands of deranged fan Mark Chapman, that changed everything.
In 1981, Paul and Linda retreated to the modest five-bedroom farmhouse they owned in Peasmarsh, near Rye. "We wanted to lie low more," said Linda later. "There were death threats, some nuts, but we had to take them seriously. We have so much more security around us now. Our lives have really changed."
They left behind the family home in St John's Wood, London, and began to try to shield the children from any kind of publicity. The 159 acres of land around the farm in Sussex formed a barrier between them and the outside world, and the couple set about trying to bring up their children as "normal" and "grounded" individuals.
All the children attended the Thomas Peacocke college in Rye. But while Stella and Mary were teased about their father, James had a far easier ride – mostly because, by then, the novelty of having a famous name in the school had worn off.
One schoolmate described James as "quiet and easy-going" and said he was relatively popular – unlike Stella, who managed to make a few enemies.
Instead, James formed friendships with local boys which endure to this day. His only brush with trouble came, when 16, he was swept out to sea while surfing with friends. A coast-guard was alerted and a helicopter called but 40 minutes later James emerged from the sea.
His teenage years were not entirely carefree, however. James was shattered at the age of 19 when his mother Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Two years of treatment followed, in which he became especially close to his father. He spent the first year of her treatment playing guitar with Paul on his solo album, Flaming Pie, which was released in 1997.
The following year, as Linda's health failed, James continued with his music and studied sculpture at college. He recorded a track with Linda, The Light Comes From Within, a month before her death in April that year. The whole family went to Arizona for Linda's peaceful last weeks and the children were with her when she died. In the coming year, James lived with – and was there to support – Paul during their grief.
The arrival of Heather Mills in late 1999, not much more than a year after his mother's death, was a shock to James.
In deference to James's feelings, Paul at first conducted the courtship in a cottage on the Clive-den estate. But it was impossible to keep it secret from his son. James was the only one still living at home and when Paul invited Heather over he would have to make himself scarce.
James, according to a source, has tried throughout to duck out of any family conflict, although at times he has not been able to hide his feelings.
Relations between him and Heather are not close. He has not turned up to either of the large birthday parties she has thrown for Paul, nor did he attend a lavish party which she hosted soon after the birth of her and Paul's baby, Beatrice, in October 2003.
He took the plunge last year and set himself up on the south coast, where he is understood to have enrolled in a music college.
So, James McCartney is living in a quiet residential street close to the seafront. One day, when he has finished his studies, he will have to emerge into the spotlight and be judged on the music he is making.
05-jun-04
JAMES McCARTNEY generally finds it easy to pass through life unnoticed. He lives a slow-paced student existence in a small rented flat on the south coast and only a few trusted friends are aware that this unassuming young man is the only son of Sir Paul, the former Beatle with a $1.98 billion fortune.
Those who first enter James's social orbit are seldom trusted with his real surname – such is the desire of the youngest child of Paul and Linda McCartney to lead an anonymous life.
To an extent, he is able to blend in at college because he is a typical student. He sleeps late and likes to drink, favouring bourbon whisky. He makes ends meet with short-term, dead-end jobs, such as waiting on tables in local restaurants.
His hair is long and his clothes scruffy. Only his extreme vegan lifestyle (James touches no meat or animal products, abstaining from both milk and honey) marks him out as being a little different from the crowd. But photographed last month walking with his sister, Mary, there could be no doubt of his true identity.
His features closely echo his father's: that soft-cheeked moon face, the expressive doe-eyes and the small, downturned mouth are pure Paul. Only his strawberry blond hair, shared with sister Stella, is owed to his late mother, Linda.
James's heritage, though, might be described as both a curse and a blessing. He is a talented guitarist and more than passable songwriter – talents which presumably have run in the family from father to son.
However, seven years after recording his first track at the family studio with his father, he is still shying away from openly pursuing a musical career – paralysed, it seems, by the spectre of Paul's success. It also seems he wants no part of his father's fame or wealth, although these might be said to be his birthright, too.
While his fashion designer sister Stella moves happily in A-list circles and another sibling, Mary, a photographer, is self-confident enough to accept the patronage of high-powered friends, baby brother James prefers to fade into the background.
Although he is expected to inherit a great deal of money, for now James is happy to be almost broke.
For the McCartney heritage is responsible for some darker realities of James's life, too. The murder of John Lennon in 1980 – when James was just three – cast a long shadow over his childhood.
Born in September 1977 – two months before his father's group Wings had their biggest hit, Mull Of Kintyre – James missed out on the freewheeling upbringing of his sisters and much older step-sister Heather.
Mary and Stella (who are nine and six years older than him respectively) spent their early schooldays on the road, being privately tutored while touring the world with Paul, Linda and the band. But James's arrival came very much at the tail end of the childhood-on-the-road experiment.
It was Lennon's assassination, at the hands of deranged fan Mark Chapman, that changed everything.
In 1981, Paul and Linda retreated to the modest five-bedroom farmhouse they owned in Peasmarsh, near Rye. "We wanted to lie low more," said Linda later. "There were death threats, some nuts, but we had to take them seriously. We have so much more security around us now. Our lives have really changed."
They left behind the family home in St John's Wood, London, and began to try to shield the children from any kind of publicity. The 159 acres of land around the farm in Sussex formed a barrier between them and the outside world, and the couple set about trying to bring up their children as "normal" and "grounded" individuals.
All the children attended the Thomas Peacocke college in Rye. But while Stella and Mary were teased about their father, James had a far easier ride – mostly because, by then, the novelty of having a famous name in the school had worn off.
One schoolmate described James as "quiet and easy-going" and said he was relatively popular – unlike Stella, who managed to make a few enemies.
Instead, James formed friendships with local boys which endure to this day. His only brush with trouble came, when 16, he was swept out to sea while surfing with friends. A coast-guard was alerted and a helicopter called but 40 minutes later James emerged from the sea.
His teenage years were not entirely carefree, however. James was shattered at the age of 19 when his mother Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Two years of treatment followed, in which he became especially close to his father. He spent the first year of her treatment playing guitar with Paul on his solo album, Flaming Pie, which was released in 1997.
The following year, as Linda's health failed, James continued with his music and studied sculpture at college. He recorded a track with Linda, The Light Comes From Within, a month before her death in April that year. The whole family went to Arizona for Linda's peaceful last weeks and the children were with her when she died. In the coming year, James lived with – and was there to support – Paul during their grief.
The arrival of Heather Mills in late 1999, not much more than a year after his mother's death, was a shock to James.
In deference to James's feelings, Paul at first conducted the courtship in a cottage on the Clive-den estate. But it was impossible to keep it secret from his son. James was the only one still living at home and when Paul invited Heather over he would have to make himself scarce.
James, according to a source, has tried throughout to duck out of any family conflict, although at times he has not been able to hide his feelings.
Relations between him and Heather are not close. He has not turned up to either of the large birthday parties she has thrown for Paul, nor did he attend a lavish party which she hosted soon after the birth of her and Paul's baby, Beatrice, in October 2003.
He took the plunge last year and set himself up on the south coast, where he is understood to have enrolled in a music college.
So, James McCartney is living in a quiet residential street close to the seafront. One day, when he has finished his studies, he will have to emerge into the spotlight and be judged on the music he is making.
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There is no mistaking the soft-cheeked moon face, doe-eyes and the small, downturned mouth... This is James McCartney, the reclusive and only son of Sir Paul.
The musician is the spitting image of his famous father - albeit with ginger hair.
There are now signs the 30-year-old is starting to step out of the famous family shadow.
He made a rare public appearance last night at the switching on of the Christmas lights at the Stella McCartney store in Mayfair.
The youngest of the McCartney clan, until Sir Paul's now estranged wife Heather Mills gave birth to a daughter Beatrice in 2003, James has always shied away from the spotlight.
He spent his earlier days as a penniless student and even working as a waiter. He was studying for his A'levels when his mother Linda died of breast cancer in 1998.
In 1999, he made a rare public appearance when he joined his father to support Stella's first fashion show following the death of their mother.
Guitarist and drummer James is now working on an album with his father, after previously playing with the former Beatle on his North American tour in 2005.
James' heavily pregnant sister Stella McCartney hosted the small bash only 24 hours after winning the Designer of the Year accolade at the British Fashion Awards in Westminster.
Other guests included Stella's publisher husband Alasdhair Willis, M&S model Twiggy, and Fast Show comedians Paul Whitehouse and Mark Williams appearing under the guise of their "Suit you Sir" tailor characters.
Stella is expecting her third child in December - a sibling for her two children Miller, two and a half; and Bailey, 11 months.
The musician is the spitting image of his famous father - albeit with ginger hair.
There are now signs the 30-year-old is starting to step out of the famous family shadow.
He made a rare public appearance last night at the switching on of the Christmas lights at the Stella McCartney store in Mayfair.
The youngest of the McCartney clan, until Sir Paul's now estranged wife Heather Mills gave birth to a daughter Beatrice in 2003, James has always shied away from the spotlight.
He spent his earlier days as a penniless student and even working as a waiter. He was studying for his A'levels when his mother Linda died of breast cancer in 1998.
In 1999, he made a rare public appearance when he joined his father to support Stella's first fashion show following the death of their mother.
Guitarist and drummer James is now working on an album with his father, after previously playing with the former Beatle on his North American tour in 2005.
James' heavily pregnant sister Stella McCartney hosted the small bash only 24 hours after winning the Designer of the Year accolade at the British Fashion Awards in Westminster.
Other guests included Stella's publisher husband Alasdhair Willis, M&S model Twiggy, and Fast Show comedians Paul Whitehouse and Mark Williams appearing under the guise of their "Suit you Sir" tailor characters.
Stella is expecting her third child in December - a sibling for her two children Miller, two and a half; and Bailey, 11 months.
Labels: articles