PaulMcCartney.com in 2019 - The Year in Review

It would have been hard to imagine at the end of 2018 how Paul could top that fantastic year, but  the past 12 months have been crammed with new songs, international shows and plenty of exciting adventures.

As December and 2019 come to an end, it’s the perfect time to remind ourselves of everything that Paul has been up to. So, sit back, relax and let's take a trip down memory lane…

January:
The start of the year is always the perfect time for a change, so when Paul surprised us all with his new single ‘Get Enough’ at the stroke of midnight - we knew 2019 was going to be special. That wasn’t the only thing that kept our January blues at bay: Paul gave us an inside look (with Emma Stone!) at the making of the 'Who Cares' music video, shared his celebrations for Martin Luther King Day and told us what it was like meeting one of his musical heroes: Elvis Presley. In film news, we got to premeire of the never-before-seen'Bruce McMouse Show' in theatres around the world and announced a new film project with Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson is in the works, all about The Beatles.

February:
When we were younger, it was hard to imagine anything more exciting than winning a Blue Peter badge. So, Paul officially “made it” when the show presented him with the most prestigious award in British Kids TV: the Gold Blue Peter Badge. Watch Paul’s Blue Peter appearance to accept the award HERE! On Twitter Paul celebrated Rami Malek's awards success, as well as posting a message for Valentine’s Day and George Harrison's birthday. To finish off the month, we found out how Paul came to meet the legendary New Orleans blues singer and pianist Professor Longhair.

March:
The band went back on the run for the first #FreshenUpTour dates of 2019 in South America. Paul also celebrated International Women's Day, Piano Day, St "Paddy's” Day and shared a rather funny Red Nose Day selfie on Instagram. Paul also sent his love to Mums as we celebrated Mothers Day in the UK and through Meat Free Monday he also s*howed support for the #YouthStrike4Climate march*. Find out what songs make Paul feel better in the ‘You Gave Me The Answer’ Q&A and can you figure out which of his Egypt Station tracks he wrote to help out fans?

April:
During April we celebrated Passover, Easter and St George's Day (with a special nod to his favourite Georges). We also jazzed up our April with the release of Professor Longhair's performance Live On The Queen Mary and International Jazz Day! Ending the month on a high, find out Paul’s hidden talents in the April edition of ‘You Gave Me The Answer’ HERE!

May: 
The #FreshenUpTour went back on the road playing sold-out shows across the United States, whilst his daughter Mary took over his Instagram account in New Orleans. We also found out all the gossip from the South American tour with publicist Stuart Bell. May saw even MORE new music by Paul with the release of Egypt Station – Traveller’s Edition and its counterpart Egypt Station – Explorer’s Edition,  listen to the previously unreleased tracks HERE! Paul also announced he would be reissuing four decade-spanning live titles in June: Wings Over America, Choba B CCCP, Paul Is Live and the newly remixed Amoeba Gig. We sat down with Paul about all of these re-releases for our monthly Q&A’s, starting off with Wings Over America.

June:
Paul’s 'summer of live' came to an explosive close at a sold-out Dodger Stadium, but the memories live on! Read about life on the road with US publicist Steve Martin’s brand-new feature ‘Penned On The Run’. We launched ‘greetings from’ #FreshenUpTour GIPHY stickers for every show on Paul’s tour - keep an eye out for future tour stickers on Paul’s GIPHY Channel. Speaking of live, we got the low down on those ‘Paul Is Dead’ conspiracy theories with special Q&A’s about Paul Is Live and “the Russian album” Choba B CCCP.

Celebrations were held far and wide in June as Meat Free Monday turned 10 with a whole host of celebrities sharing their support with #MFMCountMeIn (learn more about the campaign at MeatFreeMondays.com). However, we couldn't forget the man himself as we also celebrated Paul's birthday - thank you all for your special messages! And whilst Paul also sent out his best wishes to dads around the world for Father’s Day.

We announced that Linda McCartney’s album Wide Prairie would be reissued for the first time on vinyl since its original 1998 release to coincide with the first UK showing of the Linda McCartney Retrospective at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Learn more about the Retrospective at LindaMcCartney.com

July:
It seems that every day Paul is constantly surprising us. If it’s not at a sold-out show at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, it’s with career firsts… (Drum roll, please!) Paul announced he is writing his first musical and it's an adaptation of the film It’s A Wonderful Life. It seems we will have even more things to look forward to next year!

Paul also took time out this month to send birthday wishes to Ringo Starr, along with celebrating Independence Day in the states. The summer vibes got started with a brand-new remix of the Egypt Station – Explorer’s Edition track ‘Nothing For Free (DJ Chris Holmes Remix)’ - Listen HERE! Finally, Paul tells us how he came to play one of his most intimate LA concerts ever in our last live album Q&A.

August:
Staying as busy as ever during August, we re-released Linda McCartney's Wide Prairie and sat down with Paul to discuss the album. We honoured the 50th anniversary of that famous Abbey Road crossing and shared the news that a special anniversary edition was to be released in September. Paul and left-handers everywhere celebrated #LeftHandersDay, we acknowledged Linda’s legacy on #WorldPhotographyDay, and we learnt more about the artist Eduardo Paolozzi with art forum 'Paintings On The Wall'. In this month’s ‘You Gave Me The Answer’, Paul discussed some of his deep cuts and put the rumours to rest on the Hot Hitz and Cold Cuts album - find out more HERE!

September:
This month we started a brand-new adventure as Hey Grandude! landed on bookshelves around the world. Having never released a children’s picture book before it's quite a different experience to releasing an album - unlike the universal language of music, Hey Grandude! was translated in 24 different languages, from Icelandic to Faroese (Faroe Islands). Helping Paul with a new creative venture is one of the most exciting things you can imagine, but the real icing on the cake was seeing it become a New York Times bestseller! To celebrate the book’s release Paul and illustrator Kathryn Durst made a special appearance at Waterstones, Piccadilly where he read to a group of schoolchildren and signed copies of his picture book. We also ran an Instagram Q&A with Paul to hear all about how he came to write Hey Grandude!

On the small screen Paul returned to The Ed Sullivan Theatre once again as a special guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to talk all things Grandude! And, in other TV news Paul’s episode of Carpool Karaoke won an Emmy! Check out his message to James Corden and team HERE!

If ALL this wasn’t enough… there was a special re-issue of Abbey Road and unsurprisingly the release went to number 1 in the UK charts! With a little help from Paul’s Beatle friends John, George and Ringo we simultaneously premiered the brand new music video for ‘Here Comes The Sun’. Watch the video HERE!

Last, but definitely not least, we launched Linda McCartney. The Polaroid Diaries book which features more than 200 photos from the early 1970s through to the mid-1990s. Paul, family and friends came together to celebrate Linda’s legacy at the V&A Museum.

October:
Whilst Halloween was yet to come, Christmas came early when Paul announced he had even more new music on the way. Paul donated 14 photographs by Linda McCartney to Glasgow Museums, which also coincided with the first-ever Polaroid pop-up exhibition of Linda’s work at Hankyu Umeda Gallery, Osaka.

Paul showed us a very special Grandude pumpkin(which we just had to share) and celebrated John Lennon's birthday and his anniversary. Finally, as the nights get longer, and the days get colder we love to binge-watch our favourite series in front of the telly so when Paul revealed what he has been watching on TV recently we had them to our “must watch” list.

November:
When you’ve been sitting on a secret as big as headlining Glastonbury Festival’s 50th anniversary, it’s fun to think of interesting ways of letting the cat out of the bag. So, when Paul wanted to tease his fans with a cryptic-triptych of composer Philip Glass, actress Emma Stone and the late Chuck Berry we knew it was going to send the internet into a frenzy. It was super fun seeing all your guesses, but it didn't take long until you figured it out: "Glass-Stone-Berry". On the subject of performing, Paul didn’t stop there as he announced five brand new European dates for his 2020 #FreshenUpTour. Paul graced the cover of Billboard's 125th Anniversary magazine to celebrate MPL’s 50thanniversary, wished US fans a very Happy Thanksgiving, and released a limited edition 7” of two never-before-heard tracks, ‘Home Tonight’ / ‘In A Hurry’. For this month’s ‘You Gave Me The Answer’, Paul discussed how he comes up with song titles during the writing process.

December:
In the final stretch of 2019 things haven't slowed down here at PaulMcCartney.com. We announced that Paul's children's book High In The Clouds will be adapted by Netflix and Gaumont animation, shared a video of his out-of-this-world conversation with astronaut Luca Parmitano and released a remastered video of the Christmas classic ‘Wonderful Christmastime’. Watch it HERE!

If you're reading this it might be too late to send out a Christmas card, but do not fret you can send Paul’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ e-card to that special someone HERE! To finish it all off, Paul took time out of his month to wish fans a Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas before chatting with us about his gym playlist ahead of January for the last 'You Gave Me The Answer' of 2019.

Phew, 2019 was one for the history books and there are more interesting things coming your way before the new decade starts. So remember to keep checking back to PaulMcCartney.com and we'll see you in the new year!