Wings facts: Members, songs, albums and break-up of Paul McCartney's post Beatles band

27 February 2026, 13:08

After The Beatles, Paul McCartney picked himself up and started anew.

Starting a new band after your incredibly famous first group split up is never going to be easy. If you were in The Beatles you could multiply that by a few million.

Straight after the split, all of the Fab Four initially went their own way in a more or less solo direction at first.

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George Harrison released the triple solo album All Things Must Pass 1970. The same year, Ringo Starr struck out on his own with two albums – Sentimental Journey and Beaucoup of Blues.

That was the same year both John Lennon and Paul McCartney stripped things back. Lennon released John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Paul did it all by himself for McCartney.

But Paul missed being in a band, and after releasing Ram as Paul and Linda McCartney a year later, he formed a new band, Wings. This is their story.

When and how did Wings form and who was in their lineup?

The Beatles hadn't toured since 1966. Their Rooftop Performance on the top of Apple's HQ was their sole public live performance after that.

In the years after the split, it didn't look like anyone was racing to get back on the road. It was Paul McCartney who decided that he want to start touring again, and for that he'd need a band.

Rather than assemble a group of live session players, he decided he'd get a proper band together. Given the scale of the shadow cast by The Beatles, to say that was a bold decision was an understatement.

His first choice was to include his wife Linda McCartney. Despite her lack of experience, she had sung backing vocals on McCartney and Ram was co-credited to her.

Paul didn't want to leave Linda at home while he toured so the plan was to "stick together and play music at the same time".

Moody Blues - Go Now [HD]

Also invited along in June 1971 were drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Hugh McCracken. Both men had pitched in on Ram, and while Seiwell said yes McCracken declined.

The following month, Macca asked ex-Moody Blues man Denny Laine along. He said yes, and Wings were born.

As for who did what, McCartney avoided the temptation to switch to guitar and stuck to bass (and vocals, of course), though in the studio he did also play guitar, keyboards, piano, drums and other bits and bobs.

Siewell was on drums, Laine on guitar, and Linda played keyboards and vocals, too.

How did Wings get their name?

Everyone knows how The Beatles got their name (The Crickets, the man on the flaming pie, etc. etc.) but the origin of "Wings" is probably less well known.

In the documentary Wingspan, Paul explained that during the troubled birth of his daughter Stella he was praying hard for both mum and baby when an image of wings came to his mind.

After the birth, he had the name for his new band.

How did Wings' lineup change over the years?

Tomorrow (Remastered 2018)

Paul, Linda and Denny Laine were ever-presents in Wings throughout their whole career, but there were some other comings and goings during their decade together.

Northern Irish guitarist Henry McCullough joined for the band's belated debut single 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish' and their second album Red Rose Speedway, but they were back to the core trio for Band on the Run later that year, with both McCullough and Seiwell moving on.

Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run (Official Music Video)

The band expanded once again, with guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton filling the vacancies, though within a couple of years, Britton had been replaced by Joe English. All three appeared on 1975's Venus and Mars.

It was the McCartneys-Laine-McCulloch-English line-up on Wings at the Speed of Sound album, Wings over America live collection and London Town LP.

There was a brief moment back as a trio again with the exists of McCulloch and English, before the recruitment of Laurence Juber on guitars and Steve Holley on drums for the band's last years and final Back to the Egg album.

What were Wings biggest songs?

Paul McCartney & Wings - Live And Let Die - 1976 - Remaster - By RetrominD

Many of the best known tracks of Paul McCartney's "solo" career were actually songs released as Wings.

Their biggest and best songs were:

• Give Ireland Back to the Irish
• Mary Had a Little Lamb
• Hi, Hi, Hi
• Tomorrow
• Mu Love
• Live and Let Die
• HelenWheels
• Jet
• Let Me Roll It
• Band on the Run
• Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
• Junior's Farm
• Listen to What the Man Said
• Silly Love Songs
• Let 'Em In
• Mull of Kintyre
• With a Little luck
• London Town
• Goodnight Tonight
• Getting Closer

When and why did Wings split up?

After successfully clawing their way out of the shadow of The Beatles, Wings got their way to the toppermost of the poppermost, but things fell apart at the start of their second decade.

Wings had planned a major 11-date tour of Japan, but on arrival Paul was arrested for possession of 7.7 ounces of marijuana.

He was jailed for ten days – apparently the only nights he ever spent away from Linda after they wed – before he was suddenly released without charge and deported on January 25, 1980.

By this point musical and personal differences had already grown.

It's worth noting that Macca had already recorded the completely solo McCartney II in 1979, with the record released in May 1980 while Wings were still a going concern.

Wings had reconvened to record what was meant to be the follow-up to Back to the Egg, with old friend George Martin in the producer's chair, when tragedy struck.

Paul McCartney - Here Today (Music Video)

The surviving Beatles were shellshocked by news that John Lennon had been murdered. By the time sessions reconvened a few months into 1981, Wings were effectively no more.

Macca and Martin had enlisted some superstars to help with the record (Stevie Wonder, Stanley Clarke, Carl Perkins and Ringo Starr), and while Denny Laine stuck around for a bit, he wasn't going to stay.

It wasn't just McCartney that thought things were coming to an end. He was miffed about the Japan tour being nixed, unhappy about not getting shared songwriting royalties on 'Mull of Kintyre' and was just drifting away from Paul.

So Laine would feature on half of the songs on Tug of War, but it was released as a Paul McCartney solo album in April 1982.

Did Wings ever reunite?

Paul McCartney: Man on the Run - Official Trailer | Prime Video

While he continued to perform with his wife Linda until her death from breast cancer 1998 Paul McCartney never reunited with Denny Laine, and so Wings never reunited after their split.

Paul continued and continues to play the songs live on his solo tours, but the closest we ever got were a series of Laine-led performances without McCartney.

At Beatlesfest in New Jersey in March 1997, Denny Laine joined forces with late-era Wings players Laurence Juber and Steve Holley for an impromptu reunion.

Ten years later at Fest for Beatles Fans in Las Vegas in July 2007, they did it again.

Laine and Seiwell buddied up the same festival in March 2010, again in New Jersey with Juber joining for a show in Chicago in August 2010.

Laine, Seiwell and Juber once again joined forces for a set in Los Angeles in October 2014, and the same trio plus Steve Holley got together in August 2017.

The quartet of Laine, Juber, Seiwell and Holley played Grand Oak Live in California in January 2018 for the Imagine Something Yesterday event, while Laine, Juber and Holley played a set at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Jersey City in March 2019.

Denny Laine died on December 5, 2023, putting an end to any hopes of a more complete Wings reunion.