[from
left]
Denny Laine, Linda McCartney and Paul McCartney in action with Wings in Aberdeen, Scotland, September 22, 1975
MICHAEL PUTLAND/GETTY IMAGES
ONE DAY IN 1977, Denny Laine arrived at Paul McCartney’s farm on Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. McCartney was singing the chorus to a song-in-progress called “Mull of Kintyre.” Laine grabbed a guitar, and within a few hours, the pair co-wrote what became one of the biggestselling singles of all-time in the U.K.
For Laine, who died December 5, 2023, at age 79 from lung disease, it was just one stop along the way in a remarkable 60-year career that included fronting the original Moody Blues and riding creative shotgun to McCartney in Wings for a decade of massive success.