Million dollars buys McCartney for birthday gig

A Paul McCartney fan received the birthday present of a lifetime yesterday when her husband hired the musician to play at her 50th birthday party for one million dollars.

Financier Ralph Whitworth invited the former Beatle to play a personal show for his wife Wendy, a TV executive, at a party in San Diego, California.

McCartney accepted the offer on condition that he could donate the fee to Adopt-A-Minefield, the anti-landmines charity backed by him and his wife, Heather Mills McCartney.

This was the first private concert McCartney has ever performed.

Wendy, the executive producer of CNN’s Larry King Show, had no idea of the surprise when she joined 150 family and friends including Larry King and NBC Today host Katie Couric at the party at The Ranch Blues Club.

She was stunned and left in tears of joy when her husband announced at 9pm: “Now we’re going to play a bit of rock ‘n’ roll for Wendy” and McCartney and his band took to the stage.

An onlooker from the McCartney crew said: “Wendy Whitworth’s jaw hit the floor when Paul took to the stage. The gig had been arranged in total secrecy and only her husband was in on the secret.

“As you can imagine, the audience just went wild – the atmosphere was electric.”

Macca led his band through 19 songs including Let It Be, Yesterday, Hey Jude and We Can Work It Out in a 90-minute set.

At one point, he called Wendy up on stage to present her with 50 roses and then led the band through the Beatles’ rock song Birthday as she and her husband danced at his side.

The show served as a warm-up for his forthcoming tour of Europe that starts next month.

After the show McCartney said: “Normally I don’t do this sort of gig, but I was chuffed to do it because it was a win-win show.

“Ralph gets to be the great husband for organising the surprise, his wife gets a rocking party, I get to rehearse the band for the tour, and most important, Adopt-A-Minefield gets one million dollars (€929,000).”