Coming November 4, 2025, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, edited with an introduction by acclaimed historian Ted Widmer, promises to be one of the most comprehensive explorations of Paul McCartney’s life and music following the breakup of The Beatles. This new oral history, drawn from more than 500,000 words and dozens of hours of interviews with McCartney and key figures in the Wings orbit, charts the band’s extraordinary and often unpredictable rise during the colorful and complex 1970s.
Focusing on the formation and evolution of Wings—co-founded by Paul McCartney, his wife Linda McCartney, and Moody Blues alum Denny Laine—the book chronicles the band’s story from its uncertain beginnings in 1971 through its eventual disbandment in 1981. Organized around the band’s nine albums, the narrative paints an intimate and vivid portrait of a group trying to redefine itself in the enormous shadow left by The Beatles.
Far more than a musical biography, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run captures a crucial period in McCartney’s creative life. It reveals the growing pains and triumphs of a band that lived on the road, once toured UK universities unannounced, and even survived a mugging in Nigeria while recording Band on the Run. The book also highlights how McCartney managed to stay artistically relevant in a rapidly changing musical and cultural landscape.
Readers will gain new insight into the making of some of the 1970s’ most enduring tracks, including “Live and Let Die,” “Jet,” “My Love,” “Let ‘Em In,” and the record-breaking “Mull of Kintyre.” Complemented by more than 100 black-and-white and color photographs—many never published before—the book offers a visual and narrative celebration of Wings as more than a footnote in McCartney’s career.
The book arrives alongside a growing appreciation for Wings’ legacy, following the 2024 theatrical release of the One Hand Clapping live-in-studio film and album, and the 50th anniversary editions of Band on the Run and Venus and Mars. A new documentary by Oscar-winner Morgan Neville focusing on McCartney’s 1970s work is also on the horizon, making this an exciting time for fans and historians alike.
With its rich storytelling and exclusive content, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run is set to become an essential read for anyone interested in the journey of Paul McCartney after The Beatles.