Sir Paul McCartney has paid a glowing tribute to his late Wings bandmate Henry McCullough.
The renowned guitarist, who also played with Joe Cocker and jammed with Jimi Hendrix, died on Tuesday, four years after a severe heart attack left him incapacitated.
Sir Paul McCartney has paid tribute to Henry McCullough (Ian West/PA)
Henry, 72, originally from Portstewart, Northern Ireland, was said to have been the only Irish musician to have played at the famous Woodstock festival in 1969.
And while he may not have been a household name, he counted Marianne Faithfull and The Who among those he jammed with.
He also played lead guitar on Wings’ James Bond theme, Live And Let Die.
Perhaps best known for his solo on the band’s number one hit My Love, Sir Paul gave a little insight into Henry’s enduring talent and originality.
“The solo he played on My Love was a classic that he made up on the spot in front of a live orchestra. Our deepest sympathies from my family to his,” he said.
Belfast-based music promoter and agent Nigel Martyn spoke to the guitarist’s French wife Josie following his death.
“I have just spoken to Josie who has informed me that Henry passed away at home this morning. Josie said that she has lost her one true love,” he said.
Wings guitarist Henry McCullough (Ronnie Norton)
The couple had been living for several years in Ballywindelland, between Coleraine and Ballymoney in Co Antrim, in a home they fondly referred to as “Ballywonderland”.
Sir Paul sent a heartfelt message from his tour in Germany.
“He was a pleasure to work with, a super talented musician with a lovely sense of humour,” the former Beatle said.
Henry also sang and wrote music, but one of the renowned guitarist’s more memorable contributions to music was a few choice words for Pink Floyd.
When playing with Wings at Abbey Road studios in London, members of the band stopped off from their own recording session next door and asked for a few soundbites for their album Dark Side Of The Moon.
Henry McCullough. RIP pic.twitter.com/iFzprlfi8N
— denny seiwell (@drumndenny) June 14, 2016
Henry’s line: “I don’t know, I was really drunk at the time,” found its way into the closing bars of one of the record’s best-known tracks, Money.
Elsewhere, his lead guitar on stage with Joe Cocker and The Grease Band on day three of Woodstock is the stuff of legend as they performed an electrifying version of The Beatles’ hit With A Little Help From My Friends.
Henry also played on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar.
He played one of his last live performances in a small rock club in Draperstown, Co Derry, a year before suffering a heart attack which left him incapacitated.
Last time Henry and I played together. Mar 23 Fest for Beatlefans NJ pic.twitter.com/gPPl58gFlt
— denny seiwell (@drumndenny) June 14, 2016
Nigel said: “He had suffered severe brain damage and was left completely incapacitated for the last four years.
“But Josie has been incredible – the way she looked after him was absolutely out of this world.”
Denny Seiwell, drummer and founding member of Wings, posted a series of photos on Twitter of him with his old bandmate.
He said: “My dear friend and brother Henry McCullough passed away. His battle is over. Keep his wife Josie in your thoughts he will be missed.”
Funeral arrangements are to be announced later.
Recording My Love Abby Road pic.twitter.com/sRRg27fmis
— denny seiwell (@drumndenny) June 14, 2016
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here