Paul McCartney’s son James has proven the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as he stepped out with his guitar to grab a coffee in London on Friday.
The 45-year-old, who is a dead ringer for his Beatles legend dad, looked relaxed as he met a friend outside a café.
James, who is the brother of Mary, 52, Stella, 50, and adopted sister Heather, is the only son of Sir Paul and his late wife Linda.
James cut a casual figure in a blue V-neck t-shirt and denim jacket for the outing. He carried his guitar in a case, a nod to his famous father, 79, who he has followed in the footsteps of.
The keen musician has released some of his own music and even played on some of Sir Paul’s albums. James came to embrace music later in life after largely shunning the spotlight.
He worked as a waiter in Brighton for a time after spending the first two-and-a-half-years of his life on tour with his parents and their group Wings.
The Mirror previously revealed how, in his 20s, the son of Beatles legend Paul McCartney shunned his father, hated his new step-mother and descended into a dark world of drink and drugs.
When he turned to Class A drugs - with terrifying horse tranquiliser ketamine - even his sisters cut ties with him.
That is now all in the past. His father and the step-mother, one-time model Heather Mills, are divorced, and he has reconciled with his dad and found the confidence to finally perform the songs he has been writing since he was 17.
He’s since played guitar on Paul’s records Flaming Pie and Driving Rain. He also played on a track called The Light Comes From Within which he recorded with his mum before she passed away.
James previously admitted his life was turned upside down when his mother Linda died of breast cancer in 1998 at the family’s ranch in Arizona.
“When I was 20 my mother died and I went off the rails a little bit. I kinda had my slightly dark period,” he told the Mirror in 2013. “I got heavily into Nirvana, a bit of Marilyn Manson, these heavy bands. It was a kind of Goth thing.
“I was finding myself and I was drinking and doing a little bit of drugs.”
He smoked his first marijuana joint at 16 but after his mother’s death he admits: “I was getting high, mainly on cannabis.”
James’ increasing isolation worsened when his father met Heather in 1999. They soon began a relationship, later marrying, and it caused such a rift that James and Paul barely spoke for years.
He said: “It was a difficult time. Dad was married to Heather and we didn’t get on.
“I don’t have a problem with Heather now because she is Beatrice’s mum but at the time it was difficult for me, I was so into Kurt Cobain and this mentality so I didn’t really like her. It was very difficult, I had my own issues.
“We drifted quite far apart, it was a difficult period. It was a coming of age for me. I had to strike out on my own and I needed a bit of time to grieve my mum’s death.”
James was living in Brighton, waiting on tables, and while his sister Stella was forging an international career in fashion, he descended even further into a life of drugs.
James has been matter-of-fact about his lost years, previously telling us: “The estrangement was partly because of Heather. It was difficult because of Mum’s death and then moving on, having a new mother.
“I started getting more into Class A drugs, ketamine. I wasn’t doing heroin but it’s practically like heroin... but not quite the same. It’s not that big a deal… but it is at the same time. It was my mistake. It wasn’t a problem, I think it was just once, it wasn’t that bad.
“All the family were concerned for me, they were worried. But it got to the point when they were just: ‘effin let James do his own thing.’ At the time I severed that tie with the rest of the family a little bit which I wish I hadn’t done now “
James went into rehab in Arizona but left shortly afterwards. His relationship with his father suffered and James previously admitted: “I went a long time without seeing Dad. We drifted apart. We would talk on the phone every few months but we went a long time without seeing each other. It was sad for both of us.”
But, when his father had heart problems and went in for surgery to open several blocked valves in 2007, a year after splitting from Heather, he realised how important his father was to him.
The spiritual singer, songwriter finally turned a corner when he saw a vision on the family farm in Sussex that felt like his mother Linda.
“The climax was more of a drugs thing. I started doing heavier drugs but it wasn’t an overdose or anything like that” he says.
“I had that dark period and then hit a bit of a climax. I thought ‘I need to be responsible now, I am 30 years old you can’t just keep doing this’.
“My darkest moment was when I saw the light. I don’t want it to sound cheesy, but I was in the dark quite a lot, literally, I was in the woods and I saw an ethereal light shining. I knew it was meant for me.
“Dad was in the press saying he had a bit of a heart flutter. Then we started talking a little bit. It was difficult for everyone at that time but some good came from it.”
It was the beginning of a tentative reconciliation which transformed their relationship. “Dad’s great now but that episode made me realise how important he is to me,” James said.
He had been sober for several months when we chatted to him in 2013, and was working hard on his music career. More importantly, he had rebuilt the bridges to his father and sisters Mary and Stella.
“They are happy that the ties are back now and with Dad, we are great mates now” he told. “I definitely want to embrace the relationships I have with the people I love. Especially someone like Dad, who is my dad and he is also my best friend.
Despite his father’s worldwide fame, Paul tried as best he could to give his children a normal upbringing. Instead of a private school, Paul sent his children to the local comprehensive.
But the real world was never far away. James said: “I was born in ‘77 and then John Lennon was shot in ‘80 and that totally knocked dad for six. I haven’t really spoken to him a lot about it because it is probably such a touchy subject, obviously.
“I was a little baby then and for a while Dad really didn’t tour after John was shot.”
But he admits growing up as the son of one of the most well-known people in the world wasn’t easy.
“It wasn’t truly normal; it couldn’t be, because of the level of fame. My dad had a normal upbringing and I think he then wanted to introduce a normal upbringing to us as well, so we went to a comprehensive school.
“Everyone at school knew who my dad was. It made me a little self-conscious a little introverted because I had a lot of attention drawn towards me, but in a way I guess it gives you a little bit of a celebrity skin, even though I wasn’t a celebrity.
“There was a little bit of bullying, just a little bit. I got the same thing as everyone gets really; all kids get bullied a little bit. I got jokey nicknames like Macaroni. Then I had good nicknames like Car – from McCARtney.”
Unsurprisingly, music formed a great part of his childhood. Like his dad, James taught himself to play the guitar and piano and he began writing songs at an early age.
He said: “I think having a father like Dad it was hard not to get into music.”
But Paul’s footsteps were always going to be difficult to follow. "It’s hard to live up to the Beatles,” James admitted. “When Wings toured, they got slated. Even Dad found it hard living up to the Beatles. I started out playing under an alias.”
A musician and songwriter, James has released two EPs and two albums. He released his debut single Available Light in 2010 before releasing his first album Me in 2013. His most recent release was the 2016 EP titled The Blackberry Train.
Both albums were co-produced by his father.
