for songwriter, I choose the other half of that dynamic duo, Sir Paul McCartney.
I got to see him play a show in Seattle 2 and a half years ago. Almost 3 hours on the stage, played all of his good stuff, one of the top 5 shows I have attended. He has recently said his next world tour, starting later this year, will be his last. Go and see him if you can.
Sir James Paul McCartney,
MBE (born
18 June 1942) is an
English rock singer,
bass guitarist, songwriter,
composer,
multi-instrumentalist,
entrepreneur,
record producer,
film producer and
animal-rights activist. He gained worldwide fame as a member of
The Beatles, with
John Lennon,
George Harrison, and
Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful
songwriting partnerships and "wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history".
[1] After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band
Wings with his first wife,
Linda Eastman McCartney, and singer-songwriter
Denny Laine. He has worked on film scores, classical music, and ambient/electronic music; released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist; and taken part in projects to help international
charities.
McCartney is listed in
Guinness World Records as the most successful musician and composer in
popular music history, with 60
gold discs and sales of 100 million
singles.
[2] His song "
Yesterday" is listed as the most
covered song in history - by over 3700 artistes so far - and has been played more than 7,000,000 times on
American television and radio. Wings' 1977 single "
Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single.
[3] (Three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so—in 1984—was
Band Aid's "
Do They Know It's Christmas?", whose participants included McCartney.)