Legendary musical giant and former Beatle Paul McCartney received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday. While the honor for the two time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is obviously deserved, its an outrage and disgrace that it took until Sir Paul reached the age of 69 before receiving the honor! To add insult to injury, all three of his Beatle compadres received their star on the Walk of Fame before he did. Yes, even Ringo.
Paul was only a founding member of arguably the greatest rock band in the history of music. The Beatles have sold more records then any group or individual with over one billion disc and tape sales worldwide. They have more multi-platinum selling albums then any artist in history. And back in April of 1964 they acheived the unbelievable feat of holding down the top five places on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. A feat never again repeated by any other artist. Of course Paul also wrote most of the Beatles hits along with the equally legendary John Lennon. McCartney personally wrote or co-wrote 31 number one singles in the U.S. A record unmatched by no other composer.
After leaving the Beatles, McCartney proved he could get along just fine on his own and has garnered 26 Gold or Platinum albums in the US alone, both individually and with his band Wings. His song “Yesterday” is universally recognized as the most covered song in history with over 2,200 recorded versions. At the age of 69, McCartney is still actively recording and touring with a new CD “Kisses from the Bottom” set for release this year.
With all of these incredible achievements, Paul McCartney finally was deemed worthy of getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Let us now take moment to look at some other “artist” who received their star before perhaps the greatest rock and roll composer/performer of our time.
Ricky Martin.
Huh?
Yes, it’s true. The “Living La Vida Loca” star, who can proudly boast 2 Top Ten songs on the charts, got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame before Paul McCartney.
At least Ricky Martin can hang his hat on two top ten songs. Billy Vera can lay claim to one hit song. Albeit a classic. “At this Moment” reached number one back in January of 1987. Vera never had another song even crack the top 30.
And don’t even get me started on John Tesh.
Interestingly, you could play a lively version of “which of these don’t belong” as you scroll down the list of performers recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Which of these don’t belong? Bob Hope, Elvis Presley, Muhammed Ali, Howie Mandel. Howie Mandel? The guy who hosted “Deal or No Deal” and had a comedy career where he blew up a sugerical glove on his head? He has a star?
Over 10 million people come from all over the world to see the legends of entertainments Stars on the Walk of Fame. While walking along on any given day you can hear fans squeal with delight when they spot a particular legendary star. “There’s Dean Martin!” “Oh, look! It’s James Dean!” “Where, oh where, is Kirstie Alley’s star?” Well, perhaps not.
With other amazing and successful talents such as Neil Patrick Harris, David Hasselhoff and, believe it or not, Erik Estrada, it’s easy to see why it would take so long to recognize Sir Paul McCartney with his own star. Incredibly, McCartney did make it in before Weird Al Yankovic. Must have been an oversight by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.