Brush with fame: Are rock stars any good at art?

For the singer Joni Mitchell it was more enjoyable than the ‘day job’. Jazz virtuoso Miles Davis regarded it as an extension of his wildly inventive musical colourscapes. As Paul McCartney’s photographic show opens to rave reviews, David Lister runs the rule over the musicians who painted their lives away from the crowd

The new Sir Paul McCartney exhibition, Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm, is at the National Portrait Gallery in London (PA)

The current exhibition of Beatlemania photographs by Paul McCartney seems to have taken many by surprise. Who knew that the great singer-songwriter was once an accomplished photographer? Even he seems to have partially forgotten the fact, only rediscovering the pictures recently.

The photos capture the excitement of his fellow band members on their first visit to America. Amazingly, when I interviewed Sir Paul 10 years ago, he was still talking about that visit to Miami, which forms the centrepiece of the exhibition, and how George Harrison, in particular, was blown away by it. Indeed, he grew excited just talking about the image, still vivid in his mind, of Harrison being served a cocktail by a bikini-clad waitress – the same image that is now on display in Sir Paul’s exhibition.

McCartney is, of course, not the first musician to diversify into the visual arts. Jazz virtuoso Miles Davis had a huge talent for surreal, brightly coloured geometric shapes on canvas, often influenced by African art. But it was the Sixties generation of rock stars – a number of whom had been to art school – who really branched out. McCartney’s brother Michael, who scored two massive hits with his group The Scaffold (“Thank U Very Much” and “Lily the Pink”) became an accomplished photographer, with a recent show in London. His unique access resulted in memorable behind-the-scenes pictures, including one of John Lennon “goosing” one of his idols, US rocker Gene Vincent.