Paul McCartney has denied he is dissapointed to have not been left the rights for The Beatles catalogue following the death of Michael Jackson. Rumours suggested McCartney would be handed the rights back after Jackson won a bidding war for the songs back in 1984.
Speaking on his website, McCartney said: “Some time ago, the media came up with the idea that Michael Jackson was going to leave his share in the Beatles songs to me in his will which was completely made up and something I didn’t believe for a second. Now the report is that I am devastated to find that he didn’t leave the songs to me. This is completely untrue.”
In the 60s, McCartney and songwriting partner John Lennon would earn a slice of the royalties through publishing company ‘Northern Songs’, along with The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein and publisher Nick James. However, after the acrymonious split between The Beatles in 1970, the music published to ‘Northern Songs’ finally fell into the possession of Sir Lew Grade, who then put the songs up for sale in 1984, which is when Michael Jackson won the rights with a bid of $47.5 million.
McCartney went on to comment on the stories which surfaced after Jackson won the rights, claiming the pair fell out over the deal. He said: “In fact, though Michael and I drifted apart over the years, we never really fell out, and I have fond memories of our time together. At times like this, the press do tend to make things up, so occasionally, I feel the need to put the record straight.”