Press Release

@Former Beatle Paul McCartney is celebrating a double dose of good news...

LONDON - Former Beatle Paul McCartney is celebrating a double dose of good news -- he is a father again at the age of 61 and his earnings have now topped 40 million pounds a year.

He leads a battalion of wrinkly rockers who have shown young pop pretenders a clean pair of heels by touring the world and charging their old, affluent and nostalgic fans a fortune for concert tickets.

McCartney, whose second wife Heather gave birth to a baby girl on Tuesday, tops the latest Sunday Times Pay List as Britain`s most affluent pop star.

McCartney`s latest world tour, which ended in his hometown of Liverpool in June, proved a major money-spinner and his annual earnings reached 40.026 million pounds.

"Maybe a baby will make him feel young and stay in touch with modern trends in his dotage," list compiler Philip Beresford told Reuters.

"He has suddenly taken up touring and found it is another avenue to make huge amounts of money. He has got on the Rolling Stones` bandwagon."

The Top 10 reads like a rollcall of veteran rockers -- it includes Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Madonna was the top woman, in sixth equal place with Elton John.

"These old rockers just keep going and going. Maybe they will still be performing on their zimmer frames," Beresford said.

"Most of them have now conquered their booze and drug problems and can actually see their fans. Twenty to 30 years ago they were so spaced out.

"They keep their fan base who have grown old and rich with them and can use their credit cards to buy tickets to their ridiculously overpriced concerts."

The changing face of pop was signalled by the meteoric rise of Simon Cowell, the blunt-spoken mastermind behind the "Pop Idol" talent show which has been a huge ratings winner on both sides of the Atlantic. His 2003 earnings soared to 33.5 million pounds.

Robbie Williams, whose 2003 tour and latest record deal earned him 26 million pounds, carried the torch for the younger generation of pop stars by taking third place.

He is the only male pop star under the age of 50 in the top 15 music earners.

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Talking Business Publications

copyright 1999 matccopublishers. all rights reserved.
comments or questions- aipce@aipcefrontieres.org