The story of how Mark Ronson convinced Paul McCartney to collaborate
When Paul McCartney got married in 2011, he could have recruited any artist in the world to perform at his wedding to Nancy Shevell. The former Beatle opted to select Mark Ronson as his musical performer, who took to the decks, but Ronson refused payment for his services and instead cheekily asked to collaborate instead.
McCartney’s wedding was a low-key affair; according to reports, only 30 guests attended the event, which was mainly close family. The couple held the ceremony at the Marylebone Register Office, where Paul previously wed Linda in 1969, and afterwards, they partied at the reception with Ronson in charge of proceedings.
Although the ceremony didn’t have many guests, they still put together a full-blown party, with the great and the good of British music in attendance. As a DJ, it was undoubtedly intimidating for Ronson, considering the star-studded guests he needed to impress, but McCartney was thrilled with his song selections.
Opening up about the daunting experience with the Radio Times, Ronson explained: “I said, ‘I can’t possibly charge you, but maybe one day down the road, you could come and bless some song I have with an amazing bass part’.”
At a second wedding reception in London, McCartney approached Ronson and promised to take him up on his offer. “I was in the toilet washing my hands and he comes in and says, ‘Hey, we should get together like you said.'”
Ronson added: “‘I’m working on a new record, come down to my place in the [Sussex] countryside.’ And that’s how it happened!”
At the time, McCartney was working on his 2013 album, New. He was undecided on who he wanted to produce the project and decided to trial Ronson, Giles Martin, Ethan Johns, and Paul Epworth before picking one. However, in the end, Macca decided to work with all four.
Ronson collaborated with McCartney on the album’s titular track and on ‘Alligator’, a dream come true for the producer. Understandably, he was a bag of nerves when they first began working together in the studio, but overall, it was an unforgettable experience.
Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Ronson explained: “If you go in the studio with Paul McCartney, not only are you working with one of the greatest minds, musical minds of all time, producer, songwriter, arranger, musician, all of it. You’re also in the room with the ghosts of George Martin and Nigel Godrich and Elvis Costello and anyone who ever produced a Paul McCartney record on top of it.”
He added: “That’s a very intimidating place to be. So you always have a day grace period, I feel, with him, where everything in the studio looks like it’s made from kryptonite,” Ronson adds. “And you’re just breaking and dropping. And then I think you have to get on with it. The first time that I have something that I can just tell that I’ve engrossed them or turned them on.”
Listen below to the two tracks Ronson cooked up with his hero, Paul McCartney.
