“Denny was an outstanding vocalist and guitar player with a fine sense of humor”: Remembering Denny Laine – the guitarist who co-wrote Paul McCartney’s biggest ’70s hit

Denny Laine.

One day in 1977, Denny Laine arrived at Paul McCartney’s farm on Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. McCartney was singing the chorus to a song-in-progress called Mull of Kintyre. Laine grabbed a guitar, and within a few hours, the pair co-wrote what became one of the biggest-selling singles of all-time in the U.K. 

For Laine, who died December 5, 2023, at age 79 from lung disease, it was just one stop along the way in a remarkable 60-year career that included fronting the original Moody Blues and riding creative shotgun to McCartney in Wings for a decade of massive success.