The Beatles are the most famous and celebrated four-piece in pop history. Never has a group before or since put out a body of work that can compare to theirs. And none of the four could muster anything like the same output without the others, as their respective inconsistent solo careers proved.
Yet the band did start out with an undisputed leader. As Paul McCartney and George Harrison have both attested to, John Lennon was the one the others looked to as their main man. Lennon was the oldest member until Starr joined on the eve of their first record deal. He was the founder of the group, and the one who motivated the others to keep going whenever the going got tough in their formative years.
As such, Lennon was also arguably The Beatles’ first lead singer, a role he soon found himself sharing with songwriting partner Paul McCartney. Nonetheless, McCartney’s songwriting and vocal abilities made him the perfect complement for Lennon, and it was actually a McCartney-led composition that became the band’s first single.
‘Love Me Do’ was released in 1962, with McCartney singing the lead vocals of the middle eight, while sharing the lead harmonies of the verses with Lennon. It was a McCartney lead vocal that first appeared on American television as well, as The Beatles opened their historic first 1964 set on The Ed Sullivan Show with ‘All My Loving’.
Just over a month later, McCartney became the first Beatle to feature as the sole lead vocalist on a single release, with his composition ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’. The Beatles no longer had a band leader per se. If anything, in the band’s later years, McCartney would be taking charge of things from album concepts to business decisions.
So was McCartney more of a lead singer in The Beatles than Lennon?
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Well, to answer this question, we surely have to look at the sum total of lead vocal parts performed by each of The Beatles in their entire recorded output. That is, only counting tracks the group has released officially (including the three singles released since Lennon’s death).
For argument’s sake, any song which features one of The Beatles on lead vocals, even just for a short section, will count towards their total, as will joint-lead vocals. So ‘Love Me Do’ goes to both McCartney and Lennon, for example. But ‘Revolution 9’, Lennon’s musique concrète experiment from The White Album, won’t count for anyone since it doesn’t include singing in any way, shape or form.
Unsurprisingly, the Beatle with the lowest total number of lead vocals is drummer Ringo Starr, with 13. George Harrison is one up on the list with lead vocal parts on 36 different songs.
Between Lennon and McCartney, the totals are much closer. Paul McCartney has 106 songs on which he sings lead or joint-lead vocals. But it’s John Lennon who comes out on top, with a whopping 115 lead vocal parts. Not bad, for a recording period spanning just seven years.
