Da Capo to Publish McCartney Bio

Da Capo executive editor Ben Schafer has acquired U.S. rights to a new biography of Sir Paul McCartney by Howard Sounes, and the house plans to publish the book, working title The Life of Paul McCartney, in the fall of 2010. Harper will publish simultaneously in the U.K., as will Doubleday in Canada. Kate Lee at ICM made the sale at auction, and translation rights have already been sold in Germany, Denmark, Holland and Finland.

In this unauthorized biography, Sounes will describe McCartney’s working-class Liverpool beginnings, the Beatles phenomenon, and McCartney’s many solo incarnations, putting the events of one of the two surviving Beatles' life in context with his musical achievement and cultural significance. Sounes is also the author of Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, published by Grove in 2001.