Paul McCartney Hits The Road

Paul McCartney is continuing his tour.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Paul McCartney is kicking off the North American leg of his "Out There" tour in Orlando.

The massive production, which requires 31 trucks' worth of equipment, includes lasers, huge pyrotechnics, and state of the art video displays, according to the website of the former Beatles star.

McCartney performed the show to a sold-out crowd of 55,000 people in Brazil earlier this month, performing "Band on the Run", "Hey Jude", "Yesterday" and "Let It Be."

He will perform at Orlando's Amway Center on Saturday and Sunday night. The Orlando Sentinel reports it is McCartney's only performance in Florida.

At one point during the show, McCartney is raised 20ft above the stage on a special riser as he performs "Blackbird" and "Here Today" acoustically, according to his website.

View the original article at Huffington Post / Celebrity

Ex-Beatle McCartney says "I Do" for third time (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – Paul McCartney married for the third time on Sunday, exchanging vows with American heiress Nancy Shevell at the same London register office where the former Beatle wed his first wife Linda in 1969.

The beaming couple emerged from the grey-stone Old Marylebone Town Hall to confetti and cheers from dozens of fans who had waited hours to catch a glimpse of the music legend and his new wife.

Brunette Shevell, 51, wore a knee-length, long-sleeved white dress which reports said was designed by McCartney's fashion designer daughter Stella.

The bride also had a white flower in her hair and carried a small posy of roses, while "Hey Jude" singer McCartney wore a dark suit and light blue tie. One newspaper had a headline saying: "Yes-today", in a reference to the famous Beatles song.

Despite his huge wealth as a key songwriter and frontman for the world's most successful pop band, 69-year-old McCartney chose a modest civil ceremony before a small group of family and friends.

Ringo Starr, the only other surviving member of the "Fab Four", and his wife Barbara Bach were among the guests at the wedding. Ex-Beatle John Lennon, who was assassinated in New York in 1980, would have been 71 on the day of the wedding.

After the ceremony, which lasted just over an hour, the newlyweds returned to McCartney's home in St. John's Wood for an evening reception.

The property in the upmarket area of north London is just a few streets away from the Abbey Road Studios where the Beatles recorded many of their most famous songs.

Asked how he felt after marrying for a third time, he told reporters: "Terrific, thank you. I feel married. I feel absolutely wonderful."

SWEET SERENADE

Rock'n'roll royalty including Starr, Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood and guitarist Jeff Beck attended the reception, as did model Twiggy and artist Tracey Emin.

Late Beatle George Harrison's widow Olivia turned up to the soiree, which was also designed to be a low-key affair.

McCartney's spokesman declined to divulge any details of the wedding day, but celebrity-hungry tabloids in Britain, where the affectionately named "Macca" is hugely popular, have been poring over every detail.

According to reports, McCartney composed a song for Shevell especially for their big day.

He was also expected to perform "Let it Be", which he sang to Shevell on one of their first holidays together three years ago, and her favorite "Let Me Roll It", the Sunday Mirror said.

McCartney was married for 29 years to American photographer Linda until her death from breast cancer in 1998. He said at the time that he and Linda had spent just 11 nights apart during their marriage.

McCartney's marriage to former model and charity campaigner Heather Mills was less happy.

The couple wedded in 2002 in a lavish ceremony at Castle Leslie in Ireland estimated by celebrity magazines to have cost around $3.2 million.

But four years later they confirmed they had separated, blaming media intrusion into their private lives, and in 2008 the couple divorced.

A judge had to rule on the size of the divorce settlement after the couple failed to reach agreement themselves, and Mills was awarded 24.3 million pounds ($38 million), ending one of the most acrimonious breakups in showbusiness history.

She had claimed 125 million pounds and said McCartney was worth 800 million pounds, although a judge found his fortune was worth half that amount.

McCartney has a son, two daughters and a stepdaughter from his marriage to Linda, and a daughter from his marriage to Mills.

The independently-wealthy Shevell, who was married to an attorney for more than 20 years and serves on the board of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has a son.

(Additional reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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Paul McCartney, Nancy Shevell to wed in London (AP)

LONDON – Paul McCartney is set to tie the knot at the venue where he first married more than 40 years ago.

Officials said Friday that the former Beatle and fiancee Nancy Shevell have posted a notice of intention to marry at London's Marylebone Register Office.

Westminster Council said the notice was posted Wednesday, meaning the couple could marry anytime after September 30. They have a year to hold the ceremony.

The document lists the musician under his full name James Paul McCartney and describes him as a "business executive." It gives the couple's address as McCartney's London home.

Alison Cathcart, Westminster City Council's superintendent registrar, said she would be officiating and was "delighted that Paul and Nancy have chosen Marylebone Town Hall for their special day."

"Lots of couples get married here because of the venue's reputation as a rock `n' roll place to tie the knot and this ceremony will certainly continue that legacy," she said.

McCartney married his first wife Linda at the venue in 1969. She died of cancer in 1998, and he later married Heather Mills. They divorced in 2008.

McCartney's spokesman had no immediate comment.

The century-old town hall has seen many celebrity weddings, including those of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Oasis singer Liam Gallagher.

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MusiCares to honor Paul McCartney next year (AP)

NEW YORK – Paul McCartney will be honored as MusiCares person of the year during Grammy week next year.

The former Beatle will not only be honored for his music but also for his charitable side. Recording Academy President and CEO Neil Portnow says McCartney "exemplifies the phrase `artist/philanthropist.'"

The annual event celebrates a legend in the days before the Grammy Awards. Previous honorees include Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. An array of music stars pay tribute by singing their songs, and the honoree sometimes performs as well.

MusiCares helps musicians who are struggling due to financial, medical or other reasons. McCartney says he's privileged to try and make the world a better place through charity and he's honored by the MusiCares tribute.

The announcement was made Tuesday.

The awards will be presented in Los Angeles.

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Online:

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_en_mu/storytext/us_musicares_mccartney/42914173/SIG=10reehvuc/*http://www.musicares.com/

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_en_mu/storytext/us_musicares_mccartney/42914173/SIG=10v6slv3l/*http://www.paulmccartney.com/

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MusiCares to honor Paul McCartney next year (AP)

NEW YORK – Paul McCartney will be honored as MusiCares person of the year during Grammy week next year.

The former Beatle will not only be honored for his music but also for his charitable side. Recording Academy President and CEO Neil Portnow says McCartney "exemplifies the phrase `artist/philanthropist.'"

The annual event celebrates a legend in the days before the Grammy Awards. Previous honorees include Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. An array of music stars pay tribute by singing their songs, and the honoree sometimes performs as well.

MusiCares helps musicians who are struggling due to financial, medical or other reasons. McCartney says he's privileged to try and make the world a better place through charity and he's honored by the MusiCares tribute.

The announcement was made Tuesday.

The awards will be presented in Los Angeles.

___

Online:

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_en_mu/storytext/us_musicares_mccartney/42914173/SIG=10reehvuc/*http://www.musicares.com/

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_en_mu/storytext/us_musicares_mccartney/42914173/SIG=10v6slv3l/*http://www.paulmccartney.com/

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McCartney, Pacino, Damon, other stars remember 9/11 (Reuters)

TheWrap Staff

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Do you remember where you were on the morning of September 11, 2001?

TheWrap asked a number of actors, filmmakers, producers, writers and bloggers, some New Yorkers and others not even U.S. citizens, to remember where they were on that fateful day, and how it changed them.

PAUL McCARTNEY

"I was on my way back to England, and we were at JFK on the tarmac, and the pilot just suddenly said, 'We can't take off. We're going to have to go back to base.' And out of the window on the right-hand side of the airplane, you could see the twin towers. You could see one plume of smoke, and then you could see two shortly thereafter.

I said, 'Well, that's an optical illusion, you know.' Then one of the stewards came to me and said, 'Look, there's been something really serious happened in New York, and we've got to get you out of here.'

I ended up in Long Island watching it on TV, watching the whole story unfold -- like everyone else in the world -- wanting to go into New York, but nobody was allowed back in.

So while I was kind of sitting out there twiddling my thumbs thinking of what to do, was there any role I could play in this, the idea came to me that maybe we could do a concert, maybe get something together. And that thing grew into a conversation with Harvey Weinstein, who said that MTV was putting one together and maybe we should all get together on that. it was a kind of post-fear. We were emerging from the fearfulness of the immediate impact, and now you were seeing the emotion releasing through music, which I always think is a great thing. You could see particularly the firefighters and the volunteers and their families and victims' families were able to release this emotion that had been pent up. It was a great feeling. It was a really great feeling."

AL PACINO

"It was the most terrifying, the most heartbreaking day. I was on a plane the evening before it happened, September 10.

I was in Los Angeles, and all I wanted was to get back to my home -- New York.

I couldn't get back, the planes wouldn't move. It was devastating."

MATT DAMON

"I lived in lower Manhattan at the time. So I just remember walking out of my apartment and seeing it and then going back in and watching CNN 'cause I was so hungry for information, trying to figure out what's going on.

I just remember being glued to my television despite the fact that it was happening kind of right outside my door."

JANE ROSENTHAL (Founder of Tribeca Productions and the Tribeca Film Festival)

"I had just dropped my daughter off at school for second grade, and I was driving to the office. I was supposed to meet with Spike Lee and Harvey Weinstein to talk about "Rent," which we'd been trying to put together.

When I heard the noise, I thought it was a car crash. I turned around in my car, and went further into Wall Street, and around that time I heard the second plane hit. I was listening to New York One. My first reaction was that it was a terrorist attack.

I was on South Street Seaport going north. To get to 30th Street it took almost three hours. I called my husband from a payphone and told him to pick up my daughter. I heard the Pentagon had been hit. At that point, I thought the end of the world was coming. I was probably in a state of shock -- complete disbelief.

When I think back to that day, to how my first instinct was to get out and get to my kids, versus all the fire and police who chose to run in and save people. I think, 'What makes you run in versus run out of a disaster? That has been something I've thought about quite a bit.

That feeling has propelled me to do as much for downtown as I can. Certainly, what we've done with the film festival and the dinners downtown. In a period of duress, what's your instinct, and what does that say about you as an individual?

For me, it's been personally doing everything I can for downtown. Bob (De Niro) and I are on the national 9/11 Memorial Museum board, and the opening will be quite spectacular on September 11.

TOM HARDY

"I was at a wig-fitting. I was doing a French Foreign Legion film, and I was going out to North Africa, Morocco. We'd just done 'Black Hawk Down,' and they shelved that immediately. There were a lot of war films that year being made. A lot of work was being done in North Africa. Everyone had started panicking. And I was executing holy men in a scene three days later in a mosque in Morocco. It was a thing called 'Simon, French Foreign Legion Deserter' it ended up being called. So it was a very odd situation to be in because there I was playing a soldier in North Africa. We had a plane on standby to get us out if anything kicked off.

Immediately, it was a life-changing event. I have friends who serve, I have a lot of friends in special forces, I have very, very close friends who deal in very serious operations all over the Middle East that were affected post-9/11 ... I'm still really thrown by the loss and the amount of people on that day, and that whole situation, to be honest.

I'm a bit thrown. I've got friends who were in the building, in the twin towers. I have friends who are servicemen, what can you say?"

GUS VAN SANT

"I was living on Canal Street and out my window I could see the towers, and I heard an explosion and eventually realized that one of them was on fire. Our office was even closer, so we were eight blocks away on the roof looking at the towers falling.

And we evacuated away from the dust and smoke that was coming our way. I was sort of typical of some reactions where I wasn't really aware of how big a moment it was, which was something that happened with other people in the Tribeca area and Wall Street area. Some people continued working.

We traveled uptown from where we were, and we were on 57th Street, and we realized that people uptown felt it was a downtown problem, and people upstate felt it was a, like, a Manhattan problem.

And elsewhere it was a national problem -- I think if you were in Delaware, you saw it more objectively, like, 'This is a national emergency. This is an amazing, horrible, historical event.' But if you were there, there were many different reactions, and mine was probably one as a result of some kind of shock."

BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD

"I was on Christopher Street, below the 14th Street line, which is kind of like the cut-off, and I heard all this noise and opened my windows. I remember my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, saying, 'Where's the other tower?' The first tower had already fallen and we were just looking at one tower.

I was so used to seeing the twin towers, I couldn't even understand, really, what I was seeing. I remember it took me awhile to figure out, 'Oh my God, one of the towers is missing!' cause it's just unthinkable. And then we saw the second tower fall, and my husband was sobbing and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to be late to class!' I was getting ready to go outside and my husband was like, 'Are you out of your mind?! You're not going outside right now!'"

ROSEANNE CASH

"My daughter Carrie was in seventh grade, and I took her to school in a taxi because there was a meeting that morning., I went into the cafeteria and she went up to her classroom. At about 8:45, I heard a rumble overhead. The plane went right over the school, and shook the building.

I looked around the room, and one of the mothers said, 'That plane is going to crash.' About five minutes later, somebody came to the door and said a plane had just crashed into the north tower.

And I said to one of the teachers who was sitting with me, 'I bet it was that plane that just went over.' At first we thought it was just a commuter plane that had gotten lost. We couldn't conceive that an airliner had actually done it. We stopped the meeting and walked out in the hall, and a woman was out there crying. She said it was a passenger jet, and then we freaked.

I started to walk out the building to go look at the towers, because there was a straight view right down the street. Another mother was coming in, and she was as white as a sheet. She said a second plane had just hit, and I said, 'What are you talking about?' I thought that she was confused.

So I went around to the corner, and you could see both towers burning. There were these black holes, and smoke. A lot of smoke. We were standing there, and my friend Robin Rue, who's a literary agent, said, 'All this in the name of god.' That's when I really realized what had happened, that it was a terrorist attack.

NICK NOLTE

"I was watching TV when it happened. I didn't see the first plane. I saw the second plane. And then on the anniversary of 9/11, I was drunk and picked up for drunk driving.

The reason that picture got on television was, all the cameras were pointing at the place where the terrorists were supposed to hit.

And then there was no news, so they picked that picture up and sent it back."

JOEL EDGERTON

"I was at record launch at a Chapel Street in Melbourne, at a place called Revolver. I'd just finished shooting a movie and one of the locations was a place called The Twin Towers, in Melbourne. And my brother sent me a text message saying, 'A plane has just landed in the twin towers.'

And I was just imagining a two-seater plane landing in this very small building in Melbourne, thinking, 'What is he talking about?' Then the reality of what happened hit and this poor guy was on stage in the second set of his LP launch, and the room just started clearing one by one.

And I remember on my way home thinking, 'That poor guy thinks he's the worst musician in the world.' And then I spent all night watching TV. I remember feeling it was the most worried I'd felt ever in my life, just in general about humanity and about the world, even though it was something so far away from me."

PEREZ HILTON

"I woke up, went upstairs to the roof of my building in the West Village, and saw the World Trade Center with a big hole in it. Then I fell to my knees. I went downstairs, went running to the bank on Christopher Street, got all my cash out, went to the supermarket, and got in hurricane survival mode because I'm from South Florida. I thought it was the end of the world; I didn't know what to think.

"At first, I kept getting phone calls, because I was right out of college and didn't have a full-time job yet, I was so annoyed that people kept calling me early in the morning. I'm like, 'Let me sleep!' And then finally I picked up the phone and then I went upstairs and I saw and it was unbelievable.

Being in New York after that was just crazy because you were reminded of it daily for years after, but especially what I remember most vividly about that time was the smell in the air stayed for about six months or more, and then even longer because whenever it would rain there was this very specific smell from the World Trade Center disaster.

NOTE: Interviews conducted by Jordan Riefe, Steve Pond, Mikey Glazer and Sharon Waxman

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Paul McCartney teams up with Decca label, at last (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – Decca has teamed up with Paul McCartney to release his upcoming ballet nearly 50 years after the record label famously rejected taking on the Beatles in what has been called one of the music industry's biggest blunders.

The ballet, "Ocean's Kingdom," is the former Beatle's first foray into the world of dance, and has its world premiere at the New York City Ballet on September 22. There will be four additional performances in September and five more in January.

The Decca recording hits shelves in Britain on October 3.

Decca famously snubbed the Fab Four early in 1962, reportedly saying at the time that "guitar groups are on the way out" and "the Beatles have no future in showbusiness."

The quartet from Liverpool went on to sign with EMI label Parlophone and became arguably the most successful and influential pop band in history.

"Ocean's Kingdom," commissioned by the New York City Ballet, is conducted by John Wilson and performed by the London Classical Orchestra.

When he decided to write a ballet, McCartney visited the Royal Opera House in London and saw "Giselle," meeting the dancers of the Royal Ballet afterward to discuss the work.

McCartney's ballet tells of a love story set in an underwater world where people are threatened by humans. The score lasts an hour and is divided into four movements -- Ocean's Kingdom, Hall of Dance, Imprisonment and Moonrise.

In a statement, the 69-year-old singer/songwriter said he was "trying to write something that expressed an emotion -- so you have fear, love, anger, sadness to play with, and I found that exciting and challenging."

McCartney has written classical music before, including the award-winning choral work "Ecce Cor Meum."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Piers Morgan to Paul McCartney: we didn't hack you (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Piers Morgan has responded to countless allegations that he knew of, condoned or practiced phone hacking while editor of the Daily Mirror, but Monday night on Conan O'Brien he switched roles and became the accuser.

Morgan accused Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Paul McCartney, of hacking her former husband, the same charge Mills has leveled against Morgan.

"Paul McCartney is apparently now claiming someone hacked his phone," Morgan told O'Brien. "I suspect it was Heather Mills because in the divorce, if you study the divorce papers, Paul McCartney accused Heather then of hacking into his phones and passing information to the papers."

The conversation started when O'Brien asked Morgan about the hacking charges, to which Morgan said: "I kind of thought when Heather Mills poked her head up above the parapet, the whole thing got completely ridiculous."

Morgan then recounted how he introduced Mills and McCartney, eventually costing McCartney $50 million in settlements. Morgan said Mills should thank him, and added if there was anyone he should apologize to, it is Sir Paul.

You can see the clip here: http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/piers-morgan-apologizes-paul-mccartney-conan-29921

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McCartney: I'm going to police over hacking claim (AP)

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press – Thu Aug 4, 6:40 pm ET

LONDON – Former Beatle Paul McCartney said Thursday he would contact police over his ex-wife's claim that the couple had been spied upon by a British newspaper.

In comments to U.S. television journalists delivered via videolink from Cincinnati, Ohio, McCartney said that he would be in touch with law enforcement as soon as he was finished with his summer tour.

"I will be talking to them about that," McCartney told the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles.

"I don't think it's great. I do think it is a horrendous violation of privacy, and I do think it's been going on a long time, and I do think more people than we know knew about it. But I think I should just listen and hear what the facts are before I comment," he said.

McCartney is the latest celebrity to be dragged into Britain's phone hacking scandal, which centers on allegations that journalists routinely eavesdropped on private phone messages, bribed police officers for tips and illegally obtained confidential information for stories.

Until recently the scandal was largely been limited to the British arm of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, but an allegation made Wednesday by McCartney's former wife Heather Mills implicates the Trinity Mirror PLC group of newspapers, and CNN celebrity interviewer Piers Morgan, who once edited the group's flagship Daily Mirror tabloid.

Mills' allegation, made Wednesday in an interview with the BBC, was that a senior Mirror journalist admitted to her that his paper had been spying on her messages. While the broadcaster said that the unidentified man was not Piers Morgan, the former model's allegation echoes a claim Morgan himself made back in 2006 — a few months after the couple began divorce proceedings.

In an article published by the Daily Mail, Morgan said that he had been played a tape of a message McCartney had left on Mills' cell phone in the wake of one of their fights.

"It was heartbreaking," Morgan wrote. "He sounded lonely, miserable and desperate, and even sang 'We Can Work It Out' into the answerphone."

Questions over how Piers Morgan came to hear such a message have led several British lawmakers to call on him to return to the U.K. and explain himself.

Morgan has so far not offered comment on his article, although he did describe Mills' allegation as unsubstantiated and noted that the judge in the couple's divorce case had cast aspersions on her credibility.

He has repeatedly denied having ever ordered anyone to spy on others' voicemails, while his former newspaper group has insisted that it's journalists obey the law.

Mills' office on Thursday declined to elaborate on what she told the BBC, but said that the 43-year-old "looks forward to receiving Piers Morgan's answer as to how he knew the content of her private voicemail messages."

Several British parliamentarians have also said that Morgan has questions to answer — among them Conservative legislator Therese Coffey.

"I think it would help everybody, including himself and this investigation, if he was able to say more about why he wrote what he did in 2006," Coffey told the BBC Wednesday.

Morgan's publicist, Meghan McPartland, said that as far as she knew the CNN star — who is spending his summer working as a judge on "America's Got Talent" — was not returning to England to answer questions.

Morgan himself made light of the calls on his Twitter feed, saying he found it "so heartwarming that everyone in U.K.'s missing me so much they want me to come home."

In a separate development, the publisher of Britain's Daily Mail newspaper announced late Thursday that it was reviewing its editorial procedures. No reason for the review was given, but Morgan is one of many media veterans who've claimed that phone hacking and other shady practices were common across Britain's newspaper industry.

A similar review is already under way at the Mirror.

Associated Newspapers Ltd., which publishes the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, and London's free Metro newspaper, said in a terse statement that Liz Hartley, the company's head of editorial legal services, would be among those working on the review.

Few other details were revealed, and Hartley did not return emails seeking further information.

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Frazier Moore and Noaki Schwartz in Los Angeles and David Stringer and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

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McCartney recalls fear after 9/11, says music heals (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Paul McCartney on Thursday recalled the shock and fear that engulfed New York in the aftermath of the Sept 11 attacks and what he called the magical power of music in helping to heal those wounds.

Speaking ahead of the television broadcast of his 9/11 documentary "The Love We Make", the former Beatle said that the concert he helped organize after the attacks was one of the most worthwhile moments of his career.

Shot in black and white, "The Love We Make" chronicles McCartney's personal journey in the devastated city immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center, and preparations for the "Concert for 9/11" six weeks later.

It will be broadcast on cable channel Showtime on September 10 as part of a slew of U.S. television programs marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

"The whole mood of the world, of America and New York had changed. There was fear in the air and I had never experienced that in New York," McCartney told television journalists gathered in Los Angeles for a bi-annual meeting of critics.

McCartney said he organized the concert in a bid to help New York let out the fear. "We were emerging from the fearfulness of the immediate impact, and now you were seeing the emotion releasing through music -- it's one of the reasons I am in music."

"It was a great feeling. We actually felt like we were doing a bit of good," he said of the concert.

McCartney was on a plane on the tarmac in New York on the morning of September 11, 2001 which was grounded when hijacked planes were flown into the World Trade Center towers. He spent the next few days stranded on Long Island and immediately came up with the idea of staging a concert for the city.

McCartney said he was a big believer in the transformative powers of music. "I have come to the conclusion that it is magical...One of the things I am most proud of is that I have lucked out and am in a profession like this that can help heal and help people get in touch with their emotions."

The documentary features footage of McCartney rehearsing for the concert, talking with New Yorkers on city streets and backstage. The film features the likes of David Bowie, Mick Jagger, former President Bill Clinton, Leonardo DiCaprio and many others.

McCartney said he had done nothing with the original footage for years, until the 10th anniversary of 9/11 began to loom. "The documentary was reawakened by the anniversary," he said.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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McCartney ex-wife: Mirror journalist hacked my phone (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – Heather Mills was quoted on Wednesday as saying a journalist at British publisher Trinity Mirror, owner of the Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper, had hacked her phone before she was married to former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney.

The accusation widens a scandal over phone hacking by British newspapers that has so far center on titles owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, with the furor also threatening to embroil U.S. talk show host Piers Morgan.

The BBC said the messages were left by McCartney, whom Mills married in 2002. The couple separated four years later.

Mills said the journalist had confronted her with details of sensitive messages left on her phone.

"He started quoting verbatim the messages from my machine, and...I'd wondered why they had already been heard, listened to, when it says 'heard messages'," Mills told the BBC.

The BBC said the journalist worked at the Mirror group, although Mills does not mention the journalist's employers in the audio clip provided by the BBC.

"I said you've obviously hacked my phone and if you do anything with this story, because they were obviously very private conversations about issues we were having as a couple, I said then I'll go to the police," she added.

She went on to say the journalist admitted hacking her phone and agreed not to use a story based on the messages.

"All of our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC code of conduct," said Nick Fullagar, Trinity Mirror's director of corporate communications, referring to Britain's Press Complaints Commission industry watchdog.

PIERS MORGAN

Allegations of phone hacking at the News of World Sunday newspaper, owned by News Corp's British newspaper arm News International, last month prompted the newspaper's closure and the resignation of News International chief Rebekah Brooks.

CNN talk show host Morgan, who once edited the News of the World and later the Daily Mirror until 2004, has repeatedly denied any role in the phone hacking scandal.

In a 2006 article for Britain's Daily Mail newspaper, Morgan said he had listened to one of Mills' phone messages.

"Stories soon emerged that the marriage was in trouble - at one stage I was played a tape of a message Paul had left for Heather on her mobile phone," he wrote.

The BBC said Morgan was not the journalist who had contacted Mills with details of her phone messages.

Morgan said in a statement the BBC had confirmed to him that the journalist, whom Morgan refers to as a senior executive, was not employed by the Daily Mirror. He also said he had no knowledge of conversations any other executive at Trinity Mirror may have had with Mills.

"Heather Mills has made unsubstantiated claims about a conversation she may or may not have had with a senior executive from a Trinity Mirror newspaper in 2001," he said, describing her claims as "somewhat extravagant."

"To reiterate, I have never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, nor to my knowledge published any story obtained from the hacking of a phone," he added.

Mark Lewis, lawyer for victims of phone hacking by the News of the World, on Monday confirmed that he had instructions to take legal action against Trinity Mirror on behalf of other unnamed phone hacking victims.

(Additional reporting by Olesya Dmitracova and Georgina Prodhan)

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Paul McCartney engaged to girlfriend Nancy Shevell (AP)

LONDON – Paul McCartney and his girlfriend Nancy Shevell are engaged, his publicist said Friday, nearly four years after they were first spotted together.

McCartney, 68, started dating the 51-year-old New York socialite and businesswoman following his bitter split from second wife Heather Mills.

McCartney publicist Stuart Bell confirmed recent media speculation over a proposal as true, but declined to give further details on when and how the former Beatle asked Shevell to marry him, saying only "we're all thrilled for him."

The bride-to-be was tightlipped but confirmed her engagement to The Associated Press.

"It's true," she said when contacted by telephone, but declined to comment further. "That's all, but thank you, have a good weekend."

The marriage will be McCartney's third; his first wife, Linda, died of cancer in 1998. His 2002 marriage to Mills ended in divorce in 2008.

Shevell was married for more than 20 years to attorney Bruce Blakeman, a close friend of former New York Gov. George Pataki, who appointed her to the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

She also is the vice president for administration of New England Motor Freight Inc., a New Jersey-based trucking company owned by her father.

McCartney, 68, and Shevell were first seen together in Long Island's Hamptons area in late 2007.

Since then, Shevell has become a red-carpet staple, appearing at premieres, fashion shows by McCartney's daughter Stella, the Grammys and McCartney's concerts around the world.

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Jim Fitzgerald in New York contributed to this report.

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Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney engaged to girlfriend (AP)

LONDON – A publicist says Paul McCartney is engaged to his girlfriend of nearly four years.

Stuart Bell said Friday that recent media speculation over a proposal is true but declined to give further details on when and how the former Beatle asked New York socialite Nancy Shevell to marry him, saying only "we're all thrilled for him."

The marriage will be McCartney's third; his first wife, Linda, died of cancer in 1998 and the rocker divorced his second wife, Heather Mills, in 2008 after a separation period.

McCartney and Shevell started seeing each other in Long Island's Hamptons area in late 2007.

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Paul McCartney to marry for third time: publicist (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – Former Beatle Paul McCartney is engaged to New York socialite Nancy Shevell, his girlfriend of nearly four years, his publicist said Friday.

It will be the 68-year-old pop legend's third marriage.

His first wife, Linda, died from breast cancer in 1998 and he then wed ex-model Heather Mills in 2002 before divorcing her in 2008.

"We're all thrilled for him," McCartney's spokesman Stuart Bell said, confirming the engagement but giving no further details.

Mills and McCartney's marriage ended in a bitter divorce three years ago.

She was awarded ?24.3 million pounds (then $48 million, 30.8 million euros) in an accord finally hammered out after prolonged and acrimonious negotiations.

McCartney married Mills in a lavish ceremony in Ireland in June 2002, four years after Linda, a photographer and animal rights campaigner, died from breast cancer.

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