Sir Paul McCartney’s musical impact knows no bounds.
The Beatles star, 82, may have risen to fame in the ’60s, when Beatlemania spread across the globe, but one of his youngest – and perhaps most unlikely – fans is a five-year-old boy from Bathurst who was born decades after Sir Paul first came to prominence.
His name is McCartney, nicknamed Little Macca, a special name given to him by his doting mother and Beatles superfan Katie Sanderson, 41, who named her young son after the iconic artist who she has admired her whole life.
Now, her son is like a Paul McCartney mini-me!
Little McCartney, who is knee-high to a grasshopper, adorably rocks a bowl-cut just like Sir Paul back in the day, loves music and even wears suits just like the Beatles did.
Speaking exclusively to 9honey Celebrity ahead of the Beatlesfest festival, which runs from September 27-29 in Lithgow, Sanderson recalls the incredible moment she and her son met the Beatles star at one of his soundchecks in Newcastle last year, while he was touring Australia.
“Where do you want me to start?” she jokes about the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would happen. He announced his tour last year, amazing.
“We were lucky enough to be able to get the premium sound check tickets, if McCartney wasn’t into it I would never have spent that money.”
After McCartney was on the cover of the local paper, a person at the soundcheck recognised the youngster – who loves music – and took a photo of him and his mum in the stadium.
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“We thought nothing of it!” she says.
“Paul went through the songs and two thirds of the way through, Paul goes, ‘I believe there is a little boy out there named McCartney, would he fancy coming up?’
“I was like ‘oh my God’, that’s when my soul left my body. We went up… I was there but I wasn’t there, he introduced us onto the stage. I was giggling and crazy and my McCartney was a bit starstruck.
“He asked us our names and then there was [another child called] Lennon, and he was like, ‘What?'” she says. Lennon was there with his mother, Bindy.
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The group then danced as Sir Paul played the Beatles track Drive My Car, which McCartney loves.
“He hasn’t done that with fans for a long time, I think because of COVID too, but it was really special and amazing,” she says.
And Sir Paul gave young McCartney the seal of approval for his name.
“He held his hands and said, ‘It’s a great name, mate’ … Paul’s actually given his blessing!” she says.
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Sanderson came up with the idea to call her youngest McCartney after attending one of the singer’s shows a few years ago.
“He came out to do a tour but I was blown away, I knew I would be,” she says.
“I was in tears and I told my husband, ‘Right, our last kid, our last baby, I’m going to call him McCartney’.”
“We think it’s a pretty cool name, we love it,” she adds.
Of Sir Paul, Sanderson says he was always her favourite Beatle growing up: “That talent is just unmatched, I think.”
Beatlesfest festival runs from September 27-29.
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