Paul McCartney has said he did not expect to be left the rights to The Beatles catalogue by Michael Jackson, despite rumours.
The late singer had a 50 per cent stake in the Fab Four‘s publishing rights through his share in the Sony/ATV catalogue, which he bought controversially in 1985.
According to some reports it was claimed Jackson intended to leave this stake to McCartney, with whom he collaborated on two singles (‘The Girl Is Mine’ and ‘Say Say Say’) in the early ’80s. However, there was no mention of the former Beatle when the singer’s will was examined.
McCartney wrote on his own website Paulmccartney.com that he was not surprised not be included, and was not “upset” at the apparent snub.
“Some time ago, the media came up with the idea that Michael Jackson was going to leave his share in the Beatles songs to me in his will which was completely made up and something I didn’t believe for a second,” he declared.
“Now the report is that I am devastated to find that he didn’t leave the songs to me. This is completely untrue. I had not thought for one minute that the original report was true and therefore, the report that I’m devastated is also totally false, so don’t believe everything you read folks!”
He added: “In fact, though Michael and I drifted apart over the years, we never really fell out, and I have fond memories of our time together. At times like this, the press do tend to make things up, so occasionally, I feel the need to put the record straight.”
The former Beatle had previously paid tribute to Jackson, calling him a “a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul”.