In early October, the name of the new band was announced and the first official photo shoot for the cover of Wings' first album was held in Osterley Park, West London. The photographer was Barry Lategan.
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Christopher Sandford:From the very start, it was a, or the consummate Seventies act, with a regular Thursday night spot on Top of the Pops and a taste for hip-hugging tartan flares. To Wings’ many fans, the band was a continuation of the Beatles by other means; to critics, one of those curious phenomena of the time, like spandex and the success of Max Boyce. The launch party, a fancy-dress affair held in London’s Empire Ballroom on 8 November, touched all the bases. There was a mirrorball on the ceiling, beaming a psychedelic light-show of velvet and lace-clad writhing figures that included the likes of Cliff, Elton and sundry Faces.
Among the 800 guests were Elton John, Keith Moon and John Entwistle (from The Who), Ronnie Lane, Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones (from The Faces), Jimmy Page (from Led Zeppelin), Deep Purple, Mary Hopkin… Denny Seiwell and Denny Laine, forming Wings with Paul & Linda McCartney, obviously attended, as well as Paul’s father, Jim.
PAUL:A press launch is always a good excuse to have a night out, so we invited friends and journalists, played the album, danced and had a few funny people come on to entertain. I wore an outrageous big check suit that I thought would be good. When I went to collect it from the tailor that morning he told me that it wasn’t finished. I said, ‘Maybe not, but it’s a look!’ So I went to the party with the cotton and the stitching showing, and everyone said, ‘Your suit’s not finished.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know. Great, huh?’
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MELODY MAKER, November 13, 1971:
A Strange Day’s Night
IN THEORY, it threatened to be the non-event of all time. But only an ex-Beatle could stage a glorified Saturday-night-hop-style dance in the West End of London on a Monday night in cold November — and come up smiling like a winner. The bizarre event was Paul and Linda McCartney’s party this week to launch their new group Wings, pictured on today’s MM front page. They hired the Empire Ballroom in Leicester Square for 800 pop biz guests – and the Ray McVay dance band played for quicksteps. waltzes, congas and formation displays. It was a weird idea from the mind of one recognised as being hip. But then, McCartney has always been rather conventional — a sentimental traditionalist at heart. And when they’d been there for an hour or so and realised it wasn’t a stunt but as straightforward as it appeared, even the heaviest of rock guitarists joined in and had a ball. Why the Empire Ballroom on a Monday night?
