Bootleg Beatle Steve White on his life as Paul McCartney
He looks, talks, sings and plays the bass guitar like Paul McCartney – but it was another Beatle who Steve White impersonated when he started out on the tribute circuit.
The 46-year-old originally mimicked John Lennon before his audience pointed out he had more than a passing resemblance to McCartney, who had actually been his main idol all along. So he learned to play guitar left-handed – just like the man himself – and started a journey that would eventually see him land a role in The Bootleg Beatles.
Since joining almost four years ago, Steve has toured the world and swapped crowds of a few hundred in British clubs for 15,000 fanatics in faraway places like Mongolia.
"Before The Bootleg Beatles I was playing the rhythm guitar in a John Lennon-type role but when we turned up at venues, people said 'you must be Paul'," says Steve, of Mansfield Woodhouse. "It happened more and more so eventually the bass player and I decided to switch. "I'm naturally right-handed at playing guitar and it used to nark me when people pointed that out so I put the strings on the other way on a cheap bass guitar and learned to play left-handed.
"It wasn't some sort of conceived masterplan to get here – it was a wonderful accident." But there's a sense Steve may have been born to play McCartney. "I would say that I favour Paul out of The Beatles so it's poetic justice in a way," he says. "I can relate to him – I understand what makes him tick. "We share the same month of birth and, from what I can pick up of his personality and character, I'm very similar.
Source: Nottingham Post
