McCartney dismisses 'Apple connection' to parting from EMI

Sir Paul McCartney has denied that he broke his association with record label EMI because his childhood friend Neil Aspinall had left Apple, the company that the former ‘Beatle’ set up in the late '60s with his other bandmates.

McCartney quit EMI in March after working with the company for 43 years, and his latest album ‘Memory Almost Full’ is being released on June 5 by ‘Hear Music’, a record label established by coffee chain Starbucks.

Upon Aspinall’s resignation as Apple boss in April (07), it came to be suspected that the two events were linked.

However, McCartney has now clarified that there is no association between the two happenings, stressing that Aspinall’s resignation was a result of his desire to retire.

"(Neil) wanted to retire. Simple as that,” LA Times quoted him as saying.

"I've known Neil longer than I've known anyone in the music business, including all the Beatles.

Neil was at my school when we were 11, he was in my class. But he just wanted to retire. He's 65," he added.