McCartney: I Feel Fine

Thu., Jan. 31, 2008 10:32 AM PST by Josh Grossberg

Paul McCartney has a message for the media: Let me be.

The former Beatle posted a letter on his Website saying widespread press accounts that he had undergone a heart operation were "completely inaccurate" and that he's in good health and ready to rock the new year.

McCartney, 65, typically doesn't waste time responding to all the tabloid tidbits reported about him. But this time around, he said he felt forced to set the record straight after being puzzled as to why friends kept asking him how he was doing. It was then that he learned about the wildly exaggerated reports about his ticker.

"What happened was, over a year ago, during a routine medical examination, there was a minor irregularity which I needed to have tests for and which I have now been assured is completely fine," he wrote. "The media reports have, as usual, completely distorted the story, calling it an angioplasty, which is entirely untrue, and this is why so many friends have been concerned about my health.

"I'm happy to say that I feel great and I have passed my most recent medical with flying colours."

McCartney closed by thanking family, friends and fans for their concerns and noting that he's glad to put their minds at ease, though not before quipping that he's "secretly been enjoying all the sympathy" he's been getting.

"Once again, happy new year and remember...don't believe everything you read in the media," said Macca.

Despite his well-publicized, acrimonious split from ex-wife Heather Mills two years ago and the ensuing divorce battle, which he compared back in October to "going through hell," McCartney has much to be grateful for in 2008.

His designer daughter, Stella McCartney, and her husband, Alasdhair Willis, welcomed a baby boy, Beckett, on Jan. 8, their third little bundle of joy and McCartney's fifth grandchild.

The "Get Back" crooner has also been spotted making the dating rounds, reportedly stepping out with actress Rosanna Arquette and businesswoman Nancy Shevell back in November.

And McCartney is also up for a Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy for his latest album, Memory Almost Full.

Meanwhile, he and fellow surviving mop top Ringo Starr were recently invited by Israeli ambassadors to perform in the Holy Land in celebration of the Jewish state's 60th anniversary. No word whether McCartney will take them up on their offer, but the invitation's been a long time coming.

In 1965, Israel barred the Beatles from playing in the country, believing their music might have a corrupting influence on the country's youth.

"Israel missed a chance to learn from the most influential musicians of the decade and the Beatles missed an opportunity to reach out to one of the most passionate audiences in the world," wrote Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor to the rocker. "On our 60th anniversary, we would like to take the opportunity to offer you a second chance to play in Israel."

And last but not least, NASA has announced plans to beam a Beatles song into deep space. The historic mission will be the first time the space agency has transmitted music to the far end of the galaxy and not just to a manned spacecraft. NASA chose the Fab Four's aptly-titled classic, "Across the Universe," and is targeting the transmission at Polaris, aka the North Star, some 2.5 quadrillion miles away.

The tune is expected to take 431 years to travel to Polaris, arriving in the year 2,439 A.D.