Sir Paul McCartney was glad Wings was formed with ''raw talent'' instead of big names.

The former Beatles rocker founded the band once the iconic quartet split up, and the musician was pleased he decided against the idea of a supergroup in favour of relatively unproven artists.

He said: ''I like the idea of raw talent. We were going to do what all bands had done, which was start from nothing.

''When we started with The Beatles, we didn't really know anything - we were fresh out of Hamburg with a few songs under our belt and we had to learn that fame game. So I liked the idea we'd all learn it together.''

Paul formed the group along with his then-wife Linda - who passed away in 1998 - and he has dismissed an earlier claim she was there to retain his confidence.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday newspaper's Event magazine: ''It wasn't so much that; it was more just Linda and I wanting to be together.

''I realised that if I was going to get a band together, one of the possibilities was that she would be in it.

''The other possibility was that she would come along with the band. But the first option, of being in it, sort of tickled us.''