What professional name did Paul McCartney's brother Michael use?

Paul McCartney’s brother Michael used the professional name Mike McGear. He adopted the stage name while pursuing his own career, helping distinguish his work from his famous brother’s Beatles identity.

Born Peter Michael McCartney on 7 January 1944, he was Paul’s younger brother. Michael became a musician, photographer and member of the Liverpool comedy, poetry and music group the Scaffold, alongside poet Roger McGough and performer John Gorman.

He first experimented with the name “Mike Blank” before settling on “Mike McGear.” The surname was a playful Liverpool reference: “gear” was local slang for something excellent or “fab,” echoing the language surrounding the Beatles’ rise to fame.

The Scaffold signed with Parlophone and scored several British hits. Their best-known success was “Lily the Pink,” which reached number one in the UK during Christmas 1968. McGear also co-wrote “Thank U Very Much,” another major Scaffold hit. The name is therefore a deliberate stage identity, not a different person or a mistaken spelling of McCartney.