How the Paul McCartney & Wings logo originated.

Received a neat email yesterday afternoon from the wife of Neil Dean who designed the Wings logo back in 1972. Below is an excerpt.

"Neil designed the first Wings logo which was made of wood and attached to the back of the "Wings over Europe 1972" tour bus, which was a painted double- decker London bus.
Friends of ours Geoffrey Cleghorn and Charlie Smith got the job through Tom Salter, who owned the "Gear" shops in Carnaby street and was promoting the tour for Paul and Linda McCartney.

Neil was brought in on the project to help design and paint the bus as he was an artist and graphic designer and had worked on other projects with Geoffrey doing murals and interiors for Boutiques, Pubs and Restaurants.

They had the design drawn up and were leaving to start work when they realised the logo hadn't been done so Neil borrowed a Mickey Mouse ruler and pencil from Charlie's little girl Lucky, and designed it on the back of an envelope, inspired from memories of the "Matchless Motorcycles" logo.
Charlie built the logo out of wood which was then bolted to the back of the bus.

I was brought in to paint all the outlining on the design as it was a very tight schedule.

We worked on the bus in a London Transport garage in Staines Middlesex and I remember Paul and Linda came to look at the bus while we were working, but not the other band members.

Geoffrey,Charlie and Tom Salter escorted the bus, with a proper London bus driver, to the south of France for the beginning of the tour.

I believe a London design company used Neil's Wings logo for the Wings merchandising products."

 

Very interesting, Thanks for posting this.

 

Just looking at the bus and you know they had fun. When I was a kid I always wanted to be a musician. It looked so cool in the 60s-70s. Now I can live without it.

 

I hope Neil received royalties or a decent fee.

 

Very cool info! Reading through the Macca Uncut Music Guide now and I am astounded at how harsh the British press was to him in the early Wings years. I don't think a lesser artist would have survived that level of criticism.

 

I loved that logo back in the day. I was always surprised that it wasn't used more often.

 

This is great. What became of this bus?

 

It's seen better days:

 

I believe that it somehow ended up in a ravine in a holiday park in Tenerife, Spain:

 

Wow. Those pictures are incredible and sad. Strange the Beatles Story or the Hard Rock Cafe didn't buy it. Would have been a cool bus to see in Liverpool.

 

Discussed here: Anyone like an old bus? (Wings 1972 tour bus) * »

 

Thanks Arnold. Never saw that thread.

 

Is it weird that those photos of the bus made me feel genuinely sad?

 

This bus seems like it has what one would call a "lame vibe."

 

Where's the bus?

 

Wow Arnie, incredible pic!

 

You like this bus better? (this was around the same time frame, wasn't it?)

 

Some happy news about vehicle registration WNO 481 in the above thread