Henry McCullough ‘unlikely to recover’ from brain damage

Fundraiser: Henry McCullough

Former Paul McCartney And Wings guitarist Henry McCullough is unlikely to recover from brain damage he suffered during a heart attack last year, says ex-bandmate Denny Seiwell.

McCullough, who’s also known for work with Spooky Tooth, Joe Cocker, Pink Floyd and others, was rushed to hospital in November. Some news outlets mistakenly reported he had died.

Now Seiwell – who left Wings alongside McCullough in 1973 after two years –tells Something Else: “By the time the ambulance got there, because of the lack of oxygen from the period of the heart attack to the first treatment, he suffered some significant brain damage.

“Some of the doctors, according to friends, don’t think he’s going to have much of a recovery. He’s going to need constant care for the rest of his life.”

The Irish guitarist and vocalist has not made any significant progress since his condition stabilised after the heart attack, says the drummer. “It’s absolutely tragic – I love Henry. He and I were very close.”

A fundraising concert to help with McCullough’s care will take place in Dublin’s Vicar Street on March 3. His family hope to move him from hospital to his home, where they say “his rehabilitation will continue in more familiar surroundings.”

McCullough celebrated spoken-word line, “I don’t know, I was really drunk at the time” can be heard towards the end of Pink Floyd track Money. His last solo album was 2011′s Unfinished Business. Previously he worked with Seiwell on a number of projects, including a light-hearted Beatles cover record called Shabby Road.

Two years ago he said of his time with Wings: “It was never going to be a real band – it was always going to be Paul McCartney. They were a great couple, he and Linda. But that was the way it went. Saying all of that, I have always had a great respect for Paul. The time we spent together, out bonding on the road, it meant we didn’t have to work at it.”