Paul McCartney says he's 'doing fine'

Former Beatle Paul McCartney arrives at the premiere Cirque du Soleil's Beatles show at The Mirage hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, June 30, 2006. McCartney's 'Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart),' a new classical work for chorus and orchestra, will premiere at Royal Albert Hall in London on Nov. 3. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

LONDON - Paul McCartney says he's "doing fine," despite the turmoil surrounding the breakup of his marriage. McCartney, who appeared Monday at a news conference to launch his new classical album, "Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart)," did not comment directly on his split from his second wife, Heather Mills McCartney.

Asked how he had been coping in recent months, McCartney said: "I'm doing fine thank you. It's OK.

"I'm enjoying music. It's something I love to do. It's something that sustains me. So I'm enjoying it, finishing this project off and also the next one."

McCartney said he started "Ecce Cor Meum" when his first wife, Linda, was still alive. After she died of breast cancer in 1998, "it stalled me," the 64-year-old former Beatle said.

"I took a year or so before I could get back into it. The interlude in the middle is a particularly sad melody and is what got me going again," he said. "Her spirit is very much in this. It would have been her birthday yesterday so it's very appropriate."

McCartney said the lyrics of "Ecce Cor Meum" were inspired by what he believes is important in life.

"When I came around to thinking, `what do I want the words to say?' I just wrote down a whole load of things that interest me about truth, about love, about honesty and about kindness. Stuff that I thought was important in life."

Paul and Heather Mills McCartney announced their separation in May after four years of marriage. They have begun divorce proceedings in an increasingly acrimonious split. The couple have a 2-year-old daughter, Beatrice.

"Ecce Cor Meum," which is being released by EMI Classics, is the pop star's fourth classical album. His first, "The Liverpool Oratorio," was released in 1991.

Britain's Magdalen College Oxford commissioned McCartney to create the music more than eight years ago in celebration of a new concert hall.