Paul McCartney to help restore Motown piano

(AP) DETROIT - During a summer visit to a Motown recording studio, former Beatle Paul McCartney wanted to run his fingers along an 1877 Steinway grand piano played by some Detroit music greats he considers idols.

"He was disappointed when we told him it didn't play," Motown Historical Museum chief executive Audley Smith Jr., told The Detroit News for a story Saturday.

Undaunted, the legendary roll and roller from England told museum officials following a July concert at Comerica Park that he wanted to help restore it.

On Monday, the piano will be picked up from the Detroit museum and shipped to Steinway & Sons in New York for restoration. The work is expected to take up to five months.

The piano company has to assess the piano's condition before a cost can be determined.

"Steinway & Sons is honored to restore the historic Steinway piano that was used by such legends as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder — and to do so in the very same New York factory where it was originally built in 1877," Steinway & Sons President of Americas Ron Losby told the newspaper in a statement.

"We're especially proud, as an American company, to help the Motown Museum in preserving the legacy of the Motown Record Company, whose artists and albums played such a vital role in one of the great eras of American music."