Sir Paul McCartney underwent a heart operation last year, it has emerged.

The former Beatle reportedly had a coronary angioplasty in the autumn, after consulting a Harley Street doctor when he felt unwell.

A spokesman for the 65-year-old singer told The Sun the operation was “routine” and that Sir Paul had recovered well.

Coronary angioplasty is performed when fatty material has caused arteries to narrow. Cardiologists pass a small tube through the groin and up to the heart. A balloon at the tip of the tube is then inflated to flatten fatty deposits and allow blood to flow more easily.

The Times doctor, Dr Thomas Stuttaford, said fatty deposits can build up if a patient eats too much fatty food, is overweight, takes too little exercise or if there are hereditary factors. However, stress can also play a role.

“It’s generally accepted that tense, anxious people, especially those who are Type A – striving, ambitious, ruthlessly determined people – are more likely to suffer from it," said Dr Stuttaford.

The superstar musician is involved in an on-going divorce dispute with estranged wife Heather Mills. The pair split in 2006, after four years of marriage, but have failed to reach a settlement over the musician’s £800 million fortune and custody of their daughter Beatrice, 4.

Soon after a failed eight-hour High Court meeting last October, Mills, a former model and amputee, gave a series of television interviews claiming she had been “gagged” and blaming Sir Paul’s lawyers for dragging out the settlement. She also claimed she would walk away with nothing if Sir Paul admitted responsiblity for the breakdown of their marraige. Her lawyers, Mishcon de Reya, dumped her following the publicity. The pair are due back in court next month.

Last year, Sir Paul also split with long-term record label EMI, choosing to release his 14th solo album, the highly successful Memory Almost Full, through new Starbucks label Hear. The singer had been with EMI for 45 years but said the label had become “boring” and no longer valued its talent.

“Everybody at EMI had become a part of the furniture. I’d be a couch; Coldplay are an armchair. And Robbie Williams, I dread to think what he was,” he said.

On Monday, Sir Paul seemed well as he performed his hit single Dance Tonight with Kylie Minogue for the Jools Holland’s BBC2 New Year special.

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