April 17, 1998 – Linda Louise, Lady McCartney (Wings) was born Linda Eastman on September 24, 1941 in New York City. Prior to marrying Paul, she was a professional photographer of celebrities and contemporary musicians, with her work published in music industry magazines. Her photos were also published in the book, Linda McCartney’s Sixties: Portrait of an Era, in 1992.
Linda married McCartney in 1969 at St John’s Wood Church in London. Her daughter, Heather Louise, from her first marriage to Melville See, was adopted by her new husband. Together, the McCartneys had three other children.
After a priveliged upbringing in Scarsdale New York, she started work as a receptionist for the Town & Country magazine, and was the only unofficial photographer on board the SS Sea Panther yacht on the Hudson River, After which she became the house photographer at the Fillmore East concert hall, photographing artists such as Aretha Franklin, Grace Slick, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, Simon & Garfunkel, The Who, The Doors, The Animals, and Neil Young.
She photographed Clapton for Rolling Stone magazine, becoming the first woman to have a photo featured on the front cover May 11th 1968. She and Paul McCartney also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone on January 31st 1974, making her the only person both to have taken a photo, and to have been photographed, for the front cover of the magazine. After the breakup of the Beatles in 1970, Paul taught Linda to play keyboards and recorded an album with her as a duo, on which she became the second accredited artist on Paul’s second post-Beatles LP, 1971’s “Ram”.
Paul permanently included Linda in the lineup for his subsequent group, Wings. The group won several Grammy Awards, becoming one of the most successful bands of the 1970s.
In 1977, a single entitled “Seaside Woman” was released by an obscure band called Suzy and the Red Stripes, on Epic Records in the US. In reality, Suzy and The Red Stripes were Wings, with Linda McCartney, who also wrote the song, on lead vocals.
She was a strong advocate for animal rights, and lent her support to many organizations like PETA; The Council for the Protection of Rural England, Friends of the Earth; and was a patron of the League Against Cruel SportMcCartney and her husband formed the band Wings after they married and following the break-up of the Beatles in 1970. In 1971 they both recorded the album, Ram. She was an animal rights activist and wrote and published several vegetarian cookbooks, and founded the Linda McCartney Foods company with her husband.
In 1995 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and after a long battle, died on April 17, 1998 at the age of 56.
