Linda grew up in Scarsdale, NY, a town of about 16,000 residents located about 25 miles north of New York City, in Westchester County.
Linda was as well-known for her love of animals, vegetarian cooking and photography as for being the wife of music legend, Paul McCartney. Shunning the showbusiness lifestyle for their remote homes in Sussex and Scotland, the couple managed to give their children Mary, Stella and James and Heather, the most normal upbringing possible.
Her father, Lee Eastman, a successful entertainment lawyer, was not, as often thought, a member of the Eastman/Kodak family. Linda's mother died in a plane crash when Linda was 19. Linda has an older brother and two sisters.
After leaving school, Linda went to college in Vermont for two years. She then transferred to the University of Arizona to major in art history. She moved to New York, and, aged 21, became a receptionist at Town and Country magazine, and through a chance invitation managed to gain exclusive access to photograph the Rolling Stones.
Linda went to New York harbour with her camera and, being taken for a photo journalist, managed to board a yacht being used by the Rolling Stones for a reception to promote their latest album 'Aftermath'. She turned out to be the only photographer on board.
While on board she took pictures of Mick Jagger and Brian Jones and sold them to journalists when she got back to the quayside which led to a successful career as a freelance photographer.
It was during a trip to London in May 1967 that she first met The Beatles' bass player Paul McCartney, at the launch of the Sergeant Pepper album. [other accounts, including that of Paul McCartney, have placed their first meeting at the "Bag O'Nails" club in London]
They married on a rainy day at a register office in Marylebone, London. Linda was 26.
After initial criticism which she dismissed as due simply to jealousy, Linda nonetheless never managed to win British hearts.
When she joined Wings, formed in 1972, as a keyboard player, she was ridiculed and heavily criticised for her singing and keyboard playing. But Linda was the first to admit that she never wanted to be in Wings, and was a regular of the band at Paul's insistance.
It was during the 1970's that Linda and Paul became aware of their lack of desire to eat animals. This evolution came about because of their mutual love of animals and family.
She put her name to her own line of prepared foods and she published a cookbook, Linda McCartney's Home Cooking, in 1990. At this time, Linda McCartney's foods are no longer available in the States but they are very popular in the UK. Just before Linda's passing, there were plans to reintroduce the line but it appears that the plans have been put on hold. Over the years, she published two more cookbooks and five photography books.
Linda and Paul received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the animal rights group People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals in December 1996. PETA
Paul and Linda always felt that their proudest achievement were their four children:
- Heather, Linda's daughter from her first marriage to geologist, Melvin See and adopted by Paul when they married, is a potter. Paul and Heather made an appearance at the AmericasMart on January 7th, 1998 for her debut of the Heather McCartney line of housewares.
- Stella is the head fashion designer for the French fashion house Chloe.
- Mary followed her mother's lead and is a photographer. She and her husband are working on an archive of Wings material.
- James is a furniture maker who also happens to be a guitarist and made an appearance in his father's 1997 cd, "Flaming Pie."
In December of 1995, it was announced by the McCartney family that Linda had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent successful surgery and chemotherapy and over the last two and a half years hopes were repeatedly raised that her cancer might be in remission. Paul said her attitude to her illness played a great part in her ability to fight it: "Linda is the most positive person on earth. Linda has said: `You can be anything you want to be if you're enthusiastic.'
Sadly, Linda lost her battle with this disease on April 17, 1998.
