Linda McCartney

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Linda McCartney
Image:Wideprairie.jpg McCartney on the cover of her 1998 album, Wide Prairie
Born	September 24, 1941 Image:Flag of New York.svg New York, New York, USA
Died	April 17, 1998, aged 56 Image:Flag of Arizona.svg Tucson, Arizona, USA
Occupation	Musician, Photographer
Spouse	John Melvin See Jr. (1962-1965) Paul McCartney (1969-1998)
Parents	Lee Eastman (father) Louise Linder (mother)
Children	Heather McCartney Mary McCartney Stella McCartney James Louis McCartney

Linda Louise, Lady McCartney (September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, and animal rights activist. Although at first she was best known for her marriage to Sir Paul McCartney, of The Beatles, she was later the author of several vegetarian cookbooks, a business entrepreneur, and professional photographer whose book Linda McCartney's Sixties contains many of her seminal rock-artist photographs from that era.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Memory 3 Activism 4 Trivia 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

Biography

Linda McCartney was born Linda Louise Eastman in New York, New York to a Jewish-American family. She grew up in the wealthy Scarsdale area of Westchester County, New York and graduated from Scarsdale High School in 1959. Her father, Lee Eastman, was songwriter Jack Lawrence's attorney, and at the senior Eastman's request, Lawrence titled a song "Linda" in honor of then five-year-old Linda.^[1] Her mother was Louise Linder Eastman, heiress to the Linder Department Store fortune, who died in the crash of American Airlines Flight 1 in Queens, New York.

Before her marriage to Paul McCartney, she served as the house photographer for the Fillmore East in New York City. She was a popular photographer and took professional portraits of artists such as Aretha Franklin,^[2] Jimi Hendrix,^[3] Bob Dylan,^[4] Janis Joplin,^[5] Eric Clapton, Simon and Garfunkel, The Who, The Doors and The Rolling Stones. McCartney's first marriage was to John Melvin See, Jr. whom she met at the University of Arizona. They married on June 18, 1962 and their daughter Heather Louise was born December 31, 1962. They were divorced in June 1965.

On 15 May 1967, she met McCartney at a Georgie Fame concert at The Bag O'Nails club in London;^[6] She was in the UK on an assignment to take photographs of musicians.^[7] McCartney, Linda and members of the The Animals went on to The Speakeasy, a club on Margaret Street,^[8] and Eastman later accompanied McCartney back to his house in Cavendish Avenue.^[9] The two met again four days later at a launch party for the Sgt. Pepper album at Brian Epstein's house in Belgravia. Linda had a four-year-old daughter back in New York City, and flew back to New York when her assignment was completed.

Paul asked Linda to move in with him in October 1968, and the two were married on 12 March 1969. She was four months pregnant with his daughter Mary McCartney. She and her husband raised four children: Heather Louise (from her previous marriage, whom Paul adopted), Mary Anna, Stella Nina, and James Louis. She has three grandsons, all born after her death: Mary's two sons Arthur Alistair Donald, (born 3 April 1999) and Elliot Donald (born 1 August 2002) and Stella's son Miller Alasdhair James Willis (born 25 February 2005). Her daughter Stella gave birth to a baby girl named Bailey Linda Olwyn Willis on 8 December 2006 with the child's middle name in honour of her late grandmother.^[10]

After the breakup of the Beatles in 1970, Paul began teaching her to play keyboards, and included her in the lineup for his new band, Wings. Although McCartney was ridiculed by music critics at first for her poor singing and playing skills, there exist a number of bootleg recordings which purport to have originated from sound engineers isolating Linda McCartney's microphone at a Wings concert, and recording the result. These tapes demonstrate very bad singing, but whether they are genuine has not been definitively established. One example of singing attributed to Linda McCartney can be heard on the album "Celebrities at their Worst, Volume 2", Disc one, track 12, of the song "Hey Jude". Wings garnered several Grammy Awards for their music, and became one of the most successful bands of the 1970s. Some argue her musical talent improved through the years, even writing and recording her own music. Her album Wide Prairie was released posthumously in 1998.

Linda was diagnosed in 1995 with breast cancer, and her condition soon grew worse as the cancer spread to her liver.^[11] Talking about the medication used to treat Linda's breast cancer, Paul McCartney said: "If a drug has got to be used on humans then legally it has to be finally tested on an animal ... This was difficult for Linda when she was undergoing her treatment."^[12] He also claimed that Linda had been kept in the dark about how the drugs she took may have been tested on animals: "During the treatment, a nice answer is a nice answer and if they (the doctors) say, `It's OK to have this because we didn't test it on animals', you are going to believe them."^[12]

Linda McCartney died at age 56 on 17 April 1998 on the McCartney family ranch in Tucson, Arizona. Her husband and four children were at her bedside, and they each took a turn in saying goodbye. Paul suggested that fans remember her by donating to breast-cancer research charities that do not support animal-testing, "or the best tribute — go veggie".

Memorial services were held for Linda McCartney at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London and at Riverside Church in her hometown of Manhattan.

Memory

Linda left her entire fortune to McCartney in a certain type of trust, known as a Qualified Domestic Trust, which allows deferral of the payment of the estate tax due on Linda's fortune until after Paul's death.^[13] McCartney will have access to any royalties from books, records and any financial remuneration for the use of his wife's photographs. Paul pledged to continue her line of vegetarian food, and to keep it free from genetically modified organisms.^[14]

In January 2000, Paul McCartney announced donations in excess of $2,000,000 for cancer research at facilities in Tucson and New York where Linda McCartney had received treatment. The donations, through the Garland Appeal, were made on the condition no animals would be used for testing purposes.^[15]

In 2000, The Linda McCartney Centre, a cancer clinic, opened at The Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Also that year, Paul McCartney collaborated with John Tavener on A Garland for Linda, a classical music album dedicated to her memory. It featured contributions by the two along with seven other contemporary composers.

In November of 2002, a memorial garden was opened near Scotland's Mull of Kintyre, with the dedication of a bronze statue of Linda by sculptor Jane Robbins, commissioned and donated by Paul McCartney. ^[16]

Activism

Linda introduced her husband to vegetarianism in 1975 and popularized a meatless diet through her best-selling cookbooks and line of frozen vegetarian meals under the "Linda McCartney" name. [1] These products made her independently wealthy. Additionally, she was a passionate advocate for animal rights, and lent her support to many animal-friendly organizations like PETA and Viva!. After her death, PETA created the Linda McCartney Memorial Award in her honor.

Following in her footsteps, her daughters Mary McCartney Donald and Stella McCartney became passionate activists for animal rights and breast cancer as well.

Trivia

• Her vegetarianism is shown on "Lisa The Vegetarian", an episode of The Simpsons.
• It is often stated that Linda McCartney is related to the Eastman Kodak dynasty. This is a myth and McCartney had no connection with the family, although, coincidentally, she began her professional career as a photographer.
• In her days as a photographer she was affectionately known as the "Park Avenue groupie" in the rock world.
• In 1977, a single, "Seaside Woman" was released by an obscure band called Suzy and the Red Stripes. In reality, Suzy and the Red stripes were Wings with Linda McCartney on vocals.
• The 200th episode of The Simpsons, "Trash of the Titans", was dedicated to her memory.
• She dated actor Warren Beatty before she met future husband Paul McCartney [2]
• She attended Sarah Lawrence College, where John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono also studied. Neither received degrees from the school.
• She attended The Beatles' historic 1965 concert at Shea Stadium.
• Her maiden name of Eastman was an anglicised version of her family's original name, Epstein, coincidentally the same surname as the Beatles' long-time manager Brian.
• In 1985 Morrissey wrote to Linda McCartney asking if she would play the piano on The Smiths' song "Frankly Mr Shankly", from the band's album The Queen Is Dead. She politely declined.[3]
• Paul McCartney recently revealed that his wife made an uncredited vocal contribution to the Beatles song "Let It Be" during the band's recording of the album of the same name in early 1969 [4].

Notes

1. ^ Linda’s Song Retrieved: November 22 2006
2. ^ Photo of Aretha Franklin by Linda Retrieved: 5 January 2007
3. ^ Photo of Hendrix by Linda Retrieved: 5 January 2007
4. ^ Photo of Dylan by LindaRetrieved: 5 January 2007
5. ^ Photo of Joplin by LindaRetrieved: 5 January 2007
6. ^ Newman, Raymond (2006-08-20). The Beatles' London, 1965-66 Abracadabra! Retrieved: 11 June 2006.
7. ^ Miles. p117.
8. ^ Deep Purple Atlas. 48 Margaret Street, London.The Deep Purple Appreciation Society. Retrieved: 11 June 2006.
9. ^ Multimap.com. Map of Cavendish Avenue. Retrieved: 11 June 2006.
10. ^ teen gossip blog Retrieved: 5 January 2007
11. ^ Saffian, Sarah. "Untimely deaths haunt extended Beatles family", US Magazine Company, December 17, 2001, p. 37. Retrieved on November 9, 2006. (in English)
12. ^ ^{a b} BBC - Entertainment Paul's dilemma over animal testing. Accessed Dec-20-2006.
13. ^ Linda’s Will and Trust Fund bbc.co.uk - 14 March, 2000
14. ^ McCartney vows to keep his wife’s work aliveThe Himalayan Times, 15 October, 2006
15. ^ Linda remembered Retrieved: 5 January 2007
16. ^ Linda remembered Retrieved: 5 January 2007

References

• Miles, Barry (1998). Many Years From Now. Vintage-Random House. ISBN 0-7493-8658-4. 

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