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Linda McCartney
Linda Eastman as a photographer
Born	September 24, 1941(1941-09-24) New York, New York, U.S.
Died	April 17, 1998 Age 56 Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Occupation	Musician, Photographer
Spouse	John Melvin See Jr. (1962-1965) Paul McCartney (1969-1998)
Children	Heather McCartney Mary McCartney Stella McCartney James Louis McCartney
Parents	Lee Eastman (father) Louise Linder (mother)

Linda Louise Eastman 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, written in association with poet and author Steve Turner, contains many of her seminal rock-artist photographs from that era.

Linda McCartney was born Linda Louise Eastman^[1] 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 1960. 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.^[2] Her mother was Louise Linder Eastman, heiress to the Linder Department Store fortune, who died in the 1962 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,^[3] Jimi Hendrix,^[4] Bob Dylan,^[5] Janis Joplin,^[6] Eric Clapton, Simon and Garfunkel, The Who, The Doors and The Rolling Stones. Her 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 31 December 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;^[7] She was in the UK on an assignment to take photographs of musicians.^[8] McCartney, Linda and members of the The Animals went on to The Speakeasy, a club on Margaret Street,^[9] and Eastman later accompanied McCartney back to his house in Cavendish Avenue.^[10] 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. A power struggle between her father and brother John, on the one side, and accountant Allen Klein on the other for control of the rapidly sinking Apple Corps corporation left Klein in charge but did not affect her relationship with McCartney (who had supported the Eastmans against the other Beatles). Linda and her new husband raised four children: Heather Louise (from her previous marriage, whom Paul adopted), Mary Anna, Stella Nina, and James Louis. She had three grandsons and a granddaughter, 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.^[11]

Linda around the time of her marriage to Paul McCartney. Photo is from the cover of her CD single "The Light Comes from Within".

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. Wings garnered several Grammy Awards for their music, and became one of the most successful bands of the 1970s, although Linda's musical talent was a continuing source of controversy.

In 1977, a single entitled "Seaside Woman" was released by an obscure band called Suzy and the Red Stripes on Epic Records in the U.S. In reality, Suzy and the Red Stripes were Wings with Linda McCartney on lead vocals. The song was written solely by Linda and recorded by Wings in 1972, in response to a lawsuit by ATV (which owned Northern Songs) over Paul's practice of granting Linda co-writing credit on his songs, which had the effect of transferring a share of the publishing royalties to MPL Communications from ATV. The lawsuit was settled out of court.^[12] Her album Wide Prairie, which included "Seaside Woman", 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.^[13] 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."^[14] 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."^[14]

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.

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.^[15] 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.^[16]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 Foods" name.^[17] These products made her independently wealthy. Additionally, she was a passionate advocate for animal rights, and lent her support to many animal rights 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 against breast cancer as well.

• She attended Sarah Lawrence College, though she did not receive a degree from the school, though she attended a few years after Yoko Ono graduated from the same school.
• She dated actor Warren Beatty before she met future husband Paul McCartney^[18]
• McCartney made an uncredited vocal contribution to the Beatles song "Let It Be" during the band's recording of the eponymous album in early 1969^[19].
• One of very few individuals to have inspired two number one songs by two different artists - "Linda" by Buddy Clark, and "My Love" by Paul McCartney & Wings.
• She appeared in animated form (Alongside her husband Paul) in The Simpsons episode "Lisa the Vegetarian". The episode "Trash of the Titans" is dedicated in her memory.
• She also worked for Rolling Stone magazine.
• At the beginning of the song She Came In Through the Bathroom Window there's a brief moment in between "Oh, look out!" and the actual song where someone says "Linda Eastman".

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

• Official Site for Linda McCartney
• Linda McCartney at the Internet Movie Database

• Linda McCartney Remembered
• Biographical information
• BBC obituary
• The Path of the Vegetarian by Linda McCartney
• The Linda McCartney Centre
• Linda McCartney's Will, 4 July, 1996