Linda McCartney

The Lovely Linda Dateline: 4/22/98 Linda McCartney was a remarkable woman - not so much a "Beatle Wife" as a prime example of how to be creative and independant in the shadow of a legend. Raised in Scarsdale, New York, Linda was a Fine Art major at The University of Arizona and developed her love of photography there. A completely self-taught artist, she began her career as a receptionist at New York's Town and Country in the early Sixties. Her big break occurred when she used a stolen press pass to fake her first press "assignment": photographing the Rolling Stones on a yacht on the Hudson River. After that bit of resourcefulness, she began to photograph the cream of the Sixties rock elite: The Doors, The Who, Hendrix, Dylan, and more. And then she met the man who wwould change her life forever. Paul tells the story in his new bio, Many Years From Now: "The night I met Linda I was in the Bag o'Nails watching Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames play a great set.... [Linda] was there with the Animals, who she knew from photographing them in New York.... The band had finished and they got up to either leave or go for a drink or a pee or something, and she passed our table. I was near the edge and stood up just as she was passing, blocking her exit. And so I said, 'Oh, sorry. Hi. How are you? How're you doing? ' I introduced myself, and said, 'We're going on to another club after this, would you like to join us?'" Paul and Linda's love was all the more amazing for being a showbiz romance; the authenticity of their relationship was never, ever in doubt, and that's not just because Paul wrote reams and reams of lyrics extolling her. They seemed genuinely, utterly enamoured of each other, and this is what kept the relationship strong through trouble that would make the strongest marriage bend. The press were merciless to Linda, criticizing her looks, her talent, and what her domesticity had supposedly "done to Paul". The couple knew better, though. It's hard for non-musicians to understand why a man would put his non-musician wife in his band - but if you've spent countless nights on the road away from your loved ones, you would understand. I've no doubt it was one of the things that kept their marriage solid. From the Super Seventies Rocksite! In later years, she was mainly known for her strong vegetarian stance, a belief that got her and Paul unfairly tagged as airhead hippies until meat suddenly became murder in the Mid-Eighties. Never afraid to use her position as a bully pulpit, Linda not only spoke out against unethical treatment of animals, but, more importantly, offered a viable alternative to the carnivorous lifestyle with her veggie cookbooks and, eventually, frozen foods. Her battle with cancer (the very disease that had killed her husband's mother) was dealt with in her usual fashion - she gathered all the information she could and then used her "Beatle Wife" status to disseminate it to the world. In doing so, she may have helped save a few human lives. Not bad for a supposedly elitist Sarah Lawrence Girl. Linda may very well have been rock's answer to Princess Di: the rare privilged and successful person who turned success into kindness, and the woman who was brave enough to battle the cynics who would deny such a thing were even possible. My guess is that Paul's heart is not the only one broken tonight.

Taken from Dateline

Links:
Linda McCartney Dies at 56
Linda's Ashes Scattered At Home
Through Linda's Eyes
The McCartneys - Real Life Lovers