She was a photographer and animal rights activist born Linda Louise Eastman in New York, New York. Her father Lee was an attorney and her mother, Louise, was the heiress to the Linder Department Store fortune and was unfortunately killed in a plane crash in 1962. Her father represented the songwriter Jack Lawrence and he wrote the song “Linda” to honour her when she was five.
She studied at the Sarah Lawrence College, which Yoko Ono had also attended, and from there she went on to study art history at the University of Arizona where she met and married John Melville See Jr in 1962, having a daughter Heather Louise. They divorced in 1965 and she later dated Warren Beatty.
She was a top photographer of the music scene in the 1960s and was the house photographer for the Filimore East in New York City. She took professional portraits of the artists of the time including The Who, The Doors, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. While she was photographing The Beatles in London she met Paul McCartney who she married in 1969. They had three children: Mary Anna, Stella Nina and James Louis.
She was taught to play the keyboard by her husband after The Beatles split up in 1970 and she was included in the line-up for the new band, Wings. They became one of the most successful bands of the 1970s gaining several Grammy awards. She had already sang an uncredited backing vocal part on the song “Let It Be” for The Beatles, but she also wrote and recorded her own music with her solo album being Wide Prairie.
A vegetarian and animal activist from the 1970s, she started a business in frozen vegetarian meals under her own name as well as lending her support to many organizations that were animal-friendly.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995 and she passed away as a result in 1998 on the family farm in Tucson, Arizona. After her death a memorial garden was opened near Mull of Kintyre in Scotland with a bronze statue of her donated by her husband.
The Simpsons cartoon series dedicated its 200th episode to her memory.
Paul McCartney Recordings
I’ll Give You a Ring (Paul McCartney)
No More Lonely Nights (Ballad) (Paul McCartney)
No More Lonely Nights (Playout Version) (Paul McCartney)
Pipes of Peace (Paul McCartney)
So Bad (Paul McCartney)
Take It Away (Paul McCartney)
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