La la la la la Lovely Linda

Today 13 years ago Linda McCartney died after a three year long battle with breast cancer. She was an accomplish photographer, a loving mother, a good singer, outspoken vegetarian and animal-rights activist, a kind, loving person, and a soul mate. She was such an amazing woman. Born, September 24, 1941 in New York City as Linda Louise Eastman. She was the second-eldest child in her Jewish-American family. She along with her older brother (John), her two younger sisters (Laura and Louise Jr) and parents lived in the wealthy Scarsdale area of Westchester County, New York. Her father was songwriter Jack Lawrence's attorney. At her father's request Lawrence wrote a song called "Linda" in honor of the little five-year-old. Little did she know that this would be the first of many songs about her. She met her first husband, Joseph Melvin See Jr., in college. They married on June 18, 1962, and their daughter Heather Louise was born on December 31, 1962. That same year when she was 21, her mother Louise Sara Lindner Eastman (heiress to the Lindner Department Store fortune) died in the crash of American Airlines Flight 1 in Queens, New York. Mrs. McCartney later said that because of her mother's death that she hated traveling by air. She and See divorced in 1965. Linda started work as a receptionist for the Town & Country magazine. She became the only unofficial photographer on board the SS Sea Panther yacht on the Hudson River who was allowed to take photographs of The Rolling Stones during a record promotion party. Although she had previously only studied the photography of horses in Arizona she was later asked to be the house photographer at the Fillmore East concert hall. Supposedly she became a groupie. She photographed artists such as Aretha Franklin, Grace Slick, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, Simon & Garfunkel, The Who, The Doors, The Animals, and Neil Young. She took AMAZING photos of these musicians. She photographed Eric Clapton for Rolling Stone magazine, becoming the first woman to have a photo featured on the front cover. (May 11 1968) On May 15 1967, Linda met Paul McCartney at a Georgie Fame concert at the Bag O'Nails club in London. The two met again at the launch party for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at Brian Epstein's house in Belgravia. This is where one of the first pictures of the two was taken. After this she flew back to New York City. Linda thought that they would never see each other again and Paul couldn't get her out of his mind. They met at the Beverly Hill's hotel and had what Linda called "a dirty weekend." Then in September 1968 Paul phoned her an asked to come up to England. She flew up and six months later they were married on March 12 1969! At the time Linda was four months pregnant with Mary Anna McCartney. Soon after, in 1970 Paul released his first solo album, The Beatles broke up, and he and Linda went to the farm up in Scotland. After two solo albums Paul put together his new band, Wings. He got the name from the birth of Stella Nina McCartney. Unlike Mary, Linda had a more difficult time giving birth. While Stella was being born by emergency caesarean section Paul sat outside the operating room and prayed that she be born "on the wings of an angel." Linda who had contributed vocals on the song, "Let it Be" was lukewarm to the idea of being in a band. But Paul wanted her to be. He loved Linda and he wanted to do everything with her. He taught her keyboards and sang with her. Wings debut album, "Wild Life" was released in 1971. Unfortunately the album did not do well with critics. MANY people criticized Linda for vocals some saying that she was out of tune. She loved Paul but there were prices to pay. Fans were mean to her and wrote nasty things about her on the wall outside her and Paul's house. They also criticized Linda's sense of style and said she was not the woman who should be married to a Beatle. (Wow people are stupid) Wing's next album, "Red Rose Speedway" was released in 1973. The group spent many months on the road across Europe, beginning with a tour of British universities and in the summer they toured in bigger venues. This is were Linda and Paul would encounter their first of several marijuana busts over the years. In the same year in 1973 their next studio album was released. "Band on the Run," became a huge hit and is my favorite Wing's album. But still people criticized her singing. Wings released more successful albums and in 1977 Linda's composition, "Seaside Woman" was released under Suzy and the Red Stripes. Linda said that the "Suzy and the Red Stripes" pseudonym came about because she had been called "Suzy" in Jamaica because of "a fantastic reggae version of 'Suzy Q'", and Red Stripe is Jamaica's leading brand of beer. (Linda's favorite music was reggae) Also in the same year James Louis McCartney was born on September 12th. Linda said that four children was enough (meaning her first daughter Heather as well). Wings broke up in 1980 but Paul and Linda still made beautiful music together. She introduced Paul to vegetarianism in 1975, and promoted a vegetarian diet all through her life. She wrote cookbooks and produced a line of frozen vegetarian meals. She said that she did not "eat anything with a face", and if "slaughterhouses had glass walls the whole world would be vegetarian." She was a strong advocate for animal rights, and lent her support to many organizations like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) as well as The Council for the Protection of Rural England, Friends of the Earth, and was a patron of the League Against Cruel Sports. She even she narrated a TV advertisement for PETA, in which she said: "Have you ever seen a fish gasping for breath when you take it out of the water? They're saying, Thanks a lot for killing me. It feels great, you know. No! It hurts!" Regarding drugs, in 1984, the McCartneys were arrested in Barbados for possession of marijuana and were fined $100 each. They flew to Heathrow Airport, London, where Linda McCartney was arrested again on charges of possession. She later commented that hard drugs were disgusting, but marijuana "is pretty lightweight". In 1995 tragedy struck. Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer. Treatment was hard for Linda because she didn't want to be taking medicine that had been tested on animals. Unfortunately her condition grew worse and the cancer spread to her liver. (Not because of not taking medicine which she did take it because the doctor said that it was not tested on animals. Possibly lies but she had to get better.) She died on April 17 1998 (age 56), at the McCartney family ranch in Tucson, Arizona. Poor Paul, poor Mary, Stella, James, and everyone else who loved her. She touched everyone somehow. Paul's last words to her were, "You're up on your beautiful Appaloosa stallion. It's a fine spring day. We're riding through the woods. The bluebells are all out, and the sky is clear-blue." She was cremated in Tucson, and her ashes were scattered at the McCartney farm in Sussex. Paul later suggested that fans remember her by donating to breast cancer research charities that do not support animal testing, "or the best tribute,-go veggie". A memorial service was held for her at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, which was attended by George Harrison, David Gilmour, and Ringo Starr. A memorial service was also held at Riverside Church in Manhattan, two months after her death. Paul has pledged to continue her line of vegetarian food and has done many tributes for his late wife. He preformed at the Concert for Linda and he is releasing a book of her photography, "Linda McCartney: A Life in Photographs". I will always see Linda as a a remodel. She was a strong, talented, beautiful, and loving person. I wish I could have met her. She's an inspiration to me and I will always look up to her. Due to her, I'm in love with photography. She should never be just known as Paul McCartney's wife. She was a strong, independent women who could handle her own. She is Linda McCartney. R.I.P
We Love you.
I will be doing posts in her honor. If you want to learn more about the lovely Linda watch Wingspan.

Photo By Brian Jones

Photo By Jimi Hendrix

Photo By Eric Clapton

Photo By Jim Morrison

Photo By Jim Morrison

Photo By Graham Nash

"She was a great vegetarian cook which led her range of vegetarian foods-she did it out of passion-not for gain-and finally got the world to see there was an alternative. She put vegetarian foods into the mainstream.."
-Twiggy 2006