|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| When the name of Linda McCartney is mentioned, one’s thoughts are almost immediately turned to her famous husband, Paul McCartney, former Beatle and world-famous musician and songwriter. This reaction is quite a common one for many people, especially Beatle fans, who often label her greatest accomplishment as “being Paul’s wife!” She is quite often lost in the her famous husband’s Beatle shadow, and as described by Yoko Ono, wife of former Beatle, John Lennon, “Everything that was good was considered the work of her husband, and everything the public did not approve of was considered her doing. Just like so many women before her, she made a difference in silence” (Eira 1; Ono 31). And make a difference she did, for throughout her lifetime Linda McCartney both explored and excelled in many unique areas. She was a successful and well-known photographer, who was an expert in her field, having works displayed in about fifty galleries around the world. Throughout her career, she had the opportunity to combine her love for music with her career by working for Rolling Stone, photographing some of her favorite musical heroes. It was through this calling that she met her husband to-be, Paul McCartney. Linda was also well known for her passion towards vegetarianism, a habit that she practiced for about twenty-five years. She also showed immense support of animal rights causes such as the Lynx, an organization against the trade of fur, and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “Linda McCartney had a passion and desire to change people’s attitudes. Her positive outlook and dedication to promoting a diet that would bring about the end of animal suffering was absolute,” says the Vegetarian Society. She even held a small musical career as a keyboarder for her and Paul’s band, Wings, and singing background vocals both on their and Paul’s solo albums. She also began work on Wide Prairie, an album of her musical work, which was released by her husband shortly after her recent death in 1998 (Information 1-2; Lowrie 2; Giuliano 162-163). Linda Louise Eastman was born on September 24th, 1941 in Scarsdale, New York. Her parents were quite wealthy, and she grew up in posh suburbs, located in Westchester County. In her younger years, Linda attended various private schools in the New York City area, and later went on to attend the nearby Scarsdale High School. Unlike her ambitious and successful family, Linda had always been a poor student who cared more for animals than schoolwork. She was considered the odd one of a family of over-achievers, and seldom applied herself to her schoolwork. “She was an artist and was not cut out to be academic,” explains Paul. However, her lack of academic drive didn’t seem to have any effect on the creativity that she was so well known for in her future photography career. “By nature she is intuitive, spontaneous, a daydreamer: all good qualities for a photographer,” says Barry Miles, author of Paul McCartney’s most recent biography, Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now (Giuliano 132-133; Tresniowski 102; Miles 506-507). Her father, Lee Eastman, was a self-made businessman who came from a poor family of Russian immigrants. He had great ambition and eventually earned himself a scholarship to Harvard Law School when he was sixteen years old. Upon graduating, he changed his last name from Epstein to Eastman, and set up his own office as a lawyer for the entertainment industry, and built up an excellent reputation. Because of his job, Linda and her three siblings often arrived downstairs for dinner to find such stars as Hopalong Cassidy and Hoagy Carmichael eating their mother’s delicious gourmet meals. She was even the inspiration for the song “Linda” by Jack Lawrence, written about her in 1947 when she was six years old. Linda’s mother, Louise Linder, came from an exceptionally rich family, and was the heiress to the large chain of Linder department stores, of which her father had been both the founder and Chief Executive Officer. Regarding his wife’s family, Paul recalls them as “very preppy, very aspirational.” Linda was very close to her mother, and often went shopping with her in downtown Manhattan. Consequently, Linda was crushed by her sudden death in 1960 when she was nineteen years old (Giuliano 133; Miles 507). Upon graduating from Scarsdale High School, Linda McCartney left for school, studying briefly at the exclusive Sarah Lawrence College. She later went on to study at Princeton University, studying art and history in both institutions. Since she had always been a fairly poor student she disliked both situations, and transferred to the University of Arizona in Tucson shortly after she received the news of her mother’s death. There she continued studying art and history as she struggled to regain control of her now greatly disrupted life. “Instead of staying back east and helping my family, I just escaped,” says Linda (Giuliano 134; Miles 507; Tresniowski 102). It was there at the University of Arizona that Linda met her first husband, Joseph Melvin See, in 1962. See was also a student at the University, and was studying geophysics. They were married the following year in early 1963, and moved to Colorado together where they continued their studies. Shortly afterwards, Linda became pregnant with Heather, their first and only child together, who was born later on December 31st, 1963. Around that time, See graduated and announced that the family would move to Africa so that he could do field study work, which would feed his aspiring career. It was at that point that Linda announced that she no longer felt the need to stay in the turbulent relationship, and they were divorced shortly afterwards. “Then I grew up,” says Linda, “My life began again in this new freedom.” They had been married less than a year (Giuliano 134; Miles 507-508; Tresniowski 102). After the divorce, Linda moved back to Tucson with her Heather, where she stayed with friends, and met Hazel Archer, who first introduced her to photography, and they remained good friends up until Linda’s death. Linda was amazed to find that photography was an art form, and took her teacher’s simple advice, “Borrow a camera, get a roll of film, and take pictures,” and thus began her soon-to-be famous career. “Everyone has a way to express themselves, I think this was one of Linda’s ways to do that,” says Eira, a Linda McCartney fan. “Photography made me a different person because it was something I loved doing, and nothing else mattered,” Linda says (Giuliano 134; Miles 508; Eira 2). Despite her relatively smooth life in Arizona studying photography and caring for Heather, Linda began to long for the familiarity of her family’s home in New York, and the busy atmosphere of city life. Finally she packed up and left Arizona, heading full speed back to New York City, where her recently remarried father was living. Almost as soon as she arrived, he informed her that it was time for her to get a job and home of her own. She then began seeking residence in Upper East Manhattan, where she found the ideal place. The small apartment, formerly owned by another divorcee with a child, possessed a perfect location only three blocks away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of Linda’s favorite places of amusement. Almost as soon as she moved in, she began seeking work as a typist, the only real skill that she possessed, having taken a typing course some years earlier. She tried numerous times to pass the typing test offered by various businesses, but failed each and every time. Finally she stumbled upon the Hearst Corporation, owner of the offices of Town & Country magazine, who gave her a job as a receptionist (Miles 508-509; Giuliano 134-135). Linda’s job at Town & Country turned out to be extremely beneficial to her photography career. While sitting at the front reception desk sifting through the mass amounts of mail that the company received, she was able to become acquainted with many of England’s finest photographers who were hired to shoot for the magazine. In June of 1966, shortly after Town & Country had run a cover story concerning the Rolling Stones’ most recent release, Aftermath, the company received an invitation and press passes to the album’s press release party. As soon as she discovered the letter, she quickly hid the passes and later used them to get into the dock where the band was launching off a yacht, the SS Sea Panther, on which they were to be holding a press conference. However, as soon as the journalists arrived, it was realized that there would not be enough room on the boat for the photographers. Not wanting to insult anyone in particular, it was decided that none of them would be allowed aboard, and the boat was soon ready to pull away, leaving a massive crowd of angry photographers standing at the dock. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a press officer for the band stepped off of the yacht and told her that she was allowed on board. Linda followed her, happily clutching her Pentax camera. “I stood there on the quay with my long blonde hair and, I guess, a mini-skirt. I must have caught the band’s eye because a woman came down the gangway and said I was the only photographer they would allow on board. I got well into it, using black and white. Then back on the quay all the journalists came up and gave me their cards because they needed pictures. I got them back from the lab and, lo!, they were wonderful,” recalls Linda about her lucky break into the photography scene (Tresniowski 102-103; Miles 509-510; Giuliano 135). Soon afterwards, she was selling her Rolling Stones photographs to dozens of newspapers and magazines, and received enough business that she was able to quit her lowly receptionist job at Town & Country to become a full time photographer. She soon became well liked by many popular journalists, and was consequently named as the informal house photographer for Fillmore East. At the well-known club of the stars, she was able to meet and photograph many of the popular musical groups of the day such as the Mamas and the Papas, the Doors, the Who, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, and the Beatles. From these meetings she was able to photograph intricate portfolios of many artists in settings such as backstage at concerts, and performing at Central Park, and did numerous spreads for magazines such as Life and Mademoiselle. Her pictures of the group Cream even appeared in the first issue of Rolling Stone magazine, for whom she would come to do a great amount of work. She was constantly praised over the years for her unique style, described as “moody, gritty,” which was probably due to the fact that she always used natural lighting instead of a flash, which caused what has been called the “intimate feeling” of her studies (Giuliano 135-136; Miles 510-513; Pearson B4; Eira 2). Linda Eastman first met her future husband, Paul McCartney, while at the club Bag ‘O’ Nails in 1967, while there under the invitation of Chad Chandler, ex-bassist for the Animals. Paul took a fancy to her, and after they began talking they moved on to the Speakeasy club together. The next morning she contacted Peter Brown of NEMS studios, and showed him her portfolio. Because of her excellent work, she was chosen to attend the premier party for the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album. Linda realized that this would not only be a major building block in her career, but also a step towards establishing herself with Paul McCartney, whom she had been taken with as a fan for quite a while. “It was John who interested me at the start. He was my Beatle hero. But when I met him the fascination faded fast and I found it was Paul I liked,” admits Linda. At the Sgt. Pepper party Linda was not only able to snap countless photographs of the Beatles, but she was also able to become much closer to Paul, eventually slipping him her phone number which he dutifully rang, despite the fact that he was still seeing his well-renowned lover, Jane Asher (Giuliano 141; Tresniowski 102-103; Miles 512-514). After Paul officially broke up with Asher, the couple began seeing each other on a much regular basis. Linda kept the relationship going despite the vast distance between their U.S. and U.K. homes, through a great many visits and late night phone calls. Eventually both Linda and her daughter Heather who was about six at the time, moved in with Paul at his home on Cavendish Avenue in London. He got to know Heather well, and the two soon became quite close friends, Paul having always loved children. “The most-sought-after man in all of rock groupiedom baby-sat while Linda went to the Fillmore East to take pictures of other rock stars,” says Chet Flippo, author of a 1988 Paul McCartney biography. Paul recalls the first time he spoke to Heather: “So I got on the phone thinking, Oh my God, if she hates me this could be very difficult, so I was slightly overfriendly probably. I said, ‘Will you marry me?’ She said, ‘I can’t, you’re too old!’ like kids do, but that broke the ice and I said, ‘Oh yes, of course. I forgot that. Well, maybe I should marry your mummy. That’d be good.’” Linda and Paul were married on March 12, 1969 at the Marylebone Registry Office in London. At the time, Linda was four months pregnant with their first child together, Mary, who was born later that year on August 29th (Giuliano 137-147; Flippo 254; Miles 513-525). Linda and Paul McCartney have been hailed over the years as possessing one of the world’s closest marriages, excluding even the fact that they were constantly in the public’s eye, especially considering the great riots that occurred when Paul, the last bachelor Beatle, finally married. “The girls went to war when I married Paul. They each felt as though they were Paul’s wife. They would say ‘I hate you. You’re horrible. Why didn’t he marry Jane Asher, at least we knew her!’” admits Linda. Throughout their marriage up until the time of her death, Linda and Paul spent only eleven days apart when he was put in Japanese prison for marijuana possession. “If Linda Eastman started out as just another silver-spoon groupie from Westchester County, she ended up as an integral and important part of Paul McCartney’s lifelong search for security and love,” says Geoffrey Giuliano, author of Blackbird, his 1991 Paul McCartney biography. Throughout their marriage, they accomplished many things, probably most importantly the birth of their three children together, Mary, and Stella who was born on September 13, 1971, and James, born on September 12, 1977. Amidst their marriage, they also put together their successful band, Wings, Paul’s first post-Beatle project, for which Linda was the keyboard player, despite the fact that she did not know how to play the instrument. “The main reason she was there was because she was Paul’s wife and they wanted to be together,” says Denny Laine, former Wings guitarist (Giuliano 142-146, 162-167; Lowrie 1; Pearson B4; Tresniowski 101). Throughout her life, Linda McCartney was well known for her passion towards vegetarianism and animal rights. In her lifetime she published two vegetarian cookbooks, the first of which was Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, published in 1989, which became a bestseller in the U.S. by selling over 25 thousand copies, and was the biggest-selling vegetarian cookbook ever in the U.K. She published a second vegetarian cookbook in 1991, and was working on a third cookbook at the time of her death, which was published that same year in 1998. She also created a vegetarian food line, McVege, in the Spring of 1991, which had sales of over $56 million by 1997, and has become England’s most successful line of vegetarian products. Linda supported many animal rights movements, and also campaigned for environmental causes such as Friends of the Earth. “Her commitment to vegetarianism and animal rights brought her message to a wider audience than that of rock and roll,” says Yoko Ono (Information 1-2; Ono 31). In December of 1995, a malignant tumor was discovered in one of her breasts, and had to be removed that same month. Linda began chemotherapy treatment soon afterwards, and appeared to have entered remission after four months. Sadly, in March of 1998 the cancer was discovered once again, this time having infected her liver. Linda McCartney died in the arms of her husband on April 17th 1998, while on vacation with her family in Santa Barbara, California (Pearson B4). Linda McCartney had a great many accomplishments, and has inspired many people with her great care and compassion. “Everyone, no matter what they do, can look up to her in one way or another,” says Eira, who finds inspiration in Linda’s affect on so many causes. As said in the words of one of her husband’s songs, quoted by Yoko Ono, “She took a sad song and made it better,” (Eira 3; Ono 31). Eira (Veg987). Personal Interview (Linda McCartney fan, active vegetarian and animal rights supporter). 27 Feb. 1999. Flippo, Chet. Yesterday: The Unauthorized Biography of Paul McCartney. New York, New York: Doubleday, 1988. Giuliano, Geoffrey. Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney. New York, New York: Dutton, 1991. Internet. Online. “Linda McCartney Biography.” The Museum of the City of San Francisco: 1 – 2. 2 Feb. 1999. Available WWW: http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/lindabio.html Lowrie, Margaret. “Linda McCartney Remembered.” CNN Interactive: 1 – 3. Online. Internet. 2 Feb. 1999. Available WWW: http://www.cnn.com/showbiz/9804/20/mccartney.reax/index.html Miles, Barry. Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997. Ono, Yoko. “Linda McCartney Remembered.” Rolling Stone, 11 Jun. 1998: 31. Pearson, Richard. “Linda McCartney Dies of Cancer At 56: Wife of Former Beatle Paul; U.S. Born Photographer, Musician, Vegetarian, Animal Lover.” The Washington Post, 20 Apr. 1998: B4 Tresniowski, Alex. “Paul’s Lovely Linda.” People, 4 May 1998: 100 – 105. |
 Sign Guestbook |
 View Guestbook |
|
. |
| Visitors: 01099 |