Remembering Linda McCartney: Marking 25 Years Since the Photographer, Musician, and Cookbook Author's Death

Today we're remembering the one-and-only Linda Louise McCartney (formerly Eastman), who we lost on this day 25 years ago following a three year battle with Breast Cancer. She was 56 at the time of her death.

Credit: Manchester Daily Express/Getty Images

McCartney's most famous work came from her career as a photographer, which begun in the mid-1960s after working as an editor and receptionist for Town & Country magazine. She was romantically involved with photographer David Dalton at the time, and would study how he did his work until she was able to set up her own shoots. Within a few years, she began to become a regular at the Fillmore East, a music venue located in New York City, where she was dubbed the unofficial house photographer. She would receive more and more assignments to photograph entertainers and musicians, which included The Animals, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Eric Clapton, Grace Slick, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel, Todd Rundgren, and The Who. 

She made history when she became the first woman to shoot a cover for the Rolling Stone magazine after a photo she took of Eric Clapton was used for their May 11, 1968 issue. Following her marriage to former Beatle Paul McCartney, she also became the first person to appear on the cover while working as the photographer when she appeared with her husband on the cover of the Rolling Stone's January 31, 1971 issue.

After learning to play the keyboard under her husband's tutelage following the Beatles' breakup, the duo released their first album together, titled Ram in 1971. Paul decided to form the group Wings just two months later, which would feature Linda as their keyboardist and secondary vocalist.

Later on, she released her first vegetarian cookbook in 1989 titled Linda McCartney's Home Cooking following her and Paul's decision to go vegetarian in 1975. She also founded a company called Linda McCartney Meals in 1991 that would sell frozen, ready-to-cook meals in order to increase accessibility to meatless foods, which there wasn't a whole lot of at the time, The company, to this day, remains one of Britain's most well-established sellers of meat-free food products. It was purchased by the H.J Heinz Company in 1999, and later purchased by the Hain Celestial Group in 2007.

When she died, she left everything to her husband, which included the rights to her photos and her food brand. He pledged to keep the brand going, as well as keeping it GMO free. He asked fans to remember her by donating to breast cancer research organizations that don't test on animals, also adding "or the best tribute: go veggie."