Linda McCartney, wife of exBeatle Paul, has died aged 56, McCartney's spokesman, Mr Geoff Baker, said last night. She died on Friday at Santa Barbara on the west coast of the United States, with Paul at her bedside.
The couple had announced in December 1995 that Linda was suffering from breast cancer. In March, the cancer was discovered to have spread to her liver.
Mr McCartney asked that people gave money for cancer research, animal welfare charities or "go veggie" instead of sending flowers. Lady Linda McCartney set up a vegetarian food business and took on the meat industry over animal welfare issues.
Linda Eastman broke teenagers' hearts when she married Paul McCartney, the last bachelor in the Beatles, but their match became one of the most enduring in showbusiness.
She was as well-known for her love of animals, vegetarian cooking and photography as for being the wife of a pop legend.
Shunning the showbusiness lifestyle for their remote homes in Sussex and Scotland, the couple managed to give their children - Mary, Stella and James, along with Heather, Linda's child from her first marriage - the most normal upbringing possible.
Linda was born on September 24th, 1941, to a wealthy American family, and grew up in Scarsdale, near New York City, with her older brother and two sisters.
Her father, Lee Eastman, a successful lawyer, was not, as often thought, a member of the Eastman/Kodak family. Linda's mother died in a plane crash when Linda was 19.
It was during a trip to London in May 1967 that she first met the Beatles' bass player, Paul McCartney, at the launch of the Sergeant Pepper album.
She joined Wings, formed in 1972, as a keyboard player. She gave several photographic exhibitions of famous people.
Though successful, her food products were not without problems. Meat was found in Linda's vegetarian pie packets in 1993, and in October 1995 thousands of packs of burgers had to be recalled after they were found to have twice as much fat as advertised.
She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the animal rights group People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals in December 1996.