Linda Mccartney could have become one of the greatest album cover photographers of all time had it not been for Paul McCartney, according to one of her early clients.
Tommy James, who led Crimson & Clover hitmakers The Shondells, hired the photographer - then Linda Eastman - to shoot cover art for the band's second album, It's Only Love, and he was stunned by her skills as a snapper.
James tells BlogTalkRadio.com, "She lived in my building at 888 Seventh Avenue in New York, which is a famous building for music and theatrical people. I moved there in 1966 and she was my upstairs neighbour.
"She had a studio apartment on the 15th floor. There was hardly any furniture in there, just a bunch of backdrop screens. My manager moved into the fourth floor and they knew of Linda's photography on the street but she had never done any portrait shots or album covers.
"We hired her to do studio shots and she was brilliant. We were all nervous but she had this idea of how she wanted it to be. She had a great eye. Our second album cover for It's Only Love was one of her shots. Then Paul came along about eight months later and that's the last we saw of Linda!"