Birth of Mary McCartney

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Mary McCartney, the first child of Linda and Paul McCartney, was born on this day. From Wikipedia:

[Mary] McCartney was born at Avenue Clinic in London on 28 August 1969 and named after her paternal grandmother Mary McCartney. She is the first biological child of Paul McCartney of the Beatles and photographer Linda Eastman McCartney, and Linda’s second child. McCartney has an older sister, Heather McCartney who was born Heather Louise See on 31 December 1962 to Linda and Joseph Melville See Jr. and adopted by Paul McCartney […]

The most famous photograph of McCartney was taken by her mother; it is a photograph of her in 1970 as a baby, peeking out from inside her father’s jacket. The photograph is featured on the back cover of her father’s first solo album, McCartney.

As our relationship solidified and we really started to feel very confident with each other, it was a question of ‘Well, shall I get off the pill then?’ and we talked about that, and I said, ‘Yeah!’ I don’t know why. It wasn’t like planning a family, it was more ‘If you like. We could see what happened. If anything happened. That would be all right.’ Then Mary was on the way, it was definitely not planned. And we decided, round about that point, to get married.

Paul McCartney, in Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, by Barry Miles, 1998

Life had just started to get a bit messy when Linda became pregnant with Mary. Allen Klein [the American business manager] was involved with the Beatles and, over the year, things seemed to get more chaotic and worrying. Then, the miracle: our Mary. The chaos got pushed to one side and all I cared about was being a dad. But there was still a lot of unpleasantness flying around, so in the end I said: “Let’s get out of here, go to Scotland and be a family.” It wasn’t planned, but Mary came at exactly the right time. She changed my perspective to a degree where I could look at what was happening with the Beatles and think, “Does it really matter?”

Paul McCartney – From The Sunday Times, December 22, 2021

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BEATLE NOTES: As you already know Paul and Linda are now the proud parents of a new baby girl. She has been named Mary after Paul’s mother. Mary weighed 6 lbs, 8 ozs, and was born at 1.30 a.m. on Thursday, August 28. Photographer Linda has informed the world’s press photographers that she will take her own pictures of herself, Paul and baby Mary… Paul incidentally has gone back to his old hairstyle which is reminiscent of 1964… only it’s longer!

From The Beatles Book N°75, October 1969

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Paul McCartney took this picture of wife Linda and baby Mary using an automatic delayed action release camera just 12 hours after his daughter was born last month.

From New Musical Express, September 13, 1969

Last updated on December 23, 2021