Recalling Paul McCartney's Tucson love story

Editor's note: This story was originally published on April 17, 2022.

Their love story began on March 13, 1969, on a soggy, pearl-gray London morning.

That’s when 26-year-old Paul McCartney married 27-year-old Linda Eastman in a small civil ceremony at the Marylebone Town Hall.

Ten years later, the McCartneys bought a secluded 151-acre ranch, with a modest tin-roof stucco house, on Tucson’s northeast side.

There, the family grew to include four children. For 29 years, the ranch house was the source of great privacy and happiness for the McCartneys, a place where they could retreat from the madding world of Beatle mania to their peaceful Southern Arizona homestead.

Paul and Linda McCartney, ranch — Ranch house owned by Paul and Linda McCartney is seen under construction east of Tucson in 1970s.
Courtesy of Tom Frederic

The McCartneys loved Tucson, and Tucson loved them back by leaving them be and giving the family a wide berth to travel around the Old Pueblo. They trekked in an unassuming SUV and a humble old Ford pickup truck that Paul used to haul ranch supplies.

The Tanque Verde Hay Feed and Supply was a regular stop for the horses. The clan went to swap meets, restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores and celebrated holidays, behaving like regular folks in the community.

Linda and her mother had a great passion for the Tucson desert and cherished the land. They would ride horses, hike, swim and enjoy life without the prying eye and clamor the celebrity world heaped on them. A neighbor said the community treated them no differently than others despite the superstar family’s presence.

David Fitzsimmons, longtime editorial cartoonist for the Arizona Daily Star, said a South Fourth Avenue Mexican restaurant owner told him the McCartney family came in from time to time. Paul always got an older waitress who had no clue who he was.

One time the waitress overheard the Beatle talking to his dinner guest about music. As the restaurant owner tells it, she said, “Oh, you play music? Are you in a band? My granddaughter’s quinceañera is coming up, and the family is looking for a good band. How much do you charge?”

For nearly three decades of marriage, Paul and Linda were apart only one night.

McCartney Ranch, Tucson — The ranch that ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney owned near Redington Pass east of Tucson shown in 1998.
Jeff Topping

In December 1995, Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer and was treated at the Arizona Cancer Center. On April 17, 1998, under a warm, starbright sky, Linda died at their ranch house.

Over the years, there have been supposed sightings of the McCartneys in Tucson. They still own the ranch on the northeast side. Their only son, James McCartney, has played a couple of concerts at Hotel Congress. He has said he still enjoys the Tucson desert, adding, “Mum loved it so. It feels like home.”