Personal relationships of Paul McCartney "gave me the strength and courage to work again", after the break-up of the Beatles. McCartney adopted her daughter from her first marriage, Heather, and had three children together: Mary, Stella, and James McCartney. McCartney taught Linda to play keyboards, and permanently included her in the line-up of Wings. Linda died of breast cancer at age 56 in Tucson, Arizona, on 17 April 1998; McCartney denied rumours that her death was an assisted suicide. Along with eight other British composers, he contributed to the choral album "A Garland for Linda", and dedicated his classical album, "Ecce Cor Meum", to his
Linda McCartney Festival premiered "Wide Prairie", a six-minute cartoon fantasy film she made with director Oscar Grillo. In April 1999, Paul McCartney performed at the "Concert for Linda" tribute at the Royal Albert Hall, which had been organized by two of their friends, Chrissie Hynde and Carla Lane. Among the artists that performed, besides Paul, were George Michael, the Pretenders, Elvis Costello, and Tom Jones. Paul closed the concert by dedicating the event to Linda, whom he called his "beautiful baby," and their children. In January 2000, Paul announced donations in excess of $2,000,000 for cancer research at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer