Linda Shear

Linda Shear (born 1948 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and piano player.

Musical career On May 13, 1972, she and percussionist Ella Szekely performed in the first known out-lesbian concert in the U.S. at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle Campus. The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band was also on the bill that evening. Soon after, Shear began performing with her band, Family of Woman, which included Szekely, violinist Joan Capra, and guitar players Sherry Jenkins, Judy Handler, and Susan Abod. Elana Dykewomon reviewed the album positively in DYKE, A Quarterly. She was a supporter of lesbian separatism, and in 1976 began requesting that her audiences be limited to lesbians only. In the early 1970s, Shear helped found the Chicago-based lesbian newspaper, Lavender Woman. Her music and story were featured by JD Doyle in 2001. She was interviewed in the 2002 documentary Radical Harmonies, and she appeared on the breast cancer research benefit CD High Risk. In 2010, she was interviewed by Tracy Baim for her project, Chicago Gay History.

On September 28, 2008, after 25 years of domestic partnership, Shear married windflower Townley. After living in Northern California for 31 years, in 2024, Linda and windflower moved back to Western Massachusetts with their two dogs, Emma Rose and Skylar Grace.