It was in 1970, having replaced Marsha Hunt in the group Ferris Wheel that Linda started to expand her musical ideas listening to Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro, who had a big influence on her. Ferris Wheel toured Europe and their album garnered favourable responses from the music press, as Linda remembers: 'We got really amazing reviews and somebody said my voice sounded like an instrument.'

At the beginning of the 1970s, she moved into a house in Hampstead that was run on the lines of a hippy commune. 'It was an amazing place,' she remembers, 'and there was a big creative thing going on there.' The house was almost always full of artistic people and amongst its permanent residents were producer, Ian 'Sammy' Samwell (who had also become an A&R representative at Warner Brothers' Records), Soft Machine drummer and vocalist, Robert Wyatt and DJ turned concert promoter, Jeff Dexter (he also managed the American soft-rock trio, America). Musicians like Cat Stevens, Marc Bolan and Elton John were frequent visitors.

It was whilst living in Hampstead that Linda took up the guitar and began composing songs in earnest. She used to perform openly in front of the other residents and one day, an influential Warner Brothers' executive overheard her. 'There was a guy called Ian Ralfini,' she recalls. 'He was head of Warner's in the UK. I remember he came to the house once for dinner because Sammy (Ian Samwell) worked for him. I was just playing guitar and singing that night in the living room and the next day, he wanted to sign me up.' Linda inked a contract with Warner in 1971, signing to the company's Reprise imprint. Unsurprisingly, Ian Samwell produced Linda's first recording sessions for the label, which were released as the album 'Say No More' the same year.

By the time of her second outing for Reprise, 1972's 'Lark,' Linda had accrued sufficient confidence and experience to produce her own records (she was assisted by her then boyfriend and future husband, guitarist Jim Cregan, erstwhile member of the group Blossom Toes). Despite the fact that they were both inexperienced as far as producing records was concerned, the duo discovered a potent creative chemistry and delivered an acclaimed album. 

Linda concurs that 'Lark' represents one of her best pieces of work. 'I think the vibe of that album is fantastic,' she enthuses. 'It has a happy, joyful vibe because I was in love with Jim and it was summertime. It was all magical and I was full of creativity.' Perhaps the most significant aspect of 'Lark' was the fact that it heralded Linda's transformation into a fully-fledged composer. As a songwriter, she drew almost exclusively on autobiographical experience as the source of her material, distilling her own sound from musical influences as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Harry Nilsson, Billie Holiday and Smokey Robinson.

A year later, in 1973, Linda released 'Fathoms Deep.' It was an album that not only consolidated her status as one of Britain's most promising young female singer/songwriters but also evidenced her singularity as a recording artist. Her seamless synthesis of pop, folk, rock, funk and soul resulted in a refreshingly original sound that found favour with the critics but experienced a disappointing public response. 

Key tracks from 'Fathoms Deep' include the dreamy title track with its shimmering orchestration (a rare co-write between Linda and Jim Cregan), the poignant 'Guffer,' 'Wise Eyes,' the funky Marvin Gaye-esque soul of 'On The Stage,' 'Goodbye Joanna,' 'Red Light Ladies' and the whimsical 'Moles.' To support the album - which was released, incidentally, on a short-lived UK-only Warner imprint called Raft Records - Linda embarked on an extensive American tour with Cat Stevens.

Linda's growing band of admirers included Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and Eric Clapton. During this period, she contributed vocals to albums by David Bowie ('Aladdin Sane'), Cat Stevens ('Catch Bull At Four'), Al Kooper, Chris Spedding, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rick Wakeman.
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