David McCabe was born in 1940 in Leicester, England, where he studied graphic design and photography. While in art school, he won an international photo competition sponsored by the magazine Practical Photography and was hired by the Mayflower photo studio in London. In 1960, he moved to New York City, where he first worked as an assistant and studied under Alexey Brodovitch, Henry Wolf, and Melvin Sokolsky. He received his first assignment with Conde Nast in 1963 and was contacted by Andy Warhol the following year. McCabe's photographs have been published in various magazines including Life, Harpers Bazaar, Mademoiselle, W, French Elle, French Vogue, and London Times.