Yoko Ono
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Yoko Ono (February 18, 1933) is a Japanese-born musician and artist. She is the widow of John Lennon. Before she married Lennon she was married to Toshi Ichiyanagi from 1956 to 1963, and Anthony Cox from 1963 to 1969. She has two children, Kyoko Chan Cox (with Cox) and Sean Lennon (with Lennon).
Ono went to London with Cox during 1966, to promote her career as an artist. John Lennon, who was a member of The Beatles, went to one of her art shows. He enjoyed the surreal (fantasy-like) quality of her work. Ono and Lennon became friends, and later lovers, as each lost interest in their spouses. Lennon wanted them to be together as much as possible. He broke a rule the Beatles had never to bring a wife or girlfriend to their recording sessions. He brought her along anytime he could. They were married in March 1969, after they were both divorced.
Many Beatles fans blamed Ono for "breaking up" the band through her influence on Lennon. He seemed to many people to have "gone crazy" since meeting her. The truth was, Ono simply encouraged Lennon to do things he'd already wanted to do, but let himself be talked out of doing in the past – including quitting the Beatles. Ono and Lennon started a new, part-time group they called the Plastic Ono Band.
Ono was Lennon's "muse", inspiring his music and his creative side, for the rest of his life. The two worked together on both his post-Beatles records, and Ono's wish to also have a music career. Ono was trained as a classical musician, studying piano and voice as a child. She was more interested in "avant-garde" music than in classical or popular music. Ono's songs and unique style sounded strange to most listeners. It was offensive to many people, who thought Lennon should have either stayed with the Beatles, or made more music in their style. Ono changed her style, and began to write and record more pop songs, but her music never became popular. Years later, some younger musicians (such as The B-52's) admitted they had liked Ono's music. They were inspired by it, as Lennon had been.
After Lennon's death in 1980, Ono recorded several solo albums. The first was titled Season of Glass. Her later records were praised by some music critics. They were even enjoyed by some Lennon fans, but the albums never sold well. Ono gave up her own musical career, and became the "caretaker" of Lennon's estate (the things he left when he died) and his non-Beatles work.
When son Sean Lennon grew up, he also became a musician. He helped Ono to compile (collect and put in order) her old recordings, and make some new ones. Ono recently (2006) appeared at the opening of Love, a Cirque du Soleil show featuring Beatles music, to help promote it.
