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Yoko Ono Filmography
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Yoko Ono Lennon (b. February 18, 1933) is a Tokyo-born American musician and artist. In Japanese, her name is written 小野 洋子 (Ono Yōko), meaning "Ocean Child".
Born into a privileged background, she attended the exclusive Gakushuin academy in Tokyo from primary school all the way through to the college division. After 2 months at the university, she moved with her family to Scarsdale, New York and enrolled in Sarah Lawrence College.
In 1956, she married composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. They divorced in 1962. She married American Christian fundamentalist filmmaker Tony Cox on November 28, 1962. The marriage was annulled on March 1, 1963; they re-married that June 6, and divorced on February 2, 1969. Their daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, was born on August 8, 1963.
An early member of the Fluxus art movement, Ono is best known for marrying The Beatles'
John Lennon. They met when John visited a preview of an exhibition of Yoko's. He was taken with the attitude of the exhibits, such as a telescope looking at the word 'Yes' on a ceiling, a block of wood with protruding nails to be hammered in, and a decomposing apple. They married on March 20, 1969 on the Rock of Gibraltar. Their son, Sean Taro Ono Lennon, was born on John's 35th birthday.
Ono is often accused by Beatles fans of breaking up the band; however, in a 2003 interview by
Jay Leno, she revealed the disappointment she felt by the breakup and how it impacted upon a life that she was used to. There are Lennon fans who, in addition, blame Ono for the experimental phase (considered bizarre and somewhat unpopular) that Lennon explored in his work immediately following the Beatles' breakup. On the other hand, many fans consider—as Lennon consistently attested—that Ono had a profound and beneficial influence on his body of work.
In 1987 she was one of the speakers at artist Andy Warhol's funeral.
Ono performed with Lennon on several of his albums, beginning with the 1968 Two Virgins and including those recorded under the name of the Plastic Ono Band. Ono also achieved moderate success as a musician in her own right. Many of her earlier songs retain the surreal quality of her art and films; however, her later songs are more conventional. In the Spring of 1980, Lennon heard new wave artists such as Lene Lovich and the B52's and felt they sounded like Ono's music. This led to their collaboration on the 1980 album Double Fantasy. Quite a few of her songs have been covered by other prominent musicians, including
Elvis Costello's, among others, one of "Walking on Thin Ice."
Recently she began expanding her music to dance tracks. In 2002 she released a double-single called
Will I? / Fly, each with some remixes. In 2003 she had more success with new versions of "Walking on Thin Ice", remixed by top DJs and dance artists including Pet Shop Boys, Orange Factory and Peter Rauhofer. There were so many mixes, and their popularity was high enough, that she made plans to remix more of her material. She made much of her music available through Apple's iTunes Music Store and was glad of the results. An album compilation of all the WOTI mixes was also planned.
Many of the friends she had worked with on her
Thin Ice single, as well as in the art world in general, were gay. Continuing her DJing, in 2004 she remade her "Every Man Loves a Woman" song in support of same-sex marriages, releasing a single with remixes that included "Every Man Loves a Man" and "Every Woman Loves a Woman" versions (as well as straight versions, too).
Ono has allegedly had a turbulent relationship with
Paul McCartney for some time in a dispute centred around the writing credits for many Beatles songs, traditionally credited to Lennon-McCartney. McCartney had wanted to change the order to "
Paul McCartney and
John Lennon" for some songs that were solely or predominantly McCartney's, but she would not allow it. She had also wanted to remove the McCartney credit for "Give Peace a Chance".
Her photograph of Lennon's spectacles, bloodstained from when he was fatally shot outside their Manhattan apartment building on December 8, 1980, sold at auction in London in April, 2002 for about $13,000.
She currently resides in New York City.
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Latest news on Yoko Ono
LiteratureWorn Free's vintage tees made famous by rockers
In the discussion following Xeni's post about Yoko Ono yesterday, Shawn Wolfe referenced having just bought one of Worn Free's "Yoko Ono" t-shirts, just like John Lennon used to wear. I checked out Worn Free and they have a very cool business idea. They recreate obscure vintage t-shirts famously worn by rockers, like Lennon's "Working Class Hero" tee, Iggy Pop's "I Wiped Out The 60's" tee, Debbie Harry's "Punk" tee, Frank Zappa's "Rental" tee, Joey Ramone's "Capitol Theatre" tee, and a slew of others. My favorite is the "Yoko Ono" and Joey Ramone's "Punk Magazine" tee. Link...
Published: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:40:26 GMT - Source: Boingboing.Net - Read the articleLiteratureYoko Ono: No, I'm not suing Lennon Murphy over "Lennon."
Earlier this week, I pointed to reports that John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, was said to be planning legal action against with a young singer-songwriter named Lennon Murphy, who sought to trademark the name of her band, "Lennon." Ms. Ono tells Boing Boing today that the reports (from Fox, NME, TMZ, and others) she was suing Ms. Murphy are untrue -- she just didn't want Murphy to seek an exclusive trademark on "Lennon." Yoko Ono (yes, really) writes: Dear Xeni, A musician named Lennon Murphy is claiming that Yoko Ono has sued her and that Yoko is seeking to stop Lennon Murphy from performing under her name, Lennon Murphy. Both of these claims are untrue. Several years ago, Lennon Murphy sought Yoko's permission to do her performances under her name, Lennon Murphy. Yoko, of course, did not object to her request. Subsequently, without Yoko's knowledge, Lennon Murphy filed an application in the United States trademark Office requesting the exclusive right to utilize the name "Lennon" for musical performances. Yoko's attorneys asked Lennon Murphy's attorneys and manager to withdraw her registration of exclusivity to the name LENNON for the trademark. Yoko also offered to cover all costs Lennon Murphy had incurred in filing for the trademark. But Lennon Murphy went ahead to register. Yoko did not sue Lennon Murphy, but sought to stop her from getting the exclusive right to the name Lennon for performance purposes. For that, Yoko's attorneys, simply notified the Trademark office that Yoko did not believe it was fair that Ms. Murphy be granted the exclusive right to the "Lennon" trademark in relation to musical and entertainment services. As you can see, this is a very important issue for Yoko and the Lennon family. Yoko says: "I am really hurt if people thought that I told a young artist to not use her own name in her performances and had sought to sue her. I did no such thing. I hope this allegation will be cleared." Thank you for your kind attention, Yoko Image: via Wikipedia. Update: Comment of the day, in the related BB comments thread, by "tensegrity": Yoko Ono once again shows that she is a class act and a cool lady, through and through....
Published: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:30:30 GMT - Source: Boingboing.Net - Read the articleScience}Yoko Unveils High-Tech Musical Bus
Yoko Ono gives life advice from the CES tech-show floor.
Published: Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:28:02 GMT - Source: Abcnews.Go.Com - Read the article
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