Yoko Ono

:For the Die Ärzte song, see Yoko Ono (song)

Musical Career

Ono achieved success as a musician in her own right. Indeed, years before meeting Lennon, she had her first major public performance in an all-Ono concert at the Carnegie Recital Hall in 1961. This concert featured radical experimental music and performances.

Related Topics:
Musician - Carnegie Recital Hall

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Ono's music changed after her marriage; while many of her early songs retain the surreal quality of her art and films, her later songs are usually more conventional — for example, the seven pop songs that she contributed to the album, Double Fantasy.

Related Topics:
Surreal - Double Fantasy

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In the spring of 1980, Lennon heard Lene Lovich and the B-52's' "Rock Lobster" in a nightclub, and it reminded him of Ono's musical soundworld. He ran to a public phone, called Yoko and said "They're finally ready for us, love!" Indeed, many musicians, particularly those of the new wave movement, have paid tribute to Ono (both as an artist in her own right, and as a muse and iconic figure). For example, Elvis Costello recorded a version of Ono's song "Walking On Thin Ice", the B-52's covered "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)" (shortening the title to "Don't Worry"), and Sonic Youth included a performance of Ono's early conceptual "Voice Piece for Soprano" in their fin de siecle album Goodbye 20th Century. One of Barenaked Ladies's best-known songs is "Be My Yoko Ono," and Dar Williams recorded a song called "I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono." The punk rock singer Patti Smith invited Ono to participate in "Meltdown," a two-week music festival that Smith organized in London during June 2005; Ono performed at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Related Topics:
Lene Lovich - The B-52's' - Rock Lobster - New wave - Muse - Iconic figure - Elvis Costello - Walking On Thin Ice - Sonic Youth - Conceptual - Fin de siecle - Barenaked Ladies - Dar Williams - Patti Smith - Queen Elizabeth Hall

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On the night of December 8, 1980, Lennon and Ono were in the studio working on Ono's song "Walking On Thin Ice." When they returned to The Dakota, their home in New York City, Lennon was murdered at age 40 by a deranged fan, Mark David Chapman. "Walking on Thin Ice (For John)" was released as a single less than a month later, and became Ono's first chart success, peaking at No. 58 and gaining major underground airplay. In 1981, she released the album Season of Glass with the striking cover photo of Lennon's shattered, bloody spectacles next to a half-filled glass of water, with a window overlooking Central Park in the background. This led some critics to accuse her of being tasteless and exploitative. However, Ono said that she chose such a provocative image because she wanted to remind people that Lennon hadn't just died, but had been murdered. (This photograph sold at an auction in London in April 2002 for about $13,000.) In the liner notes to Season of Glass, Ono explained that the album is not dedicated to Lennon because "he would have been offended - he was one of us."

Related Topics:
December 8 - 1980 - Walking On Thin Ice - The Dakota - New York City - Murdered - Mark David Chapman - Single - 1981 - Season of Glass - Spectacles - Central Park - Critics - Auction - London - 2002 - Liner notes

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