Woman: The Incredible Life of Yoko Ono

“A lot of it – the lyric and the concept – came from Yoko” (John Lennon on Imagine ) In 2017, Yoko Ono was awarded joint songwriting credits by the Music Publishers Association for the song Imagine. It was a moment of validation for John Lennon’s widow. An early victim of the British tabloid press, she had been vilified for decades as the foreign woman who broke up the Beatles. But at last she had received official recognition of her contribution to the hugely successful peace anthem composed by her late husband, but inspired by her work. In fact, Yoko Ono was already an established figure in the avant garde art world by the time she met Lennon. Born into a wealthy Japanese banking dynasty in 1933, she was educated at an elite school in Tokyo. During the war, starvation in Japan was rampant, and even the Ono family were reduced to begging for food. Continually mocked by the press, no one listened when Yoko tried to explain that it was this experience, and the devastation she had seen as a child caused by war, which inspired her lifelong campaign for peace. The British media would never forgive Yoko for marrying Lennon and the couple fled to New York, where he was gunned down in the doorway of their Manhattan apartment block in 1980. As his widow, she was for decades in the shadow of her celebrated husband, and the tragedy of his death. But in more enlightened times she has emerged, re-evaluated by a new generation as a powerful woman who suffered the persecution, misogyny and racism of the Western media. Given the extent of her fame there are surprisingly few books about Yoko Ono. In this absorbing study, singer and essayist Barb Jungr analyses Ono’s artistic work and legacy, while Alan Clayson and Robb Johnson chronicle her extraordinary life, from her childhood in Japan and two early marriages to her years in America and then England. Woman – the title taken from the song Lennon wrote for her – at last accords Yoko Ono the consideration she deserves, as a pioneer of performance art, an influential musician and one of the twentieth century’s most fascinating, complex and iconic women. **“She had to fight her way through a man’s world – the art world is completely dominated by men” - John Lennon ‘All the loathing that was poured onto Ono is now quite difficult to read: misogyny laced with out-and-out racism. The music press and the art world policed the boundaries of femininity then and now – and Ono did not fit’ – Suzanne Moore, **The Guardian 'She is indisputedly one of the strongest women in the music industry. The reverence the crowd had for her was overwhelming' – Mark Mawston, The Guardianon on Ono’s performance at the Meltdown festival curated by Patti Smith Noted rock critic and author Alan Clayson has written many books on music - including the best-sellers Backbeat, subject of a major film, an authorised biography of The Yardbirds and the only English-language life of Jacques Brel. He has written for journals as diverse as The Guardian, Record Collector, Mojo, Mediaeval World, Folk Roots, Hello!, The Times, The Independent, and, as a teenager, the notorious Schoolkids Oz. He is also an acclaimed songwriter and performance artist, both solo and fronting the legendary Clayson and the Argonouts. Barb Jungr is a successful singer, songwriter and playwright. Follow her @barbjungr