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Tag: Yoko Ono

  • Longtime Lennon-Ono insider Elliot Mintz writing memoir

    By Associated Press

    NEW YORK: Elliot Mintz, a longtime insider with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, will release a memoir next year that will weave in behind-the-scenes moments with the famous couple.

    The U.S. publisher Dutton and British publisher Transworld announced the deal with Mintz, who first met Lennon and Ono in the early 1970s and remained close to Ono after Lennon’s murder in 1980. The book is currently untitled.

    “I have waited fifty years to share my experiences with Yoko and John,” Mintz, 78, said in a statement Tuesday. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. It is a privilege to share my odyssey and include the reader in intimate portrayal of my two dearest friends.”

    Mintz, a spokesperson and radio and television host, has worked on various Lennon-Ono projects over the years, including hosting the radio documentary series “The Lost Lennon Tapes,” which featured unreleased recordings by the late musician. He has also served as a spokesperson for numerous other celebrities, from Bob Dylan to Paris Hilton.

    NEW YORK: Elliot Mintz, a longtime insider with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, will release a memoir next year that will weave in behind-the-scenes moments with the famous couple.

    The U.S. publisher Dutton and British publisher Transworld announced the deal with Mintz, who first met Lennon and Ono in the early 1970s and remained close to Ono after Lennon’s murder in 1980. The book is currently untitled.

    “I have waited fifty years to share my experiences with Yoko and John,” Mintz, 78, said in a statement Tuesday. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. It is a privilege to share my odyssey and include the reader in intimate portrayal of my two dearest friends.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Mintz, a spokesperson and radio and television host, has worked on various Lennon-Ono projects over the years, including hosting the radio documentary series “The Lost Lennon Tapes,” which featured unreleased recordings by the late musician. He has also served as a spokesperson for numerous other celebrities, from Bob Dylan to Paris Hilton.

  • Paul McCartney claims John Lennon initiated The Beatles split to settle down with wife Yoko Ono

    By PTI

    LONDON: Music legend Paul McCartney has alleged that John Lennon was the one to instigate The Beatles to break up.

    In a promo of the forthcoming episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life”, McCartney said as the founding member of the iconic rock band, the split was the “most difficult” period of his life.

    “I am not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles. Is that instigating the split, or not?,” McCartney said in the episode preview shared by The Guardian.

    “This was my band, this was my job, this was my life, so I wanted it to continue,” he added.

    McCartney, Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr went their separate ways in April 1970, after working together for a decade on 14 studio albums, numerous concerts and many classic hits like “All you need is love”, “Paperback writers”, “A hard day’s night”, “Help” and “Hey Jude”.

    The 79-year-old singer said that he, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were “left to pick up the pieces” and were instructed to keep silent about the split while pending business deals were concluded.

    “So for a few months, we had to pretend. It was weird, because we all knew it was the end of the Beatles. But we couldn’t just walk away.”

    He added that he eventually decided to “let the cat out of the bag” by going solo “because I was fed up of hiding it” and therefore incurred the majority of the blame for the group’s separation.

    McCartney said Lennon was ready to move past his rock star days and settle down with his wife, Japanese artist Yoko Ono.

    Even though he said, they “were a great couple”, the singer believes the band “could have” made music together for a little longer had his late songwriting partner decided to continue. 

  • Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono honour John Lennon on 81st birth anniversary

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: Legendary singer-songwriter John Lennon was recently honoured by Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono, on the occasion of ‘The Beatles’ star’s 81st birth anniversary.

    McCartney took to Twitter and shared a throwback photo of Lennon and him playing the guitar in the style of a violin. “Happy Birthday thoughts for John – Paul,” he captioned the photo.

    Happy Birthday thoughts for @johnlennon – Paul pic.twitter.com/0LKG5fc5fH
    — Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) October 9, 2021
    Ono shared a throwback photo of Lennon and his son Sean, as the father and son shared a birthday. “Happy Birthday John! Happy Birthday Sean! I love you! yoko,” she wrote on her Twitter handle.

    Sean also celebrated his birthday on Saturday, October 9, 2021, with a grid of photos on his Instagram page. The nine shots combined to create one big image of Sean wearing a paper birthday crown with the number ‘6’ written on it several times.

    Happy Birthday John!Happy Birthday Sean!I love you!yoko#HappyBirthdayJohnLennon @johnlennon#HappyBirthdaySeanLennon @seanonolennon pic.twitter.com/UgPddUaOqV
    — Yoko Ono (@yokoono) October 9, 2021
    Last year marked the 40th anniversary of John’s death. The musician was shot and killed on December 8, 1980, while entering his Manhattan apartment building.

    To honour his friend, McCartney penned an emotional note, which the Grammy winner posted on Twitter alongside a different black-and-white image of himself and John.

    “A sad, sad day, but remembering my friend John with the great joy he brought to the world. I will always be proud and happy to have known and worked with this incredible Scouser! X love, Paul,” McCartney captioned the post.

    Ringo Starr had also marked the milestone on Twitter with a smiling shot of him and John sitting on the bumper of a car. 

  • John Lennon interview tape fetches $58,240 at Danish auction

    By Associated Press

    COPENHAGEN (Denmark): A cassette tape with a 33-minute audio recording of John Lennon being interviewed by four Danish teenagers 51 years ago as well as an apparently unpublished song by the late Beatle fetched 370,000 kroner ($58,240) Tuesday at an auction in Denmark.The tape, recorded on Jan. 5, 1970, chiefly consists of Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, speaking about being in Denmark and world peace. It also has the couple singing two songs: 1969’s “Give Peace a Chance” and “Radio Peace,” which was made for a radio station in the Netherlands but never released. The cassette was put up for sale by Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneer in Copenhagen, together with 29 still photos and a copy of the school newspaper for which the teenagers had interviewed Lennon and Ono. The pre-sale estimate for the lot was 200,000 kroner to 300,000 kroner ($31,481 to $47,222).”It is a small item with lots of interest,” auctioneer Jesper Bruun Rasmussen said as he brought the hammer down.”I thought it was extraordinary that it went above the estimate,” Alexa Bruun Rasmussen of Denmark’s main auction house told The Associated Press. “Unfortunately it is confidential who the buyer is but I can reveal that it went abroad.” The Danish teenagers did the interview in northern Denmark at the height of the Vietnam War and the Cold War because Lennon and Ono had “a message of peace, and that was what was important to us,” Karsten Hoejen, who made the recording on a tape recorder borrowed from the local hi-fi shop, told The Associated Press.After the sale in a packed auction hall, Hoejen said “it exceeded all expectations.””There is some kind of relief now,” he said, adding the three surviving men who did the interview have not decided what to do with the money.Lennon and Ono were in the northern Danish region of Thy because Ono’s ex-husband had moved there and brought their 5-year-old daughter Kyoko with him. Alternative living communities also mushroomed in Denmark from the late 1960s, attracting people from abroad, and music festivals were organized there, inspired by Woodstock and the ones on the Isle of Wight.Tuesday’s auction was devoted to 20th-century artwork and featured 116 items for sale.