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Yoko Ono

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Yoko Ono was born in Tokyo in 1933, the daughter of a wealthy banker and former concert pianist. In 1952 she moved to New York. There, in the early 1960s, she became involved with the downtown artists, among them the Fluxus group. In 1965 she performed Cut Piece at Carnegie Recital Hall. She made performance art, films and conceptual works such as Hammer a Nail, a piece in which visitors were invited to hammer a nail into a white-painted board.

Music and breakthrough

In 1966 she met John Lennon, who admired her work. They married in 1969. They used their honeymoon for a bed-in, a public protest against the war in Vietnam. Together they recorded as the Plastic Ono Band. In the 1970s Ono made experimental albums, including Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band in 1970, and in 1980, with Double Fantasy, made together with Lennon, she won a major prize: the album won a Grammy for Album of the Year. Lennon was murdered three weeks after its release. She later had twelve number one hits on the American dance club charts.

Influence

Ono's voice and art were long seen as difficult. She brought shrill, free vocals into pop music, and later groups such as the B-52's and Sonic Youth have named her as an example. In the Beatles story of School of Rock she appears as Lennon's new partner who sat in the studio every day, something the other Beatles were not used to. Afterwards she devoted herself to peace, including with the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band from 1970 and pick a track. Notice how her voice is used as an instrument, with wails and sounds instead of ordinary vocal melodies.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also

Categories: ArtistsCage en Fluxus