Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono is an artist, musician and peace activist. Ono spent her early years in Tokyo, Japan before moving to the United States with her family during World War II. She later attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York and became active in the New York City art scene in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ono began gaining recognition through her performance pieces and exhibitions, including her 1965 work Cut Piece. She met John Lennon in 1966 during one of her art shows in London and the pair went on to collaborate on experimental music projects such Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins (1968).

As a musician, she has released multiple solo albums, including Fly (1971), Approximately Infinite Universe (1973) and Season of Glass (1981). Her later works include Take Me to the Land of Hell (2013) and Warzone (2018).

She has remained a political activist and anti-war advocate and has received multiple lifetime achievement awards recognizing her contributions to music and visual art.

Ono was first married to composer Toshi Ichiyanagi and later to film producer Anthony Cox, with whom she shares daughter Kyoko Chan Cox (born in 1963). She married Lennon in 1969 and they welcomed one son, Sean Ono Lennon (born in 1975). She has remained involved in preserving Lennon’s legacy since his death in 1980.