Sean Lennon

Background

Sean Tarō Ono Lennon was born on October 9, 1975, at Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, New York City. On his mother’s side, he is Japanese, and on his father’s side, he is English, Welsh, and Irish. John Lennon became a househusband after his son’s birth, caring for him until his murder on December 8, 1980. At Lennon’s request, he was educated at the exclusive private boarding school Institut Le Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland, as well as the private Ethical Culture Fieldston School and Dalton School in New York. He then dropped out of Columbia University after three semesters to focus on his music and tour with his mother.

Lennon’s parents launched his musical career when he was five years old after he recited a story on his mother’s 1981 album, “Season of Glass.” From childhood to adolescence, Lennon worked with his mother on her solo albums “It’s Alright,” “Starpeace,” and “Onobox,” contributing vocals and receiving production credit. Lennon co-wrote the song ‘All I Ever Wanted’ with Lenny Kravitz for his 1991 album “Mama Said,” and worked with Kravitz on a cover of his father’s ‘Give Peace a Chance’ in protest of the Gulf War. By 1995, Lennon had formed I.M.A. with Sam Koppelman and Timo Ellis to perform on his mother’s album “Rising.” In 1998, Lennon released his solo debut, “Into the Sun.” Spike Jonze directed a music video for the album’s single ‘Home,’ which received extensive airplay on M.T.V. Yuka Honda, a Cibo Matto member who Lennon claimed was his inspiration for the album and with whom he had begun dating at the time, produced the album. Lennon signed with Capitol Records after Grand Royal Records folded in 2001, but no solo material was released until February 2006, when ‘Dead Meat’ was released as the first single from his new album, “Friendly Fire.” In October of 2006, the album was released, it had a love and betrayal theme, and it was dedicated to a close friend who passed away. Lennon made his first major television appearance in five years the night the album was released, performing ‘Dead Meat’ live on “The Late Show with David Letterman.”

On Valentine’s Day, 2008, Charlotte Kemp Muhl and Lennon debuted the band The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger live at Radio City Music Hall. On July 6, 2010, they released their debut single, ‘Jardin Du Luxembourg,’ and their debut album, “Acoustic Sessions,” on their label Chimera. The band then released “Midnight Sun” on April 29, 2014, which became their most successful album to date, and “Rolling Stone” ranked it among the top 50 albums of 2014. With Primus’ lead vocalist and bassist Les Claypool, Lennon formed the band The Claypool Lennon Delirium in 2015. The new band’s debut album, “Monolith of Phobos,” debuted in the Top 10 of three Billboard charts the following year, and was followed by a cover E.P., “Lime and Limpid Green,” in 2017. Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s original Christmas song, ‘Happy Xmas (War is Over),’ was covered by Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson at the end of 2018. The group also performed the song at “Saturday Night Live’s” Winter finale. On February 22, 2019, Lennon and his band, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, released their second album, “South of Reality.”