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Yoko: A Biography
An intimate and revelatory biography of Yoko Ono from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Boy.
John Lennon once described Yoko Ono as the world’s most famous unknown artist. “Everybody knows her name, but no one knows what she does.” She has only been important to history insofar as she impacted Lennon. Throughout her life, Yoko has been a caricature, curiosity, and, often, a villain—an inscrutable seductress, manipulating con artist, and caterwauling fraud. The Lennon/Beatles saga is one of the greatest stories ever told, but Yoko’s part has been missing—hidden in the Beatles’ formidable shadow, further obscured by flagrant misogyny and racism. This definitive biography of Yoko Ono’s life will change that. In this book, Yoko Ono takes centerstage.
Yoko’s life, independent of Lennon, was an amazing journey. Yoko spans from her birth to wealthy parents in pre-war Tokyo, her harrowing experience as a child during the war, her arrival in avant-garde art scene in London, Tokyo, and New York City. It delves into her groundbreaking art, music, feminism, and activism. We see how she coped under the most intense, relentless, and cynical microscope as she was falsely vilified for the most heinous cultural crime breaking up the greatest rock-and-roll band in history.
This book was nearly a half century in the making. In 1980, David Sheff met Yoko and John when Sheff conducted an in-depth interview with them just months before John’s murder. In the aftermath of the killing, he and Yoko became close as she rebuilt her life, survived threats and betrayals, and went on to create groundbreaking art and music while campaigning for peace and other causes. Drawing from his experiences and interviews with her, her family, closest friends, collaborators, and many others, Sheff shows us Yoko’s nine decades—one of the most unlikely and remarkable lives ever lived.
Yoko is a harrowing, moving, propulsive, and vastly entertaining biography of a woman whose story has never been accurately told. The book not only rehabilitates Yoko Ono’s reputation but elevates it to iconic status.
John Lennon once described Yoko Ono as the world’s most famous unknown artist. “Everybody knows her name, but no one knows what she does.” She has only been important to history insofar as she impacted Lennon. Throughout her life, Yoko has been a caricature, curiosity, and, often, a villain—an inscrutable seductress, manipulating con artist, and caterwauling fraud. The Lennon/Beatles saga is one of the greatest stories ever told, but Yoko’s part has been missing—hidden in the Beatles’ formidable shadow, further obscured by flagrant misogyny and racism. This definitive biography of Yoko Ono’s life will change that. In this book, Yoko Ono takes centerstage.
Yoko’s life, independent of Lennon, was an amazing journey. Yoko spans from her birth to wealthy parents in pre-war Tokyo, her harrowing experience as a child during the war, her arrival in avant-garde art scene in London, Tokyo, and New York City. It delves into her groundbreaking art, music, feminism, and activism. We see how she coped under the most intense, relentless, and cynical microscope as she was falsely vilified for the most heinous cultural crime breaking up the greatest rock-and-roll band in history.
This book was nearly a half century in the making. In 1980, David Sheff met Yoko and John when Sheff conducted an in-depth interview with them just months before John’s murder. In the aftermath of the killing, he and Yoko became close as she rebuilt her life, survived threats and betrayals, and went on to create groundbreaking art and music while campaigning for peace and other causes. Drawing from his experiences and interviews with her, her family, closest friends, collaborators, and many others, Sheff shows us Yoko’s nine decades—one of the most unlikely and remarkable lives ever lived.
Yoko is a harrowing, moving, propulsive, and vastly entertaining biography of a woman whose story has never been accurately told. The book not only rehabilitates Yoko Ono’s reputation but elevates it to iconic status.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2025
About the author
David Sheff
28 books976 followersDavid Sheff is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Beautiful Boy. Sheff's other books include Game Over, China Dawn, and All We Are Saying. His many articles and interviews have appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Wired, Fortune, and elsewhere. His ongoing research and reporting on the science of addiction earned him a place on Time Magazine's list of the World's Most Influential People. Sheff and his family live in Inverness, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 259 reviews
June 14, 2025
John Lennon would be 85 in October and Yoko Ono turned 92 in February. Their story shines on.
This is a thoughtful, respectful biography of the most maligned woman and artist of recent times and even today, sixty years on, Ono’s extraordinary vision and creativity remain almost unmatched.
An excellent, if subjective, introduction to Ono’s extensive and provocative body of work.
This is a thoughtful, respectful biography of the most maligned woman and artist of recent times and even today, sixty years on, Ono’s extraordinary vision and creativity remain almost unmatched.
An excellent, if subjective, introduction to Ono’s extensive and provocative body of work.
April 13, 2026
An interesting take on the life of Yoko Ono and the development of her art while the relationship with John Lennon form the main part of book. The author is clearly fond of his topic, and she has been revolutionary, but somewhat more distance and analysis would have augmented the biography
To believe in something you can’t see is a core principle of her art
More thoughts to follow but I have been interested in Yoko Ono since the Tate Modern Music of the Mind exhibit in 2024 and this has been an interesting work, that shows how trailblazing she was a conceptual artist. Can't say I am super fond of her music, and the trauma the kids go through in the wake of John Lennon his death is quite a lot, not a light read overall.
To believe in something you can’t see is a core principle of her art
More thoughts to follow but I have been interested in Yoko Ono since the Tate Modern Music of the Mind exhibit in 2024 and this has been an interesting work, that shows how trailblazing she was a conceptual artist. Can't say I am super fond of her music, and the trauma the kids go through in the wake of John Lennon his death is quite a lot, not a light read overall.
April 7, 2025
This author has written about the Lennons before- most notably his iconic Playboy interview THE PLAYBOY INTERVIEWS WITH JOHN LENNON & YOKO ONO. conducted shortly before John Lennon's murder. He spent so much time with the Lennons in preparation for that piece, in the lead up to their joint album "Double Fantasy" being released. In addition, he fashioned another iteration of that book called All We Are Saying in recent years. He has been a stalwart friend to the Lennons all these decades, so you have to keep in mind that's where his loyalties are. Last year another decades-long friend of the Lennons named Elliot Mintz also wrote a book about John and Yoko called We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me. Yoko is in her nineties and in frail health, choosing now to live in her upstate New York farm in privacy rather than in the Dakota in NYC. While this book draws from Sheff's original Playboy interviews, he also received cooperation from others such as Yoko's children- son Sean Lennon and daughter Kyoko Chan Cox. Their insights were very intelligent and insightful to read. I've read so much about John and Yoko over the years that it's hard to know where I've drawn the information from- whether it's from this author's other books, Mintz's...etc. However, I did enjoy this book's focus on Yoko, her childhood, in-depth coverage of artistic output, evolution of grief following John's death, and her incredible resilience. The book proper ended at the 66% mark, with a section of wonderful, never before seen photographs starting from Yoko's early childhood, Acknowledgements, About the Author, Notes, and Index. If you don't know anything about Yoko Ono, this would be an excellent biography to read.
March 5, 2025
Ultimately, Sean said, “It’s one of my mom’s most powerful talents: that she had this ability to overcome difficulty with positive thinking. She really wanted to teach the world to do that. She taught my dad to do that.” from Yoko by David Sheff
She took the trauma of her life–the distant parents, the war with its starvation and bombing of Tokyo, the sexual abuse, the social ostracism, misogyny and racism, the drug addiction, the loss of a child stolen by her ex, the murder of her soul mate, the betrayal by trusted confidences–and turned it into visionary art, and an anthem that transformed the world.
I was not a “Beatlemaniac” but remembered the gossip surrounding Yoko Ono, the famous photographs. When offered this biography, I was drawn to learn about Yoko. The woman I encountered in these pages is a remarkable survivor of unimaginable tragedy since childhood. She took that pain into her art, exposing her vulnerability.
David Sheff was a trusted family friend to Yoko and John Lennon, and his biography is sympathetic while revealing troubling insights.
“As usual, there’s a great woman behind every idiot” John Lennon, quoted in Yoko by David Sheff
Yoko’s art and music is described in depth. Shocking or dismissed at the time, her art became formative to later musicians and artists.
John Lennon was depressed and unhappy when he met Yoko at one of her art exhibits. He became deeply dependent on Yoko. It took years and a separation for their marriage to settle into a mutually supportive and happy one, then John was murdered. Not only did she have to deal with that loss, she received death threats for her and Sean. And people she trusted stole money and memorabilia from her. She found solace in tarot cards and psychics.
It was heartbreaking to read.
But she was a survivor.
Yoko committed to keep John’s legacy and music alive. She performed new music with Sean and was now recognized as a pioneer in conceptual art. She reconnected with her daughter from her first marriage.
“I’m not really that optimistic. I am trying to make us survive. And in the course of survival, we don’t have the luxury to be negative. That’s a luxury we can’t afford.” Yoko Ono quoted in Yoko by David Sheff
Yoko’s contribution to Imagine was finally recognized. The message “had always been central to Yoko’s life and work–the basis of her conceptual art and thinking, and indeed, her survival,” Sheff writes;”Yoko imagines a better world–and she worked to create one.”
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
She took the trauma of her life–the distant parents, the war with its starvation and bombing of Tokyo, the sexual abuse, the social ostracism, misogyny and racism, the drug addiction, the loss of a child stolen by her ex, the murder of her soul mate, the betrayal by trusted confidences–and turned it into visionary art, and an anthem that transformed the world.
I was not a “Beatlemaniac” but remembered the gossip surrounding Yoko Ono, the famous photographs. When offered this biography, I was drawn to learn about Yoko. The woman I encountered in these pages is a remarkable survivor of unimaginable tragedy since childhood. She took that pain into her art, exposing her vulnerability.
David Sheff was a trusted family friend to Yoko and John Lennon, and his biography is sympathetic while revealing troubling insights.
“As usual, there’s a great woman behind every idiot” John Lennon, quoted in Yoko by David Sheff
Yoko’s art and music is described in depth. Shocking or dismissed at the time, her art became formative to later musicians and artists.
John Lennon was depressed and unhappy when he met Yoko at one of her art exhibits. He became deeply dependent on Yoko. It took years and a separation for their marriage to settle into a mutually supportive and happy one, then John was murdered. Not only did she have to deal with that loss, she received death threats for her and Sean. And people she trusted stole money and memorabilia from her. She found solace in tarot cards and psychics.
It was heartbreaking to read.
But she was a survivor.
Yoko committed to keep John’s legacy and music alive. She performed new music with Sean and was now recognized as a pioneer in conceptual art. She reconnected with her daughter from her first marriage.
“I’m not really that optimistic. I am trying to make us survive. And in the course of survival, we don’t have the luxury to be negative. That’s a luxury we can’t afford.” Yoko Ono quoted in Yoko by David Sheff
Yoko’s contribution to Imagine was finally recognized. The message “had always been central to Yoko’s life and work–the basis of her conceptual art and thinking, and indeed, her survival,” Sheff writes;”Yoko imagines a better world–and she worked to create one.”
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
March 6, 2026
4.5 Stars!
"The song Imagine could have never been written without her"
-John Lennon
My Top 5 Yoko Ono Songs
1. What a Bastard the World Is
2. Nobody Sees Me Like You Do
3. I Have a Woman Inside Me
4. Listen the Snow Is Falling
5. Who Has Seen the Wind
Honorable Mentions:
1. Hard Times Are Over
2. Approximately Infinte Universe
You should probably just start with listening to the whole Approximately Infinite Universe album.
"I have always been drawn to the women who can arouse this kind of vitriol. The kind of hate that seems too big and billowing to be directed at just one woman, the kind that seems like a person or entire society is vomiting out all its misogyny onto one convenient scapegoat."
Yoko Ono is one of the most controversial women in modern history.
Why?
Because she fell in love with a Beatle and that Beatle loved her back.
"The racism and misogyny behind Yoko's denigration over the years can't be overstated"
Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece" was in 2020 named one of the most influential works of American protest art since World War II.
She has had over 13 #1 dance hits and in 2018 was #11 on Billboard's Greatest of All Time Dance Club Artists.
She has been named an inspiration for artist such as Lady Gaga, Kim Gordon, RZA, David Byrne, The B-52's and Laurie Anderson.
"Yoko Ono is a caricature, a curiosity or even a villain. An inscrutable seductress, a manipulating con artist, and a caterwauling fraud who hypnotized Lennon and broke up the greatest band in history."
I really like Yoko. I didn't know much about her and what I did know about her was all bad. She's a badass and a true artist. To quote The Guardian newspaper "The World Owes Yoko an Apology!" They do and I hope she gets her flowers before she dies. She is still even today way ahead of her time. And I think its ridiculous that people hate her for being the love of John Lennon's life. He loved her with all his heart.
"Yoko and John were devoted to each other and deeply in love."
I highly recommend this book!
"The song Imagine could have never been written without her"
-John Lennon
My Top 5 Yoko Ono Songs
1. What a Bastard the World Is
2. Nobody Sees Me Like You Do
3. I Have a Woman Inside Me
4. Listen the Snow Is Falling
5. Who Has Seen the Wind
Honorable Mentions:
1. Hard Times Are Over
2. Approximately Infinte Universe
You should probably just start with listening to the whole Approximately Infinite Universe album.
"I have always been drawn to the women who can arouse this kind of vitriol. The kind of hate that seems too big and billowing to be directed at just one woman, the kind that seems like a person or entire society is vomiting out all its misogyny onto one convenient scapegoat."
Yoko Ono is one of the most controversial women in modern history.
Why?
Because she fell in love with a Beatle and that Beatle loved her back.
"The racism and misogyny behind Yoko's denigration over the years can't be overstated"
Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece" was in 2020 named one of the most influential works of American protest art since World War II.
She has had over 13 #1 dance hits and in 2018 was #11 on Billboard's Greatest of All Time Dance Club Artists.
She has been named an inspiration for artist such as Lady Gaga, Kim Gordon, RZA, David Byrne, The B-52's and Laurie Anderson.
"Yoko Ono is a caricature, a curiosity or even a villain. An inscrutable seductress, a manipulating con artist, and a caterwauling fraud who hypnotized Lennon and broke up the greatest band in history."
I really like Yoko. I didn't know much about her and what I did know about her was all bad. She's a badass and a true artist. To quote The Guardian newspaper "The World Owes Yoko an Apology!" They do and I hope she gets her flowers before she dies. She is still even today way ahead of her time. And I think its ridiculous that people hate her for being the love of John Lennon's life. He loved her with all his heart.
"Yoko and John were devoted to each other and deeply in love."
I highly recommend this book!
April 17, 2025
This is a tough book to review without writing at length. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed learning about Yoko’s conceptual art, which struck me as clever and often funny. I like the interactive stance she embraces in her art and her ongoing themes of feminism and pacifism.
Her life is full of privilege but also packed with loneliness and rejection. All the info about her first husband, her life with John, Sean, and her life after John is interesting and, at times, eye-opening. (Fame is no picnic.)
I find myself ambivalent about whether to trust the author’s perspective. He’s a long-time friend of Yoko’s which gives him an informed perspective about his subject. But, it also means he could be motivated by wanting to whitewash the reputation of a friend who has been particularly maligned by the press professionally and personally.
To that end, he goes to great lengths to explain that Yoko’s terrible art reviews were due to misogyny and racism in the art world. No surprises there. But did her art also suck? Did it get better? Why late in Yoko’s career did she achieve icon status and win award after prestigious award? Did her art improve? Did the world soften towards her after John was so brutally murdered? Surely misogyny and racism haven’t gone away.
Similarly, there’s a weird juxtaposition in the way Yoko is demonized in the 60’s versus the way she’s accepted and even lauded post-John Lennon. They said she broke up the Beatles, was a witch or bitch, cold and aloof, self-absorbed and drugged out. The author counters that she is not cold, she is shy, she did not break up the Beatles, they had their own issues. That Yoko is not a quack or a fake, she is passionate artist, she’s from one of the most esteemed and richest families in Japan, cultured and highly intelligent.
In the end, Yoko remains an enigma. But what an interesting life.
Her life is full of privilege but also packed with loneliness and rejection. All the info about her first husband, her life with John, Sean, and her life after John is interesting and, at times, eye-opening. (Fame is no picnic.)
I find myself ambivalent about whether to trust the author’s perspective. He’s a long-time friend of Yoko’s which gives him an informed perspective about his subject. But, it also means he could be motivated by wanting to whitewash the reputation of a friend who has been particularly maligned by the press professionally and personally.
To that end, he goes to great lengths to explain that Yoko’s terrible art reviews were due to misogyny and racism in the art world. No surprises there. But did her art also suck? Did it get better? Why late in Yoko’s career did she achieve icon status and win award after prestigious award? Did her art improve? Did the world soften towards her after John was so brutally murdered? Surely misogyny and racism haven’t gone away.
Similarly, there’s a weird juxtaposition in the way Yoko is demonized in the 60’s versus the way she’s accepted and even lauded post-John Lennon. They said she broke up the Beatles, was a witch or bitch, cold and aloof, self-absorbed and drugged out. The author counters that she is not cold, she is shy, she did not break up the Beatles, they had their own issues. That Yoko is not a quack or a fake, she is passionate artist, she’s from one of the most esteemed and richest families in Japan, cultured and highly intelligent.
In the end, Yoko remains an enigma. But what an interesting life.
April 5, 2025
In the prologue to this biography David Sheff lays out his bona fides, relating his close relationship to both John Lennon and Yoko and giving thanks to their generous cooperation while he was writing a piece on them for Playboy which they found got to the truth of them, unlike what was being bruited about in other branches of media. Sheff has employed this friendship kindly, and thusly fleshes out Ono's personality and contributions to the world of avant garde music and art. Having sublimated her own talents to that of her wildly famous husband, she was nonetheless flattened by his untimely death, but has continued creating well into her 90's, also overseeing retrospectives of earlier works which are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Her diminutive size belies her strengths, and one cannot help but admire her facing up to accusations by deluded fans and episodes of racism and hatred. Quite a lady.
March 17, 2025
I’ll be interviewing David about the always fascinating Yoko Ono, and his book on her. April 3rd at the Beverly Hills Library.
September 23, 2025
Fascinating and absordbing biography that stays a little surface level and doesn't dare to criticize its subject too much. It's heavily biased towards her. Still, I think it managed what it sought out to do and I feel I have a deeper understanding of and more compassion for Yoko Ono than i did before - both as a person and as an artist.
January 29, 2025
So happy I scored an early copy of this!
July 2, 2025
John Lennon broke up Fluxus.
May 9, 2025
Hagiography written by an admiring family friend. Very little new here.
Yoko was treated very badly in her early years with Lennon. Loads of racist & sexist garbage was thrown at her, so unfairly and so viciously. She didn't break up the Beatles. She put up with that wonderful yet difficult John Lennon, and she gave him love, a home, and a child. So, on some basic level, she deserves respect. But she has an unusual personality which this book does little to illuminate.
It is a little strange to see that numerous employees ended up betraying her or stealing from her. The episode with May Pang is dealt with very briefly. It is pretty clear that John and Yoko rather callously used that young woman. Yoko had a post-Lennon boyfriend for something like 20 years whom she didn't publicly acknowledge and ended up dumping by changing the locks. But the author never dwells on the meaning of these relationships in terms of Yoko's personality or character.
I am glad to see that she has a good rapport with her adult children. That speaks well of her. As for her art, it is presented here as innovative, original, important, etc. I am not convinced of this, but that is a matter of taste.
The book shows us what the subject wishes us to see. Nothing wrong with that. Who among us wouldn't prefer to have a hand in polishing our reputation by having our biography written by a friend? It's fine. Yoko owes the public nothing at this point. But I would submit that a book with a more objective approach is still needed and perhaps is currently in production.
Yoko was treated very badly in her early years with Lennon. Loads of racist & sexist garbage was thrown at her, so unfairly and so viciously. She didn't break up the Beatles. She put up with that wonderful yet difficult John Lennon, and she gave him love, a home, and a child. So, on some basic level, she deserves respect. But she has an unusual personality which this book does little to illuminate.
It is a little strange to see that numerous employees ended up betraying her or stealing from her. The episode with May Pang is dealt with very briefly. It is pretty clear that John and Yoko rather callously used that young woman. Yoko had a post-Lennon boyfriend for something like 20 years whom she didn't publicly acknowledge and ended up dumping by changing the locks. But the author never dwells on the meaning of these relationships in terms of Yoko's personality or character.
I am glad to see that she has a good rapport with her adult children. That speaks well of her. As for her art, it is presented here as innovative, original, important, etc. I am not convinced of this, but that is a matter of taste.
The book shows us what the subject wishes us to see. Nothing wrong with that. Who among us wouldn't prefer to have a hand in polishing our reputation by having our biography written by a friend? It's fine. Yoko owes the public nothing at this point. But I would submit that a book with a more objective approach is still needed and perhaps is currently in production.
April 22, 2025
Yoko is in capable hands with David Sheff and is honored here for her own artistic perseverance through many ages of disrespect and disregard in her long life. Not easily understood, clearly misunderstood, Yoko works on as if her life depends on it. And her life does depend on her work.
Read
July 23, 2025soooo new york,new york! (i knew that yoko ono married john lennon because they’re in crosswords but I didn’t know that yokoono’shusbandjohnlennon was murdered)
July 3, 2026
Wonderful! This biography gives Yoko recognition she always deserved.
October 21, 2025
I wanted to rate this higher bc I read it quickly and RLY enjoyed learning about Yoko’s art, but this should be called Yoko: A Defense of Her Art because it’s a bad biography. The book is not curious at all (the ultimate crime in nonfiction) and doesn’t want to share any new info about Yoko at all, there is basically no research beyond quotes from Yoko and Sean Lennon (and no fact checking of what they say), and the content was 1:4 info on Yoko:Analysis of her art. It’s basically her Wikipedia page - I don’t think there is a single piece of information that hasn’t been in the public record since like 1980. Would be curious to read a biography of Yoko that decided to actually try to learn more about her rather than just telling a story that has been told with a few random asides about how he rode in her car so he knew her driver.
June 27, 2026
Yoko Ono the biography:
Author: David Sheff
This biography reminded me that Yoko Ono's story doesn't begin or end with John Lennon. She has lived an extraordinary life that deserves to be recognized on its own.
Yoko is an avant-garde artist, musician, filmmaker, feminist, activist, mother, and businesswoman. Her life has been full of creativity, resilience, and determination, despite facing racism, death threats, and years of unfair criticism.
It was heartbreaking to read how often she was blamed for the breakup of The Beatles and portrayed so negatively in the media...
David Sheff does a wonderful job of telling Yoko's story. From her childhood in Tokyo and surviving the war to building her career in London and New York City, this book gave me a whole new appreciation for everything she achieved.
What stayed with me most was her resilience. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to keep moving forward after losing John so tragically while continuing to deal with so much hate. Yet she never stopped creating, speaking out, or believing in a better world.
This book made me think about prejudice, media narratives, and how quickly we judge people without knowing their full story. It also made me want to learn even more about Yoko's art and her outlook on life.
"You change the world by being yourself."
Yoko Ono
Trigger warnings:
Death, grief, murder, heartbreak, divorce, difficult family ties, war violence, war trauma drugs, addictions, alcohol, miscarriages, rasicm, sexism, mental ilness, suicide attempts, child custody issues, sexual harassment
Author: David Sheff
This biography reminded me that Yoko Ono's story doesn't begin or end with John Lennon. She has lived an extraordinary life that deserves to be recognized on its own.
Yoko is an avant-garde artist, musician, filmmaker, feminist, activist, mother, and businesswoman. Her life has been full of creativity, resilience, and determination, despite facing racism, death threats, and years of unfair criticism.
It was heartbreaking to read how often she was blamed for the breakup of The Beatles and portrayed so negatively in the media...
David Sheff does a wonderful job of telling Yoko's story. From her childhood in Tokyo and surviving the war to building her career in London and New York City, this book gave me a whole new appreciation for everything she achieved.
What stayed with me most was her resilience. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to keep moving forward after losing John so tragically while continuing to deal with so much hate. Yet she never stopped creating, speaking out, or believing in a better world.
This book made me think about prejudice, media narratives, and how quickly we judge people without knowing their full story. It also made me want to learn even more about Yoko's art and her outlook on life.
"You change the world by being yourself."
Yoko Ono
Trigger warnings:
Death, grief, murder, heartbreak, divorce, difficult family ties, war violence, war trauma drugs, addictions, alcohol, miscarriages, rasicm, sexism, mental ilness, suicide attempts, child custody issues, sexual harassment
Did Not Finish
January 23, 2025While well-written, this was not something that interested me. I did not get far enough in to provide feedback.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC.
December 22, 2025
Quite biased towards Yoko (it’s to be expected) however that is kind of necessary considering how much abuse she’s got over the years. Certainly changed my opinion on her and got me interested in her music
July 3, 2025
Kennt ihr das auch? Ihr möchtet etwas machen/oder kaufen und aus Gründen, die euch selbst irgendwie fadenscheinig erscheinen habt ihr es nicht gemacht? Und kurz danach bereut ihr es? So geht es mir gerade nach dem Lesen dieser Biografie. In Düsseldorf lief bis Mitte März die Ausstellung „Music of the mind“ eine Retrospektive, die sieben Jahrzehnte künstlerische Schaffen von Yoko Ono zeigte. Ich war zu träge hinzugehen und jetzt tut es mir richtig leid
In der Biografie von David Sheff werfen wir einen ausgiebigen Blick auf diese Ausnahmekünstlerin. Ich denke, dass die Allermeisten von uns bei ihrem Namen als erstes an John Lennon denken, und auch ich gehörte vor Jahren zu denen, die ihr unterschwellig Vorwürfen machten, den Beatle negativ beeinflusst zu haben. Irgendwie kam sie mir immer komisch vor. Heute finde ich meine Mutmaßungen sehr ungerecht und sie zeugen nicht von großer Kenntnis der Beziehungen. Mittlerweile habe ich viel gelesen über die Beatles und natürlich auch über sie, und mein Bild über diese Frau, die ihrer Zeit weit voraus war, hat sich nach und nach verschoben. Mit allen restlichen Zweifeln hat der Autor dieser Biografie aufgeräumt.
Was für eine Ikone! Sie ist die Mutter der konzeptfreien Kunst und Musik. Ihre Performances haben Kultstatus und im hohen Alter von 70/80, mutierte sie zur Queen des Dance Floors. Ihre andere Seite war leidend und tragisch. Das Verhältnis zu ihren Eltern war nicht gut. Ihre Tochter wurde ihr jahrzehntelang vorenthalten und die große Liebe ihres Lebens vor ihren Augen erschossen. Natürlich hat sie das nachhaltig traumatisiert. Doch sie hat versucht, diese negative Energie in eine positive Haltung zu verwandeln, unsere Welt und den Menschen gegenüber! Das imponiert mir sehr und ist meiner Lebensphilosophie sehr nah, wenn es mir auch nicht immer glückt. Aber das ist es ihr wohl auch nicht durchgehend. Es hat mich sehr berührt, wie schwer sie es nach Johns Tod hatte. Und ihre Verständnis von Mutterschaft ist mir ebenfalls sehr nahe gegangen. Außerdem liebe ich die Art, wie sie sich künstlerisch ausdrückt. Das ist genau mein Ding. Jetzt, wo ich weiß, welche Gründe hinter den einzelnen Aktionen und Objekten steht, bekommt mein Bild von ihr fundamentale Substanz
Sheff war ihr ein enger Freund. Sean Lennon hat ihn mit Informationen und Interviews versorgt, so dass sich ein relativ wahres Bild von Ono zusammensetzt. Dass manche Aspekte nicht ganz stichhaltig sind, hat mich dabei wenig gestört. Am meisten Zeit bei der Suche nach Bestätigung im www habe ich damit verbracht, zu recherchieren, ob es wirklich ein Bild vom toten John Lennon gibt. Es scheint eins zu existieren aber ob es echt ist, daran scheiden sich die Geister. Und somit haben wir es hier mit einem Sammelsurium von Fakten zu tun, die vielleicht nicht alle den Realitätscheck bestehen würden, aber im Großen und Ganzen doch wiedergeben was, für eine große Künstlerin, Friedensaktivisten und Feministin Ono ist. Mittlerweile ist sie 92 und lebt sehr zurückgezogen auf ihrer Farm im State New York. Es ist absehbar, dass sie bald mit der Liebe ihres Lebens wieder vereint ist. Ich denke, John hält ihr bestimmt schon ein Plätzchen neben sich im Wolkenbett frei.
Eine große Empfehlung für alle die kurzweilige Biografien mit hohem Wahrheitsgehalt mögen, und der Frau neben John Lennon eine Chance geben möchten, im Mittelpunkt zu stehen.
In der Biografie von David Sheff werfen wir einen ausgiebigen Blick auf diese Ausnahmekünstlerin. Ich denke, dass die Allermeisten von uns bei ihrem Namen als erstes an John Lennon denken, und auch ich gehörte vor Jahren zu denen, die ihr unterschwellig Vorwürfen machten, den Beatle negativ beeinflusst zu haben. Irgendwie kam sie mir immer komisch vor. Heute finde ich meine Mutmaßungen sehr ungerecht und sie zeugen nicht von großer Kenntnis der Beziehungen. Mittlerweile habe ich viel gelesen über die Beatles und natürlich auch über sie, und mein Bild über diese Frau, die ihrer Zeit weit voraus war, hat sich nach und nach verschoben. Mit allen restlichen Zweifeln hat der Autor dieser Biografie aufgeräumt.
Was für eine Ikone! Sie ist die Mutter der konzeptfreien Kunst und Musik. Ihre Performances haben Kultstatus und im hohen Alter von 70/80, mutierte sie zur Queen des Dance Floors. Ihre andere Seite war leidend und tragisch. Das Verhältnis zu ihren Eltern war nicht gut. Ihre Tochter wurde ihr jahrzehntelang vorenthalten und die große Liebe ihres Lebens vor ihren Augen erschossen. Natürlich hat sie das nachhaltig traumatisiert. Doch sie hat versucht, diese negative Energie in eine positive Haltung zu verwandeln, unsere Welt und den Menschen gegenüber! Das imponiert mir sehr und ist meiner Lebensphilosophie sehr nah, wenn es mir auch nicht immer glückt. Aber das ist es ihr wohl auch nicht durchgehend. Es hat mich sehr berührt, wie schwer sie es nach Johns Tod hatte. Und ihre Verständnis von Mutterschaft ist mir ebenfalls sehr nahe gegangen. Außerdem liebe ich die Art, wie sie sich künstlerisch ausdrückt. Das ist genau mein Ding. Jetzt, wo ich weiß, welche Gründe hinter den einzelnen Aktionen und Objekten steht, bekommt mein Bild von ihr fundamentale Substanz
Sheff war ihr ein enger Freund. Sean Lennon hat ihn mit Informationen und Interviews versorgt, so dass sich ein relativ wahres Bild von Ono zusammensetzt. Dass manche Aspekte nicht ganz stichhaltig sind, hat mich dabei wenig gestört. Am meisten Zeit bei der Suche nach Bestätigung im www habe ich damit verbracht, zu recherchieren, ob es wirklich ein Bild vom toten John Lennon gibt. Es scheint eins zu existieren aber ob es echt ist, daran scheiden sich die Geister. Und somit haben wir es hier mit einem Sammelsurium von Fakten zu tun, die vielleicht nicht alle den Realitätscheck bestehen würden, aber im Großen und Ganzen doch wiedergeben was, für eine große Künstlerin, Friedensaktivisten und Feministin Ono ist. Mittlerweile ist sie 92 und lebt sehr zurückgezogen auf ihrer Farm im State New York. Es ist absehbar, dass sie bald mit der Liebe ihres Lebens wieder vereint ist. Ich denke, John hält ihr bestimmt schon ein Plätzchen neben sich im Wolkenbett frei.
Eine große Empfehlung für alle die kurzweilige Biografien mit hohem Wahrheitsgehalt mögen, und der Frau neben John Lennon eine Chance geben möchten, im Mittelpunkt zu stehen.
October 21, 2025
4 / Imagine a world without Yoko is what I ask myself after reading this, she was so resilient, ahead of her time and an inspiration to many.
If you have only heard or only know a little about her and want to know more of her story, then read this.
Below are a few of my favourites
“My father had a huge desk in front of him that separated us, permanently”
“It was a performance, it wasn’t meant to last.”
“Draw a line with yourself. Go on drawing until you disappear.”
“They never thought about the other side of it, that John might have broken up my home too.”
“During the writing and recording of those albums, John had a foot out the door. If he hadn’t had Yoko, the other foot might have followed sooner than it did.”
“Yoko imagined a better world, and she worked to create one.”
4 ⭐️ Audiobook read by Max Meyers
If you have only heard or only know a little about her and want to know more of her story, then read this.
Below are a few of my favourites
“My father had a huge desk in front of him that separated us, permanently”
“It was a performance, it wasn’t meant to last.”
“Draw a line with yourself. Go on drawing until you disappear.”
“They never thought about the other side of it, that John might have broken up my home too.”
“During the writing and recording of those albums, John had a foot out the door. If he hadn’t had Yoko, the other foot might have followed sooner than it did.”
“Yoko imagined a better world, and she worked to create one.”
4 ⭐️ Audiobook read by Max Meyers
April 9, 2025
It was interesting to learn about Yoko‘s art career. I know very little about avant-garde art. I did not realize she recorded as many albums as she did. As a baby boomer, to me, she was the woman that broke up the Beatles. I picked up this book because of the author he wrote the very powerful and moving My Beautiful Boy. Calling this book a biography, may be a bit of a misnomer. I think it is more accurately characterized as a tribute or a love letter. I enjoyed it, but I stopped short of recommending it. It needed some balance.
May 13, 2025
Genuinely quite unbelievable to think that it's taken so long for a comprehensive Yoko Ono biography to come out. Her story is known by everyone, but not in any detail. David Sheff does a pretty unbelievable job of connecting her personal and aesthetic life, in a way that really understands her most extreme aspects. I've been really interested in Yoko for a long time, and it's felt like such a task to find proper information by her which isn't filtered through the prism of The Beatles and John Lennon. For anything that is written about Yoko Ono from this point onwards, this will be foundational. You could maybe accuse this of being a slight hagiography - some of the more unsavoury aspects of Yoko Ono's personality are manoeuvred around without much analysis - but I think that she probably deserves a biography full of praise and love after facing a half century of constant abuse.
June 17, 2025
Interesting and captivating biography. To be honest, I read grapefruit and I wasn't a fan of it. Haven't understood Yoko Ono's art. And after this read, not necessarily makes me more interested making me go look for her art morw. However, I can appriciate this biograhy of her. Yoko Ono have had an unique and eventful life! Hard to imagen one person going through all this. She seemed to have had many privileges but also hardships in her life. Makes me think that Yoko Ono is a strong woman in many ways.
In the end, glad I picked up this book. Learned a lot and had a fun ride while it lasted :)
In the end, glad I picked up this book. Learned a lot and had a fun ride while it lasted :)
June 14, 2025
This is a very interesting book. It finally made me understand the importance of the work “Cut Piece.” Where Yoko invited audiences to cut away her clothing. Male audience members would try to aggressively get her naked, or feign harming her. This was in public. In front of others. Male aggression knew no shame. She exposed that by making herself publicly vulnerable.
How prescient was she? In 2025 we have 70,000 men in a German chat room for how to rape and abuse women. In France we have a chat room for men who want to drug and rape women, including a husband who let 80 men rape his drugged wife.
So, kudos to you, Yoko Ono. You were ahead of your time.
How prescient was she? In 2025 we have 70,000 men in a German chat room for how to rape and abuse women. In France we have a chat room for men who want to drug and rape women, including a husband who let 80 men rape his drugged wife.
So, kudos to you, Yoko Ono. You were ahead of your time.
July 25, 2025
It was so interesting and enlightening to read about Yoko as the main focus in the story, especially her time before and after John. It wasn't as deep and comprehensive as the type of Beatles biographies I generally like, but still definitely worth the time and there are some tidbits in here I'm SO glad I read.
August 5, 2025
A stellar biography about one of the coolest artists of our time. We're so, so lucky to share a planet with Yoko Ono. Her approach to art, philosophy, and life is so highly compelling and I'm so glad she finally is getting the flowers she's deserved since day 1.
Yoko Ono, they could never make me hate you.
Yoko Ono, they could never make me hate you.
January 26, 2026
I’ve been going to bat for Yoko since I was fourteen, and at this point, if someone can’t find it in themselves to have any respect for her, I have to assume they’re either a) deeply ignorant, or b) someone who hates women. My money’s on both.
Read
November 10, 2025I didn’t learn TOO too much. Still: a good breezy and sympathetic read for all of us who consider Yoko, next to Warhol, the quintessential pop artist of the 20th century.
July 11, 2026
I was given this book for my birthday but put off reading it because at the time I was in the middle of a very dull biography of Woodrow Wilson and I hesitated to read another biography right away. I needn't have worried, really, because the one is an academic (if ponderous and superficial) historical biography and the other a contemporary celebrity biography, very different genres. A very easy, quick read, never slow or tedious.
Sheff, who frequently interviewed and wrote about Yoko, who became a friend, can write about her personal life in detail, and her pop-culture world, as befits a Rolling Stone guy. He clearly feels warmth for her and takes it as his duty -- depressingly, he is right -- to defend her from the ancient attacks: to set the record straight that she did not "break up the Beatles", to point out the sexism and racism that contributed to the vituperations against her, to advocate for her art and music against brainless philistinism of the mainstream pop world she was so suddenly and unaccountably thrust in front of. It's depressingly necessary even now; every few months Yoko performing with John and Chuck Berry hits the front page of reddit as rage-bait, the comments filled with people (who would never possibly otherwise care about a random collaboration with John Lennon -- who they hate for suggesting they could do without private property, and take it out on him by constantly bringing up domestic violence whenever he's mentioned -- and a washed-up old Berry, whose own unconfessed allegations and convictions always go unmentioned) flipping their shit about how she destroyed a "once-in-a-lifetime" performance and destroyed the Beatles and ought to die blah blah blah.
I have to admit I frequently wished for a more informed perspective on her output, someone who is more informed in an art-historical sense of the 60s avant-garde scene, someone with a deeper understanding of experimental music and composition. Sheff is a pop guy and defends her with the classic pop booster move -- unconciously just another kind of philistinism -- of suggesting or outright asserting that she was The First to do this or that, that everything good that you like was made possible by her earlier work that arguably resembles it in one way or another, the Civ tech-tree vision of life that is not even true of technology, certainly not of art. An expert in 60s art could have more perspective, a more balanced view, an understanding of predecessors, contemporaries, context, who could point out that for example Marina Abramovic's Rhythm 0 is completely derivative of Yoko's Cut Piece, without having to claim that Yoko single-handedly invented conceptual art. Or a musician, who can note, as Lennon joyfully did in the 70s, that the B-52s paid homage to Yoko's vocalizations without pretending "Rock Lobster" actually resembles her music in any meaningful way.
But the thing most admirable about Sheff's perspective, as a friend who met her only in 1980, just before Lennon died, is that he sees the years with him as just one part of Yoko's life, which existed before, and especially crucially, went on after he was killed. Of course the character of that life was indelibly changed, mostly for the worse (living under constant threat, surrounded by bodyguards, and ruthlessly exploited and scammed by those around her) but it went on. And she increasingly got some appreciation from non-philistines who liked her music -- I was one, in middle school when Onobox was released and caused a small re-evaluation, and bought Plastic Ono Band my freshman year of college. I don't love all her music, but whenever her voice given the space to fly free, especially solo or accompanied only by Lennon's sympathetic guitar (he never played better than when playing her music) it is usually sublime. "Fly" is one of the greatest songs of the entire 70s in my book. (I always say, who had the best post-Velvet Underground career? Nico. Who had the best post-Beatles career? Yoko.) It is adorable to discover that, in addition to Sonic Youth and Kathleen Hanna and the like, she was appreciated by the RZA, who samped "Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage All Over the City" (a choice I immediately understood) and performed with her, playing her all-white chess set "Play It By Trust" and gracefully interlocking rap and Yokoism.
The other thing I appreciated was the focus on how deep and powerful was the love between her and Lennon, such a singular and unaccountable, frankly quite unique celebrity relationship, expressive of the strange, dramatic, painful, turbulent, disturbing and wonderful power that can strike when genius meets genius, like two atoms colliding in space. How few of us have seen it in real life, how many know it from John & Yoko.
Sheff, who frequently interviewed and wrote about Yoko, who became a friend, can write about her personal life in detail, and her pop-culture world, as befits a Rolling Stone guy. He clearly feels warmth for her and takes it as his duty -- depressingly, he is right -- to defend her from the ancient attacks: to set the record straight that she did not "break up the Beatles", to point out the sexism and racism that contributed to the vituperations against her, to advocate for her art and music against brainless philistinism of the mainstream pop world she was so suddenly and unaccountably thrust in front of. It's depressingly necessary even now; every few months Yoko performing with John and Chuck Berry hits the front page of reddit as rage-bait, the comments filled with people (who would never possibly otherwise care about a random collaboration with John Lennon -- who they hate for suggesting they could do without private property, and take it out on him by constantly bringing up domestic violence whenever he's mentioned -- and a washed-up old Berry, whose own unconfessed allegations and convictions always go unmentioned) flipping their shit about how she destroyed a "once-in-a-lifetime" performance and destroyed the Beatles and ought to die blah blah blah.
I have to admit I frequently wished for a more informed perspective on her output, someone who is more informed in an art-historical sense of the 60s avant-garde scene, someone with a deeper understanding of experimental music and composition. Sheff is a pop guy and defends her with the classic pop booster move -- unconciously just another kind of philistinism -- of suggesting or outright asserting that she was The First to do this or that, that everything good that you like was made possible by her earlier work that arguably resembles it in one way or another, the Civ tech-tree vision of life that is not even true of technology, certainly not of art. An expert in 60s art could have more perspective, a more balanced view, an understanding of predecessors, contemporaries, context, who could point out that for example Marina Abramovic's Rhythm 0 is completely derivative of Yoko's Cut Piece, without having to claim that Yoko single-handedly invented conceptual art. Or a musician, who can note, as Lennon joyfully did in the 70s, that the B-52s paid homage to Yoko's vocalizations without pretending "Rock Lobster" actually resembles her music in any meaningful way.
But the thing most admirable about Sheff's perspective, as a friend who met her only in 1980, just before Lennon died, is that he sees the years with him as just one part of Yoko's life, which existed before, and especially crucially, went on after he was killed. Of course the character of that life was indelibly changed, mostly for the worse (living under constant threat, surrounded by bodyguards, and ruthlessly exploited and scammed by those around her) but it went on. And she increasingly got some appreciation from non-philistines who liked her music -- I was one, in middle school when Onobox was released and caused a small re-evaluation, and bought Plastic Ono Band my freshman year of college. I don't love all her music, but whenever her voice given the space to fly free, especially solo or accompanied only by Lennon's sympathetic guitar (he never played better than when playing her music) it is usually sublime. "Fly" is one of the greatest songs of the entire 70s in my book. (I always say, who had the best post-Velvet Underground career? Nico. Who had the best post-Beatles career? Yoko.) It is adorable to discover that, in addition to Sonic Youth and Kathleen Hanna and the like, she was appreciated by the RZA, who samped "Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage All Over the City" (a choice I immediately understood) and performed with her, playing her all-white chess set "Play It By Trust" and gracefully interlocking rap and Yokoism.
The other thing I appreciated was the focus on how deep and powerful was the love between her and Lennon, such a singular and unaccountable, frankly quite unique celebrity relationship, expressive of the strange, dramatic, painful, turbulent, disturbing and wonderful power that can strike when genius meets genius, like two atoms colliding in space. How few of us have seen it in real life, how many know it from John & Yoko.
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