Sean Lennon - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

This page uses content from the Sean Lennon biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Sean Taro Ono Lennon (aka Sean Ono Lennon, born October 9, 1975) is the son of musicians and peace activists John Lennon and Yoko Ono (Kyoko Chan Cox and Julian Lennon are therefore his half-siblings). He was born in New York City on his father's 35th birthday. After Sean's birth, John became a house husband, doting on his young son until his murder in 1980. Sean was educated at two exclusive private boarding schools, at Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland, and at the Dalton School, in New York City.

His first appearance on record was on Ono's album Season of Glass (1981), reciting a story that his father used to tell him. At the age of 9, he performed the song "It's Alright" on the Yoko Ono tribute album Every Man Has A Woman (1984). Later in life, his initial efforts as a serious musician were collaborations: he appeared on Lenny Kravitz's album Mama Said (1991) and formed backing-band IMA for his mother's album Rising (1995).

In 1997 Sean joined New York-based Japanese duo Cibo Matto (Miho Hatori & Yuka Honda) as bass guitar player while touring. Through his association with Cibo Matto, he was approached by the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, who expressed an interest in Sean's music. His debut solo album, Into the Sun, was released in 1998 on the Beastie Boys' record label, Grand Royal Records. The album garnered positive reviews from the music press. Regarding Grand Royal, Sean has said, "I think I found the only label on the planet who doesn't care who my parents are and what my name is. It's a good feeling to know that I wouldn't have gotten the offer if they wouldn't have liked my songs. That's pretty rare in the music business!". A music video for "Home", a single from the album, was directed by Spike Jonze and enjoyed extended airplay on MTV. Cibo Matto played as Sean's backing band on Into The Sun and joined him during the closing scene in the "Home" music video.

In 1999, Sean's EP Half Horse, Half Musician was released featuring new tracks such as "Heart & Lung" and "Happiness" as well as remixes of songs from Into The Sun. Later in the year, Cibo Matto released their second album (Stereo Type A) as a foursome with Sean and Timo Ellis. Though the album was highly praised by fans, Cibo Matto has since disbanded. The following years, Sean collaborated with underground & hip-hop artists such as Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Dan Nakamura, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Money Mark and Jurassic 5. He also collaborated with the band Soulfly on a track named "Son's Song" on their 2000 release "Primitive". In the fall of 2001, Sean performed "This Boy" and "Across The Universe" live with Rufus Wainwright and Moby for Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words and Music.

After Grand Royal Records' demise in 2001, Sean signed with Capitol Records, yet no material surfaced until early February 2006 on his MySpace page. A song called "Dead Meat" was to be the first (and so far only) single from his new album, Friendly Fire. A promotional trailer for the CD/DVD package of Friendly Fire was leaked online in the spring of 2006. The trailer featured scenes from the Friendly Fire (film version) of the album, a DVD comprised of unique music video's for each song. Friendly Fire went on to be released in October, 2006. Though mixed reviews (however mostly positive) came from the music press, the album was highly praised by fans and many consider it to be Sean's strongest work to date. His official website is now up and equipped with a message board that Sean himself & "S.O.L." administer.

Solo Discography

Albums

Into the Sun (1998)
Friendly Fire (2006)

EP's

Half Horse, Half Musician (1999)

Singles

"Home" (1998)
"Queue" (1999)
"Dead Meat" (2006)

Filmography

Moonwalker (1988)
Friendly Fire (2006)

External links

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