Yoko Ono: Bio And Career Highlights

February 18, 1933

Tokyo, Japan

93 Years Old

Aquarius

Yoko Ono is a Japanese artist, musician, and activist, recognized for her avant-garde approach to art and music. Her work often challenges conventions and promotes themes of peace.


She became widely known in the 1960s when she married The Beatles frontman John Lennon. Their collaborations, including the famous "Bed-Ins for Peace," brought her into the global spotlight as a formidable cultural force.

Born into an aristocratic family in Tokyo, Japan, Yoko Ono's early years were shaped by her family's international movements and World War II. She studied piano and voice from a young age, displaying an early artistic inclination.


Ono attended the elite Peers School in Tokyo and was the first woman admitted to the philosophy program at Gakushuin University before moving to New York and enrolling at Sarah Lawrence College, though she left to pursue her artistic interests.

Yoko Ono was married to avant-garde composer Toshi Ichiyanagi from 1956 to 1963, and then to American film producer Anthony Cox from 1962 to 1969. She gained international fame through her marriage to musician John Lennon in March 1969.


Ono and Lennon had a son, Sean Lennon, born in 1975. She also shares a daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, with Anthony Cox, with whom she later reconciled after a period of separation.

Yoko Ono has forged a prolific career as a pioneering conceptual artist, challenging conventional art forms through interactive pieces like her influential "Cut Piece" (1964). She has consistently pushed boundaries across various media including film, sculpture, and performance art.


Her musical journey includes forming the Plastic Ono Band with John Lennon, creating experimental albums, and achieving dance chart success with tracks like "Walking on Thin Ice." Ono's unwavering dedication to global peace has been a consistent theme throughout her work.

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”