John Charles Julian Lennon is a British rock musician and photographer. Julian is the first son of John Lennon, the founder of The Beatles and his wife Cynthia.
Biography
Julian Lennon was born on April 8, 1963 in the city of Liverpool (UK). Little Lennon was named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. Julian's godfather was Beatles manager Brian Epstein.
Julian inspired his father to write the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", and the song-lullaby "Good Night", which became the last in the 1968 Beatles album (also known as the White Album).
In 1967, the boy was present on the set of the British comedy film with the participation of the Beatles "Magic Mystical Tour".
In 1968, when Julian was only five years old, his parents divorced after the betrayal of his father with Yoko Ono. John Lennon married Ono on March 20, 1969. Julian from his father’s second marriage has a younger half-brother, Sean Lennon and sister Kyoko Chan Cox.
In June 1968, Paul McCartney wrote the song "Hey Jude" to comfort Julian during the divorce of his parents.
Little Lennon grew up quite a curious and active boy. After the divorce of his parents, Julian practically did not see his father. But in the early 1970s, at the request of girlfriend Mai Pan (at that time Yoko Ono and John temporarily separated), he began to regularly visit his father.
The future musician was educated at the Routine School, one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom.
In 1973, at Christmas, his father bought Julian Gibson Les Paul's guitar "Gibson Les Paul" and a drum, which encouraged the boy's interest in music, showing some chords.
While at school, Julian Lennon, along with his best friend Justin Clayton, began to compose music. Juliana was interested in the work of modern-oriented jazz groups such as Steely Dan and piano miniatures by Keith Jarrett. Since he was calm and dreamy at home, his favorite rock compositions were calm songs, including the lyric songs "The Beatles".
After leaving school, Julian lived in Wales and, along with Justin Clayton, earned money by washing dishes in a bistro. In the evenings they played music together, composed a lot.
Career
Julian began playing guitar and drums at the age of 10, adding piano as a teenager. He made his debut as a drummer on the track "Ya Ya" in John Lennon's 1974 album, Walls and Bridges.
After killing his father, Julian decided to pursue his own musical career. In 1984, the first album titled “Valotte” was released, which was quite widespread success: it collected four singles on the chart, including Top 10 hits “Valotte” and “Too Late For Goodbyes”, and became platinum by March 1985. The album was released by Phil Ramon, who was known for his work with such famous personalities as Paul Simon and Billy Joel. However, some critics were skeptical about the musical talents of the singer, believing that he was trying to become famous due to the big name of his father.
Lennon’s second album, 1986, “The Secret Value of Daydreaming”, collected 40 of the best tracks, and “Stick Around” was certified gold.
In 1986, Julian was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
On April 1, 1987, Julian Lennon appeared as Baker in Mike Butt's musical The Hunting of the Snark. A musical performance took place in London's Royal Albert Hall to help the deaf.
In 1989, his single “Now You in Heaven” finished fifth in Australia and second in the US Album Rock Tracks chart.
In 1991, the studio album "Help Yourself" was released, and the single "Saltwater" reached 6th place in the UK and topped the charts of Australian hits for four weeks.
After 8 years in show business, Julian decided to take a break and do other things that he loved no less - cooking, sailing and sculpture, as well as recall his acting talents.
In 1993, he voiced the role of David Copperfield in the eponymous animated series NBC. Two years later, he starred in an episode in the movie "Leaving Las Vegas." In this picture, Julian played a bartender in England of the 80s.
In his film portfolio during this period, several more episodes in the cinema, voiced cartoons, as well as shooting in documentaries appeared
The new studio album "Photograph Smile" was released on May 18, 1998, after a seven-year hiatus from his previous album, Help Yourself. In 1999, an advertising sampler was released in the United States containing the tracks: “I Don't Want to Know, ” “Day after Day, ” and “And She Cries.”
In the mid-2000s, he became interested in Internet business, and in parallel, he also took up documentary filmmaking. Lennon’s most serious and successful production project is the WhaleDreamers documentary, which tells of an ancient Australian Aboriginal tribe that was declared extinct in the 1950s.
On September 2, 2011, another studio album from the UK musician, "Everything Changes", was released worldwide in June 2013.
Creation
Along with his music, Julian Lennon showed great interest in photography after photographing his brother Sean's music tour in 2007. His first exhibition was held in New York on September 17, 2010. The exhibition included 35 photographs entitled "Without Time".
From March 12 - May 2, 2015, a series of photographs of Horizons was presented in the gallery of Emmanuel Fremin, New York.
Julian also devoted considerable time to charity work, primarily setting up the White Feather Foundation in 2009 to focus on environmental and humanitarian issues.
In his youth, after the death of his father, Julian Lennon collected Beatles memorabilia. And in 2010, he published a book describing his collection called "Beatles Memorabilia: The Julian Lennon Collection"
