Ono, Yoko (1933– )

Japanese artist, writer, singer, and campaigner. She married John Lennon in 1969, and was criticized for her role in the break-up of the Beatles in 1970. She subsequently became Lennon's collaborator in the Plastic Ono Band and in various well-publicized peace protests. Since Lennon's murder in 1980, she has protected his unpublished work and continued to campaign for peace. Her later albums include Rising (1995), A Story (1997), and Blueprint For a Sunrise (2001).

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Yoko Ono moved to the USA after World War II and married the composer Toshi Ichiyanagi (1933– ). They were divorced in 1963. She established a reputation as an avant-garde film-maker and conceptual artist, occasionally branching out into experimental music, and was involved in the Fluxus artistic movement. She also produced a book, Grapefruit (1970), and album Approximately Infinite Universe (1972). During the 1990s she showed that she was still capable of turning out traditional pop and rock music, delivered in her trademark shrill voice.