Yoko
Published on 25. March 2025
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-1-3985-1753-0 (ISBN)
Description
'Absorbing' Telegraph
'Gentle, empathetic, committed to righting undeniable wrongs' Sunday Times, Book of the Week
'Illuminating and affectionate... an intimate and perceptive portrait' Publishers Weekly
An intimate and revelatory biography of Yoko Ono from bestselling author of Beautiful Boy
David Sheff met Yoko Ono and John Lennon in 1980 when conducting an in-depth interview with them just months before John's murder. In the aftermath, Sheff and Yoko became close friends as she rebuilt her life, survived threats and continued creating groundbreaking art and music. Drawing from their decades-long friendship and interviews with Yoko, her family, close friends and collaborators, Sheff shares the story of one of the most unlikely and remarkable lives ever lived.
Yoko spans from her birth to wealthy parents in pre-war Tokyo and her harrowing experience as a child during WW2 to her arrival in the avant-garde art scenes of London, Tokyo and New York. We see how she coped under the most intense, relentless and cynical microscope as she was falsely vilified for the most heinous cultural crime imaginable: breaking up the greatest rock-and-roll band in history.
So often remembered only for her impact on The Beatles, Yoko has been caricatured as an opportunistic seductress or manipulative impostor. Yoko delves into her life as an artist, musician, feminist and activist, reframing her incredible achievements independent of Lennon.
Yoko is a harrowing, moving, propulsive and vastly entertaining biography of a woman whose story has never been accurately told. It highlights Ono's incredible talent and acknowledges her as a true artistic icon.
'Gentle, empathetic, committed to righting undeniable wrongs' Sunday Times, Book of the Week
'Illuminating and affectionate... an intimate and perceptive portrait' Publishers Weekly
An intimate and revelatory biography of Yoko Ono from bestselling author of Beautiful Boy
David Sheff met Yoko Ono and John Lennon in 1980 when conducting an in-depth interview with them just months before John's murder. In the aftermath, Sheff and Yoko became close friends as she rebuilt her life, survived threats and continued creating groundbreaking art and music. Drawing from their decades-long friendship and interviews with Yoko, her family, close friends and collaborators, Sheff shares the story of one of the most unlikely and remarkable lives ever lived.
Yoko spans from her birth to wealthy parents in pre-war Tokyo and her harrowing experience as a child during WW2 to her arrival in the avant-garde art scenes of London, Tokyo and New York. We see how she coped under the most intense, relentless and cynical microscope as she was falsely vilified for the most heinous cultural crime imaginable: breaking up the greatest rock-and-roll band in history.
So often remembered only for her impact on The Beatles, Yoko has been caricatured as an opportunistic seductress or manipulative impostor. Yoko delves into her life as an artist, musician, feminist and activist, reframing her incredible achievements independent of Lennon.
Yoko is a harrowing, moving, propulsive and vastly entertaining biography of a woman whose story has never been accurately told. It highlights Ono's incredible talent and acknowledges her as a true artistic icon.
Reviews / Votes
'There have been other biographies of Ono . . . Sheff's is the closest to an authorised one the world will get . . . I applaud Sheff's book as an important corrective to years of bad PR. He's done the opposite of a hatchet job, putting his subject back together branch by branch' * <I><B>New York Times</B></I> <I><B>Book Review</B></I> * 'David Sheff convincingly accounts for the importance of Yoko's life and career, depicting a complex personality with grace and precision' -- <B>Roger Lewis</B> * <I><B>Mail on Sunday</B></I> * 'Compelling . . . This thoughtful, engaging biography prompts readers to put aside their preconceptions and reimagine Ono. It suggests she is a force of nature who has made a significant impact on our culture - for good, rather than ill . . . He [Sheff] offers a much-needed antidote for the decades of venomous critiques directed her way . . . The book offers a nuanced portrait of both the woman and the artist' -- <B>Christine Feldman-Barrett</B> * <I><B>The Conversation</B></I> * 'The rehabilitation of Ono as an important and respected artist in her own right was a long time coming. David Sheff's Yoko: A Biography crowns that process. It studies her life and work in the depth it deserves while authoritatively dismantling falsehoods. You'll have renewed admiration for this often misunderstood human being' -- <B>Paul Whitelaw</B> * <B><I>Big Issue</I></B> * 'In this propulsive memoir, writer David Sheff rewrites the script on one of music's most misunderstood characters' * <b><i>Marie Claire Australia</i></b> * 'In this unfiltered, unvarnished portrait of the artist, Sheff succeeds magnificently in bringing one of popular music's most divisive and misunderstood personae to life...Yoko is required reading for die-hard Beatles fans and music lovers, to be sure, but it's also a master class about assembling the evidence and rethinking the manner in which we think about our culture's most iconic figures'-- <B>Kenneth Womack</B> * Salon * 'Few public figures have been as maligned and misunderstood as Yoko Ono, an artist most famous for being the wife and creative partner of John Lennon. Sheff offers an expansive portrait of Ono as avant-garde artist, vocalist and peace activist. Sheff interviewed Ono and Lennon in 1980 for Playboy just months before Lennon's murder. In the aftermath, Sheff and Ono developed a close friendship, which informs this in-depth and compelling biography' -- <B>Freda Love Smith</B> * <B><I>Booklist</I></B> * 'The former music journalist has finally distilled his archive of interviews and notes into Yoko: A Biography, a decisive rebuke to decades of slander and scorn to paint the full picture of a woman without equal in the 20th century' * <I><B>San Francisco Chronicle </B></I> * 'Sheff adeptly traces the familiar beats of Ono and Lennon's love story from its earliest days through the fallout following his murder and beyond, while also providing a comprehensive and enriching analysis of Ono's art career, highlighting in particular how she helped pioneer the notion of art and performance cocreated with an audience. It makes for an intimate and perceptive portrait' * <B>Publishers Weekly</B> * 'David Sheff was the last journalist to interview Yoko Ono and John Lennon before Lennon's 1980 murder, and he and Ono subsequently became friends. His engaging and intimate biography provides a full picture of the woman unfairly accused of breaking up the Beatles, highlighting her long, provocative career as an avant-garde artist' * <B><I>The Christian Science Monitor</I>, The 10 Best Books of March</B> *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
1x16pp mono plates
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 166 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
563 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3985-1753-0 (9781398517530)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
David Sheff's work has appeared in the New York Times, Outside, Rolling Stone, Wired, Fortuneand elsewhere. His piece for the New York Times Magazine, "My Addicted Son", received an award from the American Psychological Association for "Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Understanding of Addiction".