John Charles Julian Lennon was born at 7.45 am on
8 April 1963 at Sefton General Hospital. He was named after John
Lennon's mother Julia.
Baby Julian's arrival was sandwiched between the first
two Beatle No.1's, 'Please, Please Me', No. 1 on March 22 and 'From
Me To You', which topped the charts on April 27.
The marriage to Cynthia and the birth of Julian was
to be secret Brian Epstein decreed, on the basis that a married
Beatle would be bad for the band's image. But their anonymity was
short lived. When the news of John's family was out in the open
they moved first to West London then to 'Kenwood' in Weybridge.
In November 1968 Julian's parents divorced. Paul McCartney
wrote 'Hey Jude' out of concern for Julian. Julian and Cynthia moved
to Cheshire and Julian attended Kingsmead in Hoylake. Here he made
friends with Justin Clayton and they formed a rock and roll band,
which played at school dances. Even when Julian changed schools
and went to Ruthin School he stayed in touch with Justin.
Julian still saw John from time to time - on one occasion
in the summer of 1969 John on a driving trip to Durness, Scotland
to see his aunt and uncle ran the car into a ditch. All the passengers,
John, Yoko, Yoko's daughter Kyoko and Julian were treated at the
local hospital for stitches and shock.
Then John in 1971 left Britain for America and keeping
in touch with his son was reduced to transatlantic phone calls.
Julian visited his father for the first time in 1973 in California.
This precipitated other visits. On one visit Julian made his recording
debut. In 1974 when John was recording 'Walls and Bridges' 11-year-old
Julian sat in on the recording of 'Ya Ya'. The sleeve notes on the
album credit: "Julian Lennon on drums and Dad on piano and
vocals."
Any bond that might have established itself between
father and son was stolen the night of 8 December 1980 when John
Lennon was murdered. Julian was 17.
Julian dropped out of school, and the following year
moved to London where he stayed with Elton John's percussionist,
Ray Cooper. The six-month period he stayed with Ray helped him find
some direction.
In September 1983 Julian anonymously sent a tape to
Charisma Records in the UK. Head of the label, Tony Stratton Smith,
was impressed and signed Julian. Similarly impressed, Julian was
simultaneously signed by Atlantic Records in the US.
Julian quickly assembled his band. With his schoolfriend
Justin Clayton and Carlton Morales, and with producer Phil Ramone
he came up with 'Valotte' his debut album, affectionately named
after their recording studio chateau in France. 'Valotte' (1984)
sold 1.5 m copies worldwide and was certified platinum in the US.
'Too Late For Goodbyes' reached number six in UK and 'Valotte' went
to number nine in the US.
It was announced in January 1986 that Julian was nominated
for a Grammy for Best New Artist. Although he didn't win, the following
month he was voted Number One New Male Singer by Rolling Stone magazine
readers.
Later that same year Julian's second album 'The Secret
Value of Daydreaming' was released. The album was certified gold
in May.
Dave Clark's musical 'Time' hit the shops in March
1986. The double album featured three songs by Julian.
After a bit of a break Julian's third album, 'Mr Jordan'
was released on 10 March 1989 in the US and 27 March in the UK.
It featured a guest performance from Peter Frampton and included
the single 'Now You're In Heaven'.
'Help Yourself', Julian's fourth album was released
on 28 September 1991. 'Saltwater' was a No.1 hit around the world
except in the US.
Despite achieving multi-million sales with his four
albums, Julian wasn't happy. The demands of the record company,
the pressure to produce albums before he was ready and the relentless
touring had taken its toll and he decided to take a break from the
business and put his life back together. His hiatus from the music
business lasted seven years. During that time he indulged his other
interests - sailing, travelling and drawing. He also took time out
to pursue his environmental concerns. In April 1994 Julian and his
friend Kim Kindersley co-conceived the documentary 'Eyes of the
Soul - Legends of Whales, Dolphins and Tribes'. The film, which
is a work in progress, aims to highlight man's responsibility to
the natural world.
Julian has also appeared in a couple of films. In
December 1993 his voice was featured as the voice of David Copperfield
in a special animated TV special. In the 1995 film 'Leaving Las
Vegas' Julian played the bartender to Nicolas Cage's Oscar winning
performance. In the same year Julian composed 'Cole's Song' for
the film 'Mr Holland's Opus' which starred Richard Dreyfus as a
high school music teacher.
In 1996 Julian played himself in 'Cannes Man', a movie
industry spoof which also had Johnny Depp and Denis Hopper appearing
as themselves.
It's also around this time that Julian started to
collect family memorabilia, including postcards
he had been sent by his father when he was a child. Other items
were drawings by John Lennon and the chrome apple
car mascot, which had been on the front of the car John crashed
in Scotland with Julian on board. Julian continues to purchase and
build an impressive collection of memorabilia.
In time his love of music meant that he started playing
seriously again.
The result was his most recent album, 'Photograph Smile', which
was released through his own label, Music
From Another Room. It was issued in the UK, Australia and Japan
in 1998 and the following year in the US and Europe. The single
'Day After Day' charted at No.1 in Japan, and in Australia the single
'I Don't Wanna Know' reached number two, as did the album. In Europe,
'Photograph Smile' charted in the Top 20 in at least seven countries
and reached number two in the independent album chart. The album
received rave reviews.
In 1998 Julian's official Website was launched, julianlennon.com
In December 2000 Julian chose to mark the 20th anniversary of his
father's death by releasing a short statement through his website.
Julian is presently in the studio recording his next
album.
John
Lennon | Cynthia Powell
Lennon
|
