Ono collaborated with experimental luminaries such as John Cage and jazz legend Ornette Coleman. In 1961, years before meeting Lennon, she had her first major public performance in a concert at the 258-seat Carnegie Recital Hall (not the larger “Main Hall”). This concert featured radical experimental music and performances. She had a second engagement at the Carnegie Recital Hall in 1965, in which she debuted “Cut Piece,” a seminal performance within the conceptual art movement. After John Lennon left the Beatles, the two artists collaborated on music together - working together on very different projects all underneath the umbrella of “Plastic Ono Band.” In 1971, Yoko Ono began to release a number of solo records. Fly - a double album that helped make her known for her caterwalling vocals. She also released two other, more conventional, albums during this time - Approximately Infinite Universe and Feeling the Space. Although Yoko’s work was poorly received initially, the albums have survived and aged well - proving to be part of the foundation of punk rock and new wave music. The 1980s were a different track for Yoko. The decade started with a collaboration with husband John, for Double Fantasy. This record contains some of the best work that she’s ever done to date, including new wave classic “Kiss, Kiss, Kiss.” The two were hard at work with “Milk and Honey” when John was tragically gunned down in front of their apartment in 1980. John at the time was holding the master tape to “Walking on Thin Ice,” her definitive new wave work. In the early 80s, Yoko released a two album arc that dealt with her husband’s murder that she watched. Season of Glass - controversial for the cover which was simply a picture of John Lennon’s broken and bloody glasses and It’s Alright (I See Rainbows) which was meant as bringing closure. In 1984, a tribute album titled Every Man Has a Woman was released, featuring a selection of Ono songs performed by artists such as Elvis Costello, Roberta Flack, Eddie Money, Rosanne Cash and Harry Nilsson. It was one of Lennon’s projects that he never got to finish. Later that year, Ono and Lennon’s final album, Milk And Honey, was released as an unfinished demo. Ono’s final album of the 1980s was Starpeace, a concept album that Ono intended as an antidote to Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile defense system. On the cover, a warm, smiling Ono holds the Earth in the palm of her hand. Starpeace became Ono’s most successful non-Lennon effort: the single “Hell in Paradise” was a hit, reaching No. 16 on the US dance charts and #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as major airplay on MTV. Ono went on hiatus until signing with Rykodisc in 1992 to release the comprehensive six-disc box set Onobox. It included remastered highlights from all of Ono’s solo albums, as well as unreleased material from the 1974 “lost weekend” sessions. There was also a one-disc “greatest hits” release of highlights from Onobox, simply titled Walking on Thin Ice. In 1994, she produced her own musical entitled New York Rock, featuring Broadway renditions of her songs. In 1995, she released Rising, a collaboration with her son Sean (formerly of Cibo Matto and Butter 08) and his band, Ima. Rising spawned a world tour that traveled through Europe, Japan and the United States. The following year, she collaborated with various alternative rock musicians for an EP entitled Rising Mixes. Guest remixers of Rising material included Cibo Matto, Ween, Tricky, and Thurston Moore. In 1997, Rykodisc reissued all her solo albums on CD, from Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band through Starpeace. Ono and her engineer Rob Stevens personally remastered the audio, and various bonus tracks were added including outtakes, demos and live cuts. 2001 saw the release of Ono’s feminist concept album Blueprint for a Sunrise. Starting in 2002, some DJs remixed other Ono songs for dance clubs. For the remix project, she dropped her first name and became known as simply “ONO”, as a response to the “Oh, no!” jokes that dogged her throughout her career. ONO had great success with new versions of “Walking on Thin Ice”, remixed by top DJs and dance artists including Pet Shop Boys, Orange Factory, Peter Rauhofer, and Danny Tenaglia. In April 2003, ONO’s Walking on Thin Ice (Remixes) was rated No. 1 on Billboard Magazine’s “Dance/Club Play Chart”, gaining ONO her first number one hit. On the 12” mix of the original 1981 version of “Walking on Thin Ice”, Lennon can be heard remarking “I think we’ve just got your first No.1, Yoko.” She returned to No. 1 on the same charts in November 2004 with “Everyman…Everywoman…”. A reworking of her song “Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him” from Double Fantasy, the track contained new lyrics supportive of gay marriage. Ono’s latest album is Yes, I’m a Witch, a collection of remixes and covers from her back catalog by various artists including The Flaming Lips, Cat Power, Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons), DJ Spooky, Porcupine Tree, and Peaches, released in February 2007, along with a special edition of Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band. Yes I’m a Witch has been critically well-received. Another compilation of Ono dance remixes entitled Open Your Box is also due in April. Ono made a rare live appearance in July 2007 at the Pitchfork Media Festival in Chicago, headlining its second night of performances. Ono was joined on stage by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore on guitar. 2007’s Pitchfork also featured Slint, Sonic Youth, and the GZA performing the seminal works of their careers. During her career, Ono has collaborated with a diverse group of artists and musicians including John Cage, David Tudor, George Maciunas, Ornette Coleman, Charlotte Moorman, George Brecht, Jackson Mac Low, Jonas Mekas,Fred DeAsis, Yvonne Rainer, La Monte Young, Richard Maxfield, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Yo La Tengo, DJ Spooky, and Andy Warhol. | |
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