John Lennon's widow, 87-year-old Yoko Ono, has handed down all the family's business interests to their son, 45-year-old Sean Lennon. Ono, who has been wheelchair-bound for several years, is rumored to have suffered from a stroke, although no illness has been publicly revealed.
The Daily Mirror reported that on October 5th, Sean was officially appointed a director at eight companies linked to Yoko and the Beatles — including the group's company, Apple Corp. Sean has also joined the board of Lensolo, which administers his father's solo works.
Although Beatles and Lennon estate business will take up a good chunk of his time for the foreseeable future, he remains a musician at heart. We pressed him on some of his earliest instruments while growing up in the Dakota: “It was pianos that I grew up with. There were no guitars around. My dad wasn't around, and my dad's guitars were, like, y'know, either in a vault or in a museum somewhere. I think one of the first ones I had was, like, a Japanese Strat, or something — y'know, like a Japanese-made Strat. I also had, like, a Kramer, which was really cheesy; like some kind of black and pink, like, metal guitar, when I was, like 12. Nothing great. Nothing to, like, write home about. It was the '80s, y'know?”
