Bitter feuds give Lennon no peace

John Lennon

Former Beatle John Lennon was the master of the peacenik anthem, exhorting listeners to live in harmony and give peace a chance. He also asked us to imagine a world without possessions.

Yet the bickering among family and fans over his legacy is as loud as ever today - the 25th anniversary of his murder - as record releases, autobiographies and commentaries jostle for attention.

Lennon was shot dead outside his New York apartment building in 1980 at age 40.

In the past few months the musical Lennon, endorsed by his widow Yoko Ono, has flopped on Broadway. And an autobiography by his first wife, Cynthia, describes how he once hit her out of jealousy and how his use of the drug LSD destroyed their marriage.

At a British awards ceremony in October, Ono made a barbed comment about Lennon's former songwriting partner Paul McCartney, suggesting that their infamous feud rumbles on - although she did later apologise.

"It's a pity that the people who loved John can't love each other," says Richard Porter, of the British Beatles Fan Club.

He believes Lennon would have been uncomfortable with the way his image has been manipulated since his death.

Add to that the unease over commercial opportunism surrounding Lennon's legacy - including a re-release of four albums, a host of books, and even a John Lennon training shoe - and for many the rock saint's halo has slipped.

Some of the more recent accounts of Lennon, his life and his hugely influential music had also misrepresented the truth, people who knew him and the Beatles complained. "There a lot of people who don't know what the hell they are writing about," says Billy Kinsley, a member of the Merseybeats band who knew the Beatles in Liverpool where they first emerged.

Japanese-born Ono, 72, has often been cast as the woman who broke up the Beatles, dragging Lennon away, forcing him into experimental music, encouraging his drug habit and ending one of pop's great partnerships that he shared with McCartney.

Lennon was deeply sensitive to the accusations long before his death, telling an interviewer in 1970 "we were in real pain" over how the other band members treated him and Ono.

She was certainly a source of tension between band members, prompting Lennon to say of McCartney that the Beatles became "fed up" with him after band manager Brian Epstein died.

"Paul took over and supposedly led us. What's leading us when you wander around in circles?" Lennon said.

Beatles fans are divided over Ono's role in Lennon's legacy.

While many mourn the day she and Lennon met - and accuse her of rewriting history by tinkering with his music, - others argue that were it not for her fiercely guarding and sometimes promoting it, there would be no legacy at all.

Commentators agree that Lennon was a flawed genius.

"He was never a black-and-white embodiment of someone searching for ideals, but was human and fallible," says Michael Musto, entertainment writer for the Village Voice in New York.

Abandoned by his father at a young age and losing his mother as a teenager, Lennon was himself accused of ditching Cynthia and their son, Julian, as soon as Ono appeared.

Cynthia, whose own biography of Lennon was published in September, said later that she and Julian were "airbrushed" from the Beatles' story and that Ono had made it clear she did not want her in New York after Lennon's death.

Julian, a musician, has not come to terms with feelings of rejection.

"I have always had very mixed feelings about Dad," he said on his website. "He was the father I loved who let me down in so many ways.

"It's painful to think that his early death robbed me of the chance for us to know each other better."

Ono's spokesman, Elliot Mintz said he had received more than 500 requests for interviews but that it's just too painful for her to discuss".

- REUTERS