Yoko Ono's Dance Chart Success Brings About 'New Era'

Posted on Apr 27th 2010 4:00PM by Nancy Dunham
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Yoko Ono has had four consecutive No. 1 hits on the Dance/Club song charts, heralding what she calls the "new era of Yoko Ono." Surprisingly, she says this success originated from something akin to rebellion against her father.

Ono was only about four years old when her father, a brilliant pianist, decided she should have formal musical schooling in her home country of Japan. From there, she learned pitch, chords, harmony, melodies both in class and through frequent concerts given before parent-filled audiences.

"I was so frightened I was throwing up afterward," Ono tells Spinner. "My father was so strict and just so difficult. It was very intimidating. I think he wanted me to be knowledgeable about music but I don't think he wanted me to be that brilliant."

When Ono's father gave up on her excelling at music is when she began to create work that set the foundation for her later output.

"He originally wanted me to be a pianist and gave up on me and said 'She's never going to be one,'" says Ono, who then turned her creativity toward songwriting. "All these songs I was writing already when I was very young. Writing songs came easier to me than when I performed the piano. He held a gun to my head to play piano, so I turned to writing instead."

As an adult, Ono has faced ridicule ever since she first came into the public consciousness as the pivotal force in John Lennon's life. But once the public lost interest in closely following her work -- mirroring her father's intense interest and then disenchantment with her creativity -- it began to blossom.

The latest example, of course, is her current No. 1 hit: the Junior Boys' remix of her song 'Give Me Something,' which was originally on the 1980 Grammy-winning album 'Double Fantasy' that she recorded with her late husband.

"They opened a new era for me," Ono says. "Up to now, I think, 'OK, I got used to [remixes of my work].' I was excited, of course, and very thankful. But this one, 'Give Me Something,' just blew my mind. It really blew my mind. This is beautiful."