Singer John Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia Lennon was shocked to hear their son Julian singing voice which was eerily similar to his father’s voice. Although she wasn’t the only one who noticed the similarity, The Beatles fans across the world were in awe of Julian Lennon’s voice too.
Cynthia Lennon Speaks About Her Son Julian’s Singing
The Beatles’ main lead singer, John Lennon was a sensation back in the 1960s. The rock band continues to have millions of fans around the world even today. Unfortunately, John Lennon was murdered by a deranged fan in December 1980 which was one of the saddest days in music history. The lead singer was married to Cynthia Lennon before The Beatles became a hit sensation around the world. The two had a son, Julian Lennon before they got a divorce.
While speaking about her son, Cynthia Lennon said she saw a lot of resemblance between her son and her ex-husband. However, she was shocked when she heard Julian sing for the first time. In a 1985 interview with Fresh Air, Cynthia Lennon recalled the moment she heard her son singing a “soulful song.”
“Following John’s death, I had an experience of coming downstairs in the house I lived in North Wales, and [Julian] was sitting at a piano with his back to me, and he was singing a very soulful song. And I had to do a bit of a double take; it was a very strange feeling.”
John and Cynthia Lennon were together for four years from 1962 to 1968. The two separated following John’s affair with Yoko Ono. John eventually ended following his solo career in the 1970s. Cynthia Lennon, on the other hand, took care of his son and was married several times after her divorce from John. She eventually started working as a designer and raised Julian as a single mother.
She also talked about how having a young kid and touring with John during their marriage was hard on both of them.
“With a small child, you have to be up early in the morning, and then you’re pretty exhausted at night, whereas John’s hours changed. You know, he’d be up at night and in bed during the day. So the whole fabric of our life changed because of the work that he was doing, and because of the pressures from outside.”
Cynthia Lennon stated that she knew about John and Yoko Ono before the singer admitted to the affair himself. She recalled meeting Yoko Ono and having an intuition about her and John dating.
“I keep saying it was feminine intuition….You know exactly what’s going to happen. As far as Yoko is concerned, I knew there was not a thing I could do about it, any more than there was anything I could to do about John taking drugs at the time. There was no way I could’ve stopped him.”
Julian Lennon’s Singing Career
John Lennon’s son followed in his father’s footsteps to pursue a career as a singer. While many might think it would be easy to gain fame and success as an established singer’s son, Julian didn’t have it as easy as people might have assumed. In an interview with Larry King, Julian revealed despite choosing music as a career, he never had a good relationship with the industry.
“I’ve never had the easiest relationship, I think, with the music industry, the business, or the media, on many many levels. It’s just been a tough road. I’ve been bashed a lot, you know?”
He added that it was mainly because people saw him as John Lennon’s son and not as an individual of his own.
“Yeah, it’s been, I think, a lot harder than easier than people might think. When people don’t take you personally seriously as an artist but just only want to know you because of your father. They want to know you because of your father, and that’s it, and that’s a tough one to ride.”
