CYNTHIA LENNON DIES
Cancer claims Beatle’s ex
Cynthia Lennon, the first wife of former Beatles guitarist John Lennon, died April 1 at her home in Spain. She was 75.
Her death was announced on the website and Twitter account of her son, Julian Lennon, and confirmed by his representative.
Julian Lennon posted a moving video tribute to his late mother with a song he had written in her honour.
“You gave your life for me, you gave your life for love,” it begins, showing footage of him as a young boy with his parents. It also shows footage of Cynthia with John during the early days of Beatlemania.
“The love you left behind will carry on,” Julian, 51, sings in a style influenced by his late father.
A statement from Julian’s representative said Cynthia died at her home in Mallorca “following a short but brave battle with cancer.” It said Julian was at his mother’s bedside throughout.
She was born Sept. 10, 1939 in the English seaside town of Blackpool. She and John Lennon met at art school in Liverpool in 1957 and married shortly before the Beatles shot to worldwide fame. Julian is their only child together.
The couple divorced in 1968 after John Lennon started his much- publicized relationship with Japanese artist Yoko Ono. They had spent 10 years together as a couple.
The divorce prompted Paul McCartney to write the Beatles’ classic Hey Jude to help Julian cope with his parents’ separation. He changed the name Julian to Jude in the song.
The line “Take a sad song and make it better,” is about the Lennons’ broken marriage and its impact on their son.
Author Hunter Davies, who wrote the only authorized Beatles biography in 1968, described Cynthia as a “lovely woman” who was ill- treated by her famous husband.
He said she wasn’t at all like her husband, but was “quiet and reserved and calm” and “not a hippy at all.”