Todays Artist Birthday goes to Cynthia Lennon (née Powell; born 10 September 1939) author, painter, entrepreneur, as well as simply a lovely, lovely lady. Cynthia Lennon is the mother of Julian Lennon, and first wife of musician John Lennon. She grew up in the middle-class section of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England. At the age of 12, she was accepted into the Junior Art School, and was later enrolled in the Liverpool College of Art. John also attended the college; a meeting with Powell in a calligraphy class led to their relationship. When John was performing in Hamburg with the Beatles, she rented his bedroom from his aunt and legal guardian, Mimi Smith. After Powell became pregnant, she and John were married on 23 August 1962 at the Mount Pleasant register office in Liverpool. In 1964, they lived at Kenwood in Weybridge, where she kept house and participated with her husband in a London-based social life. In 1968, the couple divorced. In 2005, she published an intimate biography, John. Over the years she staged several auctions of memorabilia associated with her life with John Lennon. In 2006, she and her son attended the Las Vegas premiere of the Cirque du Soleil production of Love, which was her first public appearance with Lennons second wife, Yoko Ono. Cynthia now lives in Majorca, Spain. At the age of 11, she won an art prize in a competition organised by the Liverpool Echo. One year later she was accepted into Liverpools Junior Art School, which was also attended by Bill Harry, later editor of Liverpools Mersey Beat newspaper. In September 1957, Powell gained a place at the Liverpool College of Art. She was told she had to wear glasses at the college, but disliked wearing them, which often resulted in misreading notices in college. Although studying graphics, she also took lettering classes, as did John Lennon. He never had any drawing tools with him, so he constantly borrowed pens and pencils from Powell, who found out that he was only there because other teachers had refused to instruct him. She had an air of respectability and moved in different social circles to her future husband. Lennon and an art school friend, Geoff Mohammed, used to make fun of her by stopping the conversation when she walked in the room, saying: Quiet please! No dirty jokes; its Cynthia. They began dating, with Lennon now referring to her as Cyn. She had to be careful of Lennons angry reactions at the time, because of his jealous anxieties that made him turn pale, clench his fists and make exasperating scenes, if she greeted another art student. His jealousy could also manifest itself in violent behavior towards her, as when he slapped her across the face (causing her head to hit a wall), after watching her dance with Sutcliffe. After the incident, she broke up with Lennon for three months, but resumed their relationship after his profuse apology. Another time a cleaning woman at the college caught Lennon hitting her and suggested that she stay away from him. Her work at art school began to suffer, and teachers told her that the relationship with Lennon was doing her no good. Lennon continued to be casually inconsiderate towards her, later saying, I was in sort of a blind rage for two years. I was either drunk or fighting. It had been the same with other girl friends Id had. There was something the matter with me. Tony Bramwell—a friend of Lennons since his youth—later said: Cynthia was beautiful, physically, and on the inside. Although she knew he [Lennon] was apt to find love on the road, she was totally dedicated to his success... and extremely influential. He was insecure and Cynthia was there to pump him up, to buttress, sort of, his weak side. When Lennon went to Hamburg in April 1962, she found a bedsit in a terraced house in Liverpool. Shortly thereafter, in August 1962, she found out that she was pregnant with Lennons child. When she told Lennon he said, Theres only one thing for it Cyn, well have to get married. The Lennons were married on 23 August 1962, at the Mount Pleasant Register office in Liverpool. During her pregnancy, Epstein offered the couple the use of his flat, and later paid for a private hospital room when the pregnancy was coming to term. Although still completely unknown outside of Liverpool, by now the Beatles had a fanatical following among girls within the city. Epstein had one condition which the Lennons had to follow: the marriage and the baby were to be kept a close secret, so as not to upset any of these fans. One time when news of the wedding leaked out, the group denied it. The Lennons son, John Charles Julian Lennon, was born at 7.45 am on 8 April 1963, in Sefton Hospital. Lennon, being on tour at the time, did not see his son until three days later, and when he finally arrived at the hospital, said: Hes bloody marvellous, Cyn! ... Whos gonna be a famous rocker like his Dad then? He then explained that he would be going on a four-day holiday to Barcelona, with Epstein. Cynthia and John eventually divorced in 1968. In September 2005, she published a new biography, John, that re-examined her life with Lennon and the years afterwards, including the events following his death. In 2006, she and her son attended the Las Vegas premiere of the Cirque du Soleil production of Love, which marked a rare public appearance with Ono. In 2009, she and her son opened an exhibition of memorabilia at The Beatles Story exhibition in Liverpool, and she and Pattie Boyd staged a first-ever joint appearance at the opening of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Yerevan, Armenia. On 30 September 2010, Cynthia attended Julians opening for his Timeless exhibition of photographs at the Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York. The John Lennon Peace Monument was unveiled by Cynthia and Julian at a ceremony in Chavasse Park, Liverpool, on 9 October 2010 to celebrate what would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday. Cynthia lived with her husband, Noel, on the island of Majorca in Spain until his death on 11 March 2013.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:33:02 +0000
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