Eldest son of the late John Lennon, Julian is a well-known singer/songwriter in his own right, having been nominated for the Best New Artist grammy in 1985 with his debut album, “Valotte”, released the previous year. He followed that up with 1986’s “The Secret Value of Daydreaming”. Valotte spawned the US top 10 hits “Too Late for Goodbyes” and the title track, “Valotte”. “Saltwater”, also from the album, was top 10 in the UK and stayed at the number 1 spot in Australia for four weeks. “The Secret Value of Daydreaming” gave him his first US number one with the song, “Stick Around”. His second number one on the Billboard charts was “Now You’re in Heaven” in 1989. Lennon further released albums “Photograph Smile” (1998) and “Everything Changes” (2011).
In 2007 Julian photographed half-brother Sean Lennon’s music tour, which led him to take up photography seriously. In 2010 he held his first photography exhibition, including photographs of Sean, actress Kate Hudson, and U2 frontman, Bono. The exhibition entitled, “Timeless: The Photography of Julian Lennon” was held at Morrison Hotel Gallery, New York, and proved so popular its 3 week run was extended by a further week.
Lennon has collaborated with Dutch composer Stephen Emmer on “Sleep for England” – a re-working of Emmer’s recording with Neil Crossley, which was originally digitally released earlier this year. Produced by Tony Visconti, the single has been given all the Xmas trimmings, sleigh bells and a boys-choir against an atmospheric background with a rich, definitive vocal from Julian.
“Sleep for England” will be released on December 15 on Electric Fairytale Recordings, with all proceeds to go to Julian’s charity ‘The White Feather Foundation’, which tackles environmental and humanitarian issues. In conjunction with global partners it helps to raise funds for the betterment of all life and honor those who really have made a difference. 1.2 billion people are without clean water, something we take for granted in the Western World. Therefore all single proceeds will be going towards the production of more clean water, where every penny can help save thousands of lives.
Julian chose the name ‘The White Feather Foundation’ as it has a very special meaning close to his heart:
‘Dad once said to me, that should he pass away, if there was some way of letting me know he was going to be ok the message would come to me in the form of a White Feather’.
Some years later Julian was presented with a white feather by an Aboriginal tribal elder, which lead to the creation of foundation for the purpose of giving a voice to those who cannot be heard.
You can find out more about The White Feather Foundation here.
The CD version of “International Blue” (including Julian’s version of “Sleep For England”) will be released on 1 January 2015.
