"This is NOT about me, but about a girl named Lennon. She has my full support," wrote Julian Lennon on Saturday, February 9 in a blog on his MySpace page titled "Sad but True & interesting........I feel for her & know the situation well."
Julian isn't talking about some long-lost illegitimate sister trying to cash in on the family name, he's talking about Lennon Murphy, an alternative rocker who's been releasing albums professionally since signing with Arista Records in 2000. Named not after the Beatle, but after the "John Lennon that wrote songs, painted, and baked bread with his son," Lennon addressed the name issue with Yoko back in 2000 when her debut album hit the scene. Apparently there was no problem back then and Lennon's application to trademark the name for musical use was approved in 2003.
The trajectory of Lennon's career since her Arista debut makes Yoko's recent lawsuit all the more questionable. Leaving the major label game after just one album, Lennon has been working hard in the subsequent years to make a modest living as an independent artist. Yoko's lawyer alleges that the singer/pianist is "causing confusion in the market place that has damaged the John Lennon name." Sure Yoko, and selling his art to plaster on underwear and neckties and shilling "Real Love" to a JC Penny TV ad will do nothing to tarnish your husband's legacy.
"I'm not sure what confusion I could be causing since I don't have the $50,000 to hire a lawyer and fight this. If people were confusing me with John Lennon and accidentally buying my records I should have more than enough money to live my life and hire a lawyer?" Murphy said in response to the charges.
One has to wonder just how empty Yoko's life has become that she feels the need to attack the livelihood of a young musician simply for performing under her own first name. How else, I guess, can Yoko tighten the iron grip on her cash-cow of an adopted surname more than she already has?
You can read all of Lennon Murphy's thoughts on the lawsuit situation in an open letter she posted on her MySpace blog.
Lennon "Where Do I Fit In"
Julian isn't talking about some long-lost illegitimate sister trying to cash in on the family name, he's talking about Lennon Murphy, an alternative rocker who's been releasing albums professionally since signing with Arista Records in 2000. Named not after the Beatle, but after the "John Lennon that wrote songs, painted, and baked bread with his son," Lennon addressed the name issue with Yoko back in 2000 when her debut album hit the scene. Apparently there was no problem back then and Lennon's application to trademark the name for musical use was approved in 2003.
The trajectory of Lennon's career since her Arista debut makes Yoko's recent lawsuit all the more questionable. Leaving the major label game after just one album, Lennon has been working hard in the subsequent years to make a modest living as an independent artist. Yoko's lawyer alleges that the singer/pianist is "causing confusion in the market place that has damaged the John Lennon name." Sure Yoko, and selling his art to plaster on underwear and neckties and shilling "Real Love" to a JC Penny TV ad will do nothing to tarnish your husband's legacy.
"I'm not sure what confusion I could be causing since I don't have the $50,000 to hire a lawyer and fight this. If people were confusing me with John Lennon and accidentally buying my records I should have more than enough money to live my life and hire a lawyer?" Murphy said in response to the charges.
One has to wonder just how empty Yoko's life has become that she feels the need to attack the livelihood of a young musician simply for performing under her own first name. How else, I guess, can Yoko tighten the iron grip on her cash-cow of an adopted surname more than she already has?
You can read all of Lennon Murphy's thoughts on the lawsuit situation in an open letter she posted on her MySpace blog.
Lennon "Where Do I Fit In"