May Pang and Ruth McCartney
May Pang – John Lennon’s Muse
(born October 24, 1950) is an American author and photographer best known as the former girlfriend of Beatle John Lennon. She had previously worked as a personal assistant and production coordinator for Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono.
In 1973, when Lennon and Ono separated, Pang and Lennon had a relationship lasting over 18 months, during a time which Lennon later referred to as his “Lost Weekend.” Pang subsequently produced two books about their relationship: a memoir called Loving John (Warner, 1983) and a book of photographs, Instamatic Karma (St. Martin’s Press, 2008).
Pang was married to producer Tony Visconti from 1989 to 2000 and had two children, Sebastian and Lara.
Pang was born in Manhattan. She is the daughter of Chinese immigrants and grew up in New York’s Spanish Harlem with an elder sister and an adopted brother (both of whom were born in China).[1] Pang’s mother had a laundry business in the area, but the Pang family left when the tenements where they lived were scheduled to be torn down and moved to an apartment near 97th Street and 3rd Avenue, in Manhattan.[1]
After graduating from Saint Michael Academy, Pang attended New York City Community College. She wanted to be a model, but was told she was too “ethnic” by the modeling agencies.[2] Pang’s early jobs included being a song-plugger, which meant encouraging artists to record them.[1] In 1970, she began work in New York as a receptionist at ABKCO Records, Allen Klein’s management office, which at that time represented Apple Records and three former Beatles: Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.[3][4]
Pang was asked to help Lennon and Ono with their avant-garde film projects, Up Your Legs Forever and Fly, in December 1970.[2] Pang was then asked to be Lennon and Ono’s secretary and factotum/gofer in New York and England, which led to a permanent position as their personal assistant when the Lennons moved from London to New York in 1971.[5] Pang coordinated an art exhibition in Syracuse, New York, on October 9, 1971, for Ono’s This Is Not Here art show at the Everson Museum.[6] Ono’s show coincided with Lennon’s 31st birthday, and a party was held at the Hotel Syracuse, which was attended by Ringo Starr, Phil Spector, and Elliot Mintz, among others.[6]
For more information, please visit: maypang.com
