“It’s Like Getting More Time With Him”: How Music Has Helped John Lennon’s Son “Fill the Void” of Losing His Dad

Sean Ono Lennon has followed in his late father John Lennon’s footsteps, embracing a career in music. And while he obviously hasn’t had the same impact that the Beatles icon did, he’s become a respected musician in his own right.

Sean, who turned 49 on October 9, the same day his father would’ve celebrated his 84th birthday, has recorded several solo albums, and also has collaborated with variety of artists, including Primus frontman Les Claypool, alt-rock group Cibo Matto, and his own mother, Yoko Ono. In a lengthy new interview with People, Sean explained that the desire to establish a connection with his late father was what inspired him to learn how to play music.

[RELATED: Paul McCartney, Julian Lennon, and More Post Messages Commemorating John Lennon’s 84th Birthday]

“I never played music because I was good at it,” he told the magazine. “I lost my father and I didn’t know how to fill that void. Learning how to play his songs on guitar was a way to process the loss with an activity that made me feel connected to him.”

He added, “When you’ve lost a parent, things like that motivate you—because you’re trying to find them. Making music always made me feel like I was getting to know him better.”

Sean was only five when John Lennon was murdered by a deranged Beatles fan in December 1980.

On Sean Overseeing His Parents’ Musical Legacy

Meanwhile, Sean has taken over the task of overseeing his father’s legacy and archival releases since his mother retired from public life a couple of years back.

The latest release was the expansive Ultimate Collection reissue of John Lennon’s 1973 solo album Mind Games. The reissue was released in various formats and configurations, including a massive multi-faceted Super Deluxe box set that was partly inspired by Yoko Ono’s conceptual art pieces.

John’s first two solo albums, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970) and Imagine (1971), also were the subjects of expanded reissues in recent years. Sean told People that being involved with the reissue projects have given him the opportunity to get to know his father better. That’s because he gets to discover previously un heard audio of his dad when listening to the raw tracks.

“You’re constructing somebody out of fragments,” Sean maintained. “I grew up mostly knowing my dad through pictures and recordings, because he wasn’t around. So whenever I hear my dad saying anything that I haven’t heard before, even just a little moment, it means so much to me. It’s like gold. It’s precious because it’s like getting more time with him.”

Lennon Family Friend Elliot Mintz Praises Sean

Elliot Mintz is a longtime friend of John and Yoko who served as the couple’s PR rep. In an exclusive People interview, Mintz praised how Sean how managed his father’s estate since Yoko’s retirement.

“He’s done one brilliant job,” Mintz said. “Every mother should be as fortunate to have a son like Sean Ono Lennon. And every departed father who wanted to have a legacy maintained could not have assigned it to a better soul.”

He added, “Sean, to a significant degree, has dedicated now much of his waking hours, much of his life, to his mother and his father’s legacy. I applaud him for that. I love him for that.”