May Pang

File:LenPangLimo.jpg

John Lennon & May Pang 1974.

May Fung Yee Pang (玫潘; born October 24, 1950) was hired as a personal assistant and production coordinator for John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1970. In 1973, she and Lennon apparently had an affair that lasted over 18 months - a time that is referred to by biographers and critics as Lennon's "Lost Weekend." Although Pang continued to work for the Lennons until December 1975, she and Lennon reportedly had an off-and-on relationship (that was at times platonic) over a ten-year period from 1970 to 1980.

Biography

May Pang was the daughter of Chinese immigrants who lived in New York's Harlem and Spanish Harlem. After graduating from high school, she continued to college but realized after a year she was not happy with her studies.

She stumbled upon Apple Records, which was located in the same building where she was being interviewed for a job at another company. Pang was hired as assistant at ABKCO Records, Allen Klein's management company which represented Apple Records and three former Beatles: John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. When the opportunity came to help Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, on a project in December 1970, she was given the position to work with them whenever they needed her in New York or England. Her work led to a permanent position as their personal assistant when they moved from England to New York.

Pang claimed in her 1983 book, Loving John, that in the summer of 1973 when Lennon and Ono were having marital problems, Ono informed Pang that she was to accommodate Lennon both as an assistant and a lover. Ono confirmed this in an interview with Larry Kane in his 2005 book, Lennon Revealed (Running Press).

Lennon decided to take Pang to Los Angeles in September, 1973. They lived together mostly at the homes of friends -- but rented a beach house in Santa Monica (in March, 1974) with Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson and Keith Moon. John was producing Nilsson's Pussy Cats album, and thought it would be a good idea for the main musicians to live under one roof.

While in L.A., Lennon also decided to collaborate with Phil Spector to record an album of oldies. These alcohol-fueled recording sessions, in December, 1973, are legendary not for the music produced, but for the drunken chaos that ensued. The most famous incident being Phil Spector firing a loaded gun in the studio, detailed in length by Mark Ribowsky in his Phil Spector biography, He's a Rebel (Tearing Down The Wall of Sound).

March, 1974 fared no better for Lennon and his drinking buddy, Harry Nilsson, with two infamous drinking incidents at The Troubadour which garnered international press (the first when John placed a Kotex on his forehead and scuffled with a waitress and, two weeks later, when Lennon and Nilsson were booted from the same club for heckling the Smothers Brothers). Lennon talks about both of these incidents in a 1975 Rolling Stone interview with Pete Hamill.

In April, 1974, Lennon and Pang returned to live in New York City permanently, where Lennon stopped drinking and concentrated on his recording.

In the early summer of 1974, while Lennon was working on Walls and Bridges, the couple moved into a penthouse apartment where Lennon and Pang claim to have seen a UFO on their balcony. This is also where Lennon was famously photographed by Bob Gruen wearing a New York City tee shirt. The album Walls and Bridges features Pang's voice whispering Lennon's name as well as singing background vocals on the song "#9 Dream." Ono later created a video in which she lip syncs to Pang's vocals. Pang also says that Lennon's song, "Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)," which was also included on this album, was written for her.

Pang lived with Lennon from the fall of 1973 until February of 1975, but this period dubbed Lennon's "lost weekend" was also the most prolific period of Lennon's solo career. Pang continued her work as production coordinator of Lennon's recording projects. These included albums by Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr, Elton John and David Bowie, as well as Lennon's Mind Games, Rock 'n' Roll, and his #1 on the Billboard charts, Walls and Bridges. Lennon also scored his only #1 single in his lifetime with Whatever Gets You Thru The Night. Pang is also found on Ringo Starr's latest release, Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr, in a photo from the Goodnight Vienna session from 1974.

Lennon and Pang saw Ono from time to time, and received daily phone calls during the separation. By early 1975, Lennon and Ono had decided to reconcile. Shortly afterwards, Ono became pregnant with Sean Ono Lennon and Lennon remained in The Dakota with Ono until his death.

In her book, Loving John, Pang says "The official announcement said we ended in early '75 but continued to see each other secretly." The book reproduces a few postcards he had written to her from around the world in the late 70s. A small community of Lennon's and Pang's friends and employees have come forward to discuss the couple's clandestine visits with each other in recent books written by Larry Kane, Cynthia Lennon, Tony Bramwell, and Robert Rosen. Rosen's book, Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon, claims that Lennon longed for Pang until the day he died. Referring to alleged entries in Lennon's diary, Rosen said, "It was so clear he was dying to be with her and he couldn't do it. He wrote about that a lot." Pang has said that she did not hear anything about this until 2002, when she read an interview with Rosen.

Although Lennon would publically lament this period (rather diplomatically), privately it was a slightly different story. Noted journalist Larry Kane, who befriended Lennon in 1964 while covering the first Beatles U.S. tour, wrote a comprehensive biography of Lennon, Lennon Revealed, in 2005. Not only does the book fully and impartially explore the "lost weekend," Kane is the only biographer who interviews the two surviving parties, May Pang and Yoko Ono, specifically about this time. While both Pang and Ono bring new light (and some confirmations) about this period, an interesting comment on the subject comes from Lennon himself.

In May, 1975, three months after Lennon returned to Ono, Kane invited him to participate in a charity marathon weekend in Philadelphia. Lennon obliged and took a train down to Philly by himself. In this exchange on page 237 of Lennon Revealed, Lennnon succinctly explains his feelings to Kane about this period:

"You know Larry, I may have been the happiest I've ever been," John explained to me in the limo of his time in L.A. "I loved this woman, I made some beautiful music and I got so fucked up with booze and shit and whatever."

I was puzzled. "Why did you return?"

"I love Yoko, too. Finding where you belong can be most difficult, if you know what I mean, young fellow."

Criticism

Pang's book has come under severe criticism. Jon Wiener, author of Come Together: John Lennon In His Time (who never actually met Mr. Lennon), opines in an interview:

The main thing to remember about May's book is that that period of time was really the low point of John's adult life. His personal life was really in disintegration. His work as a musician and an artist had fallen apart. He was very disappointed with the music he was making. He was extremely self-destructive during this period. A picture of John at his low point is what you get from May. That was all that May saw of him. [In response to: "She tries to make it sound like he was having a wonderful time."] I think all you have to do is listen to Lennon's music. The music he made before that was great - the music he made during that period was a disappointment to everyone, especially to himself. And then if you listen to Double Fantasy, I think it's perfectly clear how he felt about Yoko and what he was going through when he was with May. His music is the best evidence of this question.

Longtime friend and publicist of both Lennon and Ono, Elliot Mintz, has been one of the most vocal opponents to Pang's 1983 book. In Ray Coleman's Lennon: The Definitive Biography, Mintz states that Pang's claims that Lennon left Ono for her are entirely fabricated. He states:

To think that John ran off with May to leave Yoko Ono would require a remarkable suspension in logic. John could not sustain May's company for more than a matter of hours without incredible fatigue setting in. It was not a love affair. It was a relationship born out of the convenience of the moment. I do not wish to publicly embarrass the lady. She did a fairly effective job of doing just that in her own book. It is one thing to merchandise the memories but her contention that she was the other woman in John's life is nonsense. May contrived a quasi-fictional scenario in an attempt to give form to a relationship that was not there. From the moment John met Yoko to the last hour of his life, she was the only woman who shared his love.

Coleman himself described Pang's book as "a book high on sexual and human drama".

In the same interview, Wiener, who had worked closely with Ono and Mintz to obtain the FBI files, had the following to say about Mintz:

John, Yoko and Elliot were good friends for many years and Elliot sort of kept an eye on John when he was out here (in L.A.) in '73 and '74. He tried to see that John didn't get himself into too much trouble; so Elliot was basically a very good friend of John and Yoko's for the entire decade of the '70s. Since then, especially since John's death, Elliot has become a kind of spokesman for Yoko, especially on some of the more painful and horrible questions that she doesn't really want to have to say anything about. Elliot is willing to go out and say something about them. Elliot saw John when he was out here with May (Pang) and so what Elliot has to say is, I think, certainly relevant; he certainly has a perfect right to say it. He is especially loyal to John's memory and he's also very dedicated to Yoko. But as far as I know, everything that Elliot has said that could be checked factually is true. I interviewed him and the quotes I got from him appear in my book. I think they help us understand what John was going through. I like the guy [...] You know, I think that Elliot really dislikes May's book. He felt it wasn't true. He was around at the same time, and he wanted to tell people what he saw of John during this period. I don't think that Yoko put him up to this or anything.

Later years

Pang later married record producer Tony Visconti, with whom she had two children, Sebastian and Lara. She is currently divorced and living with her children in New York. She creates an original line of Feng Shui jewelry that is available on her website.. Pang was invited by Paul McCartney to the memorial service for Linda McCartney. She stated at the time of McCartney's split from his second wife Heather Mills McCartney: "This separation will not stop Paul from being a good father, as he has always been." She was also an invited guest at The Concert for George in 2003 , and according to the book "John" she remains close to Cynthia, her husband Noel Charles and Julian Lennon..

St. Martin's Press has announced the publication of Instamatic Karma, a book of photos taken by Pang during her time with Lennon. The book will be available in March 2008.

External links

• May Pang: Lennon planned to visit McCartney in 1974
• May Pang Official Website
• Instamatic Karma Official Website

References

• Lennon, Cynthia (2006). "John". New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 030733855x. Retrieved 2007-08-15. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Kane, Larry (2005). "Lennon Revealed". New York,PA: Running Press. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite book}}: Text "0762423641" ignored (help)
• Coleman, Ray (1992). Lennon: The Definitive Biography. New York: HarperPerennial Publishers. ISBN 0060986085. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
• Wiener, Jon (1991). Come Together: John Lennon in His Time. The University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252061314. Retrieved 2007-08-13.