Sonny Drane

Sonny Drane , née Sonnhild Spielhagen , also Sonny Freeman (born March 13, 1939 in Berlin ; † May 21, 2013 in London ) was a German-British photo model .

Life

Sonny Drane was born as Sonnhild Spielhagen in 1939 in Berlin. Her father, who later became the Deputy Mayor of Wroclaw , Wolfgang Spielhagen , was shot dead by members of the Volkssturm on January 28, 1945 on Breslauer Ring . Spielhagen had advised surrender to prevent more civilian casualties. Sonnhild grew up in Great Britain after World War II and became a successful model in Great Britain in the 1960s under the name Sonny Freeman . Well-known British photographer Robert Freeman included pictures of her on the very first Pirelli calendar for which he was the only photographer. Shortly after the recordings, the two married. They accompanied the Beatles on their tour of the United States in 1964 . Sonny was at times a close friend of John Lennon . Sonny was the inspiration behind the Beatles song Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) , according to British author and journalist Philip Norman . The marriage to Robert Freeman resulted in a daughter and a son. In the early 1970s, Freeman divorced his wife. Sonny later married John Drane and took his last name. She died as a result of an accident in London in 2013.

literature

• The New York Times : Robert Freeman, Photographer of Beatles Albums, Dies at 82 . (engl.)
• Philip Norman: John Lennon: The Life. Doubleday, Canada, 2008. ISBN 978-0-385-66100-3 .