John Lennon's photographer Bob Gruen remembers the Beatle's New York City years
John Lennon was many things: A Beatle, an activist, an icon. For about a decade, he was even a New Yorker.
amNewYork spoke with Lennon and Yoko Ono's personal photographer, Bob Gruen, about those New York City years ahead of the 35th anniversary of Lennon's death.
Gruen, who photographed Lennon from 1971-1980, described the musician as "very amazing, very charismatic, very grounded, a lot of fun to be with."
He also got to witness Lennon as a father; Lennon spent five years as a stay-at-home dad after the birth of his son, Sean. Gruen said Lennon was "very attentive and very caring and very involved" in Sean's life. He made less music in those years because caring for his young son was much more important to him, Gruen recalled.
Gruen, a Manhattan-based photographer, has worked with countless music icons, from Elvis to Madonna to Bob Marley. But some of Gruen's most famous photos are of Lennon in New York City. In one series of photos from 1974, Lennon posed on the roof of his apartment in a sleeveless New York City T-shirt that Gruen had bought for him a year earlier on the street for just $5.
Gruen also photographed Lennon at the Statue of Liberty amid a deportation battle between Lennon and the U.S. government in 1974. More than 40 years later, that image of Lennon flashing the peace sign in front of Lady Liberty remains one of the most iconic photos ever taken of the beloved Beatle.
By: Jamie Reysen
Source: am New York
