May Pang
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May Fung Yee Pang (玫潘; born October 24, 1950) was hired in 1970 as the personal assistant of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In 1973 at Ono's request Pang became Lennon's lover for a year and a half during the period Lennon dubbed his "Lost Weekend". Although Pang continued to work for them she maintains they had an off-and-on relationship that was also – 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 claims 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.
When Lennon decided to take Pang to Los Angeles, they lived together at a couple of friends' houses – among them a beach house with Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson and Keith Moon. While in L.A., Lennon decided to collaborate with Phil Spector to record an album of oldies. During this time, Lennon had a couple of infamous drinking incidents at The Troubadour which garnered international press. He also had numerous affairs with other women and drank very heavily, as stated in Pang's book and Lennon's joint interview with Ono for Playboy Magazine in 1980.
According to her book, Pang lived with Lennon from the fall of 1973 until February of 1975, and continued her work as production coordinator of Lennon's recording projects. She was on the Lennon payroll up through the first weeks of 1975. 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 album that reached #1 on the Billboard charts, Walls and Bridges.
In the early summer of 1974, while Lennon was working on Walls and Bridges, the couple returned to New York City and 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 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 claims that Lennon's song, "Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)," which was also included on the album, was written for her.
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.
Pang further claims in her book: "The official announcement said we ended in early '75 but continued to see each other secretly." Still, she shows no evidence of it. A small community of Lennon's and Pang's friends and employees have come forward to discuss the couple's alleged 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. Pang, however, has stated she did not learn about such longing until 2002, when she read an interview with Rosen. 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." A potential lapse in Rosen's credibility, however, is a close friendship with Frederic Seaman, an aide of Lennon's who stole various pieces of the Lennon estate from Ono after Lennon's assassination, and wrote a tell-all book that is widely regarded as sensationalist. So far, Pang has not explained why or how Lennon would continue to see her after Lennon returned to Yoko in 1975, and shows no consistent evidence of what she states. In fact Lennon himself and documented history contradict Pang's claims, with the fact of published items, such as photos, interviews in print and in Lennon's voice showing Lennon in Japan in 1977, 1978, and traveling extensively in 1979 with Yoko and Sean.
Criticism
Pang's book has come under criticism for being, according to some, a volume of revisionist history. Jon Wiener, author of Come Together: John Lennon In His Time, states the following 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 (it has been suggested that this book, however, subsequently became the basis of the "Lost Weekend" period in Ono's approved 1988 film, Imagine [citation needed]). In Ray Coleman's Lennon: The Definitive Biography, Mintz states that Pang's claims that Lennon left Ono for her are entirely fabricated. 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.
Perhaps Pang's largest lapse in credibility is her voicing of her support of The Lives of John Lennon, as also stated in Coleman's book, in which she declares that The Lives of John Lennon is "99% accurate":
Support for the Goldman book came from May Pang, former personal assistant to the Lennons and John's companion during his lost weekend separation from Yoko. On a visit to London, May, now married to record producer Tony Visconti, declared that Goldman's book was 99% accurate; that John was skeletal; that he had been using cocaine. She blamed Yoko for turning John into a "recluse."
(Coleman, pg 43)
Pang wasn't actually interviewed for the Coleman book, just quoted [citation needed]. This is a recent version of Pang's opinion on Goldman's book, from Daytrippin Magazine, Fall 2004:
Oh, please. Some people didn't even know John and they think they're experts. I can even understand why Goldman got in there, [The Lives of John Lennon, 1988, William Morrow & Co.] but not Giuliano. At least Albert Goldman was a writer, and he did a lot of research. Goldman actually got a lot of it right believe it or not. But he presented it wrong. He took all the dark sides. And some of his opinions were wrong. When you're only choosing dark sides, no one wants to read it. I didn't read that book either, except for my parts, which he got pretty accurate. But that part about John being a homosexual? Garbage. John used to do things like that, go into gay bars and stuff for a joke, knowing someone would see him and start a buzz. To him it was funny.
Despite these comments from Pang, most of the criticism of Goldman's book came from those who did know Lennon, including Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Martin, Harry Nilsson, Geraldo Rivera and Tom Snyder.
This controversial book by Albert Goldman made claims such as: Ono's repeated miscarriages were caused by Lennon kicking her in the abdomen, the cerebral hemorrhage and subsequent death of Stuart Sutcliffe was caused by Lennon kicking him in the head, Lennon solicited underage male prostitutes from Thailand, and that Lennon was anorexic and an anti-semite. Goldman's book was hugely denounced by Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, and Cynthia Lennon [2], as well as Beatles record producer George Martin (Coleman page 32).
It should also be noted that The Lives of John Lennon alleges that Lennon was a heroin addict until his death – which is a life-altering issue that is never mentioned in Pang's own book, in which she claims to chronicle several years of Lennon's life (years beginning with their 1970 meeting and extending beyond the "Lost Weekend" period, during which she discusses their alleged clandestine visits).
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 has remained friends with Paul McCartney, and was invited 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." [3] She was also an invited guest at The Concert for George in 2003 [citation needed], and she remains close to Cynthia and Julian Lennon.
From a press release on 7/29/07 St. Martin's Press is pleased to announce the publication of INSTAMATIC KARMA, a photo book by May Pang. Consisting of 150 photos of John -- and friends -- in black/white and color, it also contains some lighthearted memories of their time together in the mid-70's. Publication date: March 4, 2008