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Sean’s childhood with his father was painfully short.
John Lennon was shot and killed outside the Dakota apartment building in Manhattan on December 8, 1980.
Sean was only five years old.
That loss would remain central to his life.
Years later, Sean explained that music became one of the ways he tried to understand the father he had barely had time to know.
Music Became a Way to Reconnect
In a 2024 interview with People, Sean spoke openly about how his father’s music helped him process the loss.
He said he had grown up knowing John largely through photographs and recordings.
Learning to play his father’s songs on guitar gave him a sense of connection.
It allowed him to explore a relationship that could no longer develop in ordinary life.
Sean eventually built a substantial musical career of his own.
He released solo music, collaborated with his mother Yoko Ono and worked with other artists.
He also became involved in preserving and revisiting his father’s artistic legacy.
Among his projects was the Oscar-winning animated short WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko.
But music did something else for Sean as well.
It helped bring Charlotte Kemp Muhl into his life.
Sean and Charlotte Have Been Together for Nearly Two Decades
Sean and Charlotte met at the Coachella music festival in 2005.
They began a relationship in 2007.
Their partnership soon became creative as well as personal.
The two formed the psychedelic musical project The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, often abbreviated as GOASTT.
Both are multi-instrumentalists, and their work together has included recordings and live performances.
Charlotte has also pursued a career as a model, musician, songwriter and director.
Their relationship therefore developed at the intersection of art and everyday life.
For years they created music together.