Elliot Mintz discusses & signs We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me
A personal and revealing look at the last ten years of John Lennon’s life and his partnership with Yoko Ono, written by the friend who knew them best
In 1972, Elliot Mintz installed a red light in his bedroom in Laurel Canyon. When it started flashing, it meant that either John Lennon or Yoko Ono–or sometimes both–were calling him. Which they did almost every day for nearly ten years, engaging Mintz in hours-long late-night phone conversations that all but consumed him for the better part of a decade.
In We All Shine On, Mintz–a former radio and television host in Los Angeles–recounts the story of how their unlikely friendship began and where it led him over the years, revealing the ups and downs of a wild, touching, heartbreaking, and sometimes shocking relationship. Mintz takes readers inside John and Yoko’s inner sanctums, including their expansive seventh-floor apartment in New York’s fabled Dakota building, where Mintz was something of a semipermanent fixture, ultimately becoming the Lennons’ closest and most trusted confidant. Mintz was with John and Yoko through creative highs, relationship and private challenges, fascinating interactions with the other former Beatles, and the happiest moment of their lives together, the birth of their son, Sean. He was also by Yoko’s side during the aftermath of John’s assassination on the doorstep of the Dakota–not merely a witness to it all, but a key figure in the drama of John and Yoko’s extraordinary lives.
We All Shine On is a must-read for Beatles and Lennon fans, offering an up close and intimate view of one of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century, as well as one of the most fascinating marriages. But it’s also a relationship story that just about everyone can relate to, a tale about partnership, loyalty, and trust, and most of all, the lasting legacy of a true and deep friendship.
We All Shine On is described as “a relationship story that just about everyone can relate to, a tale about friendship, about the choices we make in life and how much we sacrifice of ourselves for the ones we love most,” according to the book’s description.
For Mintz, it’s also a chance to share stories that he’s kept to himself before it’s too late to do so. “This is a book I had to write as a tribute to a friendship that has impacted my life in so many ways with two people who mean so much to the world,” he explains. “And I’m proud to share it with you now.”
We All Shine On was published on October 22, 2024 from Dutton/Random House. It is currently available on Amazon, as well as wherever books are sold.