Imagine That!

This year has been a milestone for artist and visionary Yoko Ono. Not only did the pop icon celebrate her 80th birthday just a couple of months ago, she has also achieved success in the realm of album charts with a new single burning up the clubs. Not bad for an octogenarian(!) “Hold Me,” a single from Ono’s ongoing remix series, recently jumped to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play chart. Co-written and produced by the Grammy-nominated Dave Audé (who has remixed U2, Madonna Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and Rihanna), the song is currently available as a digital-only “green” release on iTunes and other digital retailers.

But the activist’s work and efforts on various artistic, political and social causes (she and John Lennon rallied for women’s rights and prison reform, for example) go back decades—and even included cannabis rights at one point. When poet and activist John Sinclair was arrested for minor possession (giving two joints to undercover cops) in Michigan, Ono and Lennon performed at a 1971 “Freedom Rally” as a show of support.