What derailed Julian Lennon’s career after his successful 1984 debut?

The term “nepo baby” thankfully didn’t exist when John Lennon’s eldest son, Julian, began his recording career over 40 years ago. If you weren’t around back then, it’s worth bearing in mind that Julian Lennon’s debut album, 1984’s Valotte, was released less than four years after his father’s murder, and, as such, interest was extremely high in what this 21-year-old—the spitting image of his legendary dad—would have to say as an artist. Few musicians at that age, with no previous track record, have ever faced the same level of scrutiny.

This makes it all the more remarkable that, with the aid of hindsight, Valotte still stands as probably the single most successful record released by any of the Beatles’ progeny. It’s not for total lack of trying either. John’s younger son, Sean Ono Lennon, has had a long and productive career as a solo artist, film scorer, and member of the Claypool Lennon Delirium. Ringo Starr’s son and fellow drummer Zak Starkey has also played with numerous artists, including The Who, The Lightning Seeds, and Johnny Marr. Dhani Harrison and James McCartney are in the biz, too, each putting out a new solo album in the past couple of years. As recently as this month, in fact, the announcement that Sean Lennon and James McCartney had collaborated with Starkey on a new song actually made headlines around the world, clear evidence that even a bunch of middle-aged dudes with no hit songs can form a “supergroup” if their bloodlines are interesting enough.

Basically, Julian Lennon was getting an early lesson in the double-edged sword that is the nepo baby life, where opportunities might come your way, but so will a deluge of disbelievers and an increased likelihood of blowback. However, on the heels of Valotte, Atlantic Records weren’t worried about any of that. They were looking to quickly turn young Julian into their next cash cow.

“It was terrible,” Lennon said. “[Atlantic] wanted something out quickly. They didn’t realise or didn’t care that great or even good music takes time. The second album was so rushed that I thought it was going to be my demise.”

Lennon’s follow-up, 1986’s The Secret Value of Dreaming, did indeed crash and burn, and things didn’t improve much with the lacklustre Mr. Jordan in 1989, or 1991’s Help Yourself. Improbably, despite a hugely successful breakout record and the fairly consistent support of diehard Beatles fans, Julian Lennon’s career was already derailed by his late 20s, never to approach its early promise, at least in terms of record sales.

“Age and experience help you accept things,” he sagely noted in 1999.

Lennon’s self-released 1998 album Photograph Smile did help change the narrative a bit critically, as he was able to take a more relaxed approach and record songs on his own terms—Beatlesque, though, they still might have been. He took his time similarly with his next two releases, 2011’s Everything Changes and 2022’s Jude, the latter of which continued Julian’s lifelong exploration of his complicated relationship with his father, and how one can be born into fame and yet still be kept an arm’s reach from it.