Lucy of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Fame Passes Away

Lucy Vodden, the woman who provided the inspiration for the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds has passed away after a long battle with lupus. She was 46 years old. Her death was announced Monday by St. Thomas Hospital in London where she had been treated for the chronic illness for more than five years. Britain’s Press Association said she died last Tuesday but hospital officials said they could not confirm the day of her death.

Vodden’s connection to the Beatles dates back to her childhood when she made friends with schoolmate Julian Lennon, John Lennon’s son. Julian Lennon, then 4 years old, came home from school with a drawing one day, showed it to his father, and said it was Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. At the time, John Lennon was working on material for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of rock’s landmark albums of the past 50 years. Lennon seized on the image and developed it into what is widely regarded as a psychedelic masterpiece, complete with haunting images of “Newspaper taxis” and a “girl with kaleidoscope eyes”.

Rock music critics thought the songs title was a reference to LSD but Lennon always claimed the phrase came from his son, not the desire to spell out the initials LSD in code.

Source: Yahoo News!