Yoko Ono to receive writing credit for John Lennon's Imagine

Portrait of Japanese-born artist and musician Yoko Ono and British musican and artist John Lennon (1940 - 1980), December 1968. Photo / Getty

Yoko Ono will receive a co-writing credit for her late husband John Lennon's song Imagine, it was announced yesterday.

David Israelite, CEO of America's National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), told reporters on Wednesday that the ex-Beatle credited Ono, 84, with inspiring his best-selling solo single.

At the NMPA's annual meeting in New York, Israelite played the audience a video of John Lennon from 1980, in which the he said Ono deserved a songwriting credit for the 1971 track.

Israelite told Variety that Ono's credit for the song was not yet confirmed, but that the process of adding her name as a songwriter was already underway.

Under US copyright law, the song was set to enter the public domain in 2050, 70 years after Lennon's death.

Once Ono is credited as Lennon's co-writer, the song could remain in copyright for several more decades.

Ono, who is currently suffering from ill health, appeared at the event in a wheelchair pushed by her son Sean Ono Lennon, 41.

Taking the stage to receive the NMPA's new Centennial Song award for Imagine, she said, "This is the best time of my life," before delivering a short speech about the importance of music in schools.

Singer Patti Smith followed Ono's speech by performing an acoustic version of the song on a grand piano, accompanied by her daughter Jessie.