Music

An Alberta man is trying to clone John Lennon

by Mark Teo

Photo: johnlennontooth.com

The first John Lennon was born in Liverpool. The second John Lennon might be born in Canada—namely, in Alberta.

Well, not so fast. An Alberta dentist by the name of Dr. Michael Zuk, who reportedly works in Red Deer, purchased Lennon’s rotting tooth in 2011 for a cool $30,000 from Lennon’s former housekeeper. (That’s the tooth pictured above.) Today, thanks to examiner.com, we’ve found out what Zuk’s done with the tooth: He’s FedExed the rotten tooth to a Penn State lab, with the hopes of extracting genetic code.

“I am nervous and excited at the possibility that we will be able to fully sequence John Lennon’s DNA, very soon I hope,” Zuk says in a statement. “With researchers working on ways to clone mammoths, the same technology certainly could make human cloning a reality.”

As such, Zuk is viewing the $30,000 he spent on the tooth, and the unnamed sum he’s likely paying researchers, as  an investment. “To potentially say I had a small part in bringing back one of rock’s greatest stars would be mind blowing,” he says.

Of course, Zuk purchase of the tooth is already paying off. His site, johnlennontooth.com, proudly displays screenshots of mentions by Jay Leno, Bill O’Reilly, and Anderson Cooper, and the tooth has appreared in Rot Star Art, a photo book about celebrity teeth. (Um…) He’s also crafted $25,000 necklaces bearing Lennon’s DNA; Zuk reportedly gifted one to Steven Tyler.

Either way, we’re not holding our breath about seeing a cloned Albertan John Lennon, even if he would likely immediately become one of the province’s top musicians. (No offence to the Stampeders.)