John Lennon

One of the former member of the Beatles. John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool in 1940 and is one of the most famous british musicians of all time.

Lennon was the founder of the band "The Quarrymen", which later changed it's name to "The Beatles" in 1960. John became a regular user of the drug 'LSD' during the 60's which influenced the band's new material including "Strawberry Fields Forever". He also starred in a few films "How I Won the War", "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" & "Magical Mystery Tour" from which "I am the Walrus" derived.

The Beatles desbanded in 1969 and John went onto solo sucess in 1970 after releasing his debut album "John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band" then a second solo album in 1971, "Imagine".

John Married Cynthia Powell in 1962 after she got pregnant with son, Julian who was born on 8th April 1963. Although, the couple were together from 1957, they were not to last as John's obsession with LSD & the Introduction of Yoko Ono drove a wedge between them, the pair divorced in 1967.

Shortly, after meeting Yoko Ono, who was exhibiting in a London Gallery, the pair married on 20th March 1969 and spent their honeymoon campaigning for peace by spending a week in bed. John changed his name by deed poll to include 'Ono' as his middle name. The couple were known for protesting against the Vietnam War and World Peace. The couple went through turbulent times, they could not live together, nor could they live apart. This is when John was introduced to May Pang, May spent the next couple of years being John's mistress under the instruction of Yoko, John & Yoko were reunited in early 1975. Shortly after this, he retired from the music industry to spend time with his family and to take care of his second born son, Sean. He came out of retirement in October 1980 and released the Single "(Just Like) Starting Over" followed by the album "Double Fantasy".

On the 8th December 1980, the family returned to their New York Apartment and John was shot dead by David Chapman, an obsessed fan. The Strawberry feilds memorial was created in New York's Central Park some time after his death and is visited by fans from around the globe.

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Michael Johnson

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Do You Remember John Lennon?

Roxxy on 2012-02-16 11:32:22

The Beatles actually disbanded in '70, not '69- that was the year of their last studio album 'Abbey Road', although a subsequent album 'Let It Be' came out in 1970 consisting of previously unreleased tracks from the previous two years (but it was essentially a compilation and not a full-blown studio album). In '71, the Lennons were in a road accident in Scotland when their Austin Maxi (which John was driving) swerved off a country lane to avoid an oncoming tractor and crashed into a ditch. They suffered only minor injuries, and John later had the wrecked Maxi taken back to his London home and mounted on a plinth in the garden, as a tribute to it having saved them from serious harm! John had a controversial reputation and was frequently reported to be bad-tempered, rude, argumentative and confrontational, although such incidents as happened have been over-focused on. For much of the time he was a friendly, kindly chap with a great sense of humour and a genuine commitment to world peace. A biography about him released in 1988 (I forget the author's name) did him much injustice and portrayed him as a real rock & roll villian, half-mad and with hardly any good points at all- it was real character assassination and most unfair. John was not Jesus, but neither was he a demon either- an egotist, yes, sometimes insensitive and loud-mouthed, yes, but for most of the time just an ordinary fellow who tried, as best he could, to make the world a better place. Nobody could say that he was a bad man, and he was the first to admit to his own faults. In the late '70s John was a big fan of punk rock and particularly liked The Clash, although he also thought that it wasn't a particularly new phenomenon and that earlier musical eras had turned out similar material. His last album 'Double Fantasy', released only shortly before his early death, has unfortunately had very bad reviews and is regarded as the least impressive one he did. His last British chart hit before his death was 'Nobody Told Me There'd Be Days Like These', the video for which featured him & Yoko rowing in a boat on a lake. His son Julian (whom he had by first wife Cynthia) went on to become a well-known musician in his own right, with hits in the '80s 'Much Too Late For Goodbyes' and 'Salt Water Wells In my Eyes'. Both songs had echoes of his father's musical style in them.