BORN: October 9, 1940, Liverpool, England DIED: December 8, 1980, New York, NY
John Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England. When he was four years old, his parents separated and he ended up living with his Aunt Mimi. John's father was a merchant seaman and John did not see a lot of his father when he was small. As a child, John was a prankster and he enjoyed getting in trouble. As a boy and young adult, John enjoyed drawing grotesque figures and cripples. One of the reasons for his obsession with cripples and deformities was because of the Death of his Mother Julia. The John's school master thought that John could go to an art school for college, since he did not get good grades in school, but had artistic talent. He made it to art school, and was not allow to play "Rock and Roll".
At this college, he met a woman by the name of Cynthia Powell, who became his first wife. As a child, John lived a life of uninterrupted calm. He didn't recall feeling desperately sad or unusually happy. Unfortunately that calm was suddenly shattered when his mother died before his 18th birthday. John did not like to talk about the death of his mother, because it was to great a sorrow to be publicized. After the death of his mother, John went to live with his Aunt Mimi. John consider his Aunt Mimi the greatest person. They lived in a little house, with frilly curtains at the windows, and an old apple tree in the front garden. When John was away from home, he thought about Aunt Mimi and her frilly curtains and her apple tree, and he realized how fortunate he was. Because, though his mother was taken away from him, he was given something precious in return.
At sixteen, Elvis is what was happening. John created the group called the "Quarry Man". They performed at school. One day, Paul McCartney was introduced to him. At this point, John ask Paul if he could join the group, and he accepted the next day. Paul McCartney introduced George Harrison to John Lennon. The first recording they made was called "That will be the day" by Buddy Holly.
John came up with the name Beatles for the group. John had a vision when he was 12 years old - a man appeared on a Flaming pie and said unto them 'From this day on you are Beatles with an 'A'. The Beatles were discovered by Brian Epstein in the Cavern, where they were performing. After Brian discovered the Beatles he became their manager. The Beatles released their first single "Love me Do", with George Martin as their producer. This song went up the charts the second day it was released. "Love Me Do" got up to 17. The Beatles first number one chart was "Please Please Me" written by John Lennon. This song was inspired primarily by Roy Orbison but also fed by John's infatuation with the pun in Bing Crosby's famous "Please, lend your little ears to my please,"
John married Cynthia Powell in August 1962 and they had a son together who they called Julian.Cynthia described John as "Rough, ready and not her type at all, but had an irresistible character". Since the Beatles were becoming very popular at the time, Cynthia had to keep a very low profile. John Lennon divorced Cynthia and re-married with Yoko Ono who he met at the Indica Gallery in November 1966. In 1970, the Beatles broke up also, after Paul McCartney has announced that he is leaving the Beatles. After the Beatles broke up, John Lennon went his way and he tried to send out his message out clearer. He started doing this by releasing his first solo album Imagine.
Imagine was a passion of John. It crystallized his dream for the world and his idealism. And it was something that John really wanted to say to the world. Imagine was the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed of all John Lennon's post-Beatles efforts. After the Beatles broke up, Paul wrote some songs with hidden message, which upset John. In response to this John wrote, "How do you sleep ?" and released this also on the Imagine album.
In 1972, John Lennon gave a charity concert. The concert was held in Madison Square Garden, August 30, 1972, to help improve the living conditions of the mentally handicapped children. Starting with the Toronto Peace Festival in 1969, John with Yoko did a series of rock concerts as their statement of Peace and Love, and to spotlight various social issues effectively. All proceeds from the concerts were given to the needy. This concert in Madison Square garden turned out to be the last concert John did with the Plastic Ono Band. In 1972 the Vietnam War protest was at its height. The Feminist Movement was in a stage of awakening. The concert was filled with love of brotherhood and sisterhood. Everybody joined in on the stage at the end when they sang "Give Peace a chance". People could not contain themselves and marched down Fifth Avenue after the performance, singing "Give Peace a Chance". John Lennon performed with his new band : "Plastic Ono Band".
In 1973, John and Yoko separated for 14 month, because of all the public pressure and problems they were going through. John went to Los Angeles and he was single again after a long time. John became a drunk and was only partying . May Pang became John's companion during this time as a guidance. During this time, people start seeing more of John. John recorded different records like "Mind Games", "Rock and Roll", "Walls and Bridges" . He worked with Ringo on his album, David Bowie with his "Fame" album and also with Elton John during this time. After going through all this, John realizes that there was not really anybody that loves him, besides Yoko. So he returned back to Yoko. He realizes that he really really loves her and that he could not live without her.
On October 9, 1975, Yoko gave birth to John's other son Sean. John left his whole music career for 5 years to raise his son. John did not miss music at all during this period. He became a househusband and raised his son. John did not really exist anymore in the music world. John realized that there is no life without music after 5 years. He was able to write songs now with ease since there were no pressure. John wrote all the songs on "Double Fantasy" in a period of 3 weeks. This album was written, recorded, and released in 1980. When John was singing and writing this album, he was visualizing everybody in his age group. Unfortunately, John was shot in front of his apartment complex in New York while he was in the process of releasing another album "Milk and Honey". John died of the age of 40 in the Roosevelt Hospital on December 8, 1980, after receiving multiple gun shot in the back.
The Double Fantasy album is a great album, which contain one ironic title songs "Just like starting over" now after John's death. John was just starting over again, when he was killed. John Lennon created the Beatles and with Paul, Ringo and George, they made great music together. John was not a follower, but a leader and was always fighting for people's right. He was a person that cared for other people and expresses himself by making different political statements. John was not only a great music writer, but also an excellent pop artist and did a lot in the Rock and Roll music world. John can not and will never be replaced by anybody. His songs will live forever in all our hearts and minds. Just Give Peace a Chance and lets work together to a great and much better world.
