John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon (October 9, 1940 - December 8, 1980), better known as simply John Lennon, rose to fame as songwriter, singer, and guitarist for the influential 1960s rock group, The Beatles.

Lennon was also a solo musician, political activist, artist and author. He was married first to Cynthia Lennon but left her for the Japanese artist Yoko Ono; he had always disliked his middle name and at his second marriage changed it to "Ono." (His mother had named him after Winston Churchill.) He nicknamed himself "Dr. Winston O'Boogie."

Early life

Post-Beatles career

Following the Beatles' split in 1970, he released the Plastic Ono Band album, a raw, honest record, heavily influenced by Arthur Janov's Primal therapy, which Lennon had undergone previously. This was followed by Imagine , his most successful solo album, which dealt with some of the same themes. The title track is a lovely song which has become an anthem for world harmony, but Lennon himself was later dismissive of it, claiming he had "sugar coated" his message. Certainly there is irony in Lennon, a prodigious shopper, urging his fans to imagine life with "no possessions."

Perhaps in reaction, his next album, Sometime In New York City, was loud, raucous, and explicitly political, with songs about prison riots, racial and sexual relations, the British role in the sectarian troubles in Northern Ireland, and his own problems in obtaining a United States Green Card. Two more albums of personal songs, Mind Games and Walls And Bridges, and one of cover versions of rock and roll songs of his youth, came before 1975 when, following a fourteen-month split from Ono, he retired to concentrate on his family life.

The retirement lasted until 1980, when he and Ono produced Double Fantasy, practically a concept album dealing with their relationship. Less than a month after its release, however, Lennon was shot dead on the night of December 8, 1980, by Mark David Chapman, in front of his apartment block in New York City. In a vicious kind of irony, the two Beatles most committed to pacifism were both brutally attacked; George Harrison was stabbed by an intruder in his home two decades later.

The Strawberry Fields Memorial was constructed in Central Park, across the street from the Dakota building in memory of Lennon. It has become something of a shrine to Lennon, all the Beatles, and the cultural memory of the 1960s.

Millions of Beatles fans had thought of John Lennon almost as a second father, an older brother, or a son. His murder touched off emotional outpourings of grief around the world - some fans reportedly committed suicide upon hearing the news and it ended the hopes of millions that the Beatles would someday reunite and stage one last world tour.

On September 21, 2001, just days after the 9-11 terror attack on the U.S., Neil Young performed John Lennon's "Imagine" on the broadcast musical benefit telethon "America: A Tribute to Heroes". For many, Young's performance was emotionally wrenching and heart felt. Performing on a grand piano and accompanied by a small orchestra of violins, Young's rendition of Lennon's "Imagine" spoke to so many who were suffering from the terrible tragedies in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

In March, 2002, his native city, Liverpool, honoured him by renaming their airport "Liverpool John Lennon Airport", and adopting as its motto a line from his song "Imagine", "Above us only sky".

Lennon is included in the top 10 of the 2002 "100 Greatest Britons" poll sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public. The BBC History Magazine comments: "Generational influence is immense".

John Lennon often spoke his mind. On March 4, 1966, in an interview for the London Evening Standard with Maureen Cleave, he made the following statement:

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

The statement was part of a two-page interview that went virtually unnoticed in Britain. In July of that year, Lennon's words were reprinted in the United States fan magazine Datebook, leading to a backlash by conservative religious groups mainly in the rural South and Midwest states. Radio stations banned the group's recordings, and their albums and other products were burned and destroyed. Spain and the Vatican denounced Lennon's words, and South Africa banned Beatles music from the radio. On August 11, 1966, Lennon held a press conference in Chicago in order to address the growing furor. He told reporters "I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I'm sorry I opened my mouth. I'm not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I was not knocking it. I was not saying we are greater or better."

Lennon's son with Cynthia, Julian Lennon, enjoys a notable recording career of his own, as does his son with Yoko, Sean Lennon.

Biographies and Books

John Lennon wrote two books himself: A Spaniard in the Works, and John Lennon: In his own write.

Discography

• Unfinished Music #1: Two Virgins (1968)
• Unfinished Music #2: Life With The Lions (1969)
• Wedding Album (1969)
• Live Peace In Toronto (1969)
• Plastic Ono Band (1970)
• Imagine (1971)
• Sometime In New York City (with Yoko Ono) (1972)
• Mind Games (1973)
• Walls And Bridges (1974)
• John Lennon - Rock 'n' Roll (1975)
• Shaved Fish (best-of and singles compilation) (1975)
• Double Fantasy (with Yoko Ono) (1980)
• Milk And Honey (with Yoko Ono) (1984)
• Menlove Avenue (1986)
• John Lennon Anthology (alternate takes and outtakes) (1998)
• Wonsaponatime (selections from the Lennon anthology) (1998)

External Links

• Imagine covered on "Tribute to Heroes" (9/11/2001) by Neil Young
• John Lennon: Saint or Sinner

Referenced By