John Lennon Biography

John Lennon's Bio

John was born in Liverpool to Alfred and Julia Lennon. His father served in the Army during the war, and afterwards moved to New Zealand, leaving his family behind. Father and son would not meet again for 20 years.
From the age of about six onward, John lived with his aunt and uncle, although his mother visited their house nearly everyday. His uncle bought him a harmonica, his mother taught him how to play the banjo, and later bought him a guitar.
John barely graduated from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool, and attended the Liverpool College of Art very briefly. Creating music was his passion, which continued after his mother died, hit by a car, when he was 17.

In March 1957, he and a group of school friends from Quarry Bank formed a rock group, the Quarrymen. John met Paul McCartney shortly thereafter, and invited him to join the group. They became friends and started writing songs together. The makeup of the group was in flux, until finally it settled on John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The name of the group changed to The Beatles, in homage to Buddy Holly’s band, the Crickets.
The Beatles were active from 1960 to 1969, with their breakout year being in 1963, when they released their first album. They went to the United States and caused a sensation when they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

In early 1966, however, John made a statement to an interviewer that would have repercussions for the Beatles. He stated, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink… We're more popular than Jesus now—I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity." When this comment was repeated five months later in an American magazine, outrage ensued. Beatles records were burned, and threats were made. This contributed to the Beatles’ decision to stop touring and become a studio-only group, although there were other reasons as well.
John had married Cynthia Powell in 1962, and had a son, Julian. He met Yoko Ono in 1966, and in 1969 Cynthia divorced him and he married Ono, whom he remained married to for the rest of his life (although they were separated for 18 months from 1973 – 1975).

The friendship between John and the rest of the Beatles soured after his marriage to Yoko Ono, and John left the group in September 1969. He would pursue a solo career for the rest of his life, working with fellow musicians only on “one-off” projects, although he did record three albums with Yoko Ono.
On December 8, 1980, John was killed in the doorway of his apartment building in New York City by Mark David Chapman. He had lived in the United States since 1971, successfully withstanding an attempt to deport him by President Nixon because of his anti-war efforts.

John left behind two sons, Julian, with his first wife, and Sean, with Yoko Ono.
Writings

John wrote two books that were published during his lifetime, In His Own Write (1964) and A Spaniard in the Works (1965). Skywriting by Word of Mouth (1986) and Ai: Japan Through John Lennon's Eyes: A Personal Sketchbook (1992), were published posthumously.

Activisim

During John’s last two years with The Beatles, he and Yoko Ono began public protests against the Vietnam War. Indeed, after they had married, they spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam campaigning for an international "Bed-In" for peace. They planned another "Bed-in" in the United States, but were not allowed to enter the country.

They would continue to work with anti-war activists for the rest of John’s life.
Meditation

On August 24, 1967, The Beatles met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the London Hilton. Later, they went to Bangor in North Wales, to attend a weekend of personal instruction.
Still later, John traveled to India to spend time at the Maharishi's ashram. The time was productive in more ways than one, as Abbey Road was composed there by Lennon and McCartney.

See also: John Lennon Quotes, Activists, Authors, Famous Celebrities
Famous People born in October, Famous Dead People, Famous Men, Spiritual People
Famous People Born in the Forties, Famous People Born in England, Famous Musicians

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