would have been 65 Sunday.
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/clickit/...ife_beatles.ram
John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool
on October 9, 1940, during the height of World War II. His father, Fred Lennon,
was off at sea and didn't turn up again until five years later. When he
did return, he tried to take John away from his mother, Julia, when she
refused to restart her life with him. Instead, John grew up in the
Liverpool suburb of Woolton, with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George, at
251 Menlove Ave, which became nicknamed Mendips. Julia died in 1958,
in an automobile accident that happened practically in front of Mendips.
Aunt Mimi ran a very strict household. John very quickly became bored
at school, preferring drawing and writing about his classmates and
teachers rather than his studies. Rebellious at an early age, he had a
very rough school history, sagging off from school (going AWOL from
classes) and petty stealing. His future looked bleak until Mimi got the
headmaster of the Quarrybank School to write a letter of
recommendation for John to the Liverpool Art College, because of his
drawings.
~
Heartbreak Hotel!After hearing Elvis's "Heartbreak Hotel," John's musical interest was
piqued. Then he heard Lonnie Donegan's Rock Island Line on Radio
Luxembourg, and became part of the new Skiffle craze by begging his
Aunt Mimi until she broke down and bought him a guitar, although she
forever told him he would never get anywhere with it. He started his
own band, the Quarrymen, with his long time pal and fellow
troublemaker Pete Shotton. They sang all the popular songs, sometimes
making up the words when he couldn't get them all off the radio. Also in
the Quarrymen were Nigel Walley and Ivan Vaughan, the rest of John's
gang. It was Ivan Vaughan who introduced John to his friend, Paul
McCartney, in 1957.
John's first wife was Cynthia, and they had a son named Julian. With
Paul McCartney, Lennon wrote several timeless classics during his
Beatles days. Lennon's creativity (and admitted experimentation with
drugs) took music to a new level -- setting standards, which few bands
have been able to equal even today.
In November of 1966 Lennon met Yoko Ono at a gallery opening;
almost immediately they hit it off, and she pursued him. But Lennon
was not available yet. He was still married to Cynthia Powell, with whom
he had a son, Julian. After separating from Cynthia in 1969, Lennon
married Yoko Ono -- his true love.
John started his solo career while still in the Beatles. He had already
written two well-received books, In His Own Write ('64), and A
Spaniard in the Works ('65) and in 1966, he acted in Dick Lester's
comedy How I Won the War. Musically, he and Yoko had released the
experimental album Unfinished Music, No. 1: Two Virgins in '68. They
would release two more similar albums in early '69 and also the live
single ""Give Peace a Chance," which was recorded during a Bed-In in
Montreal, Canada. In September of 1969, he returned to live
performances with a concert at a Toronto rock & roll festival. He was
supported by the Plastic Ono Band, which featured Ono, guitarist Eric
Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White. The next
month he would release the single "Cold Turkey", a song about his
addiction to heroin.
Around the time of the release of "Cold Turkey", John told his fellow
band members that he was planning to split from the group. But he
agreed not to publicly announce his intentions until after negotiations
with EMI were resolved. In February of 1970 he released the
single "Instant Karma" which was a big hit. That April, Paul announced
that he was leaving the Beatles, which angered John, who had stayed in
the band temporarily for the band's sake.
His first full-fledged solo album, John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band was
released in December of 1970 and was a shocker to some Beatles fans.
It was inspired by his primal scream therapy that he went through and
was both brilliant and disturbing. One song, the haunting "Mother", was
written about his parents and their abandoning him. "God" was another
song where he dismissed the worshiping that so many believed in
including not only God, but the Beatles too. Everybody should just
believe in themselves, was the song's message.
Listen to "Mother!" 1971 would be a very creative year for John. Early in the year he
released the protest single "Power To The People'', which was yet
another hit. He would move to New York City that year and work on his
next album. Imagine was released in October and went to number one
internationally. The title cut would become the most loved song by his
fans and his most remembered. In December he released the
Christmas anti war single "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)".
More political songs would show up on his next release in 1972,
Sometime In New York City, a double album. By this time he also was
in a legal battle with the US government. He wanted to stay in the
country but US Immigration refused to give him a green card due to a
conviction for marijuana John started his solo career while still in the
Beatles.
In 1975, John dropped out of the public spotlight so he could stay home
and help raise his son Sean, born that year. Then, in the fall of 1980,
John and Yoko made an optimistic comeback with their album "Double
Fantasy," featuring such songs as "Just Like Starting Over"
and "Woman."
Just when his career seemed refreshed and full of promise, however,
Lennon was tragically murdered on December 8, 1980 in front of his
home at the Dakota Building in New York City. John was more than a
musician. He was an artist. A poet. A writer. A father. A husband. A
visionary. A creative spirit. A sense of humor. A genuinely honest
person who had nothing to hide. The writer of "Imagine" was all of
these and more --
and his positive influence will always be remembered!
~Shears
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