John Winston Lennon a.k.a. John Ono Lennon is acknowledged as one of the biggest musical icons of the 20th century. He has made marvelous contribution to the development of rock music, bringing in more serious and political messages into the genre. In the Beatles, he is best known as a singer, poet, songwriter, and guitarist. But his creative life had also taken into its fold other roles; he was a solo musician, artist, political activist, actor and author. Lennon’s songs, like "Imagine" and "Strawberry Fields Forever", are often rated best in popular music history. In 2002, in a vote conducted by BBC to discover the 100 Greatest Britons of all time, the Britons voted Lennon to the 8th place.
Born in Liverpool on the evening of October 9, 1940, Lennon grew up in a period of great political uncertainty. UK was heavily involved in World War II. Though both his parents were musically talented, they didn’t bother to take it seriously. When Lennon was 5, his father Alfred , a merchant seaman, walked out on the family. Realizing her inability to support her son single-handedly, his mother Julia entrusted the childcare with her sister Mimi and her husband George who lived at Mendips, 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool.
Lennon had severe myopia as he grew up. In his early Beatle career, he used to wear contacts or prescription sunglasses or sometimes "toughed it out" without them. In 1966, on the sidelines of ‘How I Won The War’ set, Lennon was presented a pair round, wire-rimmed National Health spectacles. He started wearing this continuously and it became a signature of his iconic public image. Though John lived away from his mother, he found time to visit her regularly. It was during these visits that Julia taught her son play the banjo.
On July 15, 1958 Lennon’s mother was killed, when a drunken off-duty police officer hit her with his car. Lennon was 17 then. His friend Paul McCartney also had lost his mother to breast cancer in 1956, when Paul was 14. The same kind of loss in both guys’ life was a bonding element of their friendship. Years later, Lennon wrote the songs "Julia", "Mother" and "My Mummy's Dead" to keep alive the memory of her mother. He also named his firstborn son, Julian, after his mother (Julia).
Though Lennon failed to qualify at grammar school, the school headmaster and her aunt Mimi helped him get admission in the Liverpool College of Art. It was here he met his would be Cynthia Powell, whom he married in 1962, after she became pregnant with Julian. Lennon found hard to cope with the College atmosphere and ultimately dropped out to pursue music. He drew inspiration from American Rock 'n' Roll and singers such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry.
Lennon had formed a skiffle band in grammar school, called the Quarry Men, naming it after his alma mater, Quarry Bank. When Paul McCartney and George Harrison joined the band it started playing rock 'n' roll, taking the name "Johnny and the Moondogs". The name was later changed to "The Silver Beetles" in tribute to Buddy Holly's Crickets and was then reduced to The Beatles.
Lennon along with Paul McCartney is considered one of the most influential singer-songwriter-musicians of the 20th century. Lennon worked hard to expand the boundaries of rock and roll genre, during the 1960s. Lennon’ outspoken nature had been exploited by the media, often leading to controversies. In 1966, Teen magazine misquoted his interview setting off a firestorm of protest from Christian communities. The furor died down later when he apologized publicly. The Beatles soon stopped touring, and turned a studio band.
On November 9, 1966, Beatles’ final tour ended and coming back, Lennon did a minor role in the film How I Won the War. Soon after this he made a casual visit at the Indica art gallery in London, where Yoko Ono’s artwork was on display. His love affair with Ono started in 1968 after his return from India. His relationship with his ex-wife Cynthia had become strained and she filed for divorce later that year.
Beatles started breaking apart immediately after the demise of their manager Brian Epstein in 1967 (the split came in 1970). Lennon along with Ono has carried out protest campaigns against Vietnam War, Nigeria-Biafra issue and other pet causes like women's liberation and racial harmony. At one instance, he even declined the MBE he received from Queen Elizabeth II. On March 20, 1969, Lennon got married to Ono in Gibraltar. During their honeymoon days, the couple recorded "Give Peace a Chance" which went on to make an international anthem for the peace movement. Simmering differences of opinion led to the parting away of McCartney and Lennon eventually.
In 1975, Yoko became the mother Lennon’s second son Sean and to experience fatherhood in a sumptuous manner, he retired from music to private life. After long five years, Lennon picked up his guitar again and later he and Ono produced Double Fantasy.
In the late afternoon of December 8, 1980, in New York City, a deranged fan Mark David Chapman shot down Lennon, as the couples were returning to their apartment from the recording session of Ono's single "Walking on Thin Ice" for their next album. Long before, in the 1960s, when asked how he expected to die, Lennon's had given an offhand answer, "I'll probably be popped off by some loony." Who could have imagined then that it was a joke that would come true… years later…?
