On December 8, 1980, the thread of his life John Winston Lennon was shot by the bullets of one of his fans, Mark Chapman, to whom he had earlier signed an autograph on his new album.
John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool on October 9, 1940, during a Luftwaffe bombing raid on the city. His father, Alfred, was a sailor, and his mother, Julia, was a dancer at local clubs. He was named John in honor of his grandfather and Winston in honor of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
After his parents' divorce, young John grew up in the home of his strict aunt Mimi and her husband George, who loved him as if he were their own child. Although he didn't live with his mother, he adored her. After all, She was the one who gave him his first guitar in 1957, encouraging him to pursue music. John never got over her death in a car accident in 1958, and it was the reason that forged his strong friendship with another young man, Paul McCartney, who had lost his mother to a terminal illness.
John loved writing and painting, though school seemed to leave him rather indifferent. He attended Liverpool College of Fine Arts, but he was never a diligent student. There, however, he met his first wife, Cynthia Powell, who gave him a son, Julian (1963). John lived for music, and in March 1957 he formed his first band, the Quarrymen, which was named after the school she attended. They played skiffle, a type of folk music with jazz and blues influences.
On July 6, 1957, he met Paul McCartney, who soon became a member of the band after his father made the basement of their home available for the Quarrymen’s rehearsals. Around this time, Lennon also wrote his first song «Hello Little Girl», which later became a hit with the The Fourmost.
The young guitarist arrives at the band on McCartney's recommendation George Harrison, which gives it a more rock-oriented feel. The Quarrymen are renamed «Johnny and the Moondogs», with Lennon calling the shots but not being satisfied with their sound. In the summer of 1958, they recorded a 45-rpm single featuring two songs: the Lennon/ McCartney composition «In Spite of All the Danger» and a cover of Bud Holly’s «That’ll Be the Day.’.
In mid-1959, Lennon's band changed its name to The Beatles and began performing in Hamburg and at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. It was there that they were discovered by Brian Epstein, their first manager, and on October 5, 1962, they released their debut single «Love Me Do». Their success is immense. The Beatles skyrocket to the top and, overnight, become a living legend. In their songs, they combined Lennon’s realistic approach and introspection with McCartney’s optimistic outlook and melodic talent. Each complements the other, and the result is unique. The Beatles elevate the three-minute pop song to an art form.
After Epstein's death, the first cracks began to appear in the Beatles. McCartney sought a leading role, something that did not sit well with Lennon, whose mistress Yoko Ono, he became increasingly involved in their affairs, causing the others to grow frustrated. Thus, the band's breakup in 1970 was inevitable.
Ever since the Beatles era, John Lennon had embarked on his own musical journey. With Yoko Ono’s participation, he recorded three albums of experimental music and a live album in Toronto with his newly formed band, the Plastic Ono Band. After the Beatles broke up and until his assassination in 1981, he released a series of albums that, while not reaching the creative heights of the Beatles« music, but were nonetheless of great interest and resonated with music lovers. The album was undoubtedly his finest moment Imagine (1971) and the song of the same name, which became the anthem of the anti-war movement.
On August 31, 1971, Lennon moved to New York and would never return to England. He would soon run into trouble with the U.S. government, as the president Nixon is looking for a way to deport him. He cannot forgive him for being one of the leaders of the anti-war movement, which is fighting against American involvement in the Vietnam. Through imaginative means and by leveraging the media (Bed-In), he sought to raise global public awareness of the cause of world peace. Lennon is also in the crosshairs of powerful religious organizations, which have not forgotten his 1966 statement that «The Beatles are greater than God.».
In 1973, he separated from Yoko and was in a relationship with his Chinese secretary, Mei Pang, for two years. In November 1974, he would appear on stage for the last time, performing at a concert by Elton John in New York. In 1975, he reunited with Yoko Ono, and on March 20, they were married in Gibraltar. On October 9, their son Sean was born. John gave up music to devote himself to caring for his newborn child. Five years later, he would make a strong comeback to music with the double album «Double Fantasy», which will serve as the swan song of his brief but distinguished career.
On December 8, 1980, his life was cut short by the bullets of an admirer, Mark Chapman, to whom he had earlier signed an autograph on his new album. With his characteristic dark humor, he had foreshadowed his own end: «You’ll see, I’ll either die in a plane crash or from a bullet fired by some crazy fan of mine,» he had said in an interview years earlier.
