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Quick Facts
- NAME: John Lennon
- OCCUPATION: Songwriter, Singer
- BIRTH DATE: October 09, 1940
- DEATH DATE: December 08, 1980
- EDUCATION: Quarry Bank High School, Liverpool College of Art
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Liverpool, United Kingdom
- PLACE OF DEATH: New York, New York
- Full Name: John Winston Ono Lennon
- Originally: John Winston Lennon
Best Known For
John Lennon, pop star, composer, songwriter and recording artist, founded the Beatles, a band that impacted the music scene like no other before or since.
Videos see all videos
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John Lennon - Mini Biography (7:55)
John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Musical Lovers
Watch a short video about John Lennon and Yoko Ono to learn how the creative couple met and made sweet music together.
Women of The Beatles - Cynthia Powell
Rolling Stone's David Wild and Anthony DeCurtis discuss John Lennon's first marriage to his high school sweetheart Cynthia Powell.
Women of The Beatles: May Pang
Biographer Barb Jungr, radio personality Ken Dashow, and friend Elliot Mintz discuss John Lennon?s "lost weekend" with May Pang that lasted 18 months.
John Lennon - Mini Biography
A short biography of John Lennon, from his superstardom with the Beatles to his fame as a solo artist and social activist, to his marriage to Yoko Ono. In 1980, Lennon was gunned down by Mark David Chapman.
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Play NowJohn Lennon. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 07:30, May 21, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/john-lennon-9379045.
John Lennon. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/john-lennon-9379045 [Accessed 21 May 2013].
"John Lennon." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 21 2013, 07:30 http://www.biography.com/people/john-lennon-9379045.
"John Lennon," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/john-lennon-9379045 [accessed May 21, 2013].
"John Lennon," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/john-lennon-9379045 (accessed May 21, 2013).
John Lennon [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 21] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/john-lennon-9379045.
John Lennon, http://www.biography.com/people/john-lennon-9379045 (last visited May 21, 2013).
John Lennon. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/john-lennon-9379045. Accessed May 21, 2013.
The Beatles went on to become the most popular band in Britain with the release mega-hits like She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand.
Contents
Beatlemania
In 1964, The Beatles became the first British band to break out big in the United States, beginning with their appearance on TV's The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. Beatlemania launched a "British Invasion"' of rock bands into the U.S., which included The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. After 'Sullivan,' The Beatles returned to Britain to film their first movie, A Hard Day's Night and prepare for their first world tour.
The Beatles followed up with their second movie Help! in 1965. In June, the Queen of England had announced that the Beatles would be awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire). In August, they performed to 55,600 fans at New York's Shea Stadium, setting a record for largest concert audience. When they returned to England, they recorded the breakthrough album Rubber Soul, which extended beyond love songs and pop formulas.
The magic of Beatlemania had started to lose its appeal by 1966. The group's lives were put in danger when they were accused of snubbing the presidential family in the Philippines. Then, Lennon's remark that "we're more popular than Jesus now" incited denunciations and Beatles record bonfires in the U.S. bible belt. The Beatles gave up touring after an August 29, 1966, concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park.
After an extended break, the band returned to the studio to expand their experimental sound with drug-influenced exotic instrumentation/lyrics and tape abstractions. The first sample was the single Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, followed up by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, still considered by many to be the greatest rock album ever.
The Band Breaks Up
The Beatles then suffered a huge blow when Epstein died of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills on August 27, 1967. Shaken by Epstein's death, the Beatles retrenched under McCartney's leadership in the fall and filmed Magical Mystery Tour. While the film was panned by critics, the soundtrack album contained Lennon's I Am The Walrus, their most cryptic work yet.
After the Magical Mystery Tour film failed, the Beatles retreated into Transcendental Meditation and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which took them to India for two months in early 1968. Their next effort, Apple Corps Ltd. was plagued by mismanagement. In July, the group faced its last hysterical crowds at the premiere of their film Yellow Submarine. In November, their double-album The Beatles (frequently called the White Album) showed their divergent directions.
Lennon had married Cynthia Powell in August 1962 and they had a son together who they called Julian, named after Lennon's mother. Cynthia had to keep a very low profile during Beatlemania. They divorced in 1968 and he re-married Japanese avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, whom he had met at the Indica Gallery in November 1966.
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John Lennon and Yoko Ono
View groupYoko Ono met John Lennon in 1966 during a preview of Ono's art exhibition at a London gallery. The began an affair a year later and, after Cynthia Lennon filed for divorce, married in 1969. In addition to collaborating on numerous recordings, including Two Virgins and "Give Peace a Chance," the couple held "Bed-ins for Peace" to protest the Vietnam War. After the Beatles's breakup, they moved to New York, where their son, Sean Ono Lennon, was born in 1975. Lennon was shot and killed outside their apartment building on December 8, 1980. In his memory, Ono founded the Strawberry fields Memorial in Central Park, the John Lennon Museum in her hometown of Saitama, Japan, and the Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik, Iceland.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono 2 people in this group
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The Beatles
View groupThe Beatles were a legendary rock group that formed in Liverpool, England, in 1960, and went on to transform popular music as a creative, highly commercial art form over the next decade. The Beatles were one of the most popular bands of all time, producing songs like "Yesterday, "Hey Jude," "Penny Lane, "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," "Day Tripper" and "Come Together." Learn more about the "Fab Four"—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—by exploring our Beatles collection.
The Beatles 4 people in this group
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Famous Celebrity Couples 68 people in this group
