John Ono Lennon, MBE (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English songwriter, singer, musician, graphic artist, author and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founders of The Beatles, with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. In his solo career, Lennon wrote and recorded songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine".

Lennon revealed his rebellious nature and irreverent wit on television, in films such as A Hard Day's Night (1964), in books such as In His Own Write, and in press conferences and interviews. He channelled his fame and penchant for controversy into his work as a peace activist, artist, and author. Lennon had two sons: Julian, with his first wife Cynthia Lennon, and Sean, with his second wife, avant-garde artist Yoko Ono. During a separation from Ono, Lennon spent almost two years with May Pang in Los Angeles and New York from 1973 to 1975, before returning to Ono.

Lennon was murdered in New York City on 8 December 1980 as he returned home after a recording session. In 2002, respondents to a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted Lennon into eighth place. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Lennon number 38 on their list of "The Immortals: The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time" and ranked The Beatles at number 1.

John Winston Lennon was born on 9 October 1940, in the Oxford Street Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, to Julia Lennon (née Stanley) and Alfred "Freddie" Lennon, during the course of a German air raid in World War II. He was named after his paternal grandfather, John 'Jack' Lennon, and Winston Churchill. Freddie was a merchant seaman during World War II, and sent regular pay cheques to Julia, who was living with Lennon in 9 Newcastle Road, Liverpool, although the cheques stopped when Freddie went AWOL. When Freddie eventually came home in 1944, he offered to look after Julia and Lennon, but Julia rejected him. After considerable pressure from her sister, Mary "Mimi" Smith—who contacted Liverpool's Social Services—Julia handed the care of Lennon over to Mimi. In July 1946, Freddie visited Mimi and took Lennon to Blackpool, secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him. Julia found out and found them, and after a heated argument Freddie made the five-year-old Lennon choose between Julia or him. Lennon chose Freddie (twice) and then Julia walked away, but Lennon, crying, followed her. Freddie then lost contact with the family until Beatlemania, when father and son met again.

Throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence, Lennon lived with his 'Auntie Mimi' and her husband George Smith (who had no children of their own) in a middle class area of Liverpool at 'Mendips' (251 Menlove Avenue). Mimi bought volumes of short stories, and George, who was a dairyman at a local farm, engaged Lennon in solving crossword puzzles and bought him a harmonica. Julia Lennon visited 'Mendips' almost every day and Lennon often visited her at 1 Blomfield Road, Liverpool. Julia taught Lennon how to play the banjo, and played Elvis Presley's records to him.

Lennon was raised as an Anglican, and attended Dovedale County Primary School until he passed his Eleven-Plus exam. From September 1952 to 1957, he attended the Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool, where he was known as a "happy-go-lucky" pupil, known for drawing comical cartoons and making fun of his teachers by mimicking their odd characteristics.

Julia bought Lennon his first guitar in 1957; a Gallotone Champion acoustic. It was an inexpensive model that was "guaranteed not to split", but she insisted it be delivered to her house and not Mimi's. Mimi hoped that Lennon would soon grow bored with music, as she was sceptical of Lennon's claim that he would be famous one day, and often told him, "The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it." On 15 July 1958, when Lennon was 17, Julia was killed on Menlove Avenue — close to Mimi's house, when struck by a car driven by an off-duty police officer. Her death was a factor in Lennon's friendship with McCartney, who had lost his own mother to breast cancer in 1956.

Lennon failed all his GCE O-level examinations, and was only accepted into the Liverpool College of Art with help from his school's headmaster and Mimi. Lennon met his future wife there, Cynthia Powell, when Lennon was a Teddy Boy. Lennon was often disruptive in class, and ridiculed his teachers by mimicking them, resulting in teachers refusing to have him as a student. Lennon failed his annual Art College exams despite help from Powell, and dropped out before the last year of college.

Lennon started The Quarrymen, a skiffle band, in March 1957, while attending Quarry Bank Grammar School. Their first engagement was on 9 June 1957 at an audition for impresario Carroll Lewis, known as "Mr. Star-Maker." A few weeks later, on 6 July 1957, Lennon and The Quarrymen met McCartney at the Woolton Garden fête held at St. Peter's Church. McCartney's father later allowed the Quarrymen to rehearse in his front room at 20 Forthlin Road. During their early friendship Lennon encouraged McCartney to steal cigarettes, sweets, or books from shops, and they found a shared interest in playing jokes on the other band members and on their teachers. It was around this time that Lennon and McCartney started writing songs with each other. The first song that Lennon completed was "Hello Little Girl" when he was 18-years-old, which later became a hit for the Fourmost. McCartney convinced Lennon to allow George Harrison to join the Quarrymen - even though Lennon considered Harrison to be too young - after Harrison played at a rehearsal in March 1958. Harrison joined the band as lead guitarist, and Stuart Sutcliffe—Lennon's art school friend—later joined as bassist. Lennon was considered the leader of The Beatles, as McCartney explained: "We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader - he was the quickest wit and the smartest and all that kind of thing."

Allan Williams started to manage The Beatles in May 1960 after they had played in his Jacaranda club. A few months later he booked them into Bruno Koschmider's Indra club in Hamburg, Germany. Lennon's Aunt Mimi was horrified when he told her about Hamburg. She pleaded with him to continue his studies, but was ignored. Koschmider reported McCartney and Best for arson after the two attached a condom to a nail in the 'Bambi' and set fire to it. They were deported, as was George Harrison for working under-age. A few days later Lennon's work permit was revoked and he went home by train. The Beatles went back to Hamburg in April 1961, and recorded 'My Bonnie' with Tony Sheridan.

When Lennon was nearly 21 in October 1961, his Aunt Mater (who lived in Edinburgh) gave him 100 pounds, which he spent on a holiday to Paris with McCartney. Julia Baird—Lennon's half-sister—refutes this, saying that the money came from Lennon's mother's insurance policy, which was to be paid out to her children when they were 21-years-old. Julia and Jackie—Lennon's second half-sister—also received money when they reached the age of 21. In April 1962, The Beatles returned to Hamburg to play at the Star-Club, and were told that Sutcliffe had died a few hours before they arrived. This was another shock for Lennon, after losing Uncle George and Julia.

All Lennon-McCartney songs on the first pressing of Please Please Me album (recorded in one day on 11 February 1963) as well as the single "From Me to You", and its B-side, "Thank You Girl", are credited to "McCartney-Lennon", but this was later changed to "Lennon-McCartney". Lennon and McCartney usually needed an hour or two to finish a song; most of which were written in hotel rooms after a concert, at Wimpole Street—Jane Asher's home—or at Cavendish Avenue; McCartney's home or at Kenwood (Lennon's house).

Lennon was not the first member to leave The Beatles, but did so in September 1969 (Starr had left and returned during 1968, and Harrison left on 10 January 1969 during the filming for Let It Be, but returned after a Beatles' meeting at Starr's house two days later). Lennon agreed not to make an announcement while the band renegotiated their recording contract, but McCartney released a question and answer interview that he had written himself in April 1970, declaring that he was no longer a member of The Beatles. Lennon's reaction when told was, "Jesus Christ! He [McCartney] gets all the credit for it!" Lennon later told Rolling Stone: "I was a fool not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record," (McCartney's first solo album) and later wrote, "I started the band. I finished it."

In 1970, Jann Wenner recorded an interview with Lennon that was played on BBC in 2005. The interview reveals his bitterness towards McCartney and the hostility he felt that the other members held towards Ono. Lennon said: "One of the main reasons The Beatles ended is because we got fed up with being sidemen for Paul. After Brian Epstein died we collapsed. Paul took over and supposedly led us. But what is leading us when we went round in circles?"

Lennon later expressed his displeasure with the scant credit he was given as an influence on George Harrison in his autobiography, I Me Mine, and unhappy that McCartney's Beatles songs, such as "Yesterday", "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be" were more covered than his own contributions, but Lennon also stated his true feelings about his former band members by saying: "I still love those guys. The Beatles are over, but John, Paul, George and Ringo go on."

On 4 March 1966, Lennon was interviewed for the London Evening Standard by Maureen Cleave, and talked about Christianity.

:"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I don't know what will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. We're more popular than Jesus now. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary."

Five months later, an American teen magazine called Datebook reprinted part of the quote on its front cover. The American Bible Belt protested in the South and Midwest, and conservative groups staged public burnings of Beatles records and memorabilia. Many radio stations banned The Beatles' music, and some concert venues cancelled performances. At a press conference in Chicago, on 11 August 1966, Lennon addressed the growing controversy:

:Lennon: I wasn't saying whatever they're saying I was saying. I'm sorry I said it really. I never meant it to be a lousy anti-religious thing. I apologise if that will make you happy. I still don't know quite what I've done. I've tried to tell you what I did do, but if you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then OK, I'm sorry.

The Vatican accepted his apology. Lennon wrote later, "I always remember to thank Jesus for the end of my touring days; if I hadn't said that The Beatles were 'bigger than Jesus' and upset the very Christian Ku Klux Klan, well, Lord, I might still be up there with all the other performing fleas! God bless America. Thank you, Jesus."

Whilst still a Beatle, Lennon and Ono recorded three albums of experimental music, Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions, and Wedding Album. His first 'solo' album was Live Peace in Toronto 1969—recorded prior to the breakup of The Beatles—recorded at the Rock 'n' Roll Festival in Toronto with The Plastic Ono Band. He also recorded three solo singles: the anti-war anthem, "Give Peace a Chance", "Cold Turkey", and "Instant Karma!". Following The Beatles' split in 1970, Lennon released the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album. It included "Working Class Hero", which was banned by WBCN for its use of the word "fucking".

His landmark album Imagine followed in 1971, and its title song became an anthem for unity and anti-war movements. "How Do You Sleep?", on the same album, was written as an personal attack against McCartney, although Lennon later claimed the song was about himself. On 31 August 1971, Lennon left England for New York. In December of 1971, Lennon released the Happy Xmas (War Is Over) single.

Some Time in New York City was released in 1972. Recorded with a local New York band, Elephant's Memory, it contained songs about the hot button issues of the day: women's rights, race relations, Britain's role in Northern Ireland, and Lennon's problems in obtaining a United States Green Card. Lennon had been interested in left-wing politics since the late 1960s, and reportedly donated money to the Trotskyist Workers Revolutionary Party. In 1972, Lennon released "Woman Is the Nigger of the World", but many radio stations refused to broadcast the song, although Lennon performed it on The Dick Cavett Show.

On 30 August 1972 Lennon and Elephant's Memory gave two benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York to benefit the patients at the Staten Island mental facility, Willowbrook State School. These were to be Lennon's last full-length concert appearances.

In November 1973, Lennon released Mind Games, which was credited to "the Plastic U.F.Ono Band". He also wrote "I'm the Greatest" for Ringo Starr's album Ringo; his own demo-version of the song appears on the John Lennon Anthology and produced "Too many Cooks (Spoil The Soup) with Mick Jagger on lead vocal. In September 1974, Lennon released Walls and Bridges in September and the single, "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" (a duet with Elton John). Both rocketed to the top of charts; it was his only #1 single in his lifetime. A second single from the album, #9 Dream, was released in December. He also wrote and recorded "Goodnight Vienna" for Starr.

On 28 November Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at Elton John's Thankgiving concert at Madison Square Garden after he loses a bet with Elton that "Whatever Gets You" would reach #1. Lennon performed "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" and "I Saw Her Standing There". Lennon rush-released his Rock 'n' Roll album of cover songs, in February 1975, before John Lennon Sings The Great Rock N Roll Hits: ROOTS was released (issued by Morris Levy on his Adam VIII label). The album was started in Los Angeles in December 1973, with Phil Spector as producer, and was completed in New York, in October 1974 with Lennon at the helm.

Lennon's last stage appearance was on ATV's 18 April 1975 special called A Salute to Lew Grade; performing "Imagine," "Stand By Me" (cut from the televised edition) and "Slippin' and Slidin'", from his Rock 'n' Roll LP. Lennon's backup band was BOMF (also known as "Etc." that evening). The band members wore two-faced masks, which were digs at Grade, with whom Lennon and McCartney had been in conflict with because of Grades control of The Beatles' publishing company. Dick James—The Beatles' publisher—had sold his majority share in Maclen Music (Lennon's and McCartney's publishing company) to Grade in 1969. During "Imagine," Lennon interjected the line "and no immigration too" - a reference to his battle to remain in the United States. In October 1975, Lennon fulfilled his contractual obligation to EMI/Capitol for one more album by releasing "Shaved Fish," a greatest hits compilation. On 9 October 1975 – Lennon's 35th birthday – his son Sean Ono Lennon was born, and Lennon retired from the music business to care for him. Lennon interrupted his retirement briefly for Ringo Starr. He wrote and recorded "Cookin' (In The Kitchen of Love)" in June 1976. This was his last recording session until his 1980 comeback.

Lennon and Ono used their honeymoon at the Amsterdam Hilton in March 1969, as a "Bed-in for Peace," that attracted world-wide media coverage. At the second "Bed-in" in Montreal, in June 1969, they recorded "Give Peace a Chance" in their hotel room. The song was sung by over half a million demonstrators in Washington, D.C. at the second Vietnam Moratorium Day, on 15 October 1969. When Lennon and Ono moved to New York City in August 1971, they befriended peace activists Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. Lennon performed at the "Free John Sinclair" concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on 10 December 1971. Sinclair was a local antiwar activist and poet who was serving ten years in state prison for selling two joints of marijuana to an undercover cop. Lennon and Ono appeared on stage with Phil Ochs, Stevie Wonder and other musicians, plus antiwar radical Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers. Lennon performed the song, "John Sinclair", which he had just written, calling on the authorities to "Let him be, set him free, let him be like you and me." Some 20,000 people attended the rally, and two days after the concert the State of Michigan released Sinclair from prison. This performance was released on the 2-CD John Lennon Anthology [1998], and the album, Acoustic [2004]). Lennon later performed the song on the David Frost Show accompanied by Ono and Jerry Rubin.

In 1972, the Richard Nixon Administration sought to silence Lennon by trying to have him deported from the US, as Nixon believed that Lennon's support for George McGovern could lose him the next election. Republican Senator Strom Thurmond suggested—in a February 1972 memo—that "deportation would be a strategic counter-measure." [against Lennon] The next month the Immigration and Naturalization Service began deportation proceedings against Lennon, arguing that his 1968 misdemeanour conviction for cannabis possession in London had made him ineligible for admission to the U.S. Lennon spent the next two years in deportation hearings and under a 60-day order to leave the country. . While his deportation battle continued, Lennon appeared at rallies in New York City and on TV shows, including a week hosting the Mike Douglas Show in February 1972, where Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale appeared as his guests..

On 1 April 1973, Lennon and Ono held a press conference at the New York American Bar Association to complain about Lennon's problems with U.S. Immigration authorities, who wanted to deport him. The couple announced the formation of the conceptual state of "Nutopia"; a place with "no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people". All of its inhabitants would be ambassadors. As two of its ambassadors, the Lennons asked for political asylum in the U.S while waving the white flag of Nutopia: two white handkerchiefs. The entire press conference can be seen in the 2006 Lion's Gate movie "The U.S. vs. John Lennon."

In June, 1973 Lennon and Ono made their last political statement by attending the Watergate hearings in Washington, D.C. Lennon won his green card in 1975. After Lennon’s murder, historian Jon Wiener filed a Freedom of Information request for FBI files on Lennon. The FBI admitted it had 281 pages of files on Lennon, but refused to release most of them, claiming they were national security documents. In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. The case went to the Supreme Court before the FBI settled in 1997 — releasing all but ten of the contested documents. The story is told in the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon, by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld, released in theatres in September 2006, and on DVD in February 2007. The final ten documents in Lennon's FBI file were released in December 2006. and are available on the web. Lennon had planned a return to activism on December 14, 1980, when he and Ono were scheduled to travel to San Francisco and protest for migrant workers' rights.

In 1976, Lennon's U.S. immigration status was finally resolved favourably, after a years-long battle with the Nixon administration that included an FBI investigation — a full-scale effort involving surveillance, wiretaps, and agents following Lennon around as he travelled. Lennon insisted that the investigation was politically motivated, a claim that was later proven true. With the departure of Nixon from the White House, the administration of his successor, Gerald Ford, showed little interest in continuing the battle. When Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as president on 20 January 1977, Lennon and Ono were invited to attend the Inaugural Ball. After that appearance, Lennon was rarely seen in public until his 1980 comeback.

Lennon emerged from retirement in November 1980 with Double Fantasy, a "comeback" album which also featured Ono. The songs, arranged back-to-back by the couple created a "dialogue" that focused on their relationship. The name for the album came from a species of freesia Lennon saw at the Bermuda Botanical Gardens; Lennon liked the name and thought it was a perfect description of his marriage to Ono. After the release, Lennon was already planning the next album, Milk and Honey, and an international world tour in 1981.

In one of his last major interviews, conducted in September 1980, Lennon said that he'd always been very macho and had never questioned his chauvinistic attitudes towards women until he met Ono. Lennon was always distant with his first son (Julian) but was very close to his second son (Sean), and called him "my pride". Near the end of his life, he had embraced the role of househusband and even said that he had taken on the role of wife and mother in their relationship.

Cynthia Powell met Lennon at the Liverpool Art College in 1957. After hearing Lennon comment favourably about another girl who looked like Brigitte Bardot, Powell changed the colour of her hair to blonde. Their relationship started after a college party before the summer holidays when Lennon asked Cynthia to go a pub with him and some friends. Cynthia pretended to be engaged (to Barry, in Hoylake) and Lennon stormed off, shouting, "I didn't ask you to fucking marry me, did I?" Lennon was often jealous, as he once slapped Cynthia across the face (knocking her head against the wall) the day after he saw her dancing with Sutcliffe. In mid-1962, Cynthia discovered she was pregnant with Lennon's child. Lennon and Cynthia were married on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register office in Liverpool. On April 8, 1963, John Charles Julian Lennon was born in Sefton General Hospital.

Cynthia came back from a holiday in Greece with friends to find that Lennon and Ono together. The end of their marriage came when Lennon refused to go on a family holiday and was later photographed with Ono, although Lennon sued for divorce, claiming Cynthia had committed adultery. In the ensuing court case Lennon refused to give his wife anymore than £75,000, telling her "What have you done to deserve it? Christ, it's like winning the bloody pools". In the end, she got £100,000 plus £2,400 a year, custody of Julian and the house.

Lennon was distant to his son, Julian, who felt closer to McCartney than to him. The younger Lennon later said, "I've never really wanted to know the truth about how dad was with me. There was some very negative stuff talked about me ... like when he said I'd come out of a whiskey bottle on a Saturday night. Stuff like that. You think, where's the love in that? Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit ... more than dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad." In 1969, Lennon and Ono took a road trip from England to Scotland wioth Julian and Ono's daughter, Kyoko. Lennon crashed the car he was driving, and after Julian returned home to his mom, he wouldn't see his dad again for four years. After encouragement from Pang—his lover at the time— it was finally arranged for Julian to visit Lennon in Los Angeles, where they went to Disneyland. After that, Julian started to see his father more regularly, and even played drums on "Ya Ya" from Lennon's 1974 album, Walls and Bridges. Lennon also bought Julian a Gibson Les Paul guitar, and a drum machine for Christmas in 1973, and encouraged Julian's interest in music by showing him some chords.

Lennon was quoted as saying: "Sean was a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me, and he always will." In an interview shortly before his death, Lennon said he was trying to re-establish a connection with the then 17-year-old Julian, and confidently predicted that "Julian and I will have a relationship in the future." Both Julian and Sean Lennon went on to have recording careers years after their father's death.

On 9 November 1966, after The Beatles' final tour and just after he had finished filming How I Won the War, Lennon visited an art exhibit of Ono's at the Indica gallery in Mason's Yard, London, and he was introduced to her by John Dunbar. Lennon began his relationship with Ono in May 1968, after returning from India. Cynthia filed for divorce later that year, on the grounds of John's adultery with Ono which was evidenced by the latter's pregnancy and miscarriage of their son.

At the end of 1968, Lennon performed as part of Dirty Mac on the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. The supergroup, made up of Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell also backed Ono during the show. During Lennon's last two years in The Beatles, he spent much of his time with Ono partaking in public protests against the Vietnam War. Lennon sent back his MBE insignia in 1969, which Queen Elizabeth had bestowed upon him in 1965. he wrote: "Your Majesty, I am returning this in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts. With love. John Lennon of Bag." The Return of the insignia did not formally negate his appointment to the Order.

On 14 March, as Lennon and Ono were being driven to Mimi's house, in Poole, Dorset, they asked if it was possible to get "married at sea". On 20 March 1969, they were married in Gibraltar, and spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam in a "Bed-In" for peace. Behind their bed were posters that displayed the words "Hair Peace. Bed Peace." They held another "Bed-In", in Montreal, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, where they recorded "Give Peace a Chance", which became an anthem for the peace movement. They were mainly patronised as a couple of eccentrics by the media, yet they did a great deal for the peace movement, as well as for feminism and racial harmony. Lennon and Ono often combined advocacy with performance art, as in their "Bagism" introduced during a Vienna press conference. Shortly after, Lennon changed his name to John Ono Lennon. Lennon wrote "The Ballad of John and Yoko" about his marriage and the subsequent press coverage it generated.

The failed Get Back/Let It Be recording/filming sessions did nothing to improve relations within the band. After both Lennon and Ono were injured in the summer of 1969 in a car accident in Scotland, Lennon arranged for Ono to be constantly with him in the studio (including having a full-sized bed rolled in) as he worked on The Beatles' last album, Abbey Road. While the band managed to hang together to produce one last acclaimed musical work, soon thereafter business issues related to Apple Corps came between them.

Lennon and Ono spent the latter half of the 70s travelling to Japan and alternating between living in the Dakota and a home they had purchased on Long Island, New York.

By the end of June 1973, Lennon's immigration battles and depression over the poor-selling and critically panned "Sometime in New York City" album proved too much of a strain on the couple's marriage, so they decided to separate. Lennon moved to California and embarked on a period he would later call his "lost weekend"—although it lasted approximately eighteen months. At Ono's suggestion he took Pang along as his assistant and lover. Pang had been the couple's personal assistant since the Lennons arrived in New York in December, 1970. She also became production coordinator of both Lennon's and Ono's recording projects.

When Lennon and Pang first arrived in L.A., his excessive drinking would often make headlines. He had two incidents at the Troubadour club; one in which he stuck a Kotex on his forehead and scuffled with a waitress and, a few weeks later, when he and drinking buddy Harry Nilsson were ejected for heckling the Smothers Brothers. Lennon also began recording an album of his favorite oldies, produced by Phil Spector, but Lennon's drinking and Spector's bizarre antics put that project on hold. With Pang's encouragement, Lennon took this opportunity to get reacquainted with his son, Julian, who he had hadn't seen in four years. Lennon invited his son for Christmas, and they got together many times throughout the following year.

When Lennon decided to produce Harry Nilsson's Pussy Cats album in March 1974, the pair rented a beach house in Santa Monica where all the musicians on the album, including Starr, would live together. It was at this house that McCartney and Linda began their frequent visits with Lennon and Pang, and for the time being, all wounds were healed. On the first night of the "Pussy Cats" sessions, Lennon and McCartney played together for the one and only time since the Beatles at Burbank Studios. Stevie Wonder also dropped by and joined in.

When Lennon and Pang returned to New York permanently in May 1974, he stopped drinking. The couple took a penthouse apartment on New York's E 52nd Street and Lennon resumed his recording career at full throttle. On the evening of August 23, 1974, both Lennon and Pang claimed to see a U.F.O. on their balcony. Lennon documented the sighting in the booklet for his "Walls and Bridges" album. During this period, Lennon re-recorded "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" with Elton John, which eventually led to the "Whatever Gets You" duet. When Lennon joined Elton John on stage at the Madison Square Garden in November 1974, Ono was in attendance. Although Lennon claimed he had no idea she would be there, it was in fact Lennon who arranged for her seats. Ono gifted both Lennon and John with gardenia corsages for good luck. It has also been said that the Lennons reunited at this show, but this too, was not the case.

In December, 1974, Harrison came to New York on his Dark Horse tour, and Lennon planned to join him on stage as well. The two had a disagreement over Lennon's refusal to sign The Beatles' dissolution agreement at New York's Plaza Hotel on 19 December 1974. Lennon finally signed the papers, legally dissolving The Beatles partnership in Disneyworld, Florida, while on holiday there with Pang and son Julian. In January 1975, David Bowie achieved his first U.S. #1 hit, in 1975, with "Fame", co-written with Lennon (who contributed vocals and guitar) and Carlos Alomar. Lennon and Pang had planned to visit McCartney and Linda in New Orleans where the McCartneys were recording their "Venus And Mars" album, but on 1 February 1975, Lennon returned to live with Ono, thus "officially" ending his "lost weekend."

When the Lennons reunited, Ono quickly became pregant. On 9 October 1975, on Lennon's 35th birthday, Ono gave birth to a son, Sean Ono Lennon, after having suffered earlier miscarriages. Lennon had many reasons why he decided to retire from music, but were primarily the fact that he had been under contract since 22-years-old, rock 'n' roll was was not as interesting as it once was, and mindful of the limited relationship he had with first son, he could live a family life and become a househusband.

He was asked in 1980 whether The Beatles were now "dreaded enemies or the best of friends." He replied that they were neither, and that he had not seen any of The Beatles for "I don't know how much time." He also said that the last time he had seen McCartney they had watched the episode of Saturday Night Live where Lorne Michaels made his $3000 cash offer to get The Beatles to reunite on the show. The two had seriously considered going to the studio to appear on the show for a joke, but were too tired. This event was fictionalized in the 2000 television film, Two of Us.In June 1980, Lennon travelled to Bermuda, and began writing songs for his "comeback" album, Double Fantasy.

Lennon was first given drugs in Hamburg, Germany. The Beatles had to play long sets, and were often given "Prellies" (Preludin) (slimming pills) by customers or by Astrid Kirchherr, whose mother bought them for her. McCartney would usually take one, but Lennon would often take four or five. He later took amphetamines called 'Black Bombers' and 'Purple Hearts'. The Beatles first smoked cannabis with Bob Dylan in New York in 1964, Dylan mistakenly interpreted the lyric "I can't hide" from "I Want to Hold Your Hand" as "I get high", and presumed that the Beatles were already familiar with the drug. Lennon later said the The Beatles "smoked marijuana for breakfast", and that other people had trouble talking to them, because they were giggling all the time. Lennon tried LSD, and read The Psychedelic Experience, by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner, which they based on, and quoted from, the Tibetan Book of the Dead. He later used heroin, and wrote about the withdrawal symptoms he had experienced in "Cold Turkey". In a 1995 interview, Cynthia said there were problems throughout their marriage because of the pressures of The Beatles' fame and rigorous touring, and because of Lennon's increasing use of drugs.

On 24 August 1967, Lennon met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the London Hilton, and later went to Bangor, in North Wales, to attend a weekend of personal instruction with The Beatles. The time Lennon later spent in India at the Maharishi's ashram (with Cynthia) was productive, as most of the songs that were recorded for The White Album, and Abbey Road, were composed there by Lennon, McCartney, or both together. Although later turning against the Maharishi, Lennon still advocated meditation when interviewed.

In 1970, Lennon and Ono went through Primal therapy with Dr. Arthur Janov, in Los Angeles, California. The therapy consisted of screaming out one's emotional pain, but Lennon and Ono ended the sessions before completing a full course of therapy, as Ono constantly argued with Janov.

Each of The Beatles was known, especially during Beatlemania, for his sense of humour. During live performances of "I Want to Hold Your Hand", Lennon often changed the words to "I want to hold your gland", because of the difficulty hearing the vocals above the noise of screaming audiences. At the Royal Variety Show in 1963—in the presence of members of the British royalty—Lennon told the audience, "Those of you in the cheaper seats can clap your hands. The rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery." Lennon put on weight during 1965, and later said, "It was my fat-Elvis period."

During the Get Back sessions, Lennon introduced "Dig a Pony" by shouting, "I dig a pygmy by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids; phase one in which Doris gets her oats!" The phrase was later edited to precede "Two of Us" on Let It Be. Lennon often counter-pointed McCartney's upbeat lyrics, as in "Getting Better":

: McCartney: "I've got to admit it's getting better, a little better, all the time."

: Lennon: "Can't get no worse."

Lennon appeared in comedy television shows, such as the Morcambe and Wise show with the rest of The Beatles, and played a doorman in a gents' toilet in Not Only But Also. In the Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus film, Lennon changed the title of "I Wanna Be Your Man" (which was recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1963) to "I Want to Hold Your Man", while talking with Mick Jagger.

Lennon's humour could also be caustic, such as when Brian Epstein asked Lennon for a title for Epstein's autobiography, and Lennon answered: "How about, Queer Jew?" When Lennon heard that the title of the book would be A Cellarful of Noise, he said to a friend: "More like A Cellarful of Boys."

Lennon started writing and drawing early in life, with encouragement from his Uncle George (Mimi's husband). He often drew caricatures of his school teachers; when he attended art school he penned love poems to Cynthia Lennon on scraps of paper, once writing, "Our first Christmas, I love you, yes, yes, yes." Lennon even created his own comic strip, which he called "The Daily Howl". This contained drawings, frequently of crippled people, and satirical writings, often with a play on words. For example, in one page, Lennon wrote a weather report saying that "Tomorrow will be Muggy, followed by Tuggy, Wuggy and Thuggy."

When Liverpool's Mersey Beat magazine was founded, Lennon was often asked to contribute. His first piece was about the origins of The Beatles and contained the line, "A man appeared on a flaming pie, and said you are Beatles with an 'A'."

Books written by Lennon, or with contributions. Some were published posthumously. The first three works here are generally considered to be unique examples of literary nonsense. * John Lennon (1964), In His Own Write. * John Lennon (1965), A Spaniard in the Works. * John Lennon (1986), Skywriting by Word of Mouth. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-015676-7 * John Lennon (1992), Ai: Japan Through John Lennon's Eyes: A Personal Sketchbook. Cadence Books. ISBN 0-929279-78-6 - Lennon's familiar drawings illustrating definitions of Japanese words. * John Lennon (1999), Real Love: The Drawings for Sean. New York: Random House Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0-375-80174-X * The Beatles Anthology. - includes writings, drawings, and interview transcripts by Lennon

Throughout his solo career, Lennon appeared on his own albums (as well as those of other artists like Elton John) under such pseudonyms as Dr Winston O'Boogie, Mel Torment (a play on singer Mel Tormé), and The Reverend Fred Gherkin. He and Ono (as Ada Gherkin "ate a gherkin", and other sobriquets) also travelled under such names, thus avoiding unwanted public attention.

Lennon also named his session musicians under various different band names during his career, including:
* The Plastic Ono Band (for the Plastic Ono Band album) * The Plastic Ono Band with the Flux Fiddlers (Imagine) * The Plastic U.F.Ono Band (Mind Games) * The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns and the Philharmonic Orchestrange (Walls and Bridges)

8 December, 1980 was an unusually warm day in New York City. Lennon was up and about early, first to his favorite haunt, Cafe LaFortuna, for his morning coffee then to the barber before returning home. He would then do an interview for the RKO Radio Network before a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for Rolling Stone magazine.

Around 5 p.m., Lennon and Ono left the Dakota to mix her latest track, "Walking on Thin Ice." As they headed to their limo, they were approached by several people seeking autographs. Among them was a young man later to be identified as Mark David Chapman. Without saying a word, Chapman handed Lennon a copy of Double Fantasy and Lennon happily obliged with an autograph. The man struck Lennon as odd, which prompted Lennon to ask him "Is this all you want?" Chapman meekly replied, "Thank you, John" while photographer and Lennon fan Paul Goresh snapped photos of Lennon signing his soon-to-be killer's album.

The Lennons spent several hours at the studio on West 54th Street before returning to the Dakota at about 10:50 p.m. Lennon decided to forego getting something to eat so he could say goodnight to his five-year-old Sean before he went to sleep. They exited their limousine on 72nd Street, even though the car could have been driven into the more secure courtyard. Jose Perdomo (the doorman at the entrance), and a cab driver saw Chapman standing in the shadows by the archway. Ono walked in first. Lennon followed and, noticing the strange man still standing in front of the building, began walking faster. Chapman called out, "Mr. Lennon!" As Lennon turned around, Chapman dropped into a "combat stance" and shot at Lennon five times with hollow point bullets from a Charter Arms .38 revolver. One shot missed, passing over Lennon's head and hitting a window of the Dakota building. Two shots struck Lennon in the left side of his back and two more in his left shoulder. All four wounds caused serious internal damage, and at least one of them fatally pierced Lennon's aorta.

Lennon staggered up four steps to the security/reception area, said, "I'm shot," and collapsed. Concierge Jay Hastings first thought it was a joke, but soon realized that Lennon was dying before his eyes. He summoned police by hitting a silent alarm button and ran out from behind his desk to comfort Lennon and try to keep him focused. Chapman calmly sat down on the sidewalk and waited for the police to arrive. Doorman Pedermo shouted at Chapman, "Do you know what you've done?" before kicking the revolver across the sidewalk. Chapman calmly replied, "I just shot John Lennon." The first policemen to arrive were Steve Spiro and Peter Cullen, who were at 72nd Street and Broadway when they heard a report of shots fired at the Dakota. The officers found Chapman sitting "very calmly" on the sidewalk. They reported that Chapman had dropped the revolver to the ground, and was holding a paperback book (J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye), and a cassette recorder, along with more than ten audio cassettes, with 14 hours of Beatles' songs on them.

The second team — Officers Bill Gamble and James Moran, who arrived a few minutes later — upon arrival immediately carried Lennon into their squad car and rushed him to Roosevelt Hospital. Officer Moran said they stretched out Lennon (who was "moaning") on the back seat. Moran asked, "Do you know who you are?" Lennon nodded slightly and tried to speak, but could only manage to make a gurgling sound. According to Ono, he uttered no final words. Lennon lost consciousness shortly thereafter.

Lennon was pronounced D.O.A. in the Emergency Room at the Roosevelt Hospital at 11:15 p.m. by Dr. Stephen Lynn. The cause of death was reported as hypovolemic shock, after losing more than 80% of blood volume. Dr. Elliott M. Gross (the Chief Medical Examiner) said that no one could have lived more than a few minutes with such multiple bullet injuries. Ono, crying "Oh no, no, no, no...tell me it's not true," was taken to Roosevelt Hospital and led away in shock after she learned that her husband was dead. On December 9th, Ono issued a statement: "There is no funeral for John. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please pray the same for him. Love, Yoko and Sean."

Shortly after local news stations reported the shooting, people began to gather at Roosevelt Hospital and in front of the Dakota - reciting prayers, singing Lennon's songs and burning candles. The first national transmission of the news across the U.S. was on the fledgling Cable News Network, on which anchorwoman Kathleen Sullivan reported that Lennon had been shot and was en route to a New York hospital (his death had not been confirmed). ABC was in the midst of airing an NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. After hearing the news sent by ABC News chief Roone Arledge, sports announcer Howard Cosell (who had interviewed Lennon on Monday Night Football on 9 December 1974) announced the news of Lennon's murder. NBC announced the news during a comedy sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. It was interrupted by an anonymous announcer voicing the news bulletin, and then returned to the sketch.

When reporters cornered McCartney for his reaction, all the obviously shocked Beatle could muster was, "Drag, isn't it?" His response was criticised, but McCartney later stated in a Playboy interview that "I had just finished a whole day in shock and I said, 'It's a drag.' I meant drag in the heaviest sense of the word, you know: 'It's a — DRAG.' But, you know, when you look at that in print, it says, 'Yes, it's a drag.' Matter of fact."</bgref>

Lennon had a macabre sense of humour about dying, once saying, "We'll either go in a plane crash or we'll be popped off by some loony." Although Lennon joked about it, several 1960s Beatles concerts in the United States and Canada did have heightened security because of death threats. Also, when Beatles roadie and long-time Friend Mal Evans was killed in Los Angeles in 1976, his ashes were lost en route to England. Lennon suggested they "check the dead letter office."

On 14 December 1980, millions of people across the world responded to Ono's request to pause for ten minutes of silence to remember Lennon. Thirty thousand gathered in Liverpool, and the largest group - over 100,000 - converged on New York's Central Park, close to the scene of the shooting.

On January 22, 1981, an Annie Leibovitz photo of Lennon, taken on the day he died, appeared on the cover of the Rolling Stone magazine (Issue #335). In October 2005 it was voted their best ever magazine cover.

Lennon continues to be mourned throughout the world and has been the subject of numerous memorials and tributes, principally New York City's Strawberry Fields — a memorial garden area in Central Park, across the street from the Dakota building. Shortly after his death, Ono donated $1 million for its maintenance. It has become a gathering place for tributes on Lennon's birthday and on the anniversary of his death, as well as at other times of mourning, such as after the September 11, 2001 attacks and following George Harrison's death on November 29, 2001.

On October 9, 2007, Lennon's widow, Ono, dedicated a new memorial called the Imagine Peace Tower, located on the island of Videy, off the coast of Iceland. Each year, between October 9 and December 8, it will project a vertical beam of light high into the sky.

Every 8 December, there is a memorial ceremony in front of the Capitol Records building on Vine Street in Hollywood, California. It includes speakers discussing Lennon, and musical tributes. Various fellow musicians paid tribute to Lennon through songs. George Harrison rewrote "All Those Years Ago" on his 1981 album, Somewhere in England. Starr added drums, and McCartney, and Linda McCartney later added backing vocals. McCartney wrote the ballad "Here Today" on his 1982 album, Tug of War.

Paul Simon co-wrote the song "The Late Great Johnny Ace" with Philip Glass about Lennon's death, and included it on his 1983 album, Hearts and Bones. Queen included the song "Life is Real (Song for Lennon)" on their 1982 album Hot Space. Elton John released "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)", from his Jump Up! album.

Lennon was honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991. In 1994, the Republic of Abkhazia (an unrecognized state that is officially part of Georgia) issued two postage stamps featuring Lennon and Groucho Marx, spoofing Abkhazia's communist past. (The stamps would have normally bore the portraits of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.) In 1995, as part of the Beatles Anthology project, the three surviving members produced new versions of two Lennon songs, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", using Lennon's demo tapes as a vocal foundation to produce "new Beatles music."

In 2000, John Lennon Museum was opened in Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Saitama, Japan. Liverpool renamed its airport the Liverpool John Lennon Airport and adopted the motto "Above us only sky", in 2002. The 25th memorial of John Lennon's death was on 8 December 2005. Celebrations of Lennon's life and music took place in London, New York City, Cleveland, and Seattle. The minor planet 4147, discovered 12 January 1983 by B. A. Skiff at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory, was named in memory of Lennon.

From 28 September until 30 September 2007, musicians, poets, painters, dramatists and others came together to celebrate the "John Lennon Northern Lights Festival" in the village of Durness, Scotland. This cultural event, drawing artists and audiences from across the United Kingdom and around the world, was hosted in the region where Lennon spent Summer holidays as a boy. His cousin, Stanley Parkes, said: "The festival is not remembering John Lennon the pop star, but John the person, the writer and the poet."

BRIT Awards: * 1977: Outstanding contribution to music during the past 25 years * 1977: Best British band of the past 25 years * 1977: Best British album of the past 25 years (for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) * 1983: Outstanding contribution to music

* 1982 BRIT Awards - Outstanding contribution to music.

:For Lennon's solo career's discography, see John Lennon discography. For his works with The Beatles, see The Beatles discography.

* * Baird, Julia (with Geoffrey Giuliano) (1989), John Lennon My Brother. Grafton Books. ISBN 0-586-20566-7 * Fenton Bresler (1989), The Murder of John Lennon. Mandarin Press. ISBN 0-7493-0357-3 * Ray Coleman (1984), Lennon: the definitive biography. Harper. Four further updated editions, the last being in 2000. ISBN 0-330-48330-7 * Albert Goldman (2001), The Lives of John Lennon. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 1-55652-399-8 * Larry Kane (2005), Lennon Revealed. Running Press. ISBN 0-7624-2364-1 * John Lennon, Yoko Ono, David Sheff and G. Barry Olson (1981), The Playboy interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: Playboy Press/Putnam. ISBN 0-87223-705-2 - includes unpublished conversations and Lennon's song-by-song analysis of his work. * John Lennon, Jann Wenner (1971), Lennon Remembers: The Complete Rolling Stone Interviews from 1970. Straight Arrow Books. ISBN 1859846009. * Cynthia Lennon (2005), John. Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-307-33855-X * Elizabeth Partridge (2005), John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth. Viking Juvenile, ISBN 0-670-05954-4 * Nicholas Schaffner (1980), The Beatles Forever. Bookthrift Co. ISBN 0-811-70225-1 * Bob Spitz (2006), The Beatles: The Biography. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 1-84513-160-6 * * E. Thomson and D. Gutman (editors) (2004), The Lennon Companion: Twenty-Five Years of the Comment. ISBN 0306812703 * Jon Wiener (1985), Come Together: John Lennon In His Time. Random House. * Jon Wiener (2000), Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files. Univ. of California Press.

* Official John Lennon website * The Liverpool Lennons * BBC Lennon Site * * * John Lennon as an artist * Lennon FBI files * John Lennon Discography

John Lennon