Biography of an Outstanding Person

Hi, I’m Bogdan and I’d like to share with you what I’ve found about an outstanding musician John Lennon.

Early Life
Famed singer-songwriter John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, during a German air raid in World War II.

When he was four years old, Lennon’s parents separated and he ended up living with his Aunt Mimi. Lennon’s father was a merchant seaman. He was not present at his son’s birth and did not see a lot of his son when he was young.

Lennon’s mother, Julia, remarried but visited him and Mimi regularly. She taught Lennon how to play the banjo and the piano and purchased his first guitar. Lennon was devastated when Julia was fatally struck by a car driven by an off-duty police officer in July 1958. Her death was one of the most traumatic events in his life.

As a child, Lennon was a prankster and he enjoyed getting into trouble. As a boy and young adult, he enjoyed drawing grotesque figures and cripples. Lennon’s school master thought that he could go to an art school for college since he did not get good grades in school but had artistic talent.

Forming the Beatles
Elvis Presley’s explosion onto the rock music scene inspired a 16-year-old Lennon to create the skiffle band called the Quarry Men, named after his school. Lennon met Paul McCartney at a church fete on July 6, 1957. He soon invited McCartney to join the group, and the two eventually formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in musical history.

Tragic Death
In 1980, Lennon returned to the music world with the album Double Fantasy, featuring the hit single “(Just Like) Starting Over.” Tragically, just a few weeks after the album’s release, Mark David Chapman, a deranged fan, shot Lennon several times in front of his apartment complex in New York City. Lennon died at New York City’s Roosevelt Hospital on December 8, 1980, at the age of 40.

Lennon’s assassination had, and continues to have, a profound impact on pop culture. Following the tragic event, millions of fans worldwide mourned as record sales soared. And Lennon’s untimely death still evokes deep sadness around the globe today, as he continues to be admired by new generations of fans. Lennon was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Here are some interesting facts about John Lennon.

John Lennon was one of the founding members of the Beatles, the most famous pop group of all time. Along with Paul McCartney, he wrote almost 200 of the group’s songs.

Lennon’s childhood home is a museum, visited by thousands of fans every year.

He and McCartney first met at a church event in 1957. The two of them wrote songs and played instruments together after school, with Lennon first playing the harmonica.

During a Beatles concert in London attended by the Queen in 1963, Lennon asked the audience at the back to clap their hands, and for those sitting in the expensive seats at the front to rattle their jewellery.

One of John Lennon’s best known songs. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, was inspired by a drawing made by his son, as well as the book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

John Lennon also enjoyed writing and drawing, and published 2 successful books of his writings and cartoons. His first book sold 50,000 copies in the first day.

The Beatles broke up in 1970, partly because of the influence of Yoko Ono. The group’s last live performance was in 1969 on the roof of their recording studio.

Several of Lennon’s songs were anti-war, including Give Peace a Chance.

Lennon has been voted number 8 on a list of 100 great Britons. He was awarded the MBE in 1965, and has had over 20 number 1 singles in the UK and US.

There is a statue of John Lennon in Liverpool, and a memorial in New York’s Central Park. In 2002, Liverpool Airport was renamed John Lennon Airport, and a peace monument was unveiled in the city in 2010.