Sep. 10, 1940 - August 12, 1980
Overview:
Life ended abruptly for John Lennon at forty. Some people may say that his life was just getting interesting when a crazed fan gunned him down, but the entire life of Lennon is intriguing for followers of the Beatles and non-Fab4 fans alike.
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John Lennon
After the Beatles, Lennon became heavily involved in anti-war rallies and peace campaigns.
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Country:
United Kingdom
Type
of hero: Civil and Political Rights
Attributes:
Peace Campaigner,Human Rights, Racism/”Bagism”
Biography:
John Winston Lennon was born to Fred and Julia Lennon during a German bombing raid over Liverpool in October 1940. His aunt adopted him at a very early age as his mother and father divorced. He soon lost contact with his parents and was bought up solely by his aunt still in Liverpool. He was a very intelligent little boy but school just wasn’t suited to him and he failed most of his subjects for his entire school life.
When John was fourteen he formed a skiffle band with a few of his friends. John played guitar and took on lead vocals. At their first performance at a country fete, he was introduced to a young Paul McCartney through a mutual friend and the “Quarry Men” slowly became the Beatles. Even though John wasn’t particularly good at school, he continued on after high school and went to art college. He failed and to play in a club in Hamburg, Germany with the soon-to-be famous band, The Beatles.
The band was discovered in 1962 and their musical careers took off. In the beginning, Lennon enjoyed his life in the public eye; he took advantage of his fame and used it to promote his two books of poetry. Just after the hit “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was released, so was John’s first book “ In His Own Write” (1964) which became an overnight best seller. This was followed by “A Spaniard In The Works” (1965).
Just after the release of John’s second book, John, Paul, George and Ringo travelled to Buckingham Palace were they where to be awarded with MBE’s. John returned it years later in protest against the Vietnam War.
Things continued on for the Beatles and in spite of Lennon’s infamous remark about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus, the band’s popularity soared. They continued recording until 1970 and released eleven chart-topping albums in their eight years as a band. Their success was a product of the strong song writing talent in the Lennon/McCartney team, accompanied by the musical dedication of Ringo Starr and George Harrison.
During his time in the Beatles, John carried a sustained interest in the movements of governments and political leaders around the world. He also paid strong attention to the problem of racism and discrimination in his and neighbouring countries. These interests continued on after the Beatles folded and along with carrying on musically with a solo career and also working in conjunction with his second wife, Yoko Ono, he found time to publicise his thoughts on many of these issues. His and Yoko’s famous Montreal “Bed In” is just one of the examples of protest that Lennon and Ono used to get the world media to pay attention to the issues of war and racism. They also protested against “Bagism” which was a word invented by John and Yoko concerning the discrimination against those who chose to live alternative lives in conformist societies. It is the act of a community or society functioning as a group of diverse individuals, where no discrimination or hatred would be felt for anyone in the group.
John and Yoko left England in September of 1971 for America, where four years later their first and only son; Sean Ono Taro Lennon was born. The family settled down and John takes the role of father very seriously. John had another child with Cynthia Lennon (Powell); John Charles Julian Lennon in his first marriage and regretted that he was to busy touring with his band to watch his son grow up, so young Sean and Yoko got all of his attention. Music for Lennon was put on the backburner for a while.
He continued to voice his opinion and played a number of concerts in protest against the Vietnam war. He only really begins composing again in 1980.
On the afternoon of December 8th, 1980, John signed an autograph for a young fan named Mark David Chapman. Later on that night, as John and Yoko were returning to their apartment from a late-night recording session, Chapman raised a gun towards Lennon and shot him eight times in the head and chest area. John died soon afterwards, before the ambulance arrived.
As John’s life was lost and mourned by the world, his legacy and outlook towards life will continue to arouse generation after generation.
Citations
& References:
Links:
http://webhome.idirect.com/~faab/AbbeyRoad/index.html
http://www.hotshotdigital.com/WellAlwaysRemember.2/JohnLennon.html
http://www.rajczyk.com/John_Lennon.html
http://www.who2.com/johnlennon.html
http://www.bagism.com/http://www.triumphpc.com/john-lennon/
References
“The Illustrated John Lennon” Author-Geoffrey GuilianoChartwell Books, INC. Published in 1993“A Pictorial History The Beatles” Author- Marie CathillBison Group. Published in 1990.
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