John Winston Lennon is born. John Lennon - biography, information, personal life Political activity and emigration

Famous musician, one of the artists of the greatest group in the history of mankind, John Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England.
The parents of the future celebrity were Alfred and Julia Lennon - their first and only child born during a German air attack on the city. John's parents separated when the boy was not yet four years old. As a result of this breakup, John was taken in by his maternal aunt, Mimi Smith.
Mimi's relationship with John was not easy - she was a very strict woman, and John was as sarcastic as he was smart. His aunt did not approve of his hobby for the guitar at all, believing that it was a waste of time that would never bring him any benefit.
Like many creatively gifted individuals, John did not shine in school subjects. He was bored with earning high grades - instead he published a school magazine and sang in the choir. Despite all this, John was a regular violator of discipline, and even drew caricatures of teachers.
At this time, a youth craze for rock and roll began in England. This trend could not pass by John Lennon and he, together with his friends, organized a group The Quarrymen. This happened in 1956. John was the guitarist in the group, and besides him there were 5 more people - another guitarist, two drummers, one banjo and even one musician who played the washboard! In July 1957 occurs fateful meeting– John meets Paul McCartney and invites him to the group. After some time, Paul brings in the third member of the future Beatles - George Harrison.
Study in high school ended for John the same way it lasted - he failed his final exams. But, thanks to the help of the director, he managed to enter the Liverpool Art College.
In 1959 year The The Quarrymen transform first into the Silver Beatles, and then into simply The Beatles.
First time popularity new group was local - they were moderately famous in Liverpool, and even in Hamburg, where they often came to give concerts.
In 1961, the group changed its manager (Brian Epstein became) and its image - leather jackets and swaggering behavior to suits, red ties and reserved manners. Perhaps this marketing ploy served as a detonator, perhaps something else, but the fame of The Beatles grew astronomically - if in 63 they were well known in Liverpool and the surrounding area, then in 1964 the whole world knew about them.
1964-66 – the time of the unconditional and undeniable leadership of The Beatles. They toured all over the world. At this time, John carelessly said that “Christianity is no longer the same, it is losing its position.” His words, slightly corrected, were replicated around the world. This led to angry letters and the disruption of concerts. John was threatened with death more than once.
Since 1967, Lennon begins to get involved in drugs, gradually moving away from other members of the group. The leadership, previously equally shared in the Lennon-McCartney pair, passes to Paul.
Relationships in the team have reached critical point in 1968 and the stumbling block was the contradictions between Paul and John. Last album The band's album was "Abbey Road", released in 1969. By the time of its release, John and Paul announced their departure from the group.
From 1968 to 72 John Lennon had a "political period". At this time, he and his wife Yoko Ono carried out various political actions, very ambiguous in form and content. Its main postulate was the denial of war. Since 1971, John and Ono moved to live in New York and received a residence permit there. Since then, Lennon has never visited England.
For some time, John continued to be involved in politics - in particular, the issue of assimilation American Indians. In 1973, John was ordered to leave the United States. This led to a year-long separation from his wife and a creative crisis.
In 1975, Lennon's son Sean was born. After this, John announces the end of his career as a musician and that he will devote the next five years to raising his son. Despite his statement, in 1980 he released the album “Double Fantasy”, which was destined to be the last of his life.
On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot at point-blank range by Mark Chapman. Four out of five shots reached the target, and John, despite prompt hospitalization, could not be saved - he died from significant blood loss. His killer received a life sentence.

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- one of the most famous Britons who lived in the 20th century. According to the BBC rating, he took eighth place in the list of the hundred greatest Britons in history. He was able to achieve all this thanks to the fact that he became one of the founders of the greatest group in the history of music - The Beatles!

John Lennon: biography

John Lennon, biography which is available here, was born in Liverpool on October 9, 1940. IN early childhood His parents separated, and John was taken in by Aunt Mimi and Uncle George. As a result, his uncle actually became his second father, although he died when the future Beatle was only 13 years old. At school, John Lennon did not do well; he was more interested in improving his talents in the field of art - singing and drawing were clearly better for him than other subjects.

During the development of rock and roll, John Lennon quickly became one of its fans. In England, a special style of skiffle appeared, which young groups, including the team, began to popularize John The Quarrymen. Perhaps they would not have achieved success, but on July 6, 1957, one of the most important events in the history of music took place. It was on that day that new member, young and then unknown Paul McCartney. This is how the creative duo Lennon-McCartney was formed, which became the most successful tandem in the history of music. Soon Paul's friend George Harrison comes to the team and the team begins to gain everyone known species. A little later in college, Lennon met Stuart Sutcliffe, who then performed with the Beatles for a couple of years.

At the age of 18, John's mother dies, which was a big blow for the young musician.

John Lennon: The Beatles period

A year after this, the Quarrymen group was renamed the Silver Beetles, and a little later the word Silver was removed from the name and the beetles turned into The Beatles.

In 1960, the group went to Hamburg, where they gained some popularity. Stuart Sutcliffe also remained there for permanent residence, and soon died of a hemorrhage. The Beatles received a new manager at this time - Brian Epstein, who introduced the traditional Beatle jackets without lapels into fashion. He soon married Cynthia Powell, and a year later their son was born.

At this time, worldwide fame fell upon the group, which came to them almost immediately after the release of their first album Please Please Me. At the same time, John and Paul began to gain some popularity in their separation from the group - they wrote more lyrics and music than their colleagues and became slightly more significant figures on stage and off. In 1966, he said in an interview that they were more popular than Jesus and, in general, that Christianity in itself was almost nothing. This caused a storm of protest and, after threatening to kill Lennon, the group decided to stop performing.

After this, the group moved away from the usual correct image in clothing and appearance, and John Lennon I even became addicted to drugs. At this time, his distance from the group began, and a gap in understanding the direction of the Beatles' development between him and Paul McCartney began. Their songs began to sound so different from each other that one could easily understand which of the two geniuses wrote this or that composition. A little bit later John Lennon, photo which is available here, is divorcing his wife Cynthia Lennon, who has not forgiven him for his affair with Yoko Ono. John and Yoko soon formalized their marital relationship. This is what he is dedicated to song The Ballad of John and Yoko.

Back in 1968, the Beatles began to break up, in particular, already that year the joint album of the Lennons was released, Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins. Before The Beatles broke up, they recorded several more albums, and then organized the Plastic Ono Band, which included many stars, including Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and Eric Clapton. The group existed until 1975, managing to release 8 full-length albums containing many hits, among which Imagine, the best creation of John Lennon, stands out. This song rightfully occupies one of the highest positions in all song charts in history. At the same time, a revolutionary period began in his work, which oozed from his songs, interviews, calling to stop wars here and there. As a result, the United States was forced to deny him the right to live within its borders, and even because of this they separated for a while.

After reuniting with his wife, John begins to record new songs, but in 6 years he only releases 3 records. In 1975, he had another son, Sean Lennon.

Death of John Lennon

It seemed that everything was getting better in the musician’s life, but on December 8, 1980, Mark Chapman killed the ex-Beatle with four shots in the back right outside his house, for which he received a life prison sentence.

John's importance to music is enormous, and death of John Lennon caused the world to lose one of the main thinkers of its time. Songs are written in his honor, even Beatles colleagues dedicated their compositions to him, in particular Harrison and McCartney. They even released them in his honor stamps and coins.

(09.10.1940, Liverpool, England - 08.12.1980, New York, USA) (after marriage) - singer, composer, one of the founders British group, an outstanding musician of the 20th century, who created - together with - a new musical space of the 2nd half of the last century. In addition - a poet, writer, artist - what is usually said about such people is an Artist.

Born in Liverpool on October 9, 1940. Upon reaching the age of 16, the guy became seriously ill with rock and roll, which was facilitated by listening to records. Soon after his aunt bought John a guitar, he founded his own band, the Quarrymen, which became the prototype of the legendary. The guys started with other people's hits, but in 1958 Lennon composed his first song, . When they were already on the rise, John married his school friend Cynthia, and the next year they had a son. However, this marriage was unsuccessful and collapsed completely after John met. The musician's first meeting with this avant-garde artist took place in November 1966 at her exhibition in London.

Under her influence and direct participation, in the late 60s, Lennon released a couple of experimental records called “Unfinished Music.” The discs contained a bunch of noise and had no musical value. Even more delusional was the way John and Yoko celebrated their wedding. But the single, recorded during their honeymoon, has become one of the musician's classics.

In September 1969, Lennon appeared at a festival in Toronto, accompanied by the so-called. The band consisted of , (guitar), Klaus Voormann (bass) and Alan White (drums). The first one after Lennon's breakup was released under the same name. The record turned out to be very frank and contained many wonderful things: , and others. However, the most best album Lennon, went out in next year. The disc contained virtually no weak songs, and the title track, which reflected John's idealistic dreams, became an anthem for millions of people around the world.

In 1972, Lennon and Ono released a double live album, which was a collection of political songs. From now on music career Jonah began to decline and subsequent works did not have such enthusiastic reviews. Lennon, who lived in America at that time, experienced serious problems with immigration authorities who couldn't forget past marijuana incidents.

In 1974, John separated from Yoko and more than a year lived a wild life. Having settled in Los Angeles, Lennon had fun in the company of stars: Keith Moon. However, when there were moments of clarity, the ex-Beatle willingly helped his drug-alcoholic friends record records. He also released a solo work, which contained the American number one hit, . November 28, 1974 Lennon in last time appeared in public at a concert. After this, Elton reconciled his friend with Yoko.

At the beginning of 1975, Lennon released an album, after which he plunged into a happy family life, decorated with the birth of his son Sean. Five years passed before the Beatle remembered his musical calling. In the fall of 1980, material for the new album was written in three weeks and released on November 17. A world tour was planned to support the record, but this was not destined to happen.

Discography:

(live album, 1969)
(studio album, 1970)
(studio album, 1971)
(studio album, 1972)
(studio album, 1973)
(studio album, 1974)
(studio album, 1975)
(collection, 1975)
(studio album, 1980)
(collection, 1982)
(studio album, 1984)
(collection, 1986)
(live album, 1986)
(collection, 1997)
(collection, 1998)
(collection, 2004)
(collection, 2005)
(collection, 2005)
(collection, 2008)
(collection, 2010)
(collection, 2010)

, poet, composer, artist, writer. Founder and member of The Beatles, popular musician XX century.

In addition to his musical activities, Lennon was a political activist. He expressed his views both in songs and in public speeches. IN famous song "Imagine" Lennon's thoughts about how the world should be arranged are expressed. Lennon preached the ideas of equality and brotherhood of people, peace, freedom. This made him an idol of the hippies and one of the most significant public figures 1960s - 1970s.

The new hobby did not pass Lennon by, and in 1956 he and his school friends founded the band The Quarrymen, named after the school they all attended. Lennon himself played guitar in the Quarrymen. Besides him, there were five people in the group: another one also played guitar, two on drums, one person on banjo and one best friend John Pete Shotton, - on a washboard. On July 6, 1957, Lennon met Paul McCartney and accepted him into the Quarrymen. Soon McCartney brought his friend George Harrison into the group.

After Lennon failed his GCSEs, he managed (with the help of his headmaster) to enter Liverpool Art College. There he became friends with Stuart Sutcliffe, whom he also attracted to the Quarrymen, and met his future wife Cynthia Powell.

Early Beatles

First visit to the USA

“Those in the cheap seats” greeted this call with thunderous applause. The "rest" - crowned and uncrowned Windsors - were shocked. The scandalous fame only contributed to the growth of the group's popularity, and Lennon from that time took on the role of leader - he announced numbers at concerts and was always the first to go on stage, although in fact it could not be said that one or another member of the Beatles was more important for the group than rest. If in the spring of 1963 they were well known only in Liverpool, then in October of the same year the whole country knew about them, and in 1964 world fame came to the Liverpool group.

In 1964, Lennon showed himself not only as a musician. On March 23, a book of his prose and poetry entitled “In His Own Handwriting” was published. "In His Own Write"), and on June 24, 1965, the second one appeared. The original title of the second book is “A Spaniard in the Works” - this is a play on words that cannot be translated into Russian. In Russia, this book was translated under the title “Spoiler in the Wheel.”

In addition, Lennon tried himself as an actor. Apart from the films made by the Beatles, he once starred in a movie: it was the film “How I Won the War” (eng. "How I Won the War"). The film was not a success with either audiences or critics.

"More Popular than Jesus"

Lennon's appearance, like the rest of the group, changed greatly. The Beatles stopped dressing in neat suits and grew long hair, mustache and sideburns. The famous round glasses appeared for the first time in Lennon's image.

Marriage to Yoko Ono

Lennon met avant-garde artist Yoko Ono in 1966 when he visited her exhibition in art gallery"Indica" Their living together began in 1968, when Lennon divorced his first wife, Cynthia. Soon she and Yoko became inseparable. As Lennon said then, they are not John and Yoko, but one soul in two bodies, John-and-Yoko.

Beatles breakup

Relations within the Beatles finally deteriorated in 1968. Lennon and Paul McCartney have accumulated many complaints against each other. Lennon, for example, was not happy with the fact that McCartney was pulling the blanket over himself, and he was dissatisfied with Lennon’s apathy and constant presence in the studio during Yoko Ono’s recordings (although at the beginning of their career the Beatles agreed not to invite wives and girlfriends to the studio). In addition, their creative collaboration practically ceased; Lennon leaned more and more towards psychedelic rock (“Strawberry Fields Forever”), acid rock (“I am the Walrus”) and avant-garde (“Revolution 9”).

In 1968, the Beatles were on the verge of breaking up, and Ringo Starr even announced his departure (although in the end he still remained in the group). Many of the recordings on the White Album were made with an incomplete lineup, and Lennon recorded the song “Julia” alone.

Political activity and emigration

John Lennon's period of political activity lasted from 1968 to 1972. The beginning of this period was the song “Revolution”, released as a single, and its variation “Revolution 1”, which ended up on the “White Album”. By that time, Lennon had not yet completely decided on his position, which can be understood from “Revolution 1”, where, unlike the original version of the song, the end of the first verse sounds like this:

That is, after the words with which Lennon renounces violence, the word “in” follows, which gives the line a completely opposite meaning. Another political song written for the Beatles album was “Come Together”, released on the Abbey Road album. At this time, Lennon had already taken a very definite position - he advocated world peace, and even returned the Order of the British Empire to the Queen - in protest against ... “British intervention in the Nigeria-Biafra conflict, against our support for the American war in Vietnam and against that that "Cold Turkey" is slipping down the charts"

Recording a song Give Peace a Chance

Lennon's first public political actions together with Yoko Ono took place in 1969. After their wedding, they went to Amsterdam and announced that they would conduct a “bedside interview.” Journalists who decided that star couple will have sex publicly, gathered in a hotel, where it turned out that Lennon and Yoko Ono were just sitting in bed and talking about peace. Donning white pajamas and decorating their hotel room with flowers, John and Yoko sat in bed. The room doors were all day long wide open. Any person from the street could enter them. And he entered. Television, photographers, and newspaper reporters spent days and nights in Lennon's rooms in Amsterdam and Toronto. They never left television screens, the front pages of newspapers and magazines. And along with the sensation, their call to end the aggression in Vietnam involuntarily seeped into the world.

After Amsterdam, the demonstration was repeated in Montreal, where Lennon impromptu composed the song "Give Peace a Chance", which became the anthem of the pacifist movement. On December 15, 1969, the Lennons organized an anti-war concert under the slogan “The war will end if you want it.” On December 30 of the same year, British television showed a program dedicated to Lennon and called him one of three political figures of the decade (along with John Kennedy and Mao Zedong).

Turbulent political and musical activity led to Lennon initially having a psychological crisis. He was brought out of this crisis by Dr. Arthur Yanov, who practiced “The Primal Scream Therapy.” With Yanov's help, Lennon was able to return to normal, and the treatment methods made a deep impression on him, which is noticeable on the 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, which became Lennon's most revealing record.

In 1984, John Lennon's posthumous album Milk and Honey was released. The songs were recorded in recent months Lennon's life. It mainly consists of sessions for Double Fantasy.

Facts and achievements

Memory of Lennon

Discography

Albums

• The U.S. vs. John Lennon (soundtrack, )

Filmography

Director's work in cinema (together with Yoko Ono)

• "Two Virgins" (1968)
• "Number 5" (1968)
• "Honeymoon" (1969)
• "Abduction" (1969)
• "Legs Up Forever" (1970)
• "Freedom" (1970)
• "Fly" (1970)
• "Apotheosis" (1970)
• "Erection" (1971)
• "Imagine" (1972)

Acting works

Two Virgins Apotheosis

Films about Lennon

• "Imagine: John Lennon (1988)
• "The John Lennon Story" (2001)
• "USA vs. John Lennon" (2006)

Bibliography

• Bresler, Fenton - "The Murder of John Lennon" - 1989
• Lennon, Cynthia - "John" - Crown Publishers, 2005
• Goldman, Albert - “The Lives of John Lennon” (from the series “Life of Remarkable People”) - M.: “Young Guard”, 2004.
• Davis, Hunter - “The Beatles. Authorized biography" - M, 1990
• In Memory of John / Yoko Ono, trans. from English T. Shabaeva, M. Malkova. - Ekaterinburg: U-Factoria, 2007. - 384 p.: ill.

Links

• Official John Lennon website
• John Lennon Fan Club (Russian)
• John Lennon on Peoples.ru (Russian)
• John Lennon on IMDB
• John Lennon I write as it is spelled. Spaniard in the wheel (in Russian and English, with photos and drawings, chm file)
• John Lennon's Tattered Song (excerpt from the book “Anatomy of CIA Crimes against Youth”, Molodaya Gvardiya Publishing House, 1985, author of the article A. Naloev)

Notes

John Lennon is an English musician, poet, composer, artist, one of the founders of the legendary British quartet The Beatles.

John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool (Great Britain), since childhood he suffered from congenital myopia (and wore glasses), as well as dyslexia - a disease that manifests itself, for example, in the fact that a person confuses the letters in words. Perhaps both defects had a strong influence on the peculiarities of John Lennon’s perception of the world, on his artistic thinking and poetic talent. It could also have been influenced by the fact that John’s mother and father constantly quarreled with each other in front of his eyes, and he was especially impressed by the episode when he saw his father fighting with his mother’s lover. His mother, Julia, was generally a reckless and reckless woman, however, despite this, John loved her very much and suffered greatly when she died under the wheels of a police car (John Lennon was then 18 years old). Later, John Lennon dedicated several of his songs to her. When John Lennon was five years old, his parents gave him a choice - who he wanted to live with, his father or his mother. John chose his father, but stayed with his mother, his mother took him to Aunt Mimi and left him with her. She was a totalitarian woman and greatly oppressed everyone around her (including John Lennon).

In 1956 John Lennon Founded the Quarrymen team with school friends, in which John Lennon began playing guitar. On July 6, 1957, John Lennon met Paul McCartney, who soon joined The Quarrymen. John Lennon entered the Liverpool College of Art, where he met his future first wife, Cynthia Powell.

In 1959, The Quarrymen mutated into the Silver Beetles, and a little later into simply The Beatles. Further history this group is well known and deserves a separate article. It is important for us now to point out the next big milestone in the life of John Lennon. Namely: on March 14, 1969, John Lennon married Yoko Ono. The point of view that it was this Japanese avant-garde artist who became the decisive person in the formation and development of that John Lennon is consistently carried out in an article by Gleb Davydov that deserves one hundred percent reading. This text also denies the view of Yoko Ono as the person who ruined The Beatles. In fact, the group broke up due to the grueling lifestyle that its members, including John Lennon, led. By that time, John Lennon was using all kinds of drugs (especially a lot of LSD) and was a complete paranoid and drug addict. It was Yoko Ono who helped him come to his senses again and, in particular, through social campaigns such as Bed-in. Immediately after the wedding, John Lennon and Yoko Ono arrived in Amsterdam and announced a “bed interview” there. Journalists, expecting that John Lennon and Yoko Ono would publicly copulate, flocked to the hotel, but there it turned out that John Lennon and Yoko were just sitting in bed and shouting peaceful slogans. White pajamas, flowers everywhere and the doors of their room were wide open all day long... Anyone could come in and talk to them. Cameras, photographers, newspaper journalists and more. The protest later moved to Montreal (where John Lennon publicly recorded the anthemic song Give Peace a Chance). It was a media sensation, and thanks to it, the media was full of proposals to end the war in Vietnam. On December 15, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko held an anti-war concert, “The War Will End If You Want It.” On December 30 of the same year, British TV showed a program about John Lennon, where he was named one of the three politicians decades (the other two are John Kennedy and Mao Zedong).

John Lennon also advocated giving the Indians civil rights, for easing the conditions of prisoners in prisons, for the release of John Sinclair, one of the leaders of American youth, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of marijuana (thanks to the action of John Lennon, Sinclair was released).

In 1971, John Lennon's cult disc Imagine appeared. Since September 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono began to live in the USA. Since then, John Lennon has never returned to his homeland, Great Britain. Read more about the life of John Lennon and Yoko Ono there in the USA in the article by Gleb Davydov.

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was killed by a crazy maniac. In 2002, the BBC conducted a poll to determine the hundred greatest Britons of all time. John Lennon took eighth place according to the voting results.