John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England. He was the second Beatle to come into existence (Ringo being three months old at the time) and the first child of his family. Of course, he would think he was the only child of his family until he was 17 years old and received news that he had a half-sister named Julia. John only lived with his biological mother for 5 years. His father, Alfred, had come back from fighting in the war to his five-year-old son and a wife that had taken up with another man. Both Alfred and Julia asked John who he wanted to live with, Alfred in Australia or Julia in Blackpool, when Julia's sister, Mimi, stepped in and took John. From that point on, John lived with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George until he went to art college in his late teens. Mimi and John's relationship is fascinating and touching, with her tough and seemingly emotionless personality coming into conflict with John's chronic need to rebel, as the picture above can attest. Nevertheless, Mimi cared deeply for John and considered him her own son, one of the few people that knew John inside and out and stayed with him until the end. John called Mimi as soon has his new band, The Beatles, arrived in Hamburg, Germany. He called her every week until he died. If you want to know more about John's early life, I recommend the 2009 movie, Nowhere Boy. It's unbelievably well-done and gives incredible insight into who John really was.
I'm not going into too much detail right now, but John's band changed its name and shrank to the Fab Four by 1962. Following the enormous success of "Love Me Do," in England, The Beatles were teetering on the edge of Liverpool fame and national fame. But by 1964 after the four had conquered Europe, the single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" broke all barriers that existed between Britain and the United States. From that point on, Beatlemania was a worldwide phenomenon, complete with girls screaming their larynxes out and trampling each other to get so much as a glimpse of the boys.
John always considered himself to be the leader and frontman of the band, despite fellow songwriter Paul McCartney who unfortunately thought the same thing. It was a curious friendship between the two, that some would categorize as a "bromance." John and Paul were very different in fundamental ways yet their friendship remained intact throughout The Beatles and survived the break-up (they reconciled around eight years later, two years before John was killed). Though their friendship was rift with disappointment and barriers that were hard to overcome, John and Paul understood each other.
After The Beatles broke up in 1970, John was deep into drug addictions. Out of the four, he took the hardest drugs, including heroine and cocaine. His new wife, Yoko Ono, who some unfairly credit the breakup of The Beatles to, was an integral part in getting him clean and back to music. Their music group, The Plastic Ono Band knew a lot of success, with songs such as "Merry Xmas War Is Over," "Give Peace a Chance"and John's most famous post-Beatles song, "Imagine." John took a break from the music scene in the late '70s after the birth of his second son, Sean. But in early 1980, John and Yoko combined to create John's last contribution to the music world, Double Fantasy.
Around midnight on December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot five times in the back by Mark David Chapman in front of his home in the Dakota Building in New York City. He died on the scene.
It isn't right to focus on John's death on his birthday. His life is what remains important. It was then and it certainly is now. Though his life was anything but perfect, in fact one of the more dysfunctional ones, music was the fire that fueled his heart and mind. Musical contributions aside (though they are great. The Beatles are pretty cool, I guess...), John's life influenced people the world over and focused on the greater aspects of our lives: peace, love, and passion. Following something and never letting go of it, even through all the obstacles, is what John did and by example taught others to do. John was truly a remarkable man whose contributions to music and life continues to reverberate through time today. In 200 years, someone will be writing a blog post like mine, on John Lennon.
JOHN LENNON
October 9, 1940-December 8, 1980
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