John Lennon

John Winston Lennon was born October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England. His father was a sailor and his mother was unable to raise him, so he lived with his Aunt Mimi. His mother resurfaced, though, when he was about 12, and she bought him his first guitar. John started his first band, the Quarrymen, a few years later. On July 6, 1957, he met Paul McCartney at a gig. Paul joined the band, and requested that his friend George Harrison also join, but John said that at 14, he was too young.

John attended the Liverpool Institute of Art in 1959. There he met Stuart Sutcliffe, who would join his band, and Cynthia Powell, whom he would later marry. The Beatles then traveled to Hamburg, where Stuart stayed behind (he died a year later). In June 1963, the Beatles got their first session at EMI, and John married a pregnant Cynthia in August. His first son, Julian, was born in April.

During Beatlemania, John was gone very often and rarely saw his family. He then turned to drugs. In 1966, he acted in the movie How I Won The War. 1966 also saw John meet Yoko Ono, and was instantly awestruck. In 1967, he went with the other Beatles to study under the Maharishi. In 1968, he went public with Yoko, decimating his relationship with Cynthia. John married Yoko in March 1969, as the Beatles were breaking up. Instant Karma was released in 1970. In 1971, Imagine was released. During this time, John was living in New York, but gained the attention of the Immigration Services, who wanted him deported. John spent 1972-1976 trying to get a green card.

On October 9, 1975, Sean Ono Lennon was born. John spent the next several years raising him. In 1980, John had rediscovered his talent for songwriting. He cranked out 20 songs for Double Fantasy, released on November 17. But at 10:50 pm, on December 8, John Lennon was shot in the back 4 times by Mark Chapman, thus assuring that the Beatles would never again reunite. He was cremated two days later.