John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool on 9 October 1940, during a bombing of the city by the Luftwaffe. His father Alfred was a sailor and his mother Julia a dancer in local clubs. He was named John in honor of his grandfather and Winston in honor of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
After his parents separated, young John was raised in the home of his strict aunt Mimi and her husband George, who loved him as her own child. Although he did not live with his mother, he adored her. After all, it was she who gave him his first guitar in 1957, encouraging him to take up music. Her death in a car accident in 1958 was something John never got over, and it was the cause that forged his strong friendship with another young man, Paul McCartney, who had lost his mother to the disease.
John loved writing and painting, with school leaving him rather indifferent. He attended Liverpool College of Art, but was never a consistent student. It was there, however, that he met his first wife, Cynthia Powell, who gave him a child, Julian (1963). John lived for music and in March 1957 he formed his first band, the Quarrymen, named after the school he attended. They played skiffle, a type of folk music with jazz and blues influences.
On 6 July 1957 he met Paul McCartney, who soon joined the band after his father made the basement of the house available for Quarrymen rehearsals. During this time Lennon wrote his first song "Hello Little Girl", which later became a hit with The Fourmost. A young guitarist George Harrison arrives at the band on McCartney's recommendation, giving it a more rocking character. The Quarrymen are renamed "Johnny and the Moondogs", with Lennon taking the lead, but not satisfied with their sound. In the summer of 1958 they record a 45 rpm album containing two songs, the Lennon/McCardney composition "In Spite of All the Danger" and a cover of the Bud Holly song "That ll Be the Day."
In mid-1959, Lennon's band changes its name to the Beatles and begins performing in Hamburg and at the Liverpool club, the Cavern. It was there that they were discovered by Brian Epstein, their first manager, and on 5 October 1962 they released their maiden single "Love me Do". It was a huge success. The Beatles rocket to the top and overnight become a living legend. In their songs they combine Lennon's realistic approach and inwardness with McCartney's optimistic outlook and melodic charisma. Each complements the other and the result is unique. The Beatles elevate the three-minute pop song to an art form.
After Epstein's death, the first shadows begin to appear in the Beatles. McCartney seeks to have a leading role, something Lennon does not like, whose mistress, Yoko Ono, becomes increasingly involved in their affairs, causing the resentment of the others. Thus the break-up of the band in 1970 is inevitable.
By the time of the Beatles, John Lennon had begun his personal musical journey. With the participation of Yoko Ono, he recorded three albums of experimental music and a live performance in Toronto with the newly formed Plastic Ono Band. After the break-up of the Beatles and until his assassination in 1981, he released a series of albums that did not reach the creative heights of the Beetles' music, but were of great interest and resonated with the music-loving public. The highlight was undoubtedly the album Imagine (1971) and the song of the same name, which became the anthem of the anti-war movement.
On 31 August 1971 Lennon moved to New York and would never return to England. He would soon run into trouble with the American state as President Nixon sought a way to deport him. He is not forgiven for being one of the leading figures in the anti-war movement, fighting American involvement in Vietnam. In imaginative ways and by exploiting the media (Bed-In), he is trying to sensitize world opinion to the cause of world peace. Lennon is also targeted by the powerful church organizations, who do not forget his 1966 statement that "the Beatles are superior to God."
In 1973 he divorces Yoko and breaks up with his Chinese secretary May Pag for two years. In November 1974, he would appear on stage for the last time, participating in an Elton John concert in New York City. In 1975 he reunited with Yoko Ono and on 20 March they were married in Gibraltar. On 9 October their son Sean will be born. John gives up music to devote himself to caring for his newborn child. Five years later he would make a strong return to music with the double album "Double Fantasy", which would be the swan song of his short but great career.
On 8 December 1980 the thread of his life was cut by the bullets of a fan, Mark Chapman, to whom he had earlier signed an autograph on his new album. He, with his macabre sense of humour, had foreshadowed his end: "Look where I'm going, either by a plane crash or a bullet from some crazy fan of mine," he had said in an interview years ago.
Discography
Albums
Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins (1968) [US: NO124]
Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions (1969) [USA: NO174]
Wedding Album (1969) [USA: NO178]
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970) [UK: NO8, USA: NO6,
Gold]
Imagine (1971) [UK: NO8, USA: NO6,
Gold]
Imagine (1971) [UK: NO6,
Gold].B: No1, USA: No1, 2 times platinum]
Some Time in New York City (1972) [B.B: NO11, USA: NO48]
Mind Games (1973) [B.B: NO13, USA: NO9, GOLD]
Walls and Bridges (1974) [B.B: NO13, USA: NO9, GOLD]
Walls and Bridges (1974) [B.B: NO6, USA: NO1, GOLD]
Rock n Roll (1975) [B.B: NO6, USA: NO6, GOLD]
Double Fantasy (1980) [B.B: NO1, USA: NO1, 3 TIMES PLATINUM]
Milk and Honey (1984) [B.B: NO1, USA: NO1, 3 TIMES PLATINUM]
Milk and Honey (1984) [B.B: NO3, USA: NO11, GOLD]
Collections
Shaved Fish (1975) [B.B: NO8, USA: NO12, PLATINUM]
The John Lennon Collection (1982) [B.B: NO8, USA: NO12, PLATINUM]
The John Lennon Collection (1982) [B.B: NO1, USA: NO33, 3 TIMES PLATINUM]
Menlove Ave. (1986) [USA: NO147]
Imagine: John Lennon (1988) [B.B: NO64, USA: NO31, GOLD]
Lennon (4CD box set) (1990)
Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon (1997) [B.B: NO3, USA: NO65, GOLD]
John Lennon Anthology (1998) [M.B: NO64, USA: NO99, GOLD]
Wonsaponatime (1998) [M.B:NO76]
Acoustic (2004) [M.B:NO76]
Acoustic (2004) [M.B: NO133, USA: NO31]
Peace, Love & Truth (2005)
Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon (2005) [B.B: NO11, USA: NO135]
The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)
Remember (2006)
Instant Karma (2007).
Live Recordings
Live Peace in Toronto (1969) [US: NO.10]
Live in New York City (1986) [UK: NO.55, US: NO.41, GOLD]
Live Peace in Toronto (2006)
Singles
Give Peace a Chance (1969) [UK: NO.B: #2, USA: #14]
Cold Turkey (1969) [MB: #12, USA: #30]
Instant Karma! (1970) [MB: #4, USA: #3, GOLD]
Mother (1971) [USA:#43]
Power to the People (1971) [MB: #12, USA: #30]
Instant Karma!B: No6, USA: No11]
Imagine (1971) [USA: NO3]
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (1971, 1972) [B.B: NO4]
Woman Is the Nigger of the World (1972) [USA: NO57]
Mind Games(1973) [B.B: NO57]
Mind Games(1973) [B.B: NO26, USA: NO18]
Whatever Gets You Thru the Night (1974) [B.B: NO36, USA: NO1]
No9 Dream(1975) [B.B: NO23, USA: NO9]
Stand by Me (1975) [B.B: NO23, USA: NO9]
Stand by Me (1975) [B.B: NO30, USA: NO20]
Imagine (1975) [B.B:NO6]
(Just Like) Starting Over (1980) [B.B: NO1, USA: NO1, GOLD]
Woman (1981) [B.B: 1, USA: NO2, GOLD]
Watching the Wheels (1981) [B.B: 1, USA: NO2, GOLD]
Watching the Wheels (1981) [B.B: NO. 30, USA: NO. 10]
Love (1982) [B.B: NO. 41]
Nobody Told Me (1984) [B.B: NO. 6, USA: NO. 5]
Borrowed Time (1984) [B.B: NO. 32]
Im Stepping Out (1984) [B.B: NO.B: NO88, USA: NO55]
Every Man has a Woman who Loves Him (1984)
Jealous Guy (1985) [B.B: NO65]
Jealous Guy (1988) [USA: NO80]
Source: sansimera.gr
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