John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (born John
Winston Lennon; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980), was an English
musician, singer and songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as a founder member
of the rock band the Beatles, the most commercially successful
band in the history of popular music. With Paul
McCartney, he formed a songwriting partnership that is one of the
most celebrated of the 20th century.
Born and raised in Liverpool,
as a teenager Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze;
his first band, the Quarrymen, evolved into the Beatles in
1960. When the group disbanded in 1970, Lennon
embarked on a solo career that produced the critically acclaimed albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine,
and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Working Class Hero". After his marriage to Yoko Ono in
1969, he changed his name to John Ono Lennon. Lennon disengaged himself from
the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean,
but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the new album Double
Fantasy. He wasmurdered three weeks after its
release.
Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit
in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. Controversial
through his political and peace
activism, he moved to Manhattan in
1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted
in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's
administration to deport him, while some of his songs were adopted as anthems
by the anti-war movement and the larger counterculture.
As of 2012, Lennon's solo album sales in the United
States exceeded 14 million and, as writer, co-writer or performer, he is
responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart.
In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth
and, in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the
fifth-greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon/