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John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980), was a 20th-century English songwriter, singer and instrumentalist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founders of the Beatles. Lennon and Paul McCartney formed a critically acclaimed and commercially successful partnership writing songs for the Beatles and other artists.[1] Lennon, with his cynical edge and knack for introspection, and McCartney, with his storytelling optimism and gift for melody, complemented one another uniquely.[2] In his solo career, Lennon wrote and recorded songs such as "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance". Lennon revealed his rebellious nature and irreverent wit on television, in films such as A Hard Day's Night (1964), in books such as In His Own Write, and in press conferences and interviews. He channeled his fame and penchant for controversy into his work as a peace activist, artist, and author.
In 2002, respondents to a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted Lennon into eighth place. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Lennon number 38 on their list of "The Immortals: The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time"[3][4] and ranked the Beatles at number 1.
Early years: 1940-1957John Winston Lennon was born on 9 October 1940, in the Oxford Street Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, to Julia Lennon (née Stanley) and Alfred "Freddie" Lennon,[5] during the course of a German air raid in World War II.[6] He was named after his paternal grandfather, John 'Jack' Lennon, and Winston Churchill.[6] Both parents played the banjo and sang (Freddie specialised in impersonating Al Jolson) though neither pursued music professionally.[7] Freddie Lennon was not present at John's birth. He was a merchant seaman during the war and sent regular pay cheques to Julia, who was living with John in Newcastle Road, Liverpool. The cheques stopped when Freddie went AWOL.[8] As Freddie was seldom in Liverpool, Julia started going out to dance halls and met a Welsh soldier called 'Taffy' Williams[9] by whom she became pregnant in late 1944.[10] When Freddie Lennon eventually came home in 1944 he offered to look after Julia, John, and the expected baby, but Julia rejected the idea.[11] On 19 June 1945 she gave birth to a daughter, Victoria,[12] who was given up for adoption after intense pressure from Julia's family (the girl was later re-named Ingrid) .[11] Lennon was not told about his half-sister's birth and never knew of her existence.[13] Julia later met John 'Bobby' Dykins and moved into a small flat with him.[14] After comments on the still-married Julia 'living in sin' with Dykins[15][16] and after considerable pressure from her sister, Mary "Mimi" Smith — who contacted Liverpool's Social Services and complained about John sleeping in the same bed as Julia and Dykins — Julia reluctantly handed the care of John over to Mimi.[16](Julia later had two daughters - Julia and Jackie - with Dykins.)[17] In July 1946, Freddie visited Mimi and took John to Blackpool for a long 'holiday', secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him.[18] Julia and Dykins found out and followed them, and after a heated argument Freddie made the five-year-old John choose between Julia or him. John chose Freddie (twice) and then Julia walked away, but John, crying, followed her.[13] Freddie then lost contact with the family until Beatlemania, when father and son met again.[19] Image:Mendipsnationaltrust.JPG 'Mendips' - Lennon's childhood home.
Lennon was raised as an Anglican,[24][25] and like much of the population of Liverpool, he had some Irish heritage. Lennon attended Dovedale County Primary School until he passed his Eleven-Plus exam. From September 1952 to 1957, he attended the Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool[26] where he was a "happy-go-lucky" pupil,[27] known for drawing comical cartoons and making fun of his teachers by mimicking their odd characteristics.[28] Julia bought Lennon his first guitar, an inexpensive model that was "guaranteed not to split", but insisted it be delivered to her house and not Mimi's.[29] Mimi hoped that John would soon grow bored with it - she was sceptical of Lennon's claim that he would be famous one day, and often told him, "The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it." Years later, when the Beatles were successful, John presented Mimi with a silver platter engraved with those words.[30] George Smith died in 1955[31][32] and on 15 July 1958 (when Lennon was 17) Julia was killed on Menlove Avenue by a car driven by a drunken, off-duty police officer — close to Mimi's house.[33][31] Her death was one of the most traumatic events in John's life and one of the factors that cemented his friendship with McCartney, who had lost his own mother to breast cancer in 1956.[34] Lennon named his firstborn son Julian after his mother, and later wrote the song, "Julia". Lennon failed all his GCE O-level examinations by one grade. He was accepted into the Liverpool College of Art with help from his school's headmaster and his Aunt Mimi, who was insistent that John should have some sort of academic qualifications. It was there that he met his future wife, Cynthia Powell, when Lennon was a Teddy Boy.[35] Lennon failed his exams despite help from Powell, and was often disruptive in class with most of the teacher's refusing to take him on in their classes.[36] He also picked on anyone that was in anyway different, using his quick wit and sense of humour to bully them.[37]He dropped out before the last year of college.[38] 1957-1960: The Quarrymen and the Silver BeetlesLennon started the Quarry Men skiffle band in March 1957[39] whilst attending Quarry Bank Grammar School.[39] Their first engagement was on 9 June 1957 at an audition for impresario Carroll Lewsis, known as "Mr. Star-Maker."[40] A few weeks later, on 6 July 1957, Lennon and The Quarrymen met guitarist Paul McCartney at the Woolton Garden fête held at St. Peter's Church.[41] McCartney's father later allowed the Quarrymen to rehearse in his front room at 20 Forthlin Road.[42][43] During their early friendship Lennon encouraged McCartney to steal cigarettes, sweets, or books from shops,[44] and they found a shared interest in playing jokes on the other band members and on their teachers.[28] McCartney convinced Lennon to allow George Harrison to join the Quarrymen - although Lennon considered Harrison to be too young - after Harrison played at a rehearsal in March 1958.[45] Harrison joined the group as lead guitarist,[46] and Stuart Sutcliffe (Lennon's art school friend) later joined as bassist.[47] The band switched to playing rock 'n' roll, using the name 'Johnny and the Moondogs', but Lennon found it too musically associated to skiffle. In 1960, the band changed its name five times. Stuart Sutcliffe suggested 'the Beetles' as a form of tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets, which he and Lennon then thought of changing to the 'Beatals'. They changed their name again to the 'Silver Beats', The Silver Beetles, and the 'Silver Beatles', but Lennon shortened it to the Beatles, to avoid being introduced as "Long John Silver of the Silver Beatles", which was too similar to 'Johnny and the Moondogs'. After a tour with Johnny Gentle in Scotland,[48][49] they changed their name to the 'Beatles'.[50] Lennon was considered the leader of the Beatles, as he founded the original group. McCartney said, "We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader - he was the quickest wit and the smartest and all that kind of thing."[51][52] 1960-1970: The BeatlesImage:Beatles John Lennon 1964.jpg John Lennon in 1964. Allan Williams started to manage the Beatles in May 1960 after they had played in his Jacaranda club.[53]A few months later he booked them into Bruno Koschmider's Indra club in Hamburg, Germany.[54][55] Mona Best ran the Casbah Club in the basement of her home in Liverpool,[56] where the Beatles often played in 1959,[57] and Mona's son Pete joined the Beatles on drums as soon as their first Hamburg season was confirmed.[57] Aunt Mimi was horrified when Lennon told her about Hamburg. She pleaded with him to continue his studies, but was ignored.[58] The Beatles first played at the Indra[55] club - sleeping in small, dirty rooms in the Bambi Kino[55] - and after the closure of the Indra moved to the larger Kaiserkeller[55][59] In October 1960, they left Koschmider's club and worked at the "Top Ten Club",[60][55] which was run by Peter Eckhorn.[61] Koschmider reported McCartney and Best for arson after the two attached a condom to a nail in the 'Bambi' and set fire to it.[62] They were deported, as was George Harrison for working under-age.[63] Days later Lennon's work permit was revoked and he went home by train, but Sutcliffe had tonsilitis and flew home.[64] When Lennon got back to 'Mendips', his Aunt Mimi threw a cooked chicken (that Lennon had bought for her) and a hand-mirror at him for spending money on a leather coat for Cynthia Powell (John's girlfriend, and later, his wife) whom she referrred to as, "a gangster's moll".[65] In December 1960, the Beatles reunited, and on 21 March 1961, they played their first concert at Liverpool's Cavern club.[66][67] They went back to Hamburg in April 1961, and recorded 'My Bonnie' with Tony Sheridan.[68] Sutcliffe stayed with Astrid Kirchherr when it was time to go home, so McCartney took over bass.[69] When Lennon was nearly 21 in October 1961, his Aunt Mater (who lived in Edinburgh) gave him 100 pounds, which he spent on a holiday to Paris with McCartney.[70] Brian Epstein first saw the Beatles in the Cavern Club on 9 November 1961, and later signed them to a management contract.[71] The Beatles were driven to London by their road manager, Neil Aspinall, on 31 December 1961 and auditioned the next day for Decca Records, who rejected them.[72] In April 1962 they returned to Hamburg to play at the Star-Club, but they learned that Stuart Sutcliffe had died a few hours before they arrived.[73] This was another shock for Lennon, after losing Uncle George and Julia.[73] They finally signed a record contract on 9 May 1962, with Parlophone Records,[74] after having been turned down by many labels.[72] "Love Me Do" was released on 5 October 1962,[74] featuring Lennon on harmonica and McCartney singing solo on the chorus line.[75] All Lennon-McCartney songs on the first pressing of Please Please Me album (recorded in one day on 11 February 1963)[76] as well as the single "From Me to You", and its B-side, "Thank You Girl", are credited to "McCartney-Lennon", but this was later changed to "Lennon-McCartney".[77] They usually needed an hour or two to finish a song, most of which were written in hotel rooms after a concert, at Wimpole Street, at Cavendish Avenue,[78] or at Kenwood (John Lennon's house).[79] As recording technology improved, and they were doing more work in the studio than live, overdubbing was used so that Lennon might provide the harmony parts as well as the lead for his songs. The "Beatles" sound was a three-part harmony with Lennon or McCartney singing lead, and harmony provided by the others. A firework was thrown on the stage at one of their last concerts and McCartney later said that the band all looked at Lennon — fearing a gun had been fired at him.[citation needed] The pressure of dealing with incidents like that convinced McCartney to say that he had had enough. The group decisions were democratic, with the rule that if any member objected to an idea, the group wouldn't pursue it. The Beatles decided to stop touring, and never performed a scheduled concert again.[80] Lennon resented McCartney taking control of the band after Brian Epstein's death in 1967, and disliked some of the resulting projects such as Magical Mystery Tour and particularly Let It Be ("That film was set up by Paul, for Paul," as he said later to Rolling Stone). He was the first to break the band's all-for-one sensibility, and also the rule that no wives or girlfriends would attend recording sessions, as he brought Yoko into the studio. Lennon was also the first member to quit the group, which he did in September 1969 (Starr had left during 1968, but was persuaded to return; Harrison stated he was "leaving the band" on 10 January 1969 during the rehearsal sessions for Let It Be , but returned to the group after negotiations at two business meetings). Lennon agreed not to make an announcement while the band renegotiated their recording contract, and blasted McCartney months later (with the negotiations complete) for going public with his own departure in April 1970. Phil Spector's involvement in trying to revive the Let It Be material then drove a further wedge between Lennon (who supported Spector) and McCartney (who opposed him). With the public unaware of the details, McCartney appeared to be the one who dissolved the group, depriving Lennon of the formalities. Lennon told Rolling Stone, "I was a fool not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record," and later wrote, "I started the band. I finished it."[81] Though the split would only become legal some time later, Lennon's and McCartney's partnership had come to a bitter end. McCartney soon made a press announcement, declaring he had quit the Beatles and promoting his new solo record. McCartney later admitted Lennon had been the first to quit, re-explaining the circumstances to CBS-TV's 48 Hours in 1989. In 1970, Jann Wenner recorded an interview with Lennon that was played on BBC in 2005. The interview reveals his bitterness towards McCartney and the hostility he felt that the other members held towards Yoko Ono. Lennon said: "One of the main reasons the Beatles ended is because ... I pretty well know, we got fed up with being sidemen for Paul. After Brian Epstein died we collapsed. Paul took over and supposedly led us. But what is leading us when we went round in circles? Paul had the impression we should be thankful for what he did, for keeping the Beatles going. But he kept it going for his own sake."[82] 1970-1975: Solo career
Image:Jlennon2.jpg John Lennon in early 1970, after he cut his hair for charity Lennon had a varied recording career. Whilst still a Beatle, Lennon (along with Ono) recorded three albums of experimental music, Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions, and Wedding Album. His first 'solo' album of popular music was Live Peace in Toronto 1969, recorded prior to the breakup of the Beatles, at the Rock 'n' Roll Festival in Toronto with The Plastic Ono Band. He also recorded three solo singles: the anti-war anthem "Give Peace a Chance", the chilling report of heroin withdrawal "Cold Turkey", and "Instant Karma!". Following The Beatles' split in 1970 Lennon released the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album. The song "God" lists people and things Lennon no longer believed in - ending with "Beatles". The album also included "Working Class Hero" which was banned from the airwaves for its use of the word "fucking". The album Imagine followed in 1971, and its title song soon became an anthem for anti-religion and anti-war movements. The song's video was filmed during Lennon's "white period" (white clothes, white piano, white room, and the like). He wrote "How Do You Sleep?" as an attack against McCartney, with George Harrison on slide guitar,[83] but later claimed that it was about himself.[84] Some Time in New York City (1972) was loud, raucous, and explicitly political, with songs about prison riots, racial and sexual relations, the British role in Northern Ireland, and his own problems in obtaining a United States Green Card. Lennon had been interested in left-wing politics since the late 1960s, and was said to have given donations to the Trotskyist Workers Revolutionary Party.[85] In 1972 Lennon released "Woman Is the Nigger of the World", which drew parallels between exploitation of women and discrimination against blacks. Radio stations refused to broadcast the song and it was banned nearly everywhere, though he managed to play it to television viewers during his second appearance on The Dick Cavett Show.[86] On 30 August 1972 Lennon and his backing band, Elephant's Memory, staged two benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York. These were to be his last full-length concert appearances. Lennon and Ono also did a week-long guest/co-hosting the Mike Douglas Show.[87] Following Ono's second miscarriage, she and Lennon had an argument that resulted in her throwing him out. He moved to California and embarked on a period he would later dub his "lost weekend" (despite the fact that it lasted several years). Lennon released Mind Games in 1973, which was credited to "the Plastic U.F.Ono Band". It was the first solo album produced by Lennon with no input from Yoko. He wrote "I'm the Greatest" for Ringo Starr's album Ringo, and recorded his own version of the song (which appears on the John Lennon Anthology). Lennon's behavior during this period was notoriously bad, with many nights spent in a drunken stupor. The songs from this period (appearing on Mind Games and Walls and Bridges) took an apologetic tone that seem to be directed at Ono. At Ono's suggestion he took May Pang along as his assistant and his lover during this period. Lennon released Walls and Bridges (1974), which featured a duet with Elton John on the #1 hit "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night". The album was released under the name "the Plastic Ono Nuclear Band". Another hit from the album was "#9 Dream". He made his last reference to Primal therapy in his song "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)", referring to Arthur Janov as "the one-eyed witch-doctor leading the blind."[citation needed] Lennon also produced Nilsson's Pussy Cats album during 1974. Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at an Elton John concert in Madison Square Garden where they performed "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" and "I Saw Her Standing There" together. It was to be his last-ever concert appearance in front of a rock audience. Coincidentally, Yoko Ono happened to be present and the concert, and after a backstage meeting, the two got back together. Following the performance, Lennon travelled to Florida and signed the papers legally breaking up the Beatles. After the Christmas holidays he returned to live with Yoko Ono, and she soon became pregnant with their first child. Image:Lennongrade.jpg John Lennon’s last public performance on the TV special A Salute to Sir Lew Grade, 1975. In 1975, Lennon released the Rock 'n' Roll album of cover versions. It had been conceived several years earlier, but was complicated by the unpredictable Phil Spector's involvement as producer and by several legal battles. The album garnered mostly negative or indifferent reviews, but included a well-received cover of "Stand by Me". David Bowie achieved his first U.S. number one hit (in 1975) with "Fame", co-written with Lennon (who contributed vocals and guitar) and Carlos Alomar. Lennon made his last public musical appearance on ATV's 18 April 1975 special A Salute to Lew Grade, performing "Imagine" and "Slippin' and Slidin" from his Rock 'n' Roll LP. Lennon's band was billed as "Etc." and the band members were costumed in two-faced masks. The "two-faced" stunt, and the line "don't want to be your fool no more" (from "Slippin' and Slidin") were seen as digs at Grade, with whom Lennon and McCartney had been in conflict over his previous control of the Beatles' publishing concerns.[88] Dick James had sold Lennon's and McCartney's publishing rights to Grade in 1969. During "Imagine" Lennon interjected the line "and no immigration too" - a reference to his battle to remain in the United States. On 9 October 1975 – Lennon's 35th birthday – his son Sean Ono Lennon was born, and Lennon retired from the music business to stay home and care for him. 1980 - Starting overLennon's retirement came to an end in 1980, a year in which he wrote an impressive amount of material during a lengthy vacation in Bermuda and began to think about recording a new album. For this comeback, he and Ono produced Double Fantasy, a concept album focusing on their relationship. The name came from a species of freesia Lennon saw at the Bermuda Botanical Gardens; he liked the name and thought it was a perfect description of his marriage to Yoko. The Lennons once again began a series of interviews and video footage to promote the album. Although Lennon would say in interviews for the album that he had not touched a guitar for five years, several of the tunes, such as "I'm Losing You" and "Watching the Wheels", had been worked on at home in The Dakota in various stages with different lyrics from 1977 onward. "(Just Like) Starting Over" began climbing the singles charts, and Lennon started thinking about a brand new world tour. Lennon also commenced work on Milk and Honey, which he would leave unfinished. It was some time before Ono could bring herself to complete it. Towards the end of his life, Lennon expressed his displeasure with the scant credit he was given as an influence on George Harrison in the latter's autobiography, I Me Mine. According to Ono, he was also unhappy that McCartney's Beatles songs, such as "Yesterday", "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be" were more covered than his own contributions. In a 1980 Playboy interview Lennon claimed that some of his Beatles songs were subconsciously sabotaged, and that the group put more work into and paid more attention to McCartney's songs, whereas with his, they tended to experiment.[89] In the same interview, Lennon was ambivalent about his time with the Beatles and the group's legacy and was not interested in talking about them any more than he would about old high school buddies.[89] He was prompted that there was considerable speculation about whether the Beatles were now "dreaded enemies or the best of friends." He replied that they were neither, and that he hadn't seen any of the Beatles for "I don't know how much time."[89] He also said that the last time he had seen McCartney they had watched the episode of Saturday Night Live where Lorne Michaels made his $3200 cash offer to get the Beatles to reunite on the show. The two had seriously considered going to the studio to appear on the show for a joke, but were too tired.[90] Family lifeIn one of the last major interviews of his life conducted in September 1980, three months before his death,[89] Lennon said that he'd always been very macho and had never questioned his chauvinistic attitudes towards women until he met Ono. Lennon was always distant with his first son (Julian) but was very close to his second son (Sean), and called him "my pride". Near the end of his life, he had embraced the role of househusband and even said that he had taken on the role of wife and mother in their relationship.[91] Cynthia LennonCynthia Powell met Lennon at the Liverpool Art College in 1957.[35] After hearing Lennon comment favourably about another girl who looked like Brigitte Bardot,[92] Powell changed the colour of her hair to blonde.[93] Their relationship started after a college party before the summer holidays when Lennon asked Cynthia to go a pub with him and some friends.[94] At this point Cynthia was already engaged to another man, a fact which Lennon made light of.[95]Although Lennon ignored her at the party, he talked to her as she was ready to leave, and then grabbed her hand and took her to a room Stuart Sutcliffe was renting,[96] where they made love.[97] If Sutcliffe's room was not available, they often had sex in alleyways or shop doorways, but Cynthia didn't enjoy those "snatched encounters".[98] Lennon's jealousy could manifest itself in cruel and aggressive behaviour towards Cynthia,[99] as when Lennon slapped her across the face (knocking her head against the wall) the day after after he saw her dancing with Stuart Sutcliffe.[100] Cynthia broke up with Lennon for three months, but resumed their relationship after Lennon's profuse apology.[101] Cynthia visited Lennon in Hamburg for two weeks in 1960, but in 1961 Lennon left her at home and went to Paris with McCartney for a holiday.[70] In the summer of 1962, Cynthia discovered she was pregnant.[102] Lennon proposed marriage, but when he told Mimi she screamed and raged at Lennon to stop him from going through with it.[103] Lennon and Cynthia were married on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register office in Liverpool. Mimi did not attend.[104] According to Cynthia, in a 1995 interview, there were problems throughout their marriage because of the pressures of the Beatles' fame and rigorous touring, and because of Lennon's increasing use of drugs.[105] Lennon was distant to his son, Julian, who felt closer to McCartney than to him. The younger Lennon later said, "I've never really wanted to know the truth about how dad was with me. There was some very negative stuff talked about me ... like when he said I'd come out of a whiskey bottle on a Saturday night. Stuff like that. You think, where's the love in that? Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit ... more than dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad." Lennon was quoted as saying: "Sean was a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me, and he always will."[citation needed] According to Cynthia, after the break-up with John, McCartney visited Cynthia and jokingly suggested marriage, reportedly saying, "How's about you and me, Cyn?" After that visit, he did not stay in touch with her, and in her book John, she published a copy of the first postcard from McCartney — after 17 years of no contact — that he sent to her.[citation needed] In an interview, Lennon said he was trying to re-establish a connection with the then 17-year-old Julian, and confidently predicted that "Julian and I will have a relationship in the future."[106] Both Julian and Sean Lennon went on to have recording careers years after their father's death. Yoko OnoImage:Lennon Ono Trudeau 1969 b.jpg John Lennon and Yoko Ono with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, 22 December 1969 Ottawa, Ontario On 9 November 1966, after the Beatles' final tour and just after he had finished filming How I Won the War, Lennon visited an art exhibit of Yoko Ono's at the Indica gallery in Mason's Yard, London. Lennon began his relationship with Ono in May 1968 after returning from India. Cynthia filed for divorce later that year, on the grounds of John's adultery with Ono which was evidenced by the latter's pregnancy and miscarriage of their son. Lennon and Ono became inseparable, even during Beatles sessions. The press was unkind to Ono — writing unflattering articles about her, with frequently racist overtones — and one called her "ugly". This angered Lennon, who said that there was no John and Yoko, but they were one person; "JohnandYoko". Yoko's constant presence in the studio led to tension within the Beatles during the White Album recordings in 1968. At the end of 1968, Lennon and Ono performed as Dirty Mac on the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. During Lennon's last two years in the Beatles, he spent much of his time with Ono partaking in public protests against the Vietnam War. Lennon sent back his MBE medal, which Queen Elizabeth bestowed during the height of Beatlemania, "in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing [a reference to the Nigerian civil war of 1967-70], its support of America in Vietnam, and 'Cold Turkey' slipping down the charts." (Return of the medal did not formally negate his appointment to the Order.) On 14 March, as Lennon and Ono were being driven to Mimi's house, in Poole, Dorset, they asked if it was possible to get "married at sea".[107] On 20 March 1969, they were married in Gibraltar, and spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam in a "Bed-In" for peace. Behind their bed were posters that displayed the words "Hair Peace. Bed Peace." They held another "Bed-In", in Montreal, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, where they recorded "Give Peace a Chance", which became an anthem for the peace movement. They were mainly patronised as a couple of eccentrics by the media, yet they did a great deal for the peace movement, as well as for feminism and racial harmony. Lennon and Ono often combined advocacy with performance art, as in their "Bagism" introduced during a Vienna press conference. Shortly after, Lennon changed his name to John Ono Lennon. Lennon wrote "The Ballad of John and Yoko" about his marriage and the subsequent press coverage it generated. The failed Get Back/Let It Be recording/filming sessions did nothing to improve relations within the band. After both Lennon and Ono were injured in the summer of 1969 in a car accident in Scotland, Lennon arranged for Ono to be constantly with him in the studio (including having a full-sized bed rolled in) as he worked on The Beatles' last album, Abbey Road. While the group managed to hang together to produce one last acclaimed musical work, soon thereafter business issues related to Apple Corps came between them. May Pang and the 'lost weekend'In 1973, Yoko approached May Pang (their personal assistant) with a proposal. Ono, who thought May Pang would be an "ideal companion" for Lennon, asked her to "be with John, help him, and see that he gets whatever he wants."[citation needed] Yoko then kicked Lennon out of the house. Lennon and Pang moved to Los Angeles - a period which has been dubbed the "lost weekend", though it lasted until the beginning of 1975. During their time together, Pang encouraged Lennon to spend time with his son, Julian Lennon, and she became friends with Cynthia Lennon. Lennon spent time during these months with the singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson, and an assortment of his drinking buddies (Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, Alice Cooper, Micky Dolenz and others), who dubbed themselves the 'Hollywood Vampires'. Though Lennon's public drunkenness had been the subject of gossip during 1974, Pang said that he was usually sober in his private life and recorded a large body of work. One notable session, captured on the bootleg recording A Toot and a Snore in '74, had Lennon and his friends jamming with Paul McCartney. Others included on the session were Harry Nilsson, Stevie Wonder, Jesse Ed Davis, and Bobby Keys. House-husbandOn 9 October 1975 — John Lennon's 35th birthday — Yoko Ono gave birth to a son, Sean Ono Lennon, after having suffered three miscarriages of babies fathered by John. Regretful of the limited relationship he had with first son, Julian, Lennon decided to retire from music so he could dedicate himself to family life: he became a house husband. Deeply aware, after his experience of Primal therapy, of the crucial importance of the parent-child bond, he devoted his energies to nurturing young Sean in every possible way. He also made a point of learning how to bake a loaf of bread, an accomplishment which he proudly showed off to visitors. In 1976, Lennon's U.S. immigration status was finally resolved favourably, after a years-long battle with the Nixon administration that included an FBI investigation — a full-scale effort involving surveillance, wiretaps, and agents following Lennon around as he travelled. Lennon insisted that the investigation was politically motivated, a claim that was later proven true. With the departure of Nixon from the White House, the administration of his successor, Gerald Ford, showed little interest in continuing the battle. When Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as President on 20 January 1977, Lennon and Ono were invited to attend the Inaugural Ball, signalling the end of hostilities between the U.S. government and Lennon. After that appearance, Lennon was rarely seen in public for the next 3½ years, until his 1980 comeback. Political and lifestyle controversiesLennon's humour was often quoted during his time with the Beatles, but he later rejected the idea of being a "loveable mop-top" and concerned himself with drug experimentation, meditation, therapy cures, world peace, and was active for a range of anti-government causes. ChristianityOn 4 March 1966, Lennon was interviewed for the London Evening Standard by his friend Maureen Cleave and made an off-the-cuff remark regarding religion.[108]
The article was printed and nothing came of it — until five months later, when an American teen magazine called Datebook reprinted part of the quote on its front cover.[109] A firestorm of protest erupted across the American Bible Belt in the South and Midwest, as conservative groups staged public burnings of Beatles records and memorabilia. (The Beatles at first viewed this in a wry way, saying, "They've got to buy them first before they burn 'em.") Many radio stations banned Beatles music, and some concert venues cancelled performances. The Vatican issued a public denunciation of Lennon's comments.[citation needed] Image:John Lennon by Richard Avedon.jpg A 1967 portrait of Lennon by Richard Avedon. On 11 August 1966, the Beatles held a press conference in Chicago, in order to address the growing furor.[citation needed]
The Vatican accepted his apology, but the Southern Baptist Convention (the predominant religion in the U.S. Bible Belt) did not.[110] Lennon wrote later, "I always remember to thank Jesus for the end of my touring days."[111]
Political activism and the deportation battleImage:Jlbedin3.JPG Recording "Give Peace A Chance", by Roy Kerwood "Give Peace a Chance", recorded in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War, marked Lennon’s transformation from loveable mop-top to | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
