John Lennon, co-founder and songwriter for the Beatles, is known as a legend in American culture. Influencing culture and music throughout the 20th century, John Lennon and the Beatles broke numerous world records both as a band and as an individual. Becoming one of the most successful song writers in history, John Lennon will forever be remembered as one of the greatest artists in American history.
John Winston Ono Lennon was born on October 9th in 1940. He lived with his working-class parents in Liverpool, England until the age of five. At that time, he was separated from his parents and raised by his aunt, Mimi Smith. When he was 16 years old he started a band that slowly evolved into the Beatles we know today. At the age of 21 John married his first wife, Cynthia Powell but divorced her soon after. He later married Yoko Ono at age 28, although they did split for over a year from 1973-74 during what Lennon called a “lost weekend”. Soon after the couple reunited, Yoko gave birth to Sean on
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He wrote most of the music for the band and was the graphic artist for the album covers. The Britannica Encyclopedia’s article on John Lennon, written by Robert Christgau, describes his famous rhythm, typically found in the guitar line, as a “nervous rest-one-two-and-rest”. His songs adopted John’s wife’s “belief in art without artifice”, meaning that his music was very up front about John’s personal views about politics and society. This commentary is easily seen in songs like “Imagine” and “Some Time in New York City” as he spoke out on issues like the Vietnam war and feminism. The Beatles are widely considered as the most influential band in the second half of the 20th century, a fact that led to Lennon’s famous comment, “we’re more popular than Jesus now”. Their most famous works include “Double Fantasy”, “Imagine”, “Plastic Ono Band”, and “Sometime in New York