Follow The Sun | home
Back to Biographies
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon was born on October 9th, 1940, in Liverpool, England, the son of Alfred (Freddy) and Julia Lennon. Freddy was a sailor who was close to non-existant in John's life, which may have led to John's later problems with keeping a relationship with his own son, Julian. Julia wasn't ready for a child at the time, and dumped poor John off on her sister, Mary. (Known to the family as Mimi) He saw little of his mother and nothing of his father as he aged.
"Mimi told me my parents had fallen out of love. She never said anything directly against my father and mother. I soon forgot my father. It was like he was dead. But I did see my mother now and again and my feeling never died off for her. I often thought about her, though I'd never realised for a long time that she was living no more than five or ten miles away."-- John Lennon
Mimi was the person who bought John his first guitar, and at about 1957 or so, John formed his first band, called the Quarry Men. It was with the Quarry Men that John played at the now-famous Woolton Parish Church Garden Fete and was introduced to Paul McCartney.
"It was the first day I did 'Be Bop A Lula' live on stage. 'Be Bop A Lula' has always been one of my all-time favorites. It was at a church-hall garden fete, and I was performing with a mutual friend of Paul's and mine. Another mutual friend who lived next door brought Paul along and said, 'I think you two will get along.' We talked after the show and I saw he had talent. he was playing guitar backstage, doing 'Twenty Flight Rock' by Eddie Cochran. I was very impressed by Paul playing 'Twenty Flight Rock.' He could obviously play the guitar. I half thought to myself, 'He's as good as me.' I'd been kingpn up to then. Now, I thought, 'If I take him on, what will happen?' It went through my head that I'd have to heep him in line if I let him join. But he was good, so he was worth having. I dug him."--John Lennon
His performance as a student in school was less that stellar. It wasn't for a lack of ability- it was that John felt he had no need for the teachers or the subjects they tried to teach him. The only classes he did reasonably in were art and music. After Quarry Bank Grammar school (spawn of the name for the Quarry men) he enrolled in the Liverpool School of Art, where he met who was to become hi first wife, Cynthia Powell. It was the year 1958. Later, John and Cynthia were to have a son, Julian.
"I met Cynthia at art school. Cynthia was a right hoylake runt. Dead snobby. We used to poke fun at her and mock her, me and Geoff Mohammed. 'Quiet please' we'd shout, 'No dirty jokes, it's Cynthia. We had a class dance. I was pissed and asked her to dance. Geoff had been having me on, saying, 'Cynthia likes you, you know.' As we danced I asked her to come to a party the next day. She said she couldn't. She was engaged. I was hysterical, that was the trouble. I was jealous of anyone she had anything to do with. I demanded absolute trust from her, because I wasn't trustworthy myself. I was neurotic, taking all my frustrations out on her. She did leave me once. That was terrible. I couldn't stand being without her."--John Lennon
That summer, his mother was killed standing at a bus stop, run over by a car driven by a drunk off-duty policeman. John, having just re-established a relationship with his mother, and being the tumultuous age of 17, felt betrayed to his core.
"That was another big trauma for me. I lost her twice. Once when I was moved in with my auntie. And once again at seventeen when she actually, physically died. That was very traumatic for me. That was really a hard time for me. It made me very, very bitter. The underlying chip on my shoulder that I had got really big then. Being a teenager and a rock'n'roller and an art student and my mother being killed just when I was re-establishing a relationship with her."--John Lennon
Lennon's skiffle band went through many changes in the course of a few years. Paul introduced John to George Harrison, who was two years younger than John. At first, Lennon was skeptical about letting someone 'so much younger' join the band, but George's guitar skills impressed John enough that Harrison was inducted.
"Paul introduced me to George and I had to make the decision whether to let George in. I listened to him play and said 'Play "Raunchy".' I let him in and that was the three of us then, and the rest of the group was thrown out, practically. We asked George to join because he knew more chords, a lot more than we knew."-- John Lennon
It would not be long before The Beatles came to being.
John stayed with the Beatles from the band's birth 'till the band's death in 1970. He met Yoko Ono for the first time on November 9th, 1966, while viewing her art gallery. They were married on March 20th, 1969, in Gilbralter (near Spain). They had one son together, Sean Lennon.
On December 8th, 1980, John was shot and killed outside his home in New York City. I personally know more of the gory details than I'd like to, and do not at this time wish to live through them again in order to type them here. I would also like to point out that Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono have issued statements requesting that the name of Lennon's murderer should be ne'er be repeated, for a person is only as alive as memories of them are. For this reason, the name will not appear on this or any other of my websites. If you'd like to know it, I can point you to places where you can find out, but I will not tell you myself.
If you would like more information on John Lennon than this pathetic lot, please visit my tribute page, The Weaver's Loom.