John Lennon

Imagine yourself being born in into a dysfunctional family, your father leaves your mother and she decides she can’t take care of a child on her own, so she hands you over to her sister, your aunt.

Once a teen your mother seeks you out and you become best friend. She is goofy and possibly a nut case. Not much of a mother, but a good friend.

Growing up with all this rejection helped to shape John Lennon’s Imagination and his personality.

With this he became the unofficial leader of one of the greatest if not the greatest pop bands in history. They have 6 diamond records. Led Zeppelin has 5. They still hold the record for most diamond records sold.

John was born October 9, 1940. When he was five his father Alfred Lennon walked out on him and his mother. His mother, Julia, thought she couldn’t care for a child, and gave John to his aunt Mimi.

When John became older, he started talking to his mother again. Skipping school to go see her, she was the largest influence on him, teaching him how to play banjo. When John was 17, John’s mother died by a drunken police officer. Her death helped to build a special relation with Paul McCartney, whose mother also died when Paul was 14.

John started a band called Quarry Men, with additions of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, the band name changed with the genre to Johnny and the Moondogs, followed by Silver Beetles, which was shortened to The Beatles later.

John remembers coming to America and landing and thinking the noise was really loud, they thought there was something wrong with the jets, but it was clapping from the thousands of people at the airport to greet them.

Their first concert in America was at The Ed Sullivan Show, which at the time was the biggest TV show in America. It was the largest TV audience since Michael Jackson at the Super Bowl. Violence was said to stop in that time when they played on TV.

Before they came to America, The Beatles, where squeaky clean of drugs, but when they soon found out about drug’s when they came over. “It took me so long to find out, and I found out”. The song Day Tripper was to describe how it took them awhile to find out about LSD but the eventually did.

Many people blame Yoko Ono for John splitting up The Beatles, but since the death of Brian Epstein in 1967 the group had begun to separate. John did say that Yoko did show him the way out though, saying in an interview with David Sheff for Playboy magazine, “She showed me the possibility of the alternative. "You don't have to do this." "I don't? Really? But--but--but--but--but...." Of course, it wasn't that simple and it didn't sink in overnight. It took constant reinforcement.” So he had wanted to leave, just didn’t know how yet.

So in 1970 April 10th they announce that The Beatles have split. Starting their solo careers.

During the end of the Beatles, Yoko and John got a lot of attention from the press, some newspapers actually said that Yoko Ono was ugly, and John was too good for her. This enraged John and mostly hurt them. He said “Why don't people believe us when we say we're simply in love?” in an interview.

John and Yoko tried to have a child, after many attempts and failures, and doctors saying it can’t be done, they’re