text: john lennon john winston ono lennon , mbe ( born john winston lennon ; 9 october 1940 – 8 december 1980 ) was an english singer and songwriter who co - founded the beatles , the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music . with fellow member paul mccartney , he formed a lucrative songwriting partnership . born and raised in liverpool , lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager ; 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 albums john lennon / plastic ono band and imagine , and songs such as " give peace a chance " , " working class hero " , and " imagine " . 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 was murdered 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 twice , as a member of the beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994 . biography 1940 – 57 : early years lennon was born in war - time england , on 9 october 1940 at liverpool maternity hospital , to julia ( née stanley ) and alfred lennon , a merchant seaman of irish descent , who was away at the time of his son 's birth . his parents named him john winston lennon after his paternal grandfather , john " jack " lennon , and then - prime minister winston churchill . his father was often away from home but sent regular pay cheques to 9 newcastle road , liverpool , where lennon lived with his mother ; the cheques stopped when he went absent without leave in february 1944 . when he eventually came home six months later , he offered to look after the family , but julia — by then pregnant with another man 's child — rejected the idea . after her sister , mimi smith , twice complained to liverpool 's social services , julia handed the care of lennon over to her . in july 1946 lennon 's father visited smith and took his son to blackpool , secretly intending to emigrate to new zealand with him . julia followed them — with her partner at the time , ' bobby ' dykins — and after a heated argument his father forced the five - year - old to choose between them . lennon twice chose his father , but as his mother walked away , he began to cry and followed her . it would be 20 years before he had contact with his father again . throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence he lived with his aunt and uncle , mimi and george smith , who had no children of their own , at mendips , 251 menlove avenue , woolton . his aunt purchased volumes of short stories for him , and his uncle , a dairyman at his family 's farm , bought him a mouth organ and engaged him in solving crossword puzzles . julia visited mendips on a regular basis , and when john was 11 years old he often visited her at 1 blomfield road , liverpool , where she played him elvis presley records , taught him the banjo , and showed him how to play " ain 't that a shame " by fats domino . in september 1980 , lennon commented about his family and his rebellious nature : part of me would like to be accepted by all facets of society and not be this lunatic poet / musician . but i cannot be what i am not ... i was the one who all the other boys ' parents — including paul 's father — would say , ' keep away from him ' ... the parents instinctively recognised i was a troublemaker , meaning i did not conform and i would influence their children , which i did . i did my best to disrupt every friend 's home ... partly out of envy that i didn 't have this so - called home ... but i did ... there were five women that were my family . five strong , intelligent , beautiful women , five sisters . one happened to be my mother . [ she ] just couldn 't deal with life . she was the youngest and she had a husband who ran away to sea and the war was on and she couldn 't cope with me , and i ended up living with her elder sister . now those women were fantastic ... and that was my first feminist education ... i would infiltrate the other boys minds . i could say , " parents are not gods because i don 't live with mine and , therefore , i he regularly visited his cousin , stanley parkes , who lived in fleetwood . seven years lennon 's senior , parkes took him on trips and to local cinemas . during the school holidays , parkes often visited lennon with leila harvey , another cousin , often travelling to blackpool two or three times a week to watch shows . they would visit the blackpool tower circus and see artists such as dickie valentine , arthur askey , max and joe loss , with parkes recalling that lennon particularly liked george formby . after parkes 's family moved to scotland , the three cousins often spent their school holidays together there . parkes recalled , " john , cousin leila and i were very close . from edinburgh we would drive up to the family croft at durness , which was from about the time john was nine years old until he was about 16 . " he was 14 years old when his uncle george died of a liver haemorrhage on 5 june 1955 ( aged 52 ) . lennon was raised as an anglican and attended dovedale primary school . from september 1952 to 1957 , after passing his eleven - plus exam , he attended quarry bank high school in liverpool , and was described by harvey at the time as , " a happy - go - lucky , good - humoured , easy going , lively lad . " he often drew comical cartoons which appeared in his own self - made school magazine called the daily howl , but despite his artistic talent , his school reports were damning : " certainly on the road to failure ... hopeless ... rather a clown in class ... wasting other pupils ' time . " his mother bought him his first guitar in 1956 , an inexpensive champion acoustic for which she " lent " her son five pounds and ten shillings on the condition that the guitar be delivered to her own house , and not mimi 's , knowing well that her sister was not supportive of her son 's musical aspirations . as mimi was sceptical of his claim that he would be famous one day , she hoped he would grow bored with music , often telling him , " the guitar 's all very well , john , but you 'll never make a living out of it " . on 15 july 1958 , when lennon was 17 years old , his mother , walking home after visiting the smiths ' house , was struck by a car and killed . lennon failed all his gce o - level examinations , and was accepted into the liverpool college of art only after his aunt and headmaster intervened . once at the college , he started wearing teddy boy clothes and acquired a reputation for disrupting classes and ridiculing teachers . as a result , he was excluded from the painting class , then the graphic arts course , and was threatened with expulsion for his behaviour , which included sitting on a nude model 's lap during a life drawing class . he failed an annual exam , despite help from fellow student and future wife cynthia powell , and was " thrown out of the college before his final year " . 1957 – 70 : the quarrymen to the beatles 1957 – 66 : formation , commercial break - out and touring years at age 15 , lennon formed the skiffle group , the quarrymen . named after quarry bank high school , the group was established by him in september 1956 . by the summer of 1957 , the quarrymen played a " spirited set of songs " made up of half skiffle and half rock and roll . lennon first met paul mccartney at the quarrymen 's second performance , held in woolton on 6 july at the st. peter 's church garden fête , after which he asked mccartney to join the band . mccartney says that aunt mimi " was very aware that john 's friends were lower class " , and would often patronise him when he arrived to visit lennon . according to paul 's brother mike , mccartney 's father was also disapproving , declaring lennon would get his son " into trouble " , although he later allowed the fledgling band to rehearse in the mccartneys ' front room at 20 forthlin road . during this time , the 18 - year - old lennon wrote his first song , " hello little girl " , a uk top 10 hit for the fourmost nearly five years later . mccartney suggested his friend george harrison as the lead guitarist . lennon thought harrison ( then 14 years old ) was too young . mccartney engineered an audition on the upper deck of a liverpool bus , where harrison played " raunchy " for lennon and was asked to join . stuart sutcliffe , lennon 's friend from art school , later joined as bassist . lennon , mccartney , harrison and sutcliffe became " the beatles " in early 1960 . in august that year , the beatles engaged for a 48 - night residency in hamburg , germany , and desperately in need of a drummer , asked pete best to join them . lennon was now 19 , and his aunt , horrified when he told her about the trip , pleaded with him to continue his art studies instead . after the first hamburg residency , the band accepted another in april 1961 , and a third in april 1962 . like the other band members , lennon was introduced to preludin while in hamburg , and regularly took the drug , as well as amphetamines , as a stimulant during their long , overnight performances . brian epstein , the beatles ' manager from 1962 , had no prior experience of artist management , but had a strong influence on their early dress code and attitude on stage . lennon initially resisted his attempts to encourage the band to present a professional appearance , but eventually complied , saying , " i 'll wear a bloody balloon if somebody 's going to pay me " . mccartney took over on bass after sutcliffe decided to stay in hamburg , and drummer ringo starr replaced best , completing the four - piece line - up that would endure until the group 's break - up in 1970 . the band 's first single , " love me do " , was released in october 1962 and reached no. 17 on the british charts . they recorded their debut album , please please me , in under 10 hours on 11 february 1963 , a day when lennon was suffering the effects of a cold , which is evident in the vocal on the last song to be recorded that day , " twist and shout " . the lennon – mccartney songwriting partnership yielded eight of its fourteen tracks . with few exceptions — one being the album title itself — lennon had yet to bring his love of wordplay to bear on his song lyrics , saying : " we were just writing songs ... pop songs with no more thought of them than that — to create a sound . and the words were almost irrelevant " . in a 1987 interview , mccartney said that the other beatles idolised john : " he was like our own little elvis ... we all looked up to john . he was older and he was very much the leader ; he was the quickest wit and the smartest . " the beatles achieved mainstream success in the uk during the beginning of 1963 . lennon was on tour when his first son , julian , was born in april . during their royal variety show performance , attended by the queen mother and other british royalty , lennon poked fun at his audience : " for our next song , i 'd like to ask for your help . for the people in the cheaper seats , clap your hands ... and the rest of you , if you 'll just rattle your jewellery . " after a year of beatlemania in the uk , the group 's historic february 1964 us debut appearance on the ed sullivan show marked their breakthrough to international stardom . a two - year period of constant touring , moviemaking , and songwriting followed , during which lennon wrote two books , in his own write and a spaniard in the works . the beatles received recognition from the british establishment when they were appointed members of the order of the british empire ( mbe ) in the 1965 queen 's birthday honours . lennon grew concerned that fans attending beatles concerts were unable to hear the music above the screaming of fans , and that the band 's musicianship was beginning to suffer as a result . lennon 's " help ! " expressed his own feelings in 1965 : " i meant it ... it was me singing ' help ' " . he had put on weight ( he would later refer to this as his " fat elvis " period ) , and felt he was subconsciously seeking change . in march that year he was unknowingly introduced to lsd when a dentist , hosting a dinner party attended by lennon , harrison and their wives , spiked the guests ' coffee with the drug . when they wanted to leave , their host revealed what they had taken , and strongly advised them not to leave the house because of the likely effects . later , in an elevator at a nightclub , they all believed it was on fire : " we were all screaming ... hot and hysterical . " in march 1966 , during an interview with evening standard reporter maureen cleave , lennon remarked , " christianity will go . it will vanish and shrink ... we 're more popular than jesus now — i don 't know which will go first , rock and roll or christianity . " the comment went virtually unnoticed in england but caused great offence in the us when quoted by a magazine there five months later . the furore that followed — burning of beatles records , ku klux klan activity and threats against lennon — contributed to the band 's decision to stop touring . 1967 – 70 : studio years , break - up and solo work deprived of the routine of live performances after their final commercial concert on 29 august 1966 , lennon felt lost and considered leaving the band . since his involuntary introduction to lsd , he had made increasing use of the drug , and was almost constantly under its influence for much of 1967 . according to biographer ian macdonald , lennon 's continuous experience with lsd during the year brought him " close to erasing his identity " . 1967 saw the release of " strawberry fields forever " , hailed by time magazine for its " astonishing inventiveness " , and the group 's landmark album sgt. pepper 's lonely hearts club band , which revealed lennon 's lyrics contrasting strongly with the simple love songs of the lennon – mccartney 's early years . in august , after having been introduced to the maharishi mahesh yogi , the group attended a weekend of personal instruction at his transcendental meditation seminar in bangor , wales , and were informed of epstein 's death during the seminar . " i knew we were in trouble then " , lennon said later . " i didn 't have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music , and i was scared " . led primarily by harrison and lennon 's interest in eastern religion , the beatles later travelled to maharishi 's ashram in india for further guidance . while there , they composed most of the songs for the beatles and abbey road . the anti - war , black comedy how i won the war , featuring lennon 's only appearance in a non – beatles full - length film , was shown in cinemas in october 1967 . mccartney organised the group 's first post - epstein project , the self - written , and -directed television film magical mystery tour , released in december that year . while the film itself proved to be their first critical flop , its soundtrack release , featuring lennon 's acclaimed , lewis carroll - inspired " i am the walrus " , was a success . with epstein gone , the band members became increasingly involved in business activities , and in february 1968 they formed apple corps , a multimedia corporation composed of apple records and several other subsidiary companies . lennon described the venture as an attempt to achieve , " artistic freedom within a business structure " , but his increased drug experimentation and growing preoccupation with yoko ono , and mccartney 's own marriage plans , left apple in need of professional management . lennon asked lord beeching to take on the role , but he declined , advising lennon to go back to making records . lennon approached allen klein , who had managed the rolling stones and other bands during the british invasion . klein was appointed as apple 's chief executive by lennon , harrison and starr , but mccartney never signed the management contract . at the end of 1968 , lennon was featured in the film the rolling stones rock and roll circus ( not released until 1996 ) in the role of a dirty mac band member . the supergroup , composed of lennon , eric clapton , keith richards and mitch mitchell , also backed a vocal performance by ono in the film . lennon and ono were married on 20 march 1969 , and soon released a series of 14 lithographs called " bag one " depicting scenes from their honeymoon , eight of which were deemed indecent and most of which were banned and confiscated . lennon 's creative focus continued to move beyond the beatles and between 1968 and 1969 he and ono recorded three albums of experimental music together : unfinished music no.1 : two virgins ( known more for its cover than for its music ) , unfinished music no.2 : life with the lions and wedding album . in 1969 , they formed the plastic ono band , releasing live peace in toronto 1969 . between 1969 and 1970 , lennon released the singles " give peace a chance " ( widely adopted as an anti - vietnam - war anthem in 1969 ) , " cold turkey " ( documenting his withdrawal symptoms after he became addicted to heroin ) and " instant karma ! " in protest at britain 's involvement in the nigerian civil war , its support of america in the vietnam war and ( perhaps jokingly ) against " cold turkey " slipping down the charts , lennon returned his mbe medal to the queen , though this had no effect on his mbe status , which could not be renounced . lennon left the beatles in september 1969 , and agreed not to inform the media while the group renegotiated their recording contract , but he was outraged that mccartney publicised his own departure on releasing his debut solo album in april 1970 . lennon 's reaction was , " jesus christ ! he gets all the credit for it ! " he later wrote , " i started the band . i disbanded it . it 's as simple as that . " in later interviews with rolling stone magazine , he revealed his bitterness towards mccartney , saying , " i was a fool not to do what paul did , which was use it to sell a record . " he spoke too of the hostility he perceived the other members had towards ono , and of how he , harrison , and starr " 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 ? " 1970 – 80 : solo career 1970 – 72 : initial solo success and activism in 1970 , lennon and ono went through primal therapy with arthur janov in los angeles , california . designed to release emotional pain from early childhood , the therapy entailed two half - days a week with janov for four months ; he had wanted to treat the couple for longer , but they felt no need to continue and returned to london . lennon 's emotional debut solo album , john lennon / plastic ono band ( 1970 ) , was received with high praise . critic greil marcus remarked , " john 's singing in the last verse of ' god ' may be the finest in all of rock . " the album featured the songs " mother " , in which lennon confronted his feelings of childhood rejection , and the dylanesque " working class hero " , a bitter attack against the bourgeois social system which , due to the lyric " you 're still fucking peasants " , fell foul of broadcasters . the same year , tariq ali 's revolutionary political views , expressed when he interviewed lennon , inspired the singer to write " power to the people " . lennon also became involved with ali during a protest against oz magazine 's prosecution for alleged obscenity . lennon denounced the proceedings as " disgusting fascism " , and he and ono ( as elastic oz band ) released the single " god save us / do the oz " and joined marches in support of the magazine . with lennon 's next album , imagine ( 1971 ) , critical response was more guarded . rolling stone reported that " it contains a substantial portion of good music " but warned of the possibility that " his posturings will soon seem not merely dull but irrelevant " . the album 's title track would become an anthem for anti - war movements , while another , " how do you sleep ? " , was a musical attack on mccartney in response to lyrics from ram that lennon felt , and mccartney later confirmed , were directed at him and ono . however , lennon softened his stance in the mid - 1970s and said he had written " how do you sleep ? " about himself . he said in 1980 : " i used my resentment against paul … to create a song … not a terrible vicious horrible vendetta [ … ] i used my resentment and withdrawing from paul and the beatles , and the relationship with paul , to write ' how do you sleep ' . i don 't really go ' round with those thoughts in my head all the time . " lennon and ono moved to new york in august 1971 , and in december released " happy xmas ( war is over ) " . the new year saw the nixon administration take what it called a " strategic counter - measure " against lennon 's anti - war and anti - nixon propaganda , embarking on what would be a four - year attempt to deport him . in 1972 , lennon and ono attended a post - election wake held in the new york home of activist jerry rubin after mcgovern lost to nixon . in a continuing legal battle with the immigration authorities , lennon was denied permanent residency in the us ( which wouldn 't be resolved until 1976 ) . depressed , lennon got intoxicated and had sex with a female guest , leaving ono embarrassed . her song " death of samantha " was inspired by the incident . recorded as a collaboration with ono and with backing from the new york band elephant 's memory , some time in new york city was released in 1972 . containing songs about women 's rights , race relations , britain 's role in northern ireland and lennon 's problems obtaining a green card , the album was poorly received — unlistenable , according to one critic . " woman is the nigger of the world " , released as a us single from the album the same year , was televised on 11 may , on the dick cavett show . many radio stations refused to broadcast the song because of the word " nigger " . lennon and ono gave two benefit concerts with elephant 's memory and guests in new york in aid of patients at the willowbrook state school mental facility . staged at madison square garden on 30 august 1972 , they were his last full - length concert appearances . 1973 – 75 : " lost weekend " while lennon was recording mind games ( 1973 ) , he and ono decided to separate . the ensuing 18 - month period apart , which he later called his " lost weekend " , was spent in los angeles and new york in the company of may pang . mind games , credited to the " plastic band " , was released in november 1973 . lennon also contributed " i 'm the greatest " to starr 's album ringo ( 1973 ) , released the same month ( an alternate take , from the same 1973 ringo sessions , with lennon providing a guide vocal , appears on john lennon anthology ) . in early 1974 , lennon was drinking heavily and his alcohol - fuelled antics with harry nilsson made headlines . two widely publicised incidents occurred at the troubadour club in march , the first when lennon placed a menstrual pad on his forehead and scuffled with a waitress , and the second , two weeks later , when lennon and nilsson were ejected from the same club after heckling the smothers brothers . lennon decided to produce nilsson 's album pussy cats and pang rented a los angeles beach house for all the musicians but after a month of further debauchery , with the recording sessions in chaos , lennon moved to new york with pang to finish work on the album . in april , lennon had produced the mick jagger song " too many cooks ( spoil the soup ) " which was , for contractual reasons , to remain unreleased for more than 30 years . pang supplied the recording for its eventual inclusion on the very best of mick jagger ( 2007 ) . settled back in new york , lennon recorded the album walls and bridges . released in october 1974 , it included " whatever gets you thru the night " , which featured elton john on backing vocals and piano , and became lennon 's only single as a solo artist to top the us billboard hot 100 chart during his a second single from the album , " # 9 dream " , followed before the end of the year . starr 's goodnight vienna ( 1974 ) again saw assistance from lennon , who wrote the title track and played piano . on 28 november , lennon made a surprise guest appearance at elton john 's thanksgiving concert at madison square garden , in fulfilment of his promise to join the singer in a live show if " whatever gets you thru the night " — a song whose commercial potential lennon had doubted — reached number one . lennon performed the song along with " lucy in the sky with diamonds " and " i saw her standing there " , which he introduced as " a song by an old estranged fiancée of mine called paul " . lennon co - wrote " fame " , david bowie 's first us number one , and provided guitar and backing vocals for the january 1975 recording . the same month , elton john topped the charts with his cover of " lucy in the sky with diamonds " , featuring lennon on guitar and back - up vocals ( lennon is credited on the single under the moniker of " dr. winston o " ) . he and ono were reunited shortly afterwards . lennon released rock ' n ' roll ( 1975 ) , an album of cover songs , in february . " stand by me " , taken from the album and a us and uk hit , became his last single for five years . he made what would be his final stage appearance in the atv special a salute to lew grade , recorded on 18 april and televised in june . playing acoustic guitar and backed by an eight - piece band , lennon performed two songs from rock ' n ' roll ( " stand by me " , which was not broadcast , and " slippin ' and slidin ' " ) followed by " imagine " . the band , known as etc . , wore masks behind their heads , a dig by lennon who thought grade was two - faced . 1975 – 80 : retirement and return with the birth of his second son sean on 9 october 1975 , lennon took on the role of househusband , beginning what would be a five - year hiatus from the music industry during which he gave all his attention to his family . within the month , he fulfilled his contractual obligation to emi / capitol for one more album by releasing shaved fish , a compilation album of previously recorded tracks . he devoted himself to sean , rising at 6 am daily to plan and prepare his meals and to spend time with him . he wrote " cookin ' ( in the kitchen of love ) " for starr 's ringo 's rotogravure ( 1976 ) , performing on the track in june in what would be his last recording session until 1980 . he formally announced his break from music in tokyo in 1977 , saying , " we have basically decided , without any great decision , to be with our baby as much as we can until we feel we can take time off to indulge ourselves in creating things outside of the family . " during his career break he created several series of drawings , and drafted a book containing a mix of autobiographical material and what he termed " mad stuff " , all of which would be published posthumously . lennon emerged from retirement in october 1980 with the single " ( just like ) starting over " , followed the next month by the album double fantasy , which contained songs written during a journey to bermuda on a 43 - foot sailing boat the previous june , that reflected his fulfilment in his new - found stable family life . sufficient additional material was recorded for a planned follow - up album milk and honey ( released posthumously in 1984 ) . released jointly by lennon and ono , double fantasy was not well received , drawing comments such as melody maker 's " indulgent sterility ... a yawn " . 8 december 1980 : death at around 10 : 50 p.m. ( est ) on 8 december 1980 , as lennon and ono returned to their new york apartment in the dakota , mark david chapman shot lennon in the back four times at the entrance to the building . lennon was taken to the emergency room of nearby roosevelt hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival at 11 : 00 p.m. ( est ) . earlier that evening , lennon had autographed a copy of double fantasy for chapman . ono issued a statement the next day , saying " there is no funeral for john " , ending it with the words , " john loved and prayed for the human race . please pray the same for him . " his body was cremated at ferncliff cemetery in hartsdale , new york . ono scattered his ashes in new york 's central park , where the strawberry fields memorial was later created . chapman pleaded guilty to second - degree murder and was sentenced to 20 - years - to - life . as of 2016 , he remains in prison , having been denied parole eight times . personal relationships cynthia lennon lennon and cynthia powell ( 1939 – 2015 ) met in 1957 as fellow students at the liverpool college of art . although being scared of lennon 's attitude and appearance , she heard that he was obsessed with french actress brigitte bardot , so she dyed her hair blonde . lennon asked her out , but when she said that she was engaged , he screamed out , " i didn 't ask you to fuckin ' marry me , did i ? " she often accompanied him to quarrymen gigs and travelled to hamburg with mccartney 's girlfriend at the time to visit him . lennon , jealous by nature , eventually grew possessive and often terrified powell with his anger and physical violence . lennon later said that until he met ono , he had never questioned his chauvinistic attitude to women . the beatles song " getting better " , he said , told his own story , " i used to be cruel to my woman , and physically — any woman . i was a hitter . i couldn 't express myself and i hit . i fought men and i hit women . that is why i am always on about peace " . recalling his reaction in july 1962 on learning that cynthia was pregnant , lennon said , " there 's only one thing for it cyn . we 'll have to get married . " the couple were married on 23 august at the mount pleasant register office in liverpool . his marriage began just as beatlemania took hold across the uk . he performed on the evening of his wedding day , and would continue to do so almost daily from then on . epstein , fearing that fans would be alienated by the idea of a married beatle , asked the lennons to keep their marriage secret . julian was born on 8 april 1963 ; lennon was on tour at the time and did not see his son until three days later . cynthia attributed the start of the marriage breakdown to lsd , and as a result , she felt that he slowly lost interest in her . when the group travelled by train to bangor , wales , in 1967 , for the maharishi yogi 's transcendental meditation seminar , a policeman did not recognise her and stopped her from boarding . she later recalled how the incident seemed to symbolise the ending of their marriage . after arriving home at kenwood , and finding lennon with ono , cynthia left the house to stay with friends . alexis mardas later claimed to have slept with her that night , and a few weeks later he informed her that lennon was seeking a divorce and custody of julian on grounds of her adultery with him . after negotiations , lennon capitulated and agreed to her divorcing him on the same grounds . the case was settled out of court in november 1968 , with lennon giving her £ 100 , 000 ( $ 240 , 000 in us dollars at the time ) , a small annual payment and custody of julian . brian epstein the beatles were performing at liverpool 's cavern club in november 1961 , when they were introduced to epstein after a midday concert . epstein was homosexual . according to biographer philip norman , one of his reasons for wanting to manage the group was that he was physically attracted to lennon . almost as soon as julian was born , lennon went on holiday to spain with epstein , leading to speculation about their relationship . questioned about it later , lennon said , " well , it was almost a love affair , but not quite . it was never consummated . but it was a pretty intense relationship . it was my first experience with a homosexual that i was conscious was homosexual . we used to sit in a café in torremolinos looking at all the boys and i 'd say , ' do you like that one ? do you like this one ? ' i was rather enjoying the experience , thinking like a writer all the time : i am experiencing this . " soon after their return from spain , at mccartney 's twenty - first birthday party in june 1963 , lennon physically attacked cavern club mc bob wooler for saying " how was your honeymoon , john ? " the mc , known for his wordplay and affectionate but cutting remarks , was making a joke , but ten months had passed since lennon 's marriage , and the honeymoon , deferred , was still two months in the future . to lennon , who was intoxicated with alcohol at the time , the matter was simple : " he called me a queer so i battered his bloody ribs in " . lennon delighted in mocking epstein for his homosexuality and for the fact that he was jewish . when epstein invited suggestions for the title of his autobiography , lennon offered queer jew ; on learning of the eventual title , a cellarful of noise , he parodied , " more like a cellarful of boys " . he demanded of a visitor to epstein 's flat , " have you come to blackmail him ? if not , you 're the only bugger in london who hasn 't . " during the recording of " baby , you 're a rich man " , he sang altered choruses of " baby , you 're a rich fag jew " . julian lennon lennon 's first son , julian , was born as his commitments with the beatles intensified at the height of beatlemania during his marriage to cynthia . lennon was touring with the beatles when julian was born on 8 april 1963 . julian 's birth , like his mother cynthia 's marriage to lennon , was kept secret because epstein was convinced public knowledge of such things would threaten the beatles ' commercial success . julian recalls how some four years later , as a small child in weybridge , " i was trundled home from school and came walking up with one of my watercolour paintings . it was just a bunch of stars and this blonde girl i knew at school . and dad said , ' what 's this ? ' i said , ' it 's lucy in the sky with diamonds . ' " lennon used it as the title of a beatles song , and though it was later reported to have been derived from the initials lsd , lennon insisted , " it 's not an acid song . " mccartney corroborated lennon 's explanation that julian innocently came up with the name . lennon was distant from julian , who felt closer to mccartney than to his father . during a car journey to visit cynthia and julian during lennon 's divorce , mccartney composed a song , " hey jules " , to comfort him . it would evolve into the beatles song " hey jude " . lennon later said , " that 's his best song . it started off as a song about my son julian ... he turned it into ' hey jude ' . i always thought it was about me and yoko but he said it wasn 't . " lennon 's relationship with julian was already strained , and after lennon and ono 's 1971 move to new york , julian would not see his father again until 1973 . with pang 's encouragement , it was arranged for him ( and his mother ) to visit lennon in los angeles , where they went to disneyland . julian started to see his father regularly , and lennon gave him a drumming part on a walls and bridges track . he bought julian a gibson les paul guitar and other instruments , and encouraged his interest in music by demonstrating guitar chord techniques . julian recalls that he and his father " got on a great deal better " during the time he spent in new york : " we had a lot of fun , laughed a lot and had a great time in general . " in a playboy interview with david sheff shortly before his death , lennon said , " 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 . " he said he was trying to re - establish a connection with the then 17 - year - old , and confidently predicted , " julian and i will have a relationship in the future . " after his death it was revealed that he had left julian very little in his will . yoko ono two versions exist of how lennon met ono . according to the first , told by the lennons , on 9 november 1966 lennon went to the indica gallery in london , where ono was preparing her conceptual art exhibit , and they were introduced by gallery owner john dunbar . lennon was intrigued by ono 's " hammer a nail " : patrons hammered a nail into a wooden board , creating the art piece . although the exhibition had not yet begun , lennon wanted to hammer a nail into the clean board , but ono stopped him . dunbar asked her , " don 't you know who this is ? he 's a millionaire ! he might buy it . " ono had supposedly not heard of the beatles , but relented on condition that lennon pay her five shillings , to which lennon replied , " i 'll give you an imaginary five shillings and hammer an imaginary nail in . " the second version , told by mccartney , is that in late 1965 , ono was in london compiling original musical scores for a book john cage was working on , notations , but mccartney declined to give her any of his own manuscripts for the book , suggesting that lennon might oblige . when asked , lennon gave ono the original handwritten lyrics to " the word " . ono began visiting and telephoning lennon 's home and , when his wife asked for an explanation , lennon explained that ono was only trying to obtain money for her " avant - garde bullshit " . in may 1968 , while his wife was on holiday in greece , lennon invited ono to visit . they spent the night recording what would become the two virgins album , after which , he said , they " made love at dawn . " when lennon 's wife returned home she found ono wearing her bathrobe and drinking tea with lennon who simply said , " oh , hi . " ono became pregnant in 1968 and miscarried a male child they named john ono lennon ii on 21 november 1968 , a few weeks after lennon 's divorce from cynthia was granted . during lennon 's last two years in the beatles , he and ono began public protests against the vietnam war . they were married in gibraltar on 20 march 1969 , and spent their honeymoon at the hilton amsterdam campaigning with a week - long bed - in for peace . they planned another bed - in in the united states , but were denied entry , so held one instead at the queen elizabeth hotel in montreal , where they recorded " give peace a chance " . they often combined advocacy with performance art , as in their " " , first introduced during a vienna press conference . lennon detailed this period in the beatles song " the ballad of john and yoko " . lennon changed his name by deed poll on 22 april 1969 , adding " ono " as a middle name . the brief ceremony took place on the roof of the apple corps building , made famous three months earlier by the beatles ' let it be rooftop concert . although he used the name john ono lennon thereafter , official documents referred to him as john winston ono lennon , since he was not permitted to revoke a name given at birth . the couple settled at tittenhurst park at sunninghill in berkshire . after ono was injured in a car accident , lennon arranged for a king - sized bed to be brought to the recording studio as he worked on the beatles ' last album , abbey road . to escape the acrimony of the band 's break - up , ono suggested they move permanently to new york , which they did on 31 august 1971 . they first lived in the st. regis hotel on 5th avenue , east 55th street , then moved to a street - level flat at 105 bank street , greenwich village , on 16 october 1971 . after a robbery , they relocated to the more secure dakota at 1 west 72nd street , in 1973 . may pang abkco industries , formed in 1968 by allen klein as an umbrella company to abkco records , recruited may pang as a receptionist in 1969 . through involvement in a project with abkco , lennon and ono met her the following year . she became their personal assistant . after she had been working with the couple for three years , ono confided that she and lennon were becoming estranged from one another . she went on to suggest that pang should begin a physical relationship with lennon , telling her , " he likes you a lot . " pang , 22 , astounded by ono 's proposition , eventually agreed to become lennon 's companion . the pair soon moved to california , beginning an 18 - month period he later called his " lost weekend " . in los angeles , pang encouraged lennon to develop regular contact with julian , whom he had not seen for two years . he also rekindled friendships with starr , mccartney , beatles roadie mal evans , and harry nilsson . whilst drinking with nilsson , after misunderstanding something pang said , lennon attempted to strangle her , relenting only when physically restrained by nilsson . upon returning to new york , they prepared a spare room in their newly rented apartment for julian to visit . lennon , hitherto inhibited by ono in this regard , began to reestablish contact with other relatives and friends . by december he and pang were considering a house purchase , and he was refusing to accept ono 's telephone calls . in january 1975 , he agreed to meet ono who claimed to have found a cure for smoking . but after the meeting he failed to return home or call pang . when pang telephoned the next day , ono told her lennon was unavailable , being exhausted after a hypnotherapy session . two days later , lennon reappeared at a joint dental appointment , stupefied and confused to such an extent that pang believed he had been brainwashed . he told her his separation from ono was now over , though ono would allow him to continue seeing her as his mistress . sean lennon when lennon and ono were reunited , she became pregnant , but having previously suffered three miscarriages in her attempt to have a child with lennon , she said she wanted an abortion . she agreed to allow the pregnancy to continue on condition that lennon adopt the role of househusband ; this he agreed to do . sean was born on 9 october 1975 , lennon 's 35th birthday , delivered by caesarean section . lennon 's subsequent career break would span five years . he had a photographer take pictures of sean every day of his first year , and created numerous drawings for him , posthumously published as real love : the drawings for sean . lennon later proudly declared , " he didn 't come out of my belly but , by god , i made his bones , because i 've attended to every meal , and to how he sleeps , and to the fact that he swims like a fish . " former beatles although his friendship with starr remained consistently friendly during the years following the beatles ' break - up in 1970 , lennon 's relationships with mccartney and harrison varied . he was close to harrison initially , but the two drifted apart after lennon moved to america . when harrison was in new york for his december 1974 dark horse tour , lennon agreed to join him on stage , but failed to appear after an argument over lennon 's refusal to sign an agreement that would finally dissolve the beatles ' legal partnership . ( lennon eventually signed the papers while holidaying in florida with pang and julian . ) harrison offended lennon in 1980 , when he published an autobiography that made little mention of him . lennon told playboy , " i was hurt by it . by glaring omission ... my influence on his life is absolutely ... he remembers every two - bit sax player or guitarist he met in subsequent years . i 'm not in the book . " lennon 's most intense feelings were reserved for mccartney . in addition to attacking him through the lyrics of " how do you sleep ? " , lennon argued with him through the press for three years after the group split . the two later began to reestablish something of the close friendship they had once known , and in 1974 , they even played music together again before eventually growing apart once more . lennon said that during mccartney 's final visit , in april 1976 , they watched the episode of saturday night live in which lorne michaels made a $ 3 , 000 cash offer to get the beatles to reunite on the show . the pair considered going to the studio to make a joke appearance , attempting to claim their share of the money , but were too tired . lennon summarised his feelings towards mccartney in an interview three days before his death : " throughout my career , i 've selected to work with ... only two people : paul mccartney and yoko ono ... that ain 't bad picking . " along with his estrangement from mccartney , lennon always felt a musical competitiveness with him and kept an ear on his music . during his five - year career break he was content to sit back so long as mccartney was producing what lennon saw as mediocre material . when mccartney released " coming up " , in 1980 , the year lennon returned to the studio and the last year of his life , he took notice . " it 's driving me crackers ! " he jokingly complained , because he could not get the tune out of his head . asked the same year whether the group were dreaded enemies or the best of friends , he replied that they were neither , and that he had not seen any of them in a long time . but he also said , " i still love those guys . the beatles are over , but john , paul , george and ringo go on . " political activism lennon and ono used their honeymoon as what they termed a " bed - in for peace " at the amsterdam hilton hotel ; the march 1969 event attracted worldwide media ridicule . at a second bed - in three months later at the queen elizabeth hotel in montreal lennon wrote and recorded " give peace a chance " . released as a single , it was quickly taken up as an anti - war anthem and sung by a quarter of a million demonstrators against the vietnam war in washington , dc , on 15 november , the second vietnam moratorium day . in december , they paid for billboards in 10 cities around the world which declared , in the national language , " war is over ! if you want it " . later that year , lennon and ono supported efforts by the family of james hanratty , hanged for murder in 1962 , to prove his innocence . those who had condemned hanratty were , according to lennon , " the same people who are running guns to south africa and killing blacks in the streets . ... the same bastards are in control , the same people are running everything , it 's the whole bullshit bourgeois scene . " in london , lennon and ono staged a " britain murdered hanratty " banner march and a " silent protest for james hanratty " , and produced a 40 - minute documentary on the case . at an appeal hearing years later , hanratty 's conviction was upheld after dna evidence matched . his family continued to appeal in 2010 . lennon and ono showed their solidarity with the clydeside ucs workers ' work - in of 1971 by sending a bouquet of red roses and a cheque for £ 5 , 000 . on moving to new york city in august that year , they befriended two of the chicago seven , yippie peace activists jerry rubin and abbie hoffman . another political activist , john sinclair , poet and co - founder of the white panther party , was serving ten years in prison for selling two joints of marijuana after previous convictions for possession of the drug . in december 1971 at ann arbor , michigan , 15 , 000 people attended the " john sinclair freedom rally " , a protest and benefit concert with contributions from lennon , stevie wonder , bob seger , bobby seale of the black panther party , and others . lennon and ono , backed by david peel and rubin , performed an acoustic set of four songs from their forthcoming some time in new york city album including " john sinclair " , whose lyrics called for his release . the day before the rally , the michigan senate passed a bill that significantly reduced the penalties for possession of marijuana and four days later sinclair was released on an appeal bond . the performance was recorded and two of the tracks later appeared on john lennon anthology ( 1998 ) . following the bloody sunday incident in northern ireland in 1972 , in which 14 unarmed civil rights protesters were shot dead by the british army , lennon said that given the choice between the army and the ira ( who were not involved in the incident ) he would side with the latter . lennon and ono wrote two songs protesting british presence and actions in ireland for their some time in new york city album : " luck of the irish " and " sunday bloody sunday " . in 2000 , david shayler , a former member of britain 's domestic security service mi5 , suggested that lennon had given money to the ira , though this was swiftly denied by ono . biographer bill harry records that following bloody sunday , lennon and ono financially supported the production of the film the irish tapes , a political documentary with a republican slant . according to fbi surveillance reports ( and confirmed by tariq ali in 2006 ) lennon was sympathetic to the international marxist group , a trotskyist group formed in britain in 1968 . however , the fbi considered lennon to have limited effectiveness as a revolutionary since he was " constantly under the influence of narcotics " . in 1973 , lennon contributed a limerick called " why make it sad to be gay ? " to len richmond 's the gay liberation book . lennon 's last act of political activism was a statement in support of the striking minority sanitation workers in san francisco on 5 december 1980 . he and ono planned to join the workers ' protest on 14 december . by this time , however , lennon had also quietly renounced the counterculture views which he had helped promote during the 1960s and 1970s and became more aligned with conservatism , though whether he had actually aligned to a more conservative world view is disputed . deportation attempt following the impact of " give peace a chance " and " happy xmas ( war is over ) " , both strongly associated with the anti – vietnam war movement , the nixon administration , hearing rumours of lennon 's involvement in a concert to be held in san diego at the same time as the republican national convention , tried to have him deported . nixon believed that lennon 's anti - war activities could cost him his re - election ; republican senator strom thurmond suggested in a february 1972 memo that " deportation would be a strategic counter - measure " against lennon . the next month the united states immigration and naturalization service ( ins ) began deportation proceedings , arguing that his 1968 misdemeanor conviction for cannabis possession in london had made him ineligible for admission to the united states . lennon spent the next three and a half years in and out of deportation hearings until 8 october 1975 , when a court of appeals barred the deportation attempt , stating " ... the courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds . " while the legal battle continued , lennon attended rallies and made television appearances . lennon and ono co - hosted the mike douglas show for a week in february 1972 , introducing guests such as jerry rubin and bobby seale to mid - america . in 1972 , bob dylan wrote a letter to the ins defending lennon , stating : john and yoko add a great voice and drive to the country 's so - called art institution . they inspire and transcend and stimulate and by doing so , only help others to see pure light and in doing that , put an end to this dull taste of petty commercialism which is being passed off as artist art by the overpowering mass media . hurray for john and yoko . let them stay and live here and breathe . the country 's got plenty of room and space . let john and yoko stay ! on 23 march 1973 , lennon was ordered to leave the us within 60 days . ono , meanwhile , was granted permanent residence . in response , lennon and ono held a press conference on 1 april 1973 at the new york city bar association , where they announced the formation of the state of nutopia ; a place with " no land , no boundaries , no passports , only people " . waving the white flag of nutopia ( two handkerchiefs ) , they asked for political asylum in the us . the press conference was filmed , and would later appear in the 2006 documentary the us vs. john lennon . lennon 's mind games ( 1973 ) included the track " nutopian international anthem " , which comprised three seconds of silence . soon after the press conference , nixon 's involvement in a political scandal came to light , and in june the watergate hearings began in washington , dc . they led to the president 's resignation 14 months later . nixon 's successor , gerald ford , showed little interest in continuing the battle against lennon , and the deportation order was overturned in 1975 . the following year , his us immigration status finally resolved , lennon received his " green card " certifying his permanent residency , and when jimmy carter was inaugurated as president in january 1977 , lennon and ono attended the inaugural ball . fbi surveillance and declassified documents after lennon 's death , historian jon wiener filed a freedom of information act request for fbi files documenting the bureau 's role in the deportation attempt . the fbi admitted it had 281 pages of files on lennon , but refused to release most of them on the grounds that they contained national security information . in 1983 , wiener sued the fbi with the help of the american civil liberties union of southern california . it took 14 years of litigation to force the fbi to release the withheld pages . the aclu , representing wiener , won a favourable decision in their suit against the fbi in the ninth circuit in 1991 . the justice department appealed the decision to the supreme court in april 1992 , but the court declined to review the case . in 1997 , respecting president bill clinton 's newly instigated rule that documents should be withheld only if releasing them would involve " foreseeable harm " , the justice department settled most of the outstanding issues outside court by releasing all but 10 of the contested documents . wiener published the results of his 14 - year campaign in january 2000 . gimme some truth : the john lennon fbi files contained facsimiles of the documents , including " lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti - war activists , memos to the white house , transcripts of tv shows on which lennon appeared , and a proposal that lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges " . the story is told in the documentary the us vs. john lennon . the final 10 documents in lennon 's fbi file , which reported on his ties with london anti - war activists in 1971 and had been withheld as containing " national security information provided by a foreign government under an explicit promise of confidentiality " , were released in december 2006 . they contained no indication that the british government had regarded lennon as a serious threat ; one example of the released material was a report that two prominent british leftists had hoped lennon would finance a left - wing bookshop and reading room . writing and art beatles biographer bill harry writes that lennon began drawing and writing creatively at an early age with the encouragement of his uncle . he collected his stories , poetry , cartoons and caricatures in a quarry bank high school exercise book that he called the daily howl . the drawings were often of crippled people , and the writings satirical , and throughout the book was an abundance of wordplay . according to classmate bill turner , lennon created the daily howl to amuse his best friend and later quarrymen bandmate pete shotton , to whom he would show his work before he let anyone else see it . turner said that lennon " had an obsession for wigan pier . it kept cropping up " , and in lennon 's story a carrot in a potato mine , " the mine was at the end of wigan pier . " turner described how one of lennon 's cartoons depicted a bus stop sign annotated with the question , " why ? " . above was a flying pancake , and below , " a blind man wearing glasses leading along a blind dog — also wearing glasses " . lennon 's love of wordplay and nonsense with a twist found a wider audience when he was 24 . harry writes that in his own write ( 1964 ) was published after " some journalist who was hanging around the beatles came to me and i ended up showing him the stuff . they said , ' write a book ' and that 's how the first one came about " . like the daily howl it contained a mix of formats including short stories , poetry , plays and drawings . one story , " good dog nigel " , tells the tale of " a happy dog , urinating on a lamp post , barking , wagging his tail — until he suddenly hears a message that he will be killed at three o 'clock " . the times literary supplement considered the poems and stories " remarkable ... also very funny ... the nonsense runs on , words and images prompting one another in a chain of pure fantasy " . book week reported , " this is nonsense writing , but one has only to review the literature of nonsense to see how well lennon has brought it off . while some of his homonyms are gratuitous word play , many others have not only double meaning but a double edge . " lennon was not only surprised by the positive reception , but that the book was reviewed at all , and suggested that readers " took the book more seriously than i did myself . it just began as a laugh for me " . in combination with a spaniard in the works ( 1965 ) , in his own write formed the basis of the stage play the john lennon play : in his own write , co - adapted by victor spinetti and adrienne kennedy . after negotiations between lennon , spinetti and the artistic director of the national theatre , sir laurence olivier , the play opened at the old vic in 1968 . lennon and ono attended the opening night performance , their second public appearance together . in 1969 , lennon wrote " four in hand " ‍ — ‌ a skit based on his teenaged experiences of group masturbation ‍ — ‌ for kenneth tynan 's play oh ! calcutta ! . after lennon 's death , further works were published , including by word of mouth ( 1986 ) ; ai : japan through john lennon 's eyes : a personal sketchbook ( 1992 ) , with lennon 's illustrations of the definitions of japanese words ; and real love : the drawings for sean ( 1999 ) . the beatles anthology ( 2000 ) also presented examples of his writings and drawings . musicianship instruments played lennon 's playing of a mouth organ during a bus journey to visit his cousin in scotland caught the driver 's ear . impressed , the driver told lennon of a harmonica he could have if he came to edinburgh the following day , where one had been stored in the bus depot since a passenger left it on a bus . the professional instrument quickly replaced lennon 's toy . he would continue to play harmonica , often using the instrument during the beatles ' hamburg years , and it became a signature sound in the group 's early recordings . his mother taught him how to play the banjo , later buying him an acoustic guitar . at 16 , he played rhythm guitar with the quarrymen . as his career progressed , he played a variety of electric guitars , predominantly the rickenbacker 325 , epiphone casino and gibson j - , and , from the start of his solo career , the gibson les paul junior . double fantasy producer jack douglas claimed that since his beatle days lennon habitually tuned his d - string slightly flat , so his aunt mimi could tell which guitar was his on recordings . occasionally he played a six - string bass guitar , the fender bass vi , providing bass on some beatles numbers ( " back in the u.s.s.r. " , " the long and winding road " , " helter skelter " ) that occupied mccartney with another instrument . his other instrument of choice was the piano , on which he composed many songs , including " imagine " , described as his best - known solo work . his jamming on a piano with mccartney in 1963 led to the creation of the beatles ' first us number one , " i want to hold your hand " . in 1964 , he became one of the first british musicians to acquire a mellotron keyboard , though it was not heard on a beatles recording until " strawberry fields forever " in 1967 . vocal style when the beatles recorded " twist and shout " , the final track during the mammoth one - day session that produced the band 's 1963 debut album , please please me , lennon 's voice , already compromised by a cold , came close to giving out . lennon said , " i couldn 't sing the damn thing , i was just screaming . " in the words of biographer barry miles , " lennon simply shredded his vocal cords in the interests of rock ' n ' roll . " the beatles ' producer , george martin , tells how lennon " had an inborn dislike of his own voice which i could never understand . he was always saying to me : ' do something with my voice ! ... put something on it ... make it different . ' " martin obliged , often using double - tracking and other techniques . as his beatles era segued into his solo career , his singing voice found a widening range of expression . biographer chris gregory writes of lennon " tentatively beginning to expose his insecurities in a number of acoustic - led ' confessional ' ballads , so beginning the process of ' public therapy ' that will eventually culminate in the primal screams of " cold turkey " and the cathartic john lennon / plastic ono band . " music critic robert christgau calls this lennon 's " greatest vocal performance ... from scream to whine , is modulated electronically ... echoed , filtered , and double tracked . " david stuart ryan notes lennon 's vocal delivery to range from " extreme vulnerability , sensitivity and even naivety " to a hard " rasping " style . wiener too describes contrasts , saying the singer 's voice can be " at first subdued ; soon it almost cracks with despair " . music historian ben urish recalls hearing the beatles ' ed sullivan show performance of " this boy " played on the radio a few days after lennon 's murder : " as lennon 's vocals reached their peak ... it hurt too much to hear him scream with such anguish and emotion . but it was my emotions i heard in his voice . just like i always had . " legacy music historians schinder and schwartz , writing of the transformation in popular music styles that took place between the 1950s and the 1960s , say that the beatles ' influence cannot be overstated : having " revolutionised the sound , style , and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll 's doors to a tidal wave of british rock acts " , the group then " spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock 's stylistic frontiers " . liam gallagher , his group oasis among the many who acknowledge the band 's influence , identifies lennon as a hero ; in 1999 he named his first child lennon gallagher in tribute . on national poetry day in 1999 , after conducting a poll to identify the uk 's favourite song lyric , the bbc announced " imagine " the winner . in a 2006 guardian article , jon wiener wrote : " for young people in 1972 , it was thrilling to see lennon 's courage in standing up to [ us president ] nixon . that willingness to take risks with his career , and his life , is one reason why people still admire him today . " for music historians urish and bielen , lennon 's most significant effort was " the self - portraits ... in his songs [ which ] spoke to , for , and about , the human condition . " in 2013 , downtown music publishing signed a publishing administration agreement for the u.s. with music and ono music , home to the song catalogs of john lennon and yoko ono respectively . under the terms of the agreement , downtown represents lennon 's solo works -- including " imagine , " " instant karma ( we all shine on ) , " " power to the people , " " happy x - mas ( war is over ) , " " jealous guy , " " ( just like ) starting over " and others . lennon continues to be mourned throughout the world and has been the subject of numerous memorials and tributes . in 2002 , the airport in lennon 's home town was renamed the liverpool john lennon airport . in 2010 , on what would have been lennon 's 70th birthday , the john lennon peace monument was unveiled in chavasse park , liverpool , by cynthia and julian lennon . the sculpture entitled ' peace & harmony ' exhibits peace symbols and carries the inscription " peace on earth for the conservation of life · in honour of john lennon 1940 – 1980 " . in december 2013 the international astronomical union named one of the craters on mercury after lennon . awards and sales the lennon – mccartney songwriting partnership is regarded as one of the most influential and successful of the 20th century . as performer , writer or co - writer lennon has had 25 number one singles on the us hot 100 his album sales in the us stand at 14 million units . double fantasy was his best - selling solo album , at three million shipments in the us ; released shortly before his death , it won the 1981 grammy award for album of the year . the following year , the brit award for outstanding contribution to music went to lennon . participants in a 2002 bbc poll voted him eighth of " 100 greatest britons " . between 2003 and 2008 , rolling stone recognised lennon in several reviews of artists and music , ranking him fifth of " 100 greatest singers of all time " and 38th of " 100 greatest artists of all time " , and his albums john lennon / plastic ono band and imagine , 22nd and 76th respectively of " rolling stone 's 500 greatest albums of all time " . he was appointed member of the order of the british empire ( mbe ) with the other beatles in 1965 ( returned in 1969 ) . lennon was posthumously inducted into the songwriters hall of fame in 1987 and into the rock and roll hall of fame in 1994 . discography unfinished music no. 1 : two virgins ( with yoko ono ) ( 1968 ) unfinished music no. 2 : life with the lions ( with yoko ono ) ( 1969 ) wedding album ( with yoko ono ) ( 1969 ) john lennon / plastic ono band ( 1970 ) imagine ( 1971 ) some time in new york city ( with yoko ono ) ( 1972 ) mind games ( 1973 ) walls and bridges ( 1974 ) rock ' n ' roll ( 1975 ) double fantasy ( with yoko ono ) ( 1980 ) milk and honey ( with yoko ono ) ( 1984 ) filmography film television