John Lennon. Real life on display. The relationship between Lennon and the Beatles. Lennon's departure from the Beatles

John Lennon (born John Winston Lennon, later changed to John Winston Ono Lennon; John Winston Ono Lennon). Born October 9, 1940 in Liverpool (UK) - died December 8, 1980 in New York (USA). British rock musician, singer, poet, composer, artist, writer. One of the founders and member of The Beatles, a popular musician of the 20th century. After The Beatles broke up, he began a solo career, but was killed in 1980.

Except yours musical activity Lennon was also known as a political activist. He expressed his views both in songs and in public speeches. The famous song “Imagine” expresses Lennon’s thoughts about how the world should be structured. Lennon preached the ideas of equality and brotherhood of people, peace, freedom. This made him a hippie idol and one of the most significant public figures of the 1960s and 1970s.

In 2002, the BBC conducted a poll to determine the one hundred greatest Britons of all time. John Lennon took eighth place on this list. Lennon also took two places on the list of the 50 greatest performers of all time according to the magazine. Rolling Stone: 1 with The Beatles and personal 38. The British magazine Classic Rock included Lennon in the list of the greatest guitarists of all time.

John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 at 6:30 am, during a German air raid on Liverpool. His parents are Julia (Julia Lennon 1914-1958) and Alfred Lennon (Alfred Lennon 1912-1976). John became their first and last child - shortly after his birth, Julia and Alfred separated.

When Julia Lennon found another man, four-year-old John was taken in by his maternal aunt Mimi Smith (1906-1991) and her husband George Smith, who had no children of their own. Mimi was a strict teacher, and this often caused Lennon rejection. Mimi did not approve of his hobby for the guitar. John was distinguished by rare wit and malice. When he was learning to play the guitar, Aunt Mimi grumbled: “A guitar is a good thing, but it will never help you make a living!” Later, at the height of his success, John bought his aunt a luxurious mansion on the coast and decorated the hall with a marble plaque with his aunt's words. But Lennon found a common language with his uncle, who replaced his father, but in 1955 George died. John then became close to his mother Julia, who lived with her second husband and his two children.

Lennon could not stand the routine of school life, therefore, despite his sharp mind, he slipped from the category of the best students to the worst. But at school he managed to reveal his creative abilities - Lennon sang in the choir and published a handwritten magazine, which he himself illustrated. His favorite books at the time were Alice in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows. In 1952 Lennon found himself in high school Quarry Bank High School. In his studies, he did not achieve much success either, quickly finding himself in class C for the most backward students. At the same time, Lennon regularly violated discipline and drew caricatures of teachers.

In the mid-1950s, following the release of Bill Haley's "Rock around the Clock", the rock and roll craze began in Liverpool. Lonnie Donegan's song "Rock Island Line" gave birth to skiffle, which quickly gained popularity among English youth. Skiffle was notable for the fact that its performance did not require extensive knowledge of music or the ability to play any instrument well. Thanks to this, many youth skiffle groups appeared in England in the 1950s. Rock and roll finally gained popularity after appearing in the United States.

The new hobby did not pass Lennon by, and in 1956, together with his school friends, he founded the group The Quarrymen, named after the school where they all studied. Lennon himself played guitar in the Quarrymen. Besides him, there were five people in the group: another one also played guitar, two on drums, one person on banjo and one best friend Jonah Pete Shotton, - on a washboard. On July 6, 1957, Lennon met and accepted him into the Quarrymen. Soon McCartney brought his friend into the group.

After Lennon failed his GCSEs, he managed (with the help of his headmaster) to enroll at Liverpool Art College. There he became friends with Stuart Sutcliffe, whom he also attracted to the Quarrymen, and met his future wife Cynthia Powell.

In 1958 (July 15), John's mother died. As she was crossing the road, she was hit by a police officer in a car. Julia's death was a severe shock for Lennon. Later he dedicated several songs to her - “Julia”, “Mother” and “My Mummy’s Dead”. His mother's death greatly affected him in the future. Since Lennon was very attached to Julia, he looked for his mother in almost all women.

The Quarrymen band ceased to exist in 1959 when the name appeared - first Silver Beetles, then - The Beatles.

In 1960, The Beatles went abroad for the first time - to Hamburg, Germany, where they performed in clubs in the Reeperbahn, the center nightlife cities. In Hamburg, Lennon tried drugs for the first time. To Germany The Beatles between 1960 and 1963 came several times. Over the years they have managed to achieve local popularity in Liverpool and Hamburg.

Stuart (Stu) Sutcliffe, the closest person to Lennon during these years, remained to live in Hamburg. Sutcliffe found a wife in Germany, photographer Astrid Kirchherr (born May 20, 1938). On April 10, 1962, Stu died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

At the end of 1961, Brian Epstein became the manager of The Beatles. He completely changed their image - the group changed leather jackets Instead of neat suits with the famous jackets without lapels, the musicians stopped smoking and swearing on stage. Lennon later admitted that he did not really like the change in image. However, the new image contributed to the rapid growth of The Beatles' popularity.

On August 23, 1962, John Lennon married Cynthia Powell. On April 8, 1963, John and Cynthia Lennon had a son, John Charles Julian Lennon. It was named after Julia, John's mother.

In 1963, Lennon “showed his teeth” for the first time, performing in front of the royal family. Announcing the next number, he exclaimed mischievously: "We ask those in the cheap seats to applaud. The rest can content themselves with jingling their jewelry!"

“Those in the cheap seats” greeted this call with thunderous applause. The "rest" - crowned and uncrowned Windsors - were shocked. The scandalous fame only contributed to the growth of the group's popularity, and Lennon from that time took on the role of leader - he announced numbers at concerts and was always the first to go on stage, although in fact it could not be said that one or another member of the Beatles was more important for the group than rest. If in the spring of 1963 they were well known only in Liverpool, then in October of the same year the whole country knew about them, and in 1964 Liverpool group world fame came.

In addition, Lennon tried himself as an actor. Not counting the films created by The Beatles, he once starred in a movie: it was the film “How I Won the War” (1967). The film was not a success with either audiences or critics. However, the film fully corresponded to the spirit of the times, and as a historical artifact (against the background of the events accompanying the Vietnam War) has a definite cultural and artistic value.

From 1964 to 1966, The Beatles were at the height of their fame. They constantly toured around the world, released albums twice a year, and starred in two films: “To the Rescue!” (Help!) and “A Hard Day's Night”.

In March 1966, Lennon, in an interview with the London Evening Standard newspaper, dropped a careless phrase, saying the following: “Christianity will go away. It will disappear and dry up. There is no need to argue; I'm right and the future will prove it. We are now more popular than Jesus; I don't know which will disappear first - rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was okay, but his followers are stupid and ordinary. And it is their perversion that destroys Christianity in me.”

In the UK, no one paid attention to this phrase, but when, five months later, the American magazine Datebook put the phrase taken out of context on the cover, a scandal began in the USA. In the south of the country, whose residents are known for their religiosity, Beatles records were publicly burned, and radio stations stopped broadcasting their songs. Even the Vatican condemned Lennon’s statement (in 2008, however, the Vatican forgave the musician, saying that his phrase could be regarded as “witness”). At the same time, the Beatles were preparing for a tour of the United States. Lennon was forced to apologize for his words, but the concerts during the tour were missing a huge number of spectators. Lennon received death threats: in Memphis, someone called The Beatles' room and said that he (Lennon) would be killed during the concert. After these tours, the Beatles decided to abandon concerts. They never performed on stage again.

In 1967, Lennon, influenced by Timothy Leary's book The Psychedelic Experience, became interested in drugs. He began to distance himself from the rest of the group and abandoned his role as its leader. After the death of Brian Epstein, Paul McCartney took over management of the Beatles. In 1967, McCartney took over the leadership of the group - the best, according to many, rock album of all time, “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was conceived and realized by him, as was the TV movie A Magical Mystery Tour. “The film was made by Paul and for Paul,” Lennon later told Rolling Stone magazine.

The songs from the albums of 1967-1968, although they were signed by Lennon - McCartney, in the vast majority of cases were the fruit of the creativity of only one of the Beatles. The White Album, released in 1968, shows how the band members differed from each other during this period.

During these years, Lennon composed songs that many later recognized as his the best works: philosophical “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Across the Universe”, psychedelic “I Am the Walrus” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, gloomy “A Day in the Life"and solemn "All You Need is Love", which became the hippie anthem.

Lennon's appearance, like the rest of the group, changed greatly. The Beatles stopped dressing in neat suits and grew long hair, mustaches and sideburns. The famous round glasses appeared for the first time in Lennon's image.

In November 1968, Lennon's wife, Cynthia Lennon, divorced him. The reason for this was John's betrayal. Cynthia, returning from Greece, saw her husband and his mistress in her bed. On November 8, 1968, the divorce was formalized.

Lennon met avant-garde artist Yoko Ono in 1966 when he attended her exhibition at the Indica Art Gallery. Their life together began in 1968, when Lennon divorced his first wife, Cynthia. Soon she and Yoko became inseparable. As Lennon said then, they are not John and Yoko, but one soul in two bodies, John-and-Yoko.

On March 20, 1969, the marriage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono was registered in Gibraltar. After his marriage, Lennon changed his middle name, Winston, to Ono, and his name was now John Ono Lennon.

The couple spent their honeymoon in continental Europe - Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna, after which they visited Montreal. Lennon's song about this marriage, "The Ballad of John and Yoko", was released in 1969. It was recorded together with McCartney (bass, drums).

“We dreamed of changing something in this world... but everything remained the same. Still selling guns South Africa, and blacks are killed on the street. People still live in poverty and have rats running around. Only crowds of rich loafers walk around London in fashionable rags. I don't believe in the Beatles myth anymore

Relations within the Beatles finally deteriorated in 1968. Lennon and Paul McCartney have accumulated many complaints against each other. Lennon, for example, was not happy with the fact that McCartney was pulling the blanket over himself, and he was dissatisfied with Lennon’s apathy and constant presence in the studio during Yoko Ono’s recordings (although at the beginning of their career the Beatles agreed not to invite wives and girlfriends to the studio). In addition, their creative collaboration practically ceased; Lennon leaned more and more towards psychedelic rock (“Strawberry Fields Forever”), acid rock (“I am the Walrus”) and avant-garde (“Revolution 9”).

In 1968, the Beatles were on the verge of breaking up, and even announced their departure (although in the end he still remained in the group). Many of the recordings on the White Album were made with an incomplete lineup, and Lennon recorded the song “Julia” alone.

The album "Abbey Road", released in 1969, was also organized by Paul McCartney - the concept of the album belonged to him. Abbey Road was actually the last Beatles album. Released in 1970, "Let It Be" was recorded almost entirely in January 1969 during the studio sessions that became the basis for the film "Let It Be." By the time the album was released, Lennon and McCartney had already announced that they were leaving the group.

In 1968, two years before the Beatles broke up, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's first album was released. "Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins". According to Lennon, the album was recorded in one night. There was no music on it: the record contained a chaotic collection of noises, moans and screams. It was remarkable album cover - it featured a photograph of a completely naked Lennon and Yoko Ono. In 1969, two studio albums were released: “Wedding Album” and “Unfinished Music No.2: Life With The Lions,” which also contained virtually no music. In addition, a live recording of "Live Peace In Toronto 1969" was released. Lennon and Yoko Ono formed a group called the Plastic Ono Band.

John Lennon's period of political activity lasted from 1968 to 1972. The beginning of this period was the song “Revolution”, released as a single, and its variation “Revolution 1”, which ended up on the “White Album”.

That is, after the words with which Lennon renounces violence, the word “in” follows, which gives the line a completely opposite meaning. Another political song written for Beatles album became "Come Together", released on the album "Abbey Road". At this time, Lennon had already taken a very definite position - he advocated world peace, and even returned the Order of the British Empire to the Queen - in protest against ... “British intervention in the Nigeria-Biafra conflict, against our support for the American war in Vietnam and against that that "Cold Turkey" is slipping down the charts."

After their wedding, they went to Amsterdam and announced that they would conduct a “bedside interview.” Journalists who decided that star couple will have sex publicly, gathered in a hotel, where it turned out that Lennon and Yoko Ono were just sitting in bed and talking about peace. Donning white pajamas and decorating their hotel room with flowers, John and Yoko sat in bed. The doors of the room were wide open around the clock. Any person from the street could enter them. And he entered. Television, photographers, and newspaper reporters spent days and nights in Lennon's rooms in Amsterdam and Toronto. They never left television screens, the front pages of newspapers and magazines. And along with the sensation, their call to end the aggression in Vietnam involuntarily seeped into the world.

After Amsterdam, the bed demonstration was repeated in Montreal, where Lennon impromptu composed the song “Give Peace a Chance,” which became the anthem of the pacifist movement. On December 15, 1969, the Lennons organized an anti-war concert under the slogan “The war will end if you want it.” On December 30 of the same year, British television showed a program dedicated to Lennon, and named him one of the three politicians decades (along with John Kennedy and Mao Zedong).

In 1969, John and Yoko had long hair during a bed action. On January 20, 1970, they cut each other's hair in Denmark. Violent political and musical activity led to the fact that at the beginning of 1970 Lennon began to have a psychological crisis. Dr. Arthur Yanov, who practiced primal therapy, brought him out of this crisis. With Yanov's help, Lennon was able to return to normal, and the treatments made a deep impression on him, which is noticeable on the 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, which became Lennon's most revealing record.

In 1971, the album “Imagine” was released, telling about Lennon’s utopian dreams. At this time he political position changed dramatically - he, along with Yoko Ono, took part in a rally in support of the Irish Republican Army, and on the cover of the single “Power to the People” the Lennons were depicted in army helmets.

Since September 1971, Lennon and Yoko Ono lived in New York. After a long battle with US immigration authorities, who refused to grant entry to the couple due to a drug scandal in 1969, the Lennons finally received the right to live in the US. John Lennon never visited Great Britain again.

Immediately after moving overseas, Lennon became involved in US political life. He advocated giving the Indians civil rights, for easing the conditions of prisoners in prisons, for the release of John Sinclair, one of the leaders of American youth, sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of marijuana (shortly after Lennon’s rally in support of Sinclair, he was released).

Lennon's last political album was Some Time In New York City (1972), after which his radicalist period ended. The 1973 album Mind Games showed that Lennon's political songs were a thing of the past.

At the beginning of 1973, US authorities issued Yoko Ono an official permit to reside in the country, while Lennon, on the contrary, was ordered to leave the United States within two months. Soon after this, the couple separated for more than a year. John fled to Yoko May Pang's secretary.

Separation from his wife and creative decline again led to a psychological crisis. Until the summer of 1974, Lennon was practically inactive, and when recording of the new album began in August, he had only one song ready. In October 1974, a new album was released under the title "Walls And Bridges". A year later, “Rock’n’Roll” was released, an album of songs that The Beatles sang before their fame.

On October 9, 1975, Lennon's thirty-fifth birthday, his son, Sean, was born. After this, Lennon announced that he was ending his musical career and devoted the next 5 years to his son. In all these years, he only appeared in public twice - when he was finally given official permission to live in the United States. This happened in 1975, also on October 9. He was also invited to a private reception with US President Jimmy Carter along with Yoko. The second time was at the Grammy Awards in 1976.

Lennon's next album was released only in 1980. It was called Double Fantasy and received good reviews from critics. This disc was destined to become the last in the work of John Lennon, whose life was cut short a few weeks after the release of the disc. Yoko Ono co-wrote the album.

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was assassinated US citizen. On the day of his death Lennon gave last interview to American journalists, and at 22:50, when John and Yoko entered the arch of their house, returning from the Hit Factory recording studio, Chapman, who had earlier that day taken Lennon’s autograph on the cover of the new album “Double Fantasy”, which was released in three weeks earlier, fired five shots at him in the back, four of which reached their target. In a police car called by the gatekeeper of the Dakota, Lennon was taken to Roosevelt Hospital in just a few minutes. But the doctors’ attempts to save Lennon were in vain - due to heavy blood loss, he died, the official time of death was 23 hours 15 minutes. He was cremated at Fairncliffe Cemetery (Greenburgh, Westchester, New York) and Lennon's ashes were given to Yoko Ono.

Chapman is serving a life sentence in a New York prison for his crime. He has already applied for early release ten times ( last time in August 2018), but each time these requests were rejected. Yoko Ono sent a letter to the New York State Department of Parole in 2000 urging her not to release Chapman early.

In 1984, John Lennon's posthumous album Milk and Honey was released. The songs were recorded in the last months of Lennon's life. It mainly consists of sessions for Double Fantasy.

John Lennon Family:

Father Alfred Lennon - (December 14, 1912 - April 1, 1976),
uncle Charles Lennon (1918-2002),
mother Julia Lennon (Stanley) - (March 12, 1914 - July 15, 1958),
Aunt Elizabeth Jane Stanley - (1908-1976),
Aunt Mimi (Mary) Smith (Stanley) - (April 24, 1906 - December 6, 1991),
uncle George Smith (1903-1955),
maternal sister Julia Deakins Baird (1947),
maternal sister Jacqueline Deakins (1949),
paternal brother David Henry Lennon (1969),
paternal brother Robin Francis Lennon (1973),
First wife Cynthia Lennon (Powell) (September 10, 1939 - April 1, 2015) - (marriage: August 23, 1962 - November 8, 1968),
son Julian Lennon (8 April 1963) - singer,
Yoko Ono's second wife Lennon (February 18, 1933) - avant-garde artist,
son Sean Lennon (October 9, 1975) - singer.

Lennon considered “Run for Your Life” and “It’s Only Love” to be his worst songs.

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon and Yoko Ono took part in a photo shoot for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The photographer was Annie Leibovitz. Five hours after the photo shoot, John Lennon was killed. The magazine was published in 1981. And this photograph is currently on sale at Swann Auction Galleries.

Plastic Ono Band's album was ranked #22 among the best of the best by Rolling Stone magazine.

John Lennon's song "Imagine" was named "the best composition of all time" by the professional American publication Performing Songwriter.

According to a poll conducted by the magazine, this anthem to world peace even surpassed the standard “Stardust” by Hoagy Carmichael, as well as “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye. These compositions took second and third place respectively. Since 2006, “Imagine” has been heard in the last minutes of the passing “old” year in Times Square in New York. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine published the 500 greatest songs of all time, in which "Imagine" was ranked 3rd.

John Lennon discography:
Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins (1968)
Unfinished Music No.2: Life With The Lions (1969)
Wedding Album (1969)
Live Peace In Toronto 1969 (live album, 1969)
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
Imagine (1971)
Mind Games (1973)
Walls And Bridges (1974)
Rock'n'Roll (1975)
Shaved Fish (compilation, 1975)
Double Fantasy (1980)
The John Lennon Collection (compilation, 1982)
Milk and Honey (1984)
Menlove Ave. (1986)
Live in New York City (live album, 1986)
John Lennon Anthology/Wonsaponatime (home demos, alternate versions, unreleased songs, 1998)
Acoustic (2004)
Working Class Hero - The Definitive Lennon (compilation, 2005)
The U.S. vs. John Lennon (soundtrack, 2006)
Double Fantasy Stripped Down (2010)

Filmography of John Lennon:

Director's works with Yoko Ono:

1968 - Two Virgins / Two Virgins
1968 - Number 5 / No. 5
1969 - Honeymoon / Honeymoon
1969 - Abduction / Rape
1970 - Up Your Legs Forever
1970 - Freedom
1970 - Fly / Fly
1970 - Apotheosis / Apotheosis
1971 - Erection
1972 - Imagine / Imagine

Acting works of John Lennon:

1964 - A Hard Day's Night - John
1965 - Help! (Help!) - John Lennon
1967 - How I Won the War - Shooter Gripvid
1967 - Magical Mystery Tour - John/Narrator/Ticket Seller/Coffee Wizard/Sleek Waiter
1968 - Yellow Submarine - John
1968 - Two Virgins
1970 - Let It Be - John Lennon
1970 - Apotheosis
1971 - Dynamite Chicken - John Lennon
1977 - Fire in the Water

Films about John Lennon:

"Imagine: John Lennon" (1988)
"The John Lennon Story" (2001)
"John Lennon: Bringer of Good News" (2002)
"USA vs. John Lennon" (2006)
"The Assassination of John Lennon" (2006)
"Chapter 27" (2007)
"Becoming John Lennon" (2009)
"Five Bullets for Lennon" (2009)
"Naked Lennon" (2010)
"Wheel to Imagine" is an animated film about John Lennon.

Memoirs of a rock star's personal assistant, Fred Seaman.

He was one of the richest men of his time with a fortune of £125 million. But despite his fame and money, pop legend John Lennon lived like a recluse, spending most time, hiding in one of the rooms of his New York apartment.
The 20 months of John's life before the December day in 1980 when he was shot dead by a 25-year-old crazed fan were shared by one person privy to his secrets. Fred Seaman became John's personal assistant at age 27 and learned many intimate details about the star's strange home, which he shared with his wife Yoko Ono and son Sean. “At first I didn’t find it possible to distinguish quirks from mere eccentricities,” admits Fred, now 43.
“John and Yoko were impressed by my simplicity. I grew up in Germany, Spain and America, and received higher education took me a long time, so I was more naive than most people my age. They thought it would be easy for them to bring me into their world,” says Fred, who was hired when Yoko learned that he was born on October 10, a day after John and Sean. Yoko based all her decisions on the predictions of astrologers, numerologists and experts in the occult sciences. She was told that Fred would be the perfect addition to their family, and she signed a contract with him.
He soon realized the tight control Yoko had over the world's greatest rock star. He became John's attorney, and when they smoked pot together, he listened sympathetically as his boss complained about his miserable sex life. He spent most of his time with the Lennons in the New York apartment in the Dakota building, immortalized in the film Rosemary's Baby.
“The first moment I walked into the apartment I was overwhelmed - it was huge,” says Fred. “It had 12 rooms and a living room overlooking Central Park called the white room. Everything was white, the carpet, the furniture, even the piano. John and Yoko were very messy, but they had a staff of employees who maintained perfect order."
“John spent most of his time in the bedroom watching TV, playing the guitar and reading newspapers. There were days when he only went out to eat and immediately returned to isolation, hoping that Yoko would spend a little time with him, maybe love him a little again. But Yoko spent most of her days in her office on the ground floor of the Dakota, running the family's multi-million-dollar business."
$600 for the best caviar one time “At the beginning of the week I was sent to the bank to withdraw something from 3 thousand to 6 thousand dollars from my account. I was to distribute the money equally between John, Yoko and the servants, leaving $1,000 for expenses, which included a pound of the best caviar at $600 a jar. They had accounts at the stores and my signature was authorized for purchases. Every morning John was expected to give me a list of what he wanted, which might include cassettes, records and books.
Most of the time, John expressed many contradictory thoughts about the Beatles' past. Sometimes he looked back on those crazy years with fondness, but I learned one important thing: under no circumstances should I start talking about it myself. It was taboo, and because of it my predecessors lost their place. John was very touchy about a lot of things, including the Beatles."
In November 1979, the family and staff spent Thanksgiving at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island. Fred says: “They just bought a beach house called Cannon Hill. Only there was exactly as much furniture in it as was left by the former owners. Worse than the empty bookcases was the lack of TV. It was torture for Sean and John. Walled up in this big house, killing time until the festive lunch the next day. To top it all off, we all started to itch.
The next day the pre-prepared food was delivered married couple, who ran a French restaurant 150 miles away. I've only seen Yoko cook once, and that was spaghetti Boulogne. John sometimes fried an egg and that was it. For Thanksgiving there was a huge stuffed turkey, which John cut into pieces while standing barefoot and with his hair in a ponytail.
After lunch, John said to me: “It’s breaking me without a TV.” After everyone had gone to bed, we sat down to chat. He offered me marijuana and we smoked together. John was telling me about a form of yoga that requires giving up physical pleasures such as food and sex. The expected reward was clairvoyance, but I think Yoko told him this to compensate for the complete decline of their sex life. He always complained about her absence.
I scratched myself and went to bed. The next morning John knocked on my room and reported that the house was infested with fleas because the previous owner kept dogs. He thought it was a great joke, but we immediately retreated to Dakota."
The following April they returned to Cold Spring Harbor and stayed for almost two months, although Yoko spent most of the time in New York. By that time there were two televisions - and Fred learned to read John's thoughts. He had to do this because Yoko forbade John to speak for 10 days. Fred says: “She wasn't even there, but as she explained to Sean, it was to clear John's head. He was also not allowed to read newspapers or drink coffee, which were among his favorite things, and could only watch television with the sound turned off.
As a reward for ten days of silence, during which John could not even call her in Dakota, Yoko sent him alone on a week-long trip to Cape Town. This was done on the advice of her advisor (someone who studied Japanese occult science and was planning to travel in the same direction), and was supposed to bring good luck. He just spent his time tumbling around with prostitutes.”
While in Cold Spring Harbor, Fred took a photo of Sean and John on their new pleasure yacht. But Yoko never knew, even years later, that they had flipped over while Fred was sitting on the steering wheel. “The wind picked up and our speed immediately increased,” he says. “I pressed the steering wheel too hard, and the next moment we were already in the water. John swam around Sean, who, thank God, always wore a life jacket, and supported him. Fortunately, we had an instructor with us, he returned the yacht to its normal position, and we climbed back up. Fearing that Yoko would do something when she learned about what had happened, John told everyone, using his favorite nickname for her: “Don’t say anything to Mom.”
John and Yoko also enjoyed visiting their medieval-style villa in Palm Beach, Florida. It was called El Solano and it had two swimming pools. Fred accompanied them in March 1979 when Julian, his son from his first marriage to Cynthia, came to visit John. He flew in from North Wales to celebrate his 16th birthday.
“John enjoyed the tropical climate,” says Fred, who returned with them in February 1980. “The house was freestanding and they could be themselves.”
Shopping 'til you drop “John loved swimming with Sean, but most of all he loved shopping. One day, on the eve of Yoko's birthday in Florida, he went shopping and praised her in every possible way while she tried on one outfit after another. He bought $30,000 worth of expensive clothes in 30 minutes. Yoko bought one item out of all the ones she tried on. I sat there, sipping wine in surprise. John and I were forced to buy two large trunks to pack the clothes and send them to New York. When they arrived in Dakota, there was no more room in the closets and drawers. I had to buy two hangers and install them in the apartment next door that they bought for storage. It contained Beatles memorabilia, junk and treasure.
They loved buying clothes and never threw anything away. John had several ties, but he preferred the one he had left over from his school days. I think it had yellow stripes on it, and if it ever got lost, I was the one who had to look for it. He only wore a few on a regular basis, but that didn't stop him from buying more. He found satisfaction in the very act of buying - the thing itself was not important.”
BirthdayFred was paid $175 a week, about half of what a university-educated man his age would receive. But he liked the work - no matter how it was connected with the most amazing and eccentric person in the world.
On October 9, 1980, John celebrated his 40th birthday - the last in his life. Sean turned 5 years old that same day. Yoko was convinced that someone born with help caesarean section on the same day as the father, the son must inherit the father's soul.
Fred took photographs at the celebration. John wore a hat made from a paper bag with the numbers 40 on it and orange ribbons. One of the gifts for him was a plastic imitation of his favorite food, sushi - Japanese National dish from rice and raw fish.
“I think John and Yoko spent the whole night in the studio,” says Fred. “They returned home at dawn and were in no mood to celebrate as they were finishing the Double Fantasy album.” But the cake was bought, and Yoko asked someone to organize the gift. They hired a plane to fly over Central Park and sign "Happy Birthday John and Sean" in the sky. We all went up to the roof to watch, except John, who collapsed from exhaustion in his bedroom.”
The greatest excitement in the next month was caused by the appearance of Ringo Starr in the house. In the kitchen, Fred took one last photograph of the two ex-Beatles together. He says: “It was a Polaroid. John faked a grin, Ringo frowned and didn't look very good. Then John told me that Ringo had several feet of intestine removed and almost died during the operation."
Some time later, Ringo came again with his then girlfriend Barbara Bach. On December 8, John was shot and killed, and Ringo was tasked with telling Sean that his dad had died because Yoko couldn't look her son in the eye. “The office was filled with lawyers, and music boss David Gaffen was there, but no one showed obvious distress. The atmosphere was very businesslike. No one seemed to express even an iota of sadness, and I never saw Yoko or anyone else cry. When I started crying, other team members told me to stop.
John once told me that he had been warned that he would die a violent death. He said: “Being shot, being killed is not the worst way to die. This good way, because it's like a modern crucifix. Afterwards you can be reborn with pure karma.”
I can’t help but think that he came back to us in a different form. Maybe there already is gifted child, who inherited John's talent and who will one day revolutionize pop music, just as John did with the Beatles."

Translation © A. Korshun, 2004

1 Fred himself recalls: “I was hired as John’s assistant in 1979. Yoko conducted, in general, a rather superficial interview, because she had already decided to take me. She knew that my birthday was on the next day after John, and besides, my uncle was her old friend. She only told me very vaguely that I would do the shopping, help John cook ngatur rice and answer the phone calls. I ended up managing her office and traveling with John to Bermuda, Palm Beach and Long Island. It was intense work, sometimes 24 hours a day.”

2 Fred: “John talked about the Beatles sometimes when we were driving in the car and at that time some Beatles song was playing on the radio. He could talk about, say, a recording session - whatever came into his head. He had difficulties with the Beatles. He carried many good memories, but also old grudges. Most importantly, John knew that he had done perhaps some of his best work with the Beatles. He didn't write it off at all, and was very proud of it. He was extremely critical of his work; he was his harshest critic. Some songs that people consider great, he called nonsense. This always amazed me. But he had a lot of tenderness for each individual Beatle. He loved Ringo the most; he was always closest to him. Ringo didn't treat him like a musician. They remained friends until the very end. He had some problems with George. There was some fighting going back to the Bangladesh concert when Yoko wanted to perform at the concert and George wouldn't let her, so that was a source of friction. John once told me that he loved Paul like a brother, but he didn't like Paul. John especially had a lot of problems with him because of Paul's relatives. The Eastmans seemed to stand between them, and yet they were very attached to each other. In general, I would say that he seemed to have isolated himself from this whole period.”

3 Fred on “Double Fantasy”: “I was surprised that he was able to get back into music because he had been completely passive for the previous year while I was with him, so I was shocked when he took on the album . But once he started working, he became what I like to think of as the real John Lennon - extraordinarily creative, obsessively dedicated to his work, composing day and night. He basically wrote at the piano until he found the right chords, and then did another series of demos - on guitar, adding a rhythm track. I saw him in his the best time when he was doing what he really loved. I was constantly in a state of shock because I first heard the demo in a rudimentary form, and then when I later heard the demo with the rhythm track, I was simply blown away: I saw that he absolutely knew what he was doing. In his head he heard the finished song. I was lucky enough to be with him at the New York Hit Factory and Record Plant when he recorded the album. He knew exactly what he wanted and knew how to achieve it; the final versions of these songs are simply amazing. The only sad thing is that not all of these songs are truly honest, only “Watching The Wheels”, “Losing You” and “Face It”, which was not even included in “Double Fantasy” (Yoko released it on “Milk and Honey” in 1983). These were real, realistic songs. Many others, like “Woman”... It's a beautiful, great-sounding thing, but it's a propaganda song. “Starting Over” was undoubtedly styled with the market in mind. As John told me, he crafted it according to a formula, using bits and pieces from Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, to create a familiar-sounding song that would grab people's attention. So the album itself was a compromise for John, and it bothered him, but he knew that the record would be a big hit: it just had to be. I mean, John Lennon's first album in five years! People were excited to hear it, but on the other hand, John was hesitant because he knew it wasn't a completely honest album. And yet, he was proud of him and worked like a catechumen.”

4 Fred on John and Ringo's relationship: “John and Ringo were very close friends. They understood each other. They had been through a lot together and had mutual respect for each other. With Ringo, John didn't have to pretend. He could just be himself. It was a difficult time for Ringo when I saw them together. He had just had surgery and looked terrible. He wasn't feeling very well, and John tried to cheer him up, like an older brother, although it seems that Ringo is actually older than John. It was clear that they were very attached to each other and respected each other. They were like old warriors who had gone through crazy times together. They both survived. This is how you felt when looking at them: they are both “survivors”. They shared good times together."

5 Fred's response to the question of what kind of person Lennon ultimately was: “A martyr. There was so much in him, he was so torn into pieces that he himself could not understand who he was. He didn’t know what he wanted, and found a way out by abdicating responsibility for his life and handing it over to Yoko, entirely. He paid too dearly for this. As he said in the song “Woman,” “My life is in your hands.” He truly believed that Yoko would take care of him, and he trusted her completely. He believed blindly, and I think he paid too dearly for it."

“To become rich and famous,” - this is how he answered the question about his professional aspirations John Lennon, filling out a questionnaire for the weekly New Musical Express in the fall of 1963.

Biographers of the legendary Beatle - even those who are very loyal to him - are still convinced that the desire for wealth and fame was Lennon's tragic mistake, which "turned into a violent death on the threshold of his own fortress."

However, the truth does not look so didactically flat. If Lennon had not had these “vain”, “tragically erroneous” aspirations, he would never have become “rock idol No. 1”, almost perfectly embodying in his image the era of the “great musical thaw” - one of the most romantic and charming in the history of mankind , - which largely determined the appearance of the entire last third of the twentieth century...

"...in the hope that they will love me..."

John Lennon's desire for fame and money, however, was by no means similar to the banal desire to “sell out and show off.” The same Ray Connolly, to whom the above moralizing maxim belongs, who personally knew the musician, noted that Lennon sought wealth and celebrity “on his own terms.”

Lennon needed fame not as a snapshot of his embrace of humanity, but as a powerful and continuous invasion of his living tissue. He sought to force the world to accept him as he himself decided to be, moreover, to accept him in whole, and not in part, and to evaluate him with the highest score.

The role of money in this story, as is easy to understand, was purely secondary. They were required, first of all, not as a means of accumulation and consumption, and not even as an “equivalent of fame,” which can generally be considered a stretch, but as a necessary tool and at the same time an attribute of continuous self-promotion.

The extent of Lennon's aspirations and self-worth is perhaps best revealed in a famous revelation published in the Evening Standard in 1966: "Christianity will go away. It will recede and disappear. It doesn't even need to be proven. I'm right, and I'll be proven right. We're more popular now." " than Jesus. I don't know which will go first - rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was fine, but his disciples turned out to be ordinary stupid people."

Then Lennon will be forced to justify himself: “I am not an atheist and not the Antichrist, I am not against religion. I never said that we are higher and better than Christ”; “It just seems to me that Christianity is shrinking, losing touch”; “I used the word “Beatles” because it’s easier for me to talk about them. I could have said: TV, or movies, or something else very popular, and then I could have gotten away with it,” etc.

However, the ideological and emotional truth still, it seems, broke through in a clear and calm initial confession, and not in confused and neurotic comments to it...

The thirst for continuous, enduring fame itself, of course, was by no means an exclusively Lennon concept of life. Many rockers aspired to this - probably all of them. But some, trying to shine at the limit of possible brightness, like Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and many others, quickly turned into “living torches” and burned out. Others, on the contrary, turned their “burning star” costume into a stage uniform and forever went to the sector called “Yesterday,” giving first place to new stars that had just lit up and had not yet had time to cool down. John Lennon - perhaps the only one among rock musicians - managed not only not to burn out or go out, but not even fade, maintaining the maximum brightness of the glow to the end. Lennon managed to turn the real, everyday life of his soul, his mind and his body into a brilliant reality show, into a truly great performance in terms of dramaturgy and direction, which was performed in front of the whole world for 17 years with a constant sell-out.

The striking “number” of this existential “Mr. Lennon Benefit Performance” was, without a doubt, its music. Powerful, bewitching, deeply personal - and in some ways very defenseless:

"I expose myself all the time in the hope that they will love me - it's like playing in front of my parents. People like me all start with this huge need for love... Why did I make this disc... for money or prestige? For pleasure? Working on a record is hellish work. I wrote these songs for six months. What a pleasure it is! didn't start." It's so hard. So difficult."

It was possible to remain an eternally young star only under the condition of absolute sincerity, originality and, most importantly, “worldwide responsiveness” of every gesture, every word, every note. At first glance, a mere mortal would simply not be able to do this: everyone has their own finite resource of talent, energy, and charm. Lennon succeeded.

"I am the King of London!"

“All my childhood I walked with my shoulders raised above my head, and did not wear glasses - since I have glasses, that means I’m a wimp - I walked, full of fear in my soul, but with the most ferocious face. And I got into various unpleasant stories precisely for my look: I wanted to be this stern and strong James Dean."

The Freudian foundation of John Lennon's personality was his "flickering parents."

Freddie's father, whom John characterized as "a drunkard and an incorrigible quitter", himself raised without parents, served as a waiter on a merchant ship and showed up only at the end of the war, and then only to declare his intention to move to New Zealand. The next time John saw his father was when one day, already at the height of the Beatles' fame, he came across a photograph in the Daily Express of Freddie washing dishes in a restaurant.

Mother Julia was a kind girl, but also not too thorough. Having given birth to John during the German bombing on October 9, 1940, she gave him the “patriotic”, at that time, middle name Winston (in honor of Prime Minister Churchill) and soon gave him up to her sister Mary (“Aunt Mimi”) and her husband to raise George, and she herself remarried and gave birth to several more children.

The conservative, strict and loving Mimi, as well as the gentle and kind Uncle George, actually replaced John's parents. When Lennon was 13 years old, George died, and John felt this loss very deeply.

Julia visited her son from time to time, sang songs with him, played, fooled around, and when he grew up, she began to see him more often and even managed to teach him how to play the banjo. In 1958, Julia died under the wheels of a car. For John this was a terrible blow. Subsequently, he will repeatedly return in his songs to the theme of his mother, who left him so early. The main personality traits of Lennon: the desire for unconditional leadership, hatred of institutions, a sharp mind and pronounced humanitarian talent - were fully manifested during his school years.

At the age of 11, John “released” his first book - the illustrated magazine "Sport and Speed", which included short stories, anecdotes, cartoons, drawings and bright photographs of athletes and artists cut out from magazines. In games with peers, he could be tyrannical and did not tolerate contradictions. In defending his rightness, he often resorted to the threat of force. He lifted up girls' skirts on the street, stole from stalls, skipped classes and even tried (unsuccessfully) to derail a tram on nearby Penny Lane.

At home he was a calm, obedient child who loved to sing and leave affectionate notes for Uncle George (John retained the habit of leaving notes for people until the end of his life).

He studied extremely poorly, choosing from the program only what was interesting to him - mainly English and drawing. He was hostile to the rigid and prim school order. I read voraciously. One of the authors who most strongly influenced Lennon, as well as many other representatives of the intellectual trend in rock music, was Lewis Carroll, who instilled in John a passion for philological paradoxes.

In those same years, a strong consciousness of his chosenness came: “People like me recognize the signs of genius in themselves at the age of ten, eight or nine.”

Studying at the Liverpool Art College also did not work out, but this was no longer so important, since by this time John Lennon had plunged headlong into rock and roll.

It is curious that Lennon did not show any interest in music until 1956, when a fresh American rock wave reached the English shores, on the crest of which the names sparkled Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and Little Richard. Lennon immediately felt that rock and roll was not just another Musical direction, but a completely new Big style, moreover, absolutely in tune with the rebellious structure of the soul of the majority of teenagers of that time.

The secret of the phenomenon called “rock and roll” lies in its very name (literally: “swing and roll”), which would be more correctly translated as “have a blast!”

Despite its outward simplicity (“just very, very fast major blues”) - or perhaps precisely because of it - rock and roll became universal key to the self-affirmation of several post-war generations who decided to emancipate themselves from annoying, patriarchal-minded fathers, groveling before the gilded fool of the establishment and, moreover, after decades of wars, revolutions and economic cataclysms, who had lost faith in themselves and raised the younger generation under the senile and tearful slogan: " Live better than we lived!"

However, if everything had been limited to peppy overseas hits, rock and roll would probably have gone down in history as just another “dance brand of a generation,” like tango or foxtrot.

The role of the Beatles, first of all, was that they were able to transfer the Negro-American musical plant to European soil. At the same time preserving all his indomitable vital energy and at the same time saturating rock music with content that allowed it to stand on a par with other Great musical styles...

So, having persuaded Mimi to buy him a guitar (“A guitar is good. But you’ll never make a living with it,” the aunt said skeptically), while still at school, John put together a group called Quarrymen from his closest friends. In mid-1957, Paul McCartney joined her, a year younger boy from a simple working-class family, who had a pleasant voice and knew how to play the guitar well.

“I learned a lot from Paul,” John later admitted. “He could play better than me and showed me a lot of new chords.” Despite some musical lag, Lennon managed to remain the undisputed leader of the team. In 1958, another talented guitarist joined the group - George Harrison, who was three years younger than Lennon. George at that time idolized John and, according to the latter’s careless remark, was “always trailing” behind him. This is how the core of the group was formed, to which Lennon tried several times to assign his own name (“Johnny and the Moondogs”, “Long John and the Silver Beatles”) and which eventually became known simply as The Beatles.

In 1960, a mutual friend of Lennon and McCartney, Alan Williams, arranged an engagement for the group in Hamburg. It was there, performing in clubs, that the Beatles developed their unique sound and turned into almost ready-made future idols.

There was a lack of a manager and producer-arranger. They were, respectively, the owner of the record store, Brian Epstein, and the head of the Parlafone record company, George Martin. The Beatles' star skyrocketed both in Europe and overseas, and already in the fall of 1963, a new sociocultural concept was established in the press and in society: “Beatlemania.” Composer Peter Starstedt recalls how one evening, while driving around London in his Jaguar, Lennon stood up to his full height, leaning out of the open sunroof of the car, and shouted: “I am the king of London!”

The appearance of Epstein, which brought phenomenal success to the group, forced Lennon to partially limit his leadership ambitions. However, John found a way to establish an exclusive relationship with a homosexual manager: “Brian was determined to get down to business. He was literally stalking me, and one evening I got tired of it. I pulled down my pants and told him: “Okay, go ahead, fuck me if you really want it." But... Brian just wanted to touch me. And I allowed him to caress me... So what? Poor guy..." Lennon admits even later: "That was the only opportunity to influence on the person on whom both our career and our lives depended."

Lennon also successfully asserted his leadership during this period due to the fact that he was the brightest and wittiest newsmaker of the group: “Do the delight and adoration of the girls affect you?” - “No. When I feel like my head is starting to spin, I look at Ringo, and it becomes absolutely clear to me that we are not supermen”; "How do you explain your long hair?" - “They just grow out of my head”; "How do you decide who will be the lead in a song?" - “We get together, and the one who knows more words will sing it.”

“His interest in journalism, in the ability to manipulate it for his own purposes, became an obsession,” recalls Ray Connolly.

"Oh, Yoko!"

By 1965, the musicians felt that the touring and entertainment model of group development, originally proposed by Epstein, was no longer suitable for them. Lennon realized that stagnation was setting in: “Well, what else could we do? Try to make more money? Give even bigger concerts? Arrange even longer tours? We stopped having fun playing, as we used to in the old days.”

In order to remain real stars, it was necessary to move on and open new doors.

The group stops performing concerts and records several purely studio discs in a row, filling them with complex melodies and instrumentation. At the same time, there is an active search for guides to the “new reality.” The Beatles experiment with LSD, listen to lectures on Indian meditation, begin to show interest in politics - and melt it all into music. John Lennon remains the most active and vibrant experimenter, who even managed to star in the pacifist film “How I Won the War.”

The pinnacle of this period was the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which was released at the height of the "Indian Summer" of 1967, which gave rise to the hippie movement with their slogan "Power to the Flowers!", and marked the final transformation of rock music from disco sound fillings into a full-fledged generational liturgy.

In August of the same year, Brian Epstein passed away, having fallen into deep depression and eventually taking a lethal dose of sleeping pills. This was the beginning of the end for the Beatles. John Lennon could not become a full-fledged leader of such bright musical personalities as Paul McCartney and George Harrison. But he did not agree to the role of “an equal among the first” and therefore announced his intention to leave the group long before it ceased to exist.

By that time, in place of the exhausted Epstein, he had a new “stalker” who would henceforth lead Lennon along a stellar trajectory for the rest of his life, helping him not to lose the height he had gained even for a second. The "guide" was named Yoko Ono.

26-year-old John met the 33-year-old Japanese avant-garde artist at her exhibition, which featured “recordings of falling snow,” a “crying machine” that produced tears when a coin was placed in it, a device in which objects could disappear, and many others. masterpieces. Yoko told Lennon that she was only interested in painting and had only a vague idea of ​​the Beatles, and then, having thus intrigued him, began bombarding him with extravagant messages such as: “Dance”, “Breathe” or “Look at the Night Lights Until Dawn”.

In general, in relationships with women, John Lennon was despotic: “John’s jealousy, his possessive habits sometimes became simply unbearable. Many times I felt pathetic and crushed,” recalls his first wife Cynthia Powell. Naturally, he allowed himself everything he wanted: “Sin,” he once said to his wife, “I want to confess everything to you: I had hundreds of women on my side.” In one of John's songs there are these words: "I was cruel to my woman, I beat her and kept her away from what she loved."

The relationship with Yoko Ono followed a different pattern from the very beginning. For Lennon, Yoko was not a domestic servant or an object of sexual self-affirmation, but a congenial partner in existential performance. It is characteristic that on intimacy John decided to work with Yoko only after she spent the night with him in the recording studio and showed an active interest in joint creativity.

Yoko Ono, with whom John officially registered his marriage in 1969, appeared in Lennon’s life precisely when the musical revolution provoked by the Beatles was preparing to throw them off the “ship of modernity.” The end of the 60s was marked by the emergence of the so-called. progressive direction in rock music, with the vocal-instrumental and polyphonic power of which the Beatles simply could not successfully compete.

It was during this period that Lennon, with the help of Yoko, strives to prove and proves that he is not just a great rock musician, but embodied Music, which, in turn, is the fundamental basis of the world order. John and Yoko release two absolutely cacophonous albums. One of them - “Two Virgins” - is a recording of the sounds (including uterine sounds) of the main characters communicating in the studio on that very “first night”. The cover features completely naked authors, depicted from the front and back.

The aesthetic manifesto is complemented by a political one. The couple begins an active struggle for peace. They send out a pair of “peace acorns” to all prime ministers, hold a “bed-down strike - press conference” for peace in hotels in Amsterdam and Montreal, during which Lennon composes the famous pacifist anthem Give Peace A Chance. John Lennon is defiantly returning to the Queen the Order of the British Empire he received several years ago - in protest against Britain's support for the Vietnam War, and also because his song "Drug Withdrawal" failed in the hit parade. On January 30, 1972, when British soldiers shot at a Catholic demonstration in the Ulster town of Londonderry, killing 13 people, John declared: “If the choice is between the IRA and the Kingdom’s army, I choose the IRA.”

At some point, Lennon becomes so politicized that his sense of proportion begins to change. Thus, assessing his 1972 live album, Lennon later admits that radicalism “almost destroyed music: it turned out to be journalism, not poetry.” However, Lennon’s compositions are quite poster-like in content and melody: “Imagine”, “Give peace a chance!”, “Power to the people!” or "Hero of the Working Class" - are masterpieces of world rock music and are heard to this day.

In 1973, the Vietnam War ends. A crisis ensues in Lennon's work and his relationship with Yoko Ono. Lennon is trying to find a new “door” and goes to California for more than a year with a Chinese woman, May Peng, where he spends his time drinking and brawling, once again attracting the constant attention of newspaper reporters. However, there was no new “stalker” from Mei Peng.

Eventually, John returns to Yoko. Soon she becomes pregnant, which Lennon immediately informs the press about. And then he goes on, perhaps, the most sensational “maternity leave” in the world. Despite Lennon’s apparent reclusiveness, every day a crowd of fans is on duty at the gates of the Dakota building, where the luxury apartments of the star couple are located, the press is full of rumors about what the ex-Beatle is really doing: meditating for hours, sitting in bed, or changing son Sean's diapers?

Finally, in the spring of 1980, John and Yoko recorded the album “Double Fantasy,” in which they musically formulated their new “family-idyllic” message to the world.

The next “door” that Yoko opened for John turned out to be the last.

On December 8 of the same year, a half-mad ambitious man named Mark David Chapman, with five shots at point-blank range, put the finishing touches on the history of the greatest spectacle called “The Life of John Lennon.”

Imagine...

Rolling Stone magazine once asked John Lennon how he and Yoko imagined their lives at sixty-four. John replied, "I hope we'll be a nice old couple, living by the sea in Ireland or something, and leafing through scrapbooks of our follies."

Rock made his cruel editing and deleted this idyllic epilogue from Lennon’s biography. Perhaps as not bright enough.

John Lennon managed to organically weave carefree rock and roll into the fabric of his destiny - and the rebellion of "angry young people" free love- and drugs, pacifist protest - and conceptual focus on one’s “I”. Lennon built his destiny as a real “wonder of the world”, the provocative uniqueness of which eventually captured the imagination of the next Herostratus...

British rock singer, composer, member of the legendary group The Beatles John Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool (Great Britain). His father was a merchant seaman. John Lennon's parents separated when the boy was four years old, and until adulthood he lived in the house of his maternal aunt Mimi Smith. The mother taught her son to play banjo and piano and bought him his first guitar. Her tragic death in 1958 was one of the most difficult events in John's life.

In his youth, John Lennon was a cadet at an aviation school training personnel for the Royal Air Force.

From 1957-1960 he studied at the Liverpool Art Institute.

In March 1957, Lennon and his school friends formed the band The QuarryMen, named after the school they all attended, Quarry Bank Grammar School. On July 6, 1957, a month after his first audition, Lennon met guitarist Paul McCartney at a party held in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton. It was on this evening, according to Lennon, that the idea of ​​creating The Beatles was born. In March 1958, McCartney convinced John to accept George Harrison into the group.

The Beatles were known only in Liverpool and played mainly adaptations of popular American songs. In the summer of 1960, the group's first foreign performances took place in Hamburg. In April 1961, during their second tour in Hamburg, their first professional recording took place - as an accompanying ensemble for singer Tony Sheridan, the group recorded the single My Bonnie. While working in the studio, Lennon recorded one of his first songs, Aint She Sweet. At the same time, the group first appeared before the public with new hairstyles - hair combed over the forehead and ears, and wearing jackets without collars or lapels.

In Germany there was a group consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best, who was the band's drummer at the time.

In October 1962, with new drummer Ringo Starr and producer George Martin, the band released their first single, Love Me Do, which reached No. 17 in the UK charts.

Inspired by American singer Roy Orbison, Lennon wrote the next single, Please Please Me, which topped the charts in the UK.

In August 1963, The Beatles released their single She Loves You. This event marked the beginning of a national and worldwide boom in popularity that moved beyond the musical and cultural phenomenon into the social and political sphere.

From 1963 to 1971 years The The Beatles released 13 studio albums, which included 211 songs.

Grammy group. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, The Beatles are the most financially successful music group in USA. In the UK, the group's albums occupied the first line of the music charts more often than other artists. The American magazine Rolling Stone ranked The Beatles first in its list of the greatest performers of all time. The Beatles also topped Billboard's list of the most successful bands of all time.

Lennon and McCartney no longer wrote songs together, although under the terms of the contract (and by mutual agreement) the song of each of them was considered a joint work.

In June 1965, “for their outstanding contribution to the prosperity of Great Britain,” Queen Elizabeth II awarded The Beatles the Order of the British Empire (in 1969, Lennon returned his order, citing British support for the Vietnam War).

In 1966, John Lennon found himself at the center of a scandal, declaring in an interview: “We are already more popular than Jesus Christ.” The phrase led to widespread outrage among the American public, accompanied by the burning of the band's records across the country, and after some time Lennon was forced to apologize to everyone whose feelings he had offended.

In 1967, the later famous composition A Day in the Life was written, the only thing the group composed of two completely different songs - one written by Lennon, the other by McCartney.

In August 1967, The Beatles producer Brian Epstein died and McCartney actually took over the leadership of the group. This change hurt Lennon, and disagreements began.

In 1966, Lennon met Japanese artist and musician Yoko Ono, whom he married in 1969 after his divorce from Cynthia.

This event largely predetermined future fate musician, changing his worldview. The newlyweds immediately began a campaign for peace, trying to attract public attention; Lennon composed the song Give Peace a Chance, which later became the pacifist anthem.

In September 1969, Lennon left the Beatles immediately after recording the Abbey Road album. News of the breakup was kept secret until McCartney announced his departure in April 1970, the month before the band released the single Let It Be, recorded just before Abbey Road.

John Lennon, together with his wife and a number of invited musicians (Klaus Wurmann, Eric Clapton, Andy White, etc.) created the Plastic Ono Band. One of John's best solo albums was album Imagine, recorded in the summer of 1971, instantly took the top line in the charts in England and the USA.

In 1971, John Lennon left for the USA and settled in New York, where he was actively involved in political activity, the presidential administration took a number of actions to deport the singer from the country.

In October 1974, his album Walls And Bridges appeared, and in 1975, Rock "n" Roll was released, which included songs that the Beatles sang even before the advent of fame.

After the birth of his son Sean on October 9, 1975, Lennon announced his retirement from music. His next album, Double Fantasy, appeared only in 1980.

On December 8, 1980, near his home in New York, John Lennon was fatally shot by his mentally ill fan, Mark David Chapman, to whom he had autographed a Double Fantasy record just hours earlier.

On December 14, 1980, tens of millions of people around the world observed ten minutes of silence in memory of John Lennon. The urn containing John Lennon's ashes is buried in New York. Mark David Chapman was sentenced to life imprisonment. After 20 years in prison, he applied for early release five times, but was refused each time "for reasons of public safety and peace."

John Lennon was awarded the Oscar (1971) for Best Music and original script for the film Let It Be, "Grammy" (1971, 1997).

In 2002, a monument to the musician was unveiled at the Liverpool airport, which bears the name of John Lennon.

On October 9, 2009, John Lennon's birthday, a lunar crater located in the Lake of Dreams was named the "John Lennon World Crater."

One of the craters on Mercury is named after Lennon.

John Lennon was married twice. Married to Cynthia Powell, he had a son, Julian (born in 1963), who became a singer and musician. Married to Yoko Ono, their son Sean (born in 1975) was born; he also followed in his father’s footsteps and became a singer, composer and musician.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

The beginning of life's journey

John Winston Lennon was born in 1940 during the German raid on Liverpool. His parents had a difficult relationship even before the birth of their son, and four years after John’s birth they divorced altogether. His closest relatives on his mother’s side—Aunt and Uncle Smith—took care of the boy’s upbringing. Already at a young age, Lennon was different from his peers and clearly knew that he wanted to create music. His aunt did not take his hobby seriously, which is why they often had quarrels. Uncle Smith, on the contrary, was the only adult who supported Lennon in his endeavors and helped him learn to play the guitar. At school, the boy was absolutely not interested in studying. Despite good memory and excellent skills, he gradually became the worst student in the school. He devoted all his energy to creative school activities.

A genius misunderstood by the world

Lennon was an activist, he was a member of the journalism club, sang in the choir and often illustrated comic stories. In 1952 he was transferred to Quarribank School to give him the opportunity to improve his grades. However, the boy had little interest in studies and changing schools did not solve the problem. After Elvis Presley visited Britain for concerts in the 50s, John formed the band “The Quarry men”. In 1957, Paul McCartney joined the group and the group began performing at local concerts as an opening act. At the same time, John entered the Liverpool Art College. In 1958, Lennon experienced a terrible tragedy; his mother died in an accident. This event left a strong imprint on the musician’s future career and served as the theme for several songs. A few months after this tragedy, John's group broke up.

Creation of a legendary team

From the friends who remained with him, he soon formed the group “The Beatles”. In 1960, Lennon and his band won the attention and love of the public in Liverpool. In order not to waste time, The Beatles set off to conquer Hamburg. At the same time, Lennon became addicted to drugs, which negatively affected his health. Considering that the group was initially inspired by the images of rock and roll stars, their image included leather items, a lot of metal parts and defiant behavior on stage. In 1962, Lennon married Cynthia Powell, and the couple soon had a son, John Charles Julian Lennon. In 1962, not only the singer's marital status changed, their manager changed their provocative outfits to modest and neat classic suits, and asked to limit the amount of swearing on stage.

Difficult relationships with the outside world

To the terrible disappointment of Lennon, who was against the changes, the public appreciated the manager's efforts, and The Beatles' popularity increased. However, Lennon, who took the longest to get used to changes, still showed his rebellious character in front of the audience more than once. One of these antics was his speech during one of his performances; he persistently proved to the audience that The Beatles would one day become more popular than Jesus. If the British, accustomed to such behavior, ignored this phrase, then the residents of the United States, who were very sensitive to issues of religion, went on strike and tried in every possible way to interrupt the planned tour of the United States. As a demonstration, particularly religious people burned records and images of the group members on fires. Thanks to this, sales of the new album only increased. In 1967, Lennon returned to his addiction and began using drugs. With the return of drugs to John's life, the group became less and less like a cohesive team. New songs released were most often created by either Lennon or McCartney.

Dramatic changes in all aspects of life

In 1968, Lennon created the famous compositions “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “All You Need is Love”. At the same time, the hippie movement began to surge in popularity. This cultural event affected appearance all members of the group and on their songs. More philosophical and peaceful compositions, long hair and loose clothing became a new attribute in creativity. It was at this point in his life that Lennon began wearing his signature round glasses. That same year, John’s wife learned that Lennon had been cheating on her with artist Yoko Ono for more than a year. At the beginning of 1969, the couple divorced, and Lennon formalized his marriage to Yoko. During their honeymoon, Lennon recorded "The Ballad of John and Yoko" in honor of their new relationship. Disagreements within the group increasingly heated the situation, which led to the fact that in 1970, after the release of “Let It Be,” the group broke up.

The beginning of a solo career

Since the beginning of his solo career, the musician has focused on spreading the basic idea of ​​the hippie movement. The theme of world peace has become main theme all his songs. Before the bedside interview began, John composed “Give Peace a Chance.” Lennon tried to sell the world the same way other people sell cars, buns and clothes. At first, his ideas were perceived by listeners and journalists as something simply interesting, and no one took his ideas seriously. Soon, many began to realize that his ideas were not a joke at all, and that these songs sometimes made more sense than the political speeches of many leaders of countries. After receiving US citizenship in 1972, John began to actively fight racial prejudice and spread ideas about equal rights for all people.

Depression and intractable drug addiction

In 1972, the album “Some Time In New York City” was released. In the same year, the relationship between the musician and his wife began to crack. Lennon began cheating on Yoko with her secretary May Pang. Unable to bear such a betrayal, Yoko left for her homeland without telling John anything and cutting off all ties with him for a year. Lennon did not expect that his wife's departure would undermine his state of mind so much. In an attempt to find peace, John began using drugs again. During this period, his creativity stopped, he stopped releasing songs and practically did not appear in the recording studio. In 1974, the singer released new collection"Walls And Bridges", which received a lot of good reviews from experts and increased sales.

Family life

In 1975, Yoko returned to Lennon, and the couple soon had a son, Sean, who in the future followed in his father’s footsteps, like all his children. At the time of the birth of his second son, John's firstborn was twelve years old and had already led his first rock band. The godfather for Sean was the famous singer Elton John, and for his first son, the band's manager and close friend of Lennon, Brian Epstein. After the birth of his son, the singer retired from show business and devoted himself entirely to his family. He appeared in public only to receive an award and at especially special parties of his close friends.

Last years of activity. Murder

Activity in his musical career appeared only in 1980 with the release of “Double Fantasy”. Lennon and his wife created this album together, and many of the songs on this album became part of the couple's love story. Three weeks after the album's release, John Lennon went to the recording studio to record new compositions that were to be included in future albums. On his way to the studio, he was met by fan David Chapman, who asked for an autograph. A few hours later, the man killed Lennon in front of several reporters and John's wife. Four shots in the back led to instant loss of consciousness; an hour after this event, the singer died from blood loss. Lennon was cremated; the musician’s ashes are with his wife. After his death, Yoko released her last album, “Milk and Honey,” which put an end to the career and life of John Lennon.

• In 1967, John became a follower of Timothy Leary, a famous researcher of psychedelic states, which is why he became heavily addicted to drugs. However, already in 1968, the Beatles group in full force went to India, to the ashram of the Maharishi, which had a positive effect on their psyche: drugs were forgotten, but a new “drug” appeared - meditation.
• It was called "Strawberry Fields" Orphanage The Salvation Army is very close to where Lennon lived as a child on the outskirts of Liverpool called Woolton. During his life, Lennon constantly provided financial assistance to the shelter, and after his death in 1980, his relatives continued this business. However, 10 years ago it ceased to exist.
• Despite his poor eyesight, Lennon refused to wear glasses in his youth. When visiting cinemas, he asked his friends to tell him about what was happening on the screen. As a creative person, he presented his illness as a reaction to the separation of his parents - during this period he did not want to see anything. Subsequently, he found his form of glasses and ordered a dozen of them a year.
• In 1965, the Beatles were made Members of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. However, in 1969, Lennon returned the Order, thus demonstrating disagreement with the country's policy of intervening in the Nigeria-Biafra war and supporting the Americans in aggression against Vietnam. The official message was signed “With love. John Lennon".

Awards:

• Grammy Award for Album of the Year (1982)
• Grammy Award for Best Song of the Year (1967)
• NME Awards for Best Album (1972)
• Juno Award for International Album of the Year (1982)