Lennon, John Winston (1940-1980), British songwriter and singer, composer of some of the most popular songs of his era. Born in Liverpool, Lennon formed a skiffle band, the Quarry Men, in 1957. He was the co-writer, along with Paul McCartney, of most of the songs which distinguished the phenomenal career of the Beatles through the 1960s. Prior to the demise of the band in April 1970, he was already working on musical projects away from his colleagues. The album Unfinished Music No.1—Two Virgins (1968) was recorded with his partner, the Japanese artist and performer Yoko Ono. It was a mixture of avant-garde ideas and spontaneous noise, and was the first of a series of non-commercial gestures. Lennon's subsequent career involved contentious causes and rebellious gestures, but was always underpinned by his adeptness at writing pop songs. He changed his middle name from Winston to Ono in 1969. A single, "Give Peace A Chance" (1969) was a protest against the Vietnam War, a furtherance of John and Yoko's "Bed In" protests which attracted much public attention. He sent back his MBE to Queen Elizabeth II in November 1969, citing Britain's involvement in the Biafran War, and its endorsement of America's position in the Vietnam War.

The album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970) was influenced by his experiences with primal scream therapy. On this revealing record, he mourned the premature death of his mother and depicted the insecurities at the heart of a public figure. Imagine (1971), generally reckoned to be the best, most musically consistent album of Lennon's post-Beatles career, hailed utopian ideas, while Some Time In New York City (1972) contained political sloganeering such as "Woman is the Nigger of the World". On August 30, 1972, he played at New York's Madison Square Gardens, his last major live performance. Walls And Bridges (1974) topped the American charts, while Rock 'n' Roll (1975) comprised spirited versions of the songs that had inspired him as a teenager. The birth of a son, Sean, to John and Yoko in 1975, caused the pair to retire from record-making for five years. They returned with Double Fantasy (1980), a collection of sentimental ballads and philosophical musings. John Lennon was shot dead by a mentally disturbed fan outside his New York apartment building on December 8, 1980.

  PHOTOS OF John Lennon