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John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE
(9 October 1940 – 8 December
1980), was a 20th-century
English songwriter, singer,
instrumentalist, painter,
author and political activist
who gained worldwide fame as
one of the founders of The
Beatles. Lennon and Paul
McCartney formed a critically
acclaimed and commercially
successful partnership writing
songs for the Beatles and other
artists. Lennon, with his
cynical edge and knack for
introspection, and McCartney,
with his storytelling optimism
and gift for melody,
complemented one another
uniquely. In his solo career,
Lennon wrote and recorded songs
such as "Imagine" and "Give
Peace a Chance".
Lennon revealed his rebellious
nature and irreverent wit on
television, in films such as A
Hard Day's Night (1964), in
books such as In His Own Write,
and in press conferences and
interviews. He channeled his
fame and penchant for
controversy into his work as a
peace activist, artist, and
author.
He had two sons, Julian, with
his first wife Cynthia, and
Sean, with his second wife,
avant-garde artist Yoko Ono.
Lennon was murdered by a
deranged fan in New York City
on 8 December 1980 after he and
Ono returned home from a
recording session.
In 2002, respondents to a BBC
poll on the 100 Greatest
Britons voted Lennon into
eighth place. In 2004, Rolling
Stone ranked Lennon number 38
on their list of "The
Immortals: The Fifty Greatest
Artists of All Time" and ranked
the Beatles at number 1.
John Winston Lennon was born on
9 October 1940, in the Oxford
Street Maternity Hospital in
Liverpool, to Julia Lennon (née
Stanley) and Alfred "Freddie"
Lennon, during the course of a
German air raid in World War
II. He was named after his
paternal grandfather, John
'Jack' Lennon, and Winston
Churchill. Both parents played
the banjo and sang (Freddie
specialised in impersonating Al
Jolson) though neither pursued
music professionally. Freddie
Lennon was not present at
John's birth. He was a merchant
seaman during the war and sent
regular pay cheques to Julia,
who was living with John in
Newcastle Road, Liverpool. The
cheques stopped when Freddie
went AWOL. As Freddie was
seldom in Liverpool, Julia
started going out to dance
halls and met a Welsh soldier
called 'Taffy' Williams by whom
she became pregnant in late
1944. When Freddie Lennon
eventually came home in 1944 he
offered to look after Julia,
John, and the expected baby,
but Julia rejected the idea. On
19 June 1945 she gave birth to
a daughter, Victoria, who was
given up for adoption after
intense pressure from Julia's
family (the girl was later
re-named Ingrid) . Lennon was
not told about his
half-sister's birth and never
knew of her existence.
Julia later met John 'Bobby'
Dykins and moved into a small
flat with him. After comments
on the still-married Julia
'living in sin' with Dykins and
after considerable pressure
from her sister, Mary "Mimi"
Smith — who contacted
Liverpool's Social Services and
complained about John sleeping
in the same bed as Julia and
Dykins — Julia reluctantly
handed the care of John over to
Mimi. (Julia later had two
daughters - Julia and Jackie -
with Dykins.) In July 1946,
Freddie visited Mimi and took
John to Blackpool for a long
'holiday', secretly intending
to emigrate to New Zealand with
him. Julia and Dykins found out
and followed them, and after a
heated argument Freddie made
the five-year-old John choose
between Julia or him. John
chose Freddie (twice) and then
Julia walked away, but John,
crying, followed her. Freddie
then lost contact with the
family until Beatlemania, when
father and son met again.
'Mendips' - Lennon's childhood
home.Throughout the rest of his
childhood and adolescence,
Lennon lived with his 'Auntie
Mimi' and her husband George
Smith (who had no children of
their own) in a middle class
area of Liverpool at 'Mendips'
(251 Menlove Avenue). Family
friends described Mimi as
stubborn, impatient, and
unforgiving, but she also had a
sense of humour. Often, when
she criticised Lennon he would
respond with a joke, and the
two of them would be "rolling
around, laughing together".
Mimi confided to a relative
that although she had never
wanted children, she had always
wanted John. Mimi and George
gave Lennon all of their
attention: Mimi bought volumes
of short stories, and George,
who was a dairyman at a local
farm, engaged John in solving
crossword puzzles and bought
him a harmonica. Julia Lennon
visited 'Mendips' almost every
day and John often visited her;
she taught John how to play the
banjo and the piano. She also
played Elvis Presley's records
to John, and would dance around
her kitchen with him. Lennon
was later inspired by Elvis
Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy
Holly and Little Richard.
Lennon was raised as an
Anglican, and like much of the
population of Liverpool, he had
some Irish heritage. Lennon
attended Dovedale County
Primary School until he passed
his Eleven-Plus exam. From
September 1952 to 1957, he
attended the Quarry Bank
Grammar School in Liverpool
where he was a "happy-go-lucky"
pupil, known for drawing
comical cartoons and making fun
of his teachers by mimicking
their odd characteristics.
Julia bought Lennon his first
guitar, an inexpensive model
that was "guaranteed not to
split", but insisted it be
delivered to her house and not
Mimi's. Mimi hoped that John
would soon grow bored with it -
she was sceptical of Lennon's
claim that he would be famous
one day, and often told him,
"The guitar's all very well,
John, but you'll never make a
living out of it." Years later,
when the Beatles were
successful, John presented Mimi
with a silver platter engraved
with those words.
George Smith died in 1955 and
on 15 July 1958 (when Lennon
was 17) Julia was killed on
Menlove Avenue by a car driven
by a drunken, off-duty police
officer — close to Mimi's
house. Her death was one of the
most traumatic events in John's
life and one of the factors
that cemented his friendship
with McCartney, who had lost
his own mother to breast cancer
in 1956. Lennon named his
first-born son Julian after his
mother, and later wrote the
song, "Julia".
Lennon failed all his GCE
O-level examinations by one
grade. He was accepted into the
Liverpool College of Art with
help from his school's
headmaster and his Aunt Mimi,
who was insistent that John
should have some sort of
academic qualifications. It was
there that he met his future
wife, Cynthia Powell, when
Lennon was a Teddy Boy. Lennon
failed his exams despite help
from Powell, and was often
disruptive in class with most
of the teachers refusing to
take him on in their classes.
He also picked on anyone that
was in anyway different, using
his quick wit and sense of
humour to bully them. He
dropped out before the last
year of college.
 1957-1960:
The Quarrymen and the
Silver
Beetles
Lennon started the Quarry Men
skiffle band in March 1957
whilst attending Quarry Bank
Grammar School. Their first
engagement was on 9 June 1957
at an audition for impresario
Carroll Lewsis, known as "Mr.
Star-Maker." A few weeks later,
on 6 July 1957, Lennon and The
Quarrymen met guitarist Paul
McCartney at the Woolton Garden
fête held at St. Peter's
Church. McCartney's father
later allowed the Quarrymen to
rehearse in his front room at
20 Forthlin Road. During their
early friendship Lennon
encouraged McCartney to steal
cigarettes, sweets, or books
from shops, and they found a
shared interest in playing
jokes on the other band members
and on their teachers. It was
around this time that Lennon
and McCartney started writing
songs with each other and
seperately. The first song that
John completed was "Hello
Little Girl" when he was
eighteen years old. This later
became a hit for the
Fourmost.
McCartney convinced Lennon to
allow George Harrison to join
the Quarrymen - although Lennon
considered Harrison to be too
young - after Harrison played
at a rehearsal in March 1958.
Harrison joined the group as
lead guitarist, and Stuart
Sutcliffe (Lennon's art school
friend) later joined as
bassist. The band soon switched
to playing rock 'n' roll, using
the name 'Johnny and the
Moondogs', but Lennon found it
too musically associated to
skiffle.
In the summer of 1958, the
Quarrymen made their first
recording: a cover of That'll
Be The Day by Buddy Holly and a
McCartney-Harrison original
called In Spite Of All The
Danger.
In 1960, the band changed its
name five times. Stuart
Sutcliffe suggested 'the
Beetles' as a form of tribute
to Buddy Holly and The
Crickets, which he and Lennon
then thought of changing to the
'Beatals'. They changed their
name again to the 'Silver
Beats', The Silver Beetles, and
the 'Silver Beatles', but
Lennon shortened it to the
Beatles, to avoid being
introduced as "Long John Silver
of the Silver Beatles", which
was too similar to 'Johnny and
the Moondogs'. After a tour
with Johnny Gentle in Scotland,
they changed their name to the
'Beatles'.
Lennon was considered the
leader of the Beatles, as he
founded the original group.
McCartney said, "We all looked
up to John. He was older and he
was very much the leader - he
was the quickest wit and the
smartest and all that kind of
thing."
1960-1970:
The Beatles
Allan Williams started to
manage the Beatles in May 1960
after they had played in his
Jacaranda club.[54]A few months
later he booked them into Bruno
Koschmider's Indra club in
Hamburg, Germany. Mona Best ran
the Casbah Club in the basement
of her home in Liverpool, where
the Beatles often played in
1959, and Mona's son Pete
joined the Beatles on drums as
soon as their first Hamburg
season was confirmed. Aunt Mimi
was horrified when Lennon told
her about Hamburg. She pleaded
with him to continue his
studies, but was ignored. The
Beatles first played at the
Indra club - sleeping in small,
dirty rooms in the Bambi Kino -
and after the closure of the
Indra moved to the larger
Kaiserkeller In October 1960,
they left Koschmider's club and
worked at the "Top Ten Club",
which was run by Peter Eckhorn.
Koschmider reported McCartney
and Best for arson after the
two attached a condom to a nail
in the 'Bambi' and set fire to
it. They were deported, as was
George Harrison for working
under-age. Days later Lennon's
work permit was revoked and he
went home by train, but
Sutcliffe had tonsilitis and
flew home. When Lennon got back
to 'Mendips', his Aunt Mimi
threw a cooked chicken (that
Lennon had bought for her) and
a hand-mirror at him for
spending money on a leather
coat for Cynthia Powell (John's
girlfriend, and later, his
wife) whom she referrred to as,
"a gangster's moll".
In December 1960, the Beatles
reunited, and on 21 March 1961,
they played their first concert
at Liverpool's Cavern club.
They went back to Hamburg in
April 1961, and recorded 'My
Bonnie' with Tony Sheridan.
Sutcliffe stayed with Astrid
Kirchherr when it was time to
go home, so McCartney took over
bass. When Lennon was nearly 21
in October 1961, his Aunt Mater
(who lived in Edinburgh) gave
him 100 pounds, which he spent
on a holiday to Paris with
McCartney. Brian Epstein first
saw the Beatles in the Cavern
Club on 9 November 1961, and
later signed them to a
management contract.
The Beatles were driven to
London by their road manager,
Neil Aspinall, on 31 December
1961 and auditioned the next
day for Decca Records, who
rejected them. In April 1962
they returned to Hamburg to
play at the Star-Club, but they
learned that Stuart Sutcliffe
had died a few hours before
they arrived. This was another
shock for Lennon, after losing
Uncle George and Julia.
They finally signed a record
contract on 9 May 1962, with
Parlophone Records, after
having been turned down by many
labels. "Love Me Do" was
released on 5 October 1962,
featuring Lennon on harmonica
and McCartney singing solo on
the chorus line.
All Lennon-McCartney songs on
the first pressing of Please
Please Me album (recorded in
one day on 11 February 1963) as
well as the single "From Me to
You", and its B-side, "Thank
You Girl", are credited to
"McCartney-Lennon", but this
was later changed to
"Lennon-McCartney".[78] They
usually needed an hour or two
to finish a song, most of which
were written in hotel rooms
after a concert, at Wimpole
Street, at Cavendish Avenue, or
at Kenwood (John Lennon's
house).
As recording technology
improved, and they were doing
more work in the studio than
live, overdubbing was used so
that Lennon might provide the
harmony parts as well as the
lead for his songs. The
"Beatles" sound was a
three-part harmony with Lennon
or McCartney singing lead, and
harmony provided by the
others.
The group decisions were
democratic, with the rule that
if any member objected to an
idea, the group wouldn't pursue
it. The Beatles decided to stop
touring, and never performed a
scheduled concert again.
Lennon resented McCartney
taking control of the band
after Brian Epstein's death in
1967, and disliked some of the
resulting projects such as
Magical Mystery Tour and
particularly Let It Be ("That
film was set up by Paul, for
Paul," as he said later to
Rolling Stone). He was the
first to break the band's
all-for-one sensibility, and
also the rule that no wives or
girlfriends would attend
recording sessions, as he
brought Yoko into the
studio.
Lennon was also the first
member to quit the group, which
he did in September 1969 (Starr
had left during 1968, but was
persuaded to return; Harrison
stated he was "leaving the
band" on 10 January 1969 during
the rehearsal sessions for Let
It Be , but returned to the
group after negotiations at two
business meetings). Lennon
agreed not to make an
announcement while the band
renegotiated their recording
contract, and blasted McCartney
months later (with the
negotiations complete) for
going public with his own
departure in April 1970. Phil
Spector's involvement in trying
to revive the Let It Be
material then drove a further
wedge between Lennon (who
supported Spector) and
McCartney (who opposed him).
With the public unaware of the
details, McCartney appeared to
be the one who dissolved the
group, depriving Lennon of the
formalities. Lennon told
Rolling Stone, "I was a fool
not to do what Paul did, which
was use it to sell a record,"
and later wrote, "I started the
band. I finished it." Though
the split would only become
legal some time later, Lennon's
and McCartney's partnership had
come to a bitter end. McCartney
soon made a press announcement,
declaring he had quit the
Beatles and promoting his new
solo record. McCartney later
admitted Lennon had been the
first to quit, re-explaining
the circumstances to CBS-TV's
48 Hours in 1989.
In 1970, Jann Wenner recorded
an interview with Lennon that
was played on BBC in 2005. The
interview reveals his
bitterness towards McCartney
and the hostility he felt that
the other members held towards
Yoko Ono. Lennon said: "One of
the main reasons the Beatles
ended is because ... I pretty
well know, we 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? Paul had the
impression we should be
thankful for what he did, for
keeping the Beatles going. But
he kept it going for his own
sake."
1970-1975:
Solo career
John Lennon in early 1970,
after he cut his hair for
charityLennon had a varied
recording career. Whilst still
a Beatle, Lennon (along with
Ono) recorded three albums of
experimental music, Unfinished
Music No.1: Two Virgins,
Unfinished Music No.2: Life
with the Lions, and Wedding
Album. His first 'solo' album
of popular music was Live Peace
in Toronto 1969, recorded prior
to the breakup of the Beatles,
at the Rock 'n' Roll Festival
in Toronto with The Plastic Ono
Band. He also recorded three
solo singles: the anti-war
anthem "Give Peace a Chance",
the heroin withdrawal report
"Cold Turkey", and "Instant
Karma!". Following The Beatles'
split in 1970 Lennon released
the John Lennon/Plastic Ono
Band album. The song "God"
lists people and things Lennon
no longer believed in - ending
with "Beatles". The album also
included "Working Class Hero"
which was banned from the
airwaves for its use of the
word "fucking".
The album Imagine followed in
1971, and its title song soon
became an anthem for
anti-religion and anti-war
movements. The song's video was
filmed during Lennon's "white
period" (white clothes, white
piano, white room, and the
like). He wrote "How Do You
Sleep?" as an attack against
McCartney, with George Harrison
on slide guitar, but later
claimed that it was about
himself.
Some Time in New York City
(1972) was loud, raucous, and
explicitly political, with
songs about prison riots,
racial and sexual relations,
the British role in Northern
Ireland, and his own problems
in obtaining a United States
Green Card. Lennon had been
interested in left-wing
politics since the late 1960s,
and was said to have given
donations to the Trotskyist
Workers Revolutionary
Party.
In 1972 Lennon released "Woman
Is the Nigger of the World",
which drew parallels between
exploitation of women and
discrimination against blacks.
Radio stations refused to
broadcast the song and it was
banned nearly everywhere,
though he managed to play it to
television viewers during his
second appearance on The Dick
Cavett Show.
On 30 August 1972 Lennon and
his backing band, Elephant's
Memory, staged two benefit
concerts at Madison Square
Garden in New York. These were
to be his last full-length
concert appearances. Lennon and
Ono also did a week-long
guest/co-hosting the Mike
Douglas Show.
Following Ono's second
miscarriage, she and Lennon had
an argument that resulted in
their separation. He moved to
California and embarked on a
period he would later dub his
"lost weekend" (despite the
fact that it lasted
approximately eighteen months).
Lennon released Mind Games in
1973, which was credited to
"the Plastic U.F.Ono Band". It
was the first solo album
produced by Lennon with no
input from Yoko. He wrote "I'm
the Greatest" for Ringo Starr's
album Ringo, and recorded his
own version of the song (which
appears on the John Lennon
Anthology). Lennon's behavior
during this period was
notoriously bad, with many
nights spent in a drunken
stupor. The songs from this
period (appearing on Mind Games
and Walls and Bridges) took an
apologetic tone that seem to be
directed at Ono. At Ono's
suggestion he took May Pang
along as his assistant and his
lover during this period.
Lennon released Walls and
Bridges (1974), which featured
a duet with Elton John on the
#1 hit "Whatever Gets You Thru
the Night". The album was
released under the name "the
Plastic Ono Nuclear Band".
Another hit from the album was
"#9 Dream". He made his last
reference to Primal therapy in
his song "Nobody Loves You
(When You're Down and Out)",
referring to Arthur Janov as
"the one-eyed witch-doctor
leading the blind."[citation
needed] Lennon also produced
Nilsson's Pussy Cats album
during 1974.
Lennon made a surprise guest
appearance at an Elton John
concert in Madison Square
Garden where they performed
"Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds", "Whatever Gets You
Thru the Night" and "I Saw Her
Standing There" together. It
was to be his last-ever concert
appearance in front of a rock
audience. Coincidentally, Yoko
Ono happened to be present and
the concert, and after a
backstage meeting, the two got
back together. Following the
performance, Lennon travelled
to Florida and signed the
papers legally breaking up the
Beatles. After the Christmas
holidays he returned to live
with Yoko Ono, and she soon
became pregnant with their
first child.
In 1975, Lennon released the
Rock 'n' Roll album of cover
versions. It had been conceived
several years earlier, but was
complicated by the
unpredictable Phil Spector's
involvement as producer and by
several legal battles. The
album garnered mostly negative
or indifferent reviews, but
included a well-received cover
of "Stand by Me". David Bowie
achieved his first U.S. number
one hit (in 1975) with "Fame",
co-written with Lennon (who
contributed vocals and guitar)
and Carlos Alomar.
Lennon made his last public
musical appearance on ATV's 18
April 1975 special A Salute to
Lew Grade, performing "Imagine"
and "Slippin' and Slidin" from
his Rock 'n' Roll LP. Lennon's
band was billed as "Etc." and
the band members were costumed
in two-faced masks. The
"two-faced" stunt, and the line
"don't want to be your fool no
more" (from "Slippin' and
Slidin") were seen as digs at
Grade, with whom Lennon and
McCartney had been in conflict
over his previous control of
the Beatles' publishing
concerns. Dick James had sold
Lennon's and McCartney's
publishing rights to Grade in
1969. During "Imagine" Lennon
interjected the line "and no
immigration too" - a reference
to his battle to remain in the
United States.
On 9 October 1975 – Lennon's
35th birthday – his son Sean
Ono Lennon was born, and Lennon
retired from the music business
to stay home and care for
him.
1980 -
Starting
over
Lennon's
retirement came to an end
in 1980, a year in which
he wrote an impressive
amount of material during
a lengthy vacation in
Bermuda and began to think
about recording a new
album. For this comeback,
he and Ono produced Double
Fantasy, a concept album
focusing on their
relationship. The name
came from a species of
freesia Lennon saw at the
Bermuda Botanical Gardens;
he liked the name and
thought it was a perfect
description of his
marriage to Yoko.
The Lennons once again began a
series of interviews and video
footage to promote the album.
Although Lennon would say in
interviews for the album that
he had not touched a guitar for
five years, several of the
tunes, such as "I'm Losing You"
and "Watching the Wheels", had
been worked on at home in The
Dakota in various stages with
different lyrics from 1977
onward. "(Just Like) Starting
Over" began climbing the
singles charts, and Lennon
started thinking about a brand
new world tour. Lennon also
commenced work on Milk and
Honey, which he would leave
unfinished. It was some time
before Ono could bring herself
to complete it.
Towards the end of his life,
Lennon expressed his
displeasure with the scant
credit he was given as an
influence on George Harrison in
the latter's autobiography, I
Me Mine. According to Ono, he
was also unhappy that
McCartney's Beatles songs, such
as "Yesterday", "Hey Jude" and
"Let It Be" were more covered
than his own contributions.
In a 1980 Playboy interview
Lennon claimed that some of his
Beatles songs were
subconsciously sabotaged, and
that the group put more work
into and paid more attention to
McCartney's songs, whereas with
his, they tended to experiment.
In the same interview, Lennon
was ambivalent about his time
with the Beatles and the
group's legacy and was not
interested in talking about
them any more than he would
about old high school buddies.
He was prompted that there was
considerable speculation about
whether the Beatles were now
"dreaded enemies or the best of
friends." He replied that they
were neither, and that he
hadn't seen any of the Beatles
for "I don't know how much
time." He also said that the
last time he had seen McCartney
they had watched the episode of
Saturday Night Live where Lorne
Michaels made his $3200 cash
offer to get the Beatles to
reunite on the show. The two
had seriously considered going
to the studio to appear on the
show for a joke, but were too
tired.
Personal
life
In one of the last major
interviews of his life
conducted in September 1980,
three months before his death,
Lennon said that he'd always
been very macho and had never
questioned his chauvinistic
attitudes towards women until
he met Ono. Lennon was always
distant with his first son
(Julian) but was very close to
his second son (Sean), and
called him "my pride". Near the
end of his life, he had
embraced the role of
househusband and even said that
he had taken on the role of
wife and mother in their
relationship.
Cynthia
and Julian
Lennon
Cynthia Powell met Lennon at
the Liverpool Art College in
1957. After hearing Lennon
comment favourably about
another girl who looked like
Brigitte Bardot, Powell changed
the colour of her hair to
blonde. Their relationship
started after a college party
before the summer holidays when
Lennon asked Cynthia to go a
pub with him and some friends.
At this point Cynthia was
already engaged to another man,
a fact which she brought up
when Lennon asked her to dance.
Lennon replied, "I didn't ask
you to fucking marry me, did
I?" and stormed off. Although
Lennon ignored her for the rest
of the party, he talked to her
as she was ready to leave, and
then grabbed her hand and took
her to a room Stuart Sutcliffe
was renting, where they had
sex. If Sutcliffe's room was
not available, they often had
sex in alleyways or shop
doorways, but Cynthia didn't
enjoy those "snatched
encounters". Lennon's jealousy
could manifest itself in cruel
and aggressive behaviour
towards Cynthia, as when Lennon
slapped her across the face
(knocking her head against the
wall) the day after he saw her
dancing with Stuart Sutcliffe.
Cynthia broke up with Lennon
for three months, but resumed
their relationship after
Lennon's profuse apology.
Cynthia visited Lennon in
Hamburg for two weeks in 1960,
but in 1961 Lennon left her at
home and went to Paris with
McCartney for a holiday.
In the summer of 1962, Cynthia
discovered she was pregnant.
Lennon proposed marriage, but
when he told Mimi she screamed
and raged at Lennon to stop him
from going through with it.
Lennon and Cynthia were married
on 23 August at the Mount
Pleasant Register office in
Liverpool. Mimi did not
attend.
On April 8, 1963, John Charles
Julian Lennon was born in
Sefton General Hospital. John
did not see Julian until a week
after he was born because of
commitments with the Beatles.
The birth of John's son and his
marriage to Cynthia was kept
secret from the public, due to
Brian Epstein's insistence that
it would harm John's image with
the Beatles' female fans.
According to Cynthia, in a 1995
interview, there were problems
throughout their marriage
because of the pressures of the
Beatles' fame and rigorous
touring, and because of
Lennon's increasing use of
drugs. Their marriage all but
came to an end when Cynthia
came back from a holiday in
Greece with friends to find
that John and Yoko had been in
bed together. John did not deny
the fact but when Cynthia left
for a while he phoned her and
said "I can't understand why
you went off". Cynthia found
out about the definite end of
their marriage when John
refused to go on a family
holiday with them and was later
shown in a newspaper making his
affair with Yoko public. To
make matters worse Lennon sent
a mutual friend to Italy to
inform her that he was going to
take their child and force her
to leave their home. He also
arranged for divorce, stating
that she was the one who had
committed adultery, not
him..[108] In the ensuing court
case Lennon refused to give his
wife anymore than £75,000,
telling her "What have you done
to deserve it? Christ, it's
like winning the bloody pools".
In the end however she got
£100,000 plus £2,400 a year,
custody of Julian and the
house.
Lennon was distant to his son,
Julian, who felt closer to
McCartney than to him. The
younger Lennon later said,
"I've never really wanted to
know the truth about how dad
was with me. There was some
very negative stuff talked
about me ... like when he said
I'd come out of a whiskey
bottle on a Saturday night.
Stuff like that. You think,
where's the love in that? Paul
and I used to hang about quite
a bit ... more than dad and I
did. We had a great friendship
going and there seems to be far
more pictures of me and Paul
playing together at that age
than there are pictures of me
and my dad." When Lennon moved
to New York in 1971, Julian did
not see him until 1973. After
encouragement from May Pang, it
was finally arranged for Julian
to visit John and her in Los
Angeles. Lennon was said to be
very nervous beforehand but the
visit went well. After this
point, Julian started to see
his father more regularly, and
played drums on "Ya Ya" from
Lennon's 1974 album, Walls and
Bridges. Lennon also bought
Julian a Gibson Les Paul guitar
for his eleventh birthday in
1974 and encouraged his growing
interest in music.
Lennon was quoted as saying:
"Sean was a planned child, and
therein lies the difference. I
don't love Julian any less as a
child.
According to Cynthia, after the
break-up with John, McCartney
visited Cynthia and jokingly
suggested marriage, reportedly
saying, "How's about you and
me, Cyn?"
In an interview, Lennon said he
was trying to re-establish a
connection with the then
17-year-old Julian, and
confidently predicted that
"Julian and I will have a
relationship in the
future."
Both Julian and Sean Lennon
went on to have recording
careers years after their
father's death.
Source : Some
of the information on this page
came from a Wikipedia
article and is
licensed under the GNU
Documentation License.
©2008
www.geneticmatrix.com.
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John
Lennon - Generator
- Biography