Occupation: Musician, Singer, Songwriter, Writer
Date of Birth: October 9, 1940
Date of Death: December 8, 1980
Place of Birth: Liverpool, England
Education: Liverpool College of Art
Relations: Ex-wife: Cynthia Lennon; widow: Yoko Ono; kids: Julian Lennon (with Cynthia), Sean Ono Lennon (with Ono)

Nancy Imelda Schafer
Editor-In-Chief

During the course of researching this column on John Lennon, I was taken back to my childhood. My mother and I were in Atlantic City on the Steel Pier. Hot from the sun, we decided to take a rest and catch a movie. "Help" was playing. To say my mother saw a vision on the screen is an understatement. Her life, and mine were changed forever on that day.

For years, I would stand by her side as we listened to all of the Beatle songs playing over and over on an old Motorola with a cracked speaker and an arm that shocked you when touched. It was at that tyme, I found writing.

Such beautiful music, but the words were magic. A marriage... if you will. I read the lyrics and tried to find a deeper meaning. The lines in the song "Help" always sounded to me as if John were genuinely crying for help. Years later, he reportedly stated that he was crying out for help at such a young age. John Winston Lennon, and his messages through lyrics are to be held in awe. He could be serious or just goofing... either way, the listener got the message. In his earlier years with the Beatles, success came very fast, and John wrote then what was up-front and in his face. It carried through to his later solo years.

Born in working-class Liverpool, England, on October 9, 1940, John Lennon became an integral part of the Fab Four from 1962 to 1970. John's first wife was Cynthia, and they had a son named Julian. With Paul McCartney, Lennon wrote several timeless classics during his Beatles days. Lennon's creativity (and admitted experimentation with drugs) took music to a new level -- setting standards which few bands have been able to equal even today.

The Beatles were a major part of the psychedelic sound with such songs as "I Am The Walrus" and "Strawberry Fields Forever." These songs were released in 1967. In 1969, Lennon married Japanese avant-garde conceptual artist Yoko Ono -- his only true love. Yoko joined him that year for the famous bed-in for peace which resulted in the song "Give Peace a Chance."

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, Lennon continued his solo career and political activism. John was best known for his brutally honest lyrics which proved he had nothing to hide. Although the music was fun to listen to, many of his songs were bitter confessionals of insecurity. After a few reasonably successful solo albums, Lennon carried out his dream of recording an album of Rock'N'Roll standards. In 1975, John dropped out of the public spotlight so he could stay home and help raise his son Sean, born that year.

In the fall of 1980, John and Yoko made an optimistic comeback with their album "Double Fantasy," featuring such songs as "Just Like Starting Over" and "Woman." Just when his career seemed refreshed and full of promise, however, Lennon was tragically murdered on December 8, 1980 in front of his home at the Dakota Building in New York City. John was more than a musician. He was an artist. A poet. A writer. A father. A husband. A visionary. A creative spirit. A sense of humor. A genuinely honest person who had nothing to hide. The writer of "Imagine" was all of these and more -- and his positive influence will always be remembered.
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[credits]: some text from;
James Thurston's John Lennon Page