John Lennon:

John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English rock musician, singer-songwriter, author, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. With Paul McCartney, Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century and "wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history".He is ranked the second most successful songwriter in UK singles chart history after McCartney.

Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and biting wit in his music, on film, in books, and at press conferences and interviews. He was controversial through his work as a peace activist and visual artist. After The Beatles, Lennon enjoyed a successful solo career with such acclaimed albums as John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine". After a self-imposed "retirement" to raise his son Sean, Lennon reemerged with a comeback album, Double Fantasy, but was murdered less than one month after its release. The album would go on to win the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

In 2002, respondents to a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted Lennon eighth. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Lennon number 38 on its list of "The Immortals: The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time" (The Beatles being number one). He was also ranked fifth greatest singer of all time by Rolling Stone in 2008.He was posthumously inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Solo career:
At the end of 1968, Lennon performed as part of the group Dirty Mac, in The Rolling Stones' film Rock and Roll Circus. The supergroup, made up of Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell, also backed Ono's performance.Lennon and Ono were married on 20 March 1969, and he soon released a series of 14 lithographs called "Bag One" depicting scenes from their honeymoon,eight of which were deemed indecent and most were banned and confiscated.

Lennon and Ono recorded three albums of experimental music together: Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, an album known more for its cover than the musical content, Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions, and Wedding Album. His first "solo" album was Live Peace in Toronto 1969—recorded prior to the breakup of The Beatles—recorded at a 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", "Cold Turkey", and "Instant Karma!". Following The Beatles' split in 1970, Lennon released John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, a raw emotional album that dealt with Lennon's pain in losing his mother and split with The Beatles. It included "Working Class Hero", which was banned by BBC Radio for its inclusion of the word "fucking".

His album Imagine followed in 1971, and the title song would later become an anthem for anti-war movements. It also included the track "How Do You Sleep?" -- a musical attack on McCartney. Although Lennon softened his stance in the mid-70s and claimed he wrote the song about himself, he revealed in 1980, "I used my resentment against Paul... to create a song... not a terrible vicious horrible vendetta... I used my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and The Beatles, and the relationship with Paul, to write 'How Do You Sleep'. I don't really go 'round with those thoughts in my head all the time".

On 31 August 1971, Lennon left England for New York, and released the "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" single in December 1971.To advertise the single, Lennon and Ono paid for billboards in 9 major cities (and 7 different languages) which declared: "WAR IS OVER!... if you want it".Some Time in New York City was then released in 1972. Recorded with Elephant's Memory, it contained songs about women's rights, race relations, Britain's role in Northern Ireland, and Lennon's problems obtaining a United States Green Card.Lennon had been interested in left-wing politics since the late 1960s, and reportedly donated money to the Trotskyist Workers Revolutionary Party.

In 1972, Lennon released "Woman Is the Nigger of the World". Many radio stations refused to broadcast the song, although Lennon was allowed to perform it on The Dick Cavett Show. On 30 August 1972 Lennon and Elephant's Memory gave two benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York to benefit the patients at the Willowbrook State School mental facility on Staten Island.These were to be Lennon's last full-length concert appearances.

In November 1973, Lennon released Mind Games, which was credited to "the Plastic U.F.Ono Band". He also wrote "I'm the Greatest" for Starr's album Ringo (his own demo version of the song appears on the John Lennon Anthology), produced Harry Nilsson's album Pussy Cats and also produced "Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)" for Mick Jagger. In September 1974, Lennon released Walls and Bridges and the single "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" (a #1 duet with Elton John). A second single from the album, "#9 Dream", was released in December. He wrote "Goodnight Vienna" for Starr, and played piano on the recording.On 28 November, Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at Elton John's Thanksgiving concert at Madison Square Garden after he lost a bet with John that "Whatever Gets You" would reach #1.Lennon performed "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" and "I Saw Her Standing There".

In January 1975, Lennon co-wrote and recorded "Fame" with David Bowie and Carlos Alomar which became Bowie's first US #1 hit.Lennon released Rock 'n' Roll, an album of cover songs, in February 1975 – with Phil Spector as co-producer.

Lennon made his last stage appearance on ATV's 18 April 1975 special called A Salute to Lew Grade performing "Imagine", "Stand By Me" and "Slippin' and Slidin'" from his Rock 'n' Roll LP.Lennon's backup band was BOMF (known as "Etc." that evening).The band members wore two-faced masks which were digs at Grade, with whom Lennon and McCartney had been in conflict because of Grade's control of The Beatles' publishing company. Dick James, The Beatles' publisher, had sold his majority share in Maclen Music (Lennon's and McCartney's publishing company) 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.In October 1975, Lennon fulfilled his contractual obligation to EMI/Capitol for one more album by releasing Shaved Fish, a greatest hits compilation.

In June 1976, Lennon wrote and recorded "Cookin' (In The Kitchen of Love)" with Ringo Starr, his last recording session until his 1980 comeback.Lennon also offered to design the cover for an upcoming Beatles compilation album from Capitol/EMI, Rock 'n' Roll Music, but EMI declined his offer.

In 1977, Lennon announced in Tokyo that "we have basically decided, without any great decision, to be with our baby as much as we can until we feel we can take time off to indulge ourselves in creating things outside of the family." During this period he also drafted a manuscript that would be posthumously published as a book called Skywriting by Word of Mouth as well as several series of drawings which would also be published posthumously.

He emerged from retirement in November 1980, releasing Double Fantasy, which also featured Ono. That previous June, Lennon traveled to Bermuda on a 43-foot sloop, where he wrote songs for the album.The name of the album refers to a species of freesia flower that Lennon had seen in the Bermuda Botanical Gardens and saw it as a perfect description of his marriage to Ono.Lennon had written and recorded enough material for another album and was already planning his follow-up, Milk and Honey, which was released posthumously in 1984.

On the night of 8 December 1980, at around 10:50 pm, Mark David Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times in the entrance of the Dakota apartment building. Earlier that evening, Lennon had autographed a copy of Double Fantasy for Chapman who had been stalking Lennon since October.

Lennon was taken to the emergency room of nearby Roosevelt Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:07 pm. On the following day, Ono issued a statement, saying "There is no funeral for John." Ono ended her statement with the words, "John loved and prayed for the human race. Please pray the same for him. Love, Yoko and Sean."

Chapman pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life; he remains in prison, having been repeatedly denied parole.Lennon's body was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.According to some accounts, Ono scattered Lennon's ashes on Strawberry Fields; according to others, she kept them.

Two days before his murder, Lennon told Andy Peebles of the BBC that he felt he could go out anywhere in New York City and feel safe. On another occasion while still a Beatle, Lennon was asked how he might die. Lennon replied, "I'll probably be popped off by some loony."During an interview with Dave Sholin at The Dakota hours before his murder, Lennon stated, "I've always considered my work one piece whether it be with Beatles, David Bowie, Elton John, or Yoko Ono. And I consider that my work won't be finished until I'm dead and buried and I hope that's a long, long time.