Today John Lennon would celebrate year 80. Lennon was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist who for most of his career was in the band The Beatles,
The Beatles sold over 20m singles in the UK from 1962 to 1970.
They scored more UK & US No.1 albums than any other group. Their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper is the UK’s biggest selling album ever.
In 1990 Lennon’s song ‘Imagine‘ played simultaneously in 130 countries to commemorate what would’ve been Lennon’s 50th birthday. Mark Chapman fatally shot John Lennon in New York on 8th December 1980.
Read more about John Lennon from the buzzr blog published previously.
The establishment and press mocked John Lennon as a millionaire playboy who should grow up and shut his lip. Time magazine hailed him a “salvation-dispensing preacher for peace and porn”.
It was the press that reinforced his reputation as a misunderstood, lonely idealist set on opposing the petty morals of conventional society, always known in our consciousness in that image.
On August 13, 1971, John and Yoko Ono flew from Heathrow Airport to New York, saying he would never set foot on British soil again.
Only weeks after recording ‘Imagine’ John and family settled into the luxurious Dakota building overlooking Central Park. Here, surrounded by the spoils of his long struggle for self-fulfillment, he spent the last years of his life.
An older friend, the Beatles’ former personal assistant Neil Aspinall, once heard Lennon moaning about the costs of running his business empire. ‘Imagine no possessions, John,’ Aspinall said. Lennon glared back. ‘It’s only a bloody song,’ he said.
Image Credit – George Konix/Rex – Shuttershock
