John Lennon

(1940 -1980)

In September, 1957, John enrolled in The Liverpool Art College. There he met Cynthia Powell, who later became his first wife. He also met Stuart Sutcliffe, who quickly became his friend and the "Fifth Beatle."

By 1960, George Harrison and Pete Best had joined the Quarrymen, now renamed as The Beatles. That year, the group travelled to Hamburg, Germany, where they played at four different clubs on the infamous Reeperbahn, a street offering drugs and prostitution to tourists. Stuart, more involved in his artwork and his relationship with a German girl named Astrid Kirchherr, quit the band.

It was in Hamburg where John quickly lost his innocence about the music industry. He began to see it not as just a pastime, but as a somewhat disreputable business, one that required the shrewd talents of a legitimate business man.

In 1961, The Beatles had become a local favourite in Liverpool at The Cavern Club. It was there that John first met Brian Epstein whom John asked to become their manager. Later that year, they signed with Parlphone Records, but only after John had to "fire" his drummer Pete Best because a young producer at Parlphone preferred another drummer. The new drummer was Ringo Starr, the producer George Martin.

With his music career bridging on success and against the wishes of his Aunt Mimi, John married his "high school sweetheart," Cynthia Powell on August 23, 1962. She gave birth to their son, Julian, eight months later on April 8, 1963. Cynthia would later read about John's affair with Yoko Ono, and she filed for divorce. The divorce became final in November, 1968.

John married Yoko Ono in March, 1969. The two tried many times to have a child, but it was not until after several miscarriages that Yoko gave birth to John's second son, Sean, on John's birthday in 1975. It was then that John Lennon disappeared from public life. He planned to care for his son, and become a "house-husband."

In August, 1980, John came out of retirement to record his first album in six years. John was back in the public eye, and he seemed to have achieved the happiness that he had sought after all his life.

On December 8, 1980, at around 11:00 p.m., John's new life was snatched away from him. While returning from a late-night recording session, John was shot by Mark David Chapman outside his apartment building, The Dakota. He was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival due to a massive loss of blood.

For many, the world moved on. For others, the world stood still, as one of music's greatest heroes passed beyond us.