John, was born John Winston Lennon on October 9, 1940 to Alfred and Julia Lennon. John's father, a merchant seaman, deserted his family when John was four years old. Julia moved in with her lover shortly afterward and when it was determined that Julia had neither the means nor the living space to properly raise John, he was sent to live with Julia's sister Mimi and her husband George. While Aunt Mimi and Uncle George gave him a stable, nurturing home environment the early trauma of being left by his parents left severe emotional scars on John Lennon which, years later, he would attempt to heal with the whole world watching. His wounds were not helped when Julia, who had returned to his life and taught John music when he was 16, was killed by an off-duty police officer who was driving drunk.

John was a rebel by nature, even without the traumatic events of his childhood. Combined with his intelligence and astounding creativity, his rebelliousness led to a school career marked by failure and reprimands for his behavior. The one subject in which he excelled was art and despite a deplorable academic record, he was admitted to Liverpool Art College.

From the moment he heard American rock and roll, John's life was forever altered. He did become caught up in the skiffle craze that had taken over England and his band, the Quarrymen played a lot of skiffle, but rock and roll was what he truly loved. On July 6, 1957, the Quarrymen played the Woolton Garden Fete at St. Peter's church. In the audience was 14 year-old Paul McCartney. Paul would join the Quarrymen shortly thereafter and a legendary partenrship was formed.

The Beatles arose out of the Quarrymen with the additions of George Harrison, Pete Best on drums and Stuart Sutcliffe (another Liverpool Art College student) on bass. Eventually, Stuart left the band and died of a brain hemorrhage some years later. Pete Best was replaced with Ringo Starr in 1962. The next eight years of Beatles fame, fortune, and trail blazing would see John become half of one of the most successful and celebrated songwriting partnerships in history, and would also establish him as an artist and writer. However, those years were not always happy ones for John. He found that he often had to be less than who he really was in order to retain the popularity of the Beatles, hiding what he really felt rather than being allowed to speak his mind, and always needing to play the happy mop-top with the sardonic wit. He would turn to drugs and later, meditation as all the Beatles did, in search of answers and in attempt to transcend his pain, but these proved dead ends for him.

In 1966, John Lennon met Japanese avant garde artist Yoko Ono at the Indica Gallery in London where she was preparing for an exhibition opening. Although John had been married to Cynthia Powell Lennon since 1962 and had a young son, Julian, John and Yoko became lovers. They would be married in March, 1969 and a month later, John would legally change his middle name from "Winston" to "Ono". Additionally, Yoko began to fill what was once Paul McCartney's place as John's artistic collaborator. Not only was John very much in love with Yoko, but she gave him the courage to expand artistically, to speak his mind politically, and to exorcize his past demons in therapy and through music. Before and after the Beatles break-up in 1970, John and Yoko fought for a host of political and spiritual causes, all centered around the themes of peace, love and justice. Although they were heavily berated for their often-outlandish exploits, both musical and political, John would come to be as loved for his ideology as for his music.

John's solo career began with the release of the LP, "The Plastic Ono Band." This was John baring his soul as he never could as a Beatle, and getting in touch with his childhood pain and anger. After the highly acclaimed follow-up, Imagine, featuring his signature song of the same name, John and Yoko left England to live in New York City. They became heavily involved with politically left-wing radicals in Greenwich Village and would release the critically panned, "Some Time in New York City." The Lennon's political activity would prove troublesome for John when the United States government refused for four years to grant him a "Green Card" allowing him to apply for US citizenship. Those four years were marked by governmental harassment of John as well as frequent deportation orders, all of which were successfully appealed. John was finally awarded a Green Card in 1976.

In late 1973, just prior to the release of another LP, "Mind Games," the Lennon's separated. John spent the next year and a half with his mistress May Pang in Los Angeles. He recorded a lot of music during this period (which became the "Walls and Bridges" and "Rock and Roll" LP's) but mostly spent the time gorging himself on food and alcohol. John and Yoko were reunited in early 1975 and Yoko became pregnant shortly thereafter. Having suffered three previous miscarriages, Yoko finally gave birth to a son, Sean Ono Lennon, on October 9, 1976. John virtually quit the music business between 1976 and early 1980 in order to raise Sean while Yoko worked.

In 1980, John and Yoko released "Double Fantasy" a "dialogue album" in which they take turns singing songs written basically for and about each other. John's songs reflected a maturity and inner peace that by age 40, he had finally managed to achieve. But there would be little time to enjoy this peace. On December 8, 1980, the unthinkable happened. John Lennon was assassinated by a deranged fan, Mark David Chapman, while walking with Yoko in front of their New York City apartment building. The world-wide outpouring of grief and outrage over this tragedy, may have been excessive in intensity and amount, had it been for virtually anybody else. But on that horrible night, the world lost a beloved artist, a modern-day philosopher, an adored role model, and a most remarkable human being.