John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 at Liverpool's Oxford Hospital. His father Alfred abandoned him and his mother Julia when John was three years old. Shortly thereafter, Julia gave up custody of John to her sister Mimi and her husband George, who then would raised him. As he entered his teens it became clear that John had a higher intellect than others his age. He hated school but was part of the school's newspaper staff and he would contribute to it with his own illustrated short stories. Those short stories showed off just some of his emerging talent.

He also had a love for music. As a child he had learned how to play the harmonica from his Uncle George. In the early '50s, the new sound of rock 'n roll was taking over and he decided he wanted to be a part of it. After talking his Aunt Mimi into buying him a guitar, John taught himself how to play it after applying the banjo chords his mother had previously showed him. His interest in the guitar took over everything else in his life. In 1955, at the age of 15, he formed his own band and called them The Quarryman, named after the school he attended. It was in this band that he would meet Paul McCartney and George Harrison and the Beatles would form from it.

At the age of 17, John's mother was killed when hit by a car, he had witnessed the accident and was devastated by it. This in turn made him get into his music even more as he found it as an escape. It also help build a strong bond with his friend Paul who also had just lost his mother to cancer. The Quarrymen would change their name a couple of times until they settled on the name "The Beatles". John and Paul shared the lead vocals in the band and by the early sixties they were already making a name for themselves. In 1962 John married his long time girlfriend Cynthia Powell and the next year they had a son, Julian.

The Beatles would not only become rock's most famous group but also a phenomena. John was a big reason for that. He was always rebellious as a child and as a young adult hadn't changed much. He would say what was on his mind at press conferences unlike others back then would. He seemed to have an answer for just about anything that the press would toss at him. When he made a statement that the Beatles were more popular then Jesus Christ, he was probably right, but it was taken wrong and he would have that hang over him for a time after.

John met Yoko Ono, an avant-garde artist in late 1966. He had attended a show of her work and was impressed. He decided to finance her art exhibit. In 1968 he fell in love with Yoko and decided to leave his wife for her. Yoko had a strong influence on his music as he got into experimental sounds and progressive music. This was all to the dismay of his fellow Beatles. Tension grew as John would bring Yoko into the studio for Beatle sessions. It became clear that John was more interested in working with Yoko than his bandmates and the end of the Beatles was near. John married Yoko in March of '69. By this time the two of them were into protests against the war in Viet Nam. Amongst other things, they would stage Bed-Ins against the war and write some great anti war songs

John started his solo career while still in the Beatles. He had already written two well received books, In His Own Write ('64), and A Spaniard in the Works ('65) and in 1966, he acted in Dick Lester's comedy How I Won the War. Musically he and Yoko had released the experimental album Unfinished Music, No. 1: Two Virgins in '68. They would release two more similar albums in early '69 and also the live single ""Give Peace a Chance," which was recorded during a Bed-In in Montreal, Canada. In September of 1969, he returned to live performances with a concert at a Toronto rock & roll festival. He was supported by the Plastic Ono Band, which featured Ono, guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White. The next month he would release the single "Cold Turkey", a song about his addiction to heroin.

Around the time of the release of "Cold Turkey", John told his fellow band members that he was planing to split from the group. But he agreed not to publicly announce his intentions until after negotiations with EMI , with who the Beatles were in talks with through Allen Klien, were resolved. In February of 1970 he released the single "Instant Karma" which was a big hit. That April, Paul announced that he was leaving the Beatles which angered John, who had stayed in the band temporary for the band's sake.

His first full-fledged solo album, John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band was released in December of 1970 and was a shocker to some Beatles fans. It was inspired by his primal scream therapy that he went through and was both brilliant and disturbing. One song, the haunting "Mother", was written about his parents and their abandoning him. 'God' was another song where he dismissed the worshiping that so many believed in including not only God, but the Beatles too. Everybody should just believe in their self, was the song's message.