John Winston Ono Lennon, born John Winston Lennon on October 9, 1940, was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and peace activist best known as the Beatles’ founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist, and rhythm guitarist.
The rebellious nature and acerbic wit of Lennon’s music, writing, and drawings, on film, and in interviews defined his work. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.
He was the son of Julia and Alfred Lennon Alfred was an Irish merchant seaman who was away at the time of his son’s birth. John Winston Lennon was named by his parents after his paternal grandfather, John “Jack” Lennon, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Although his father was frequently gone from home, he sent regular pay cheques to Lennon’s mother at 9 Newcastle Road in Liverpool; the cheques ceased after he went missing without leave in February 1944.
What were John Lennon’s last words to his wife?
For the past 40 years, Yoko Ono has maintained a silent dignity in the face of global vilification from legions of Beatles fans.
In an emotional interview today, she recalls the last words her husband, John Lennon, uttered seconds before being gunned down on a New York street by Mark Chapman in 1980.
“I asked, ‘Shall we go out to dinner before we head home?'” “And John said, ‘No, let’s go home because I want to see Sean before he goes to sleep,'” Ono, 73, remarked on ‘Desert Island Discs’ to Kirsty Young.
Young then asked Ono if Lennon said anything after he was shot, to which Yoko answered, almost in hushed tones, “No.”
Ono, a conceptual artist, declared that she would never be more than “the wife of an ex-Beatle”.
She said, “I regret nothing, too,” after selecting Edith Piaf’s “Je Ne Regrette Rien” as one of her discs.
