BIOGRAPHY
John Winston Lennon was born 9 October 1940 in Liverpool, the only child of Alfred and Julia Lennon. His parents separated when he was four, and he was raised by his Aunt Mimi; his mother's death in a 1958 car accident was one of the most traumatic events of his life. As a teenager he embraced skiffle, forming the Quarrymen in 1956, the group that evolved into the Beatles in 1960, where his songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney became the most successful in history. Lennon married Cynthia Powell in 1962, divorcing her in 1968, then married Yoko Ono in 1969, forming the Plastic Ono Band and staging the famed bed-in for peace before leaving the Beatles for a solo career. Between 1969 and 1972 he scored UK top-10 hits including 'Imagine' and 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)'. After retiring to raise his son Sean, he returned with Double Fantasy in 1980, the same year he was shot and killed outside his Manhattan apartment.