The John Lennon Tragedy

Born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis was born a twin to Jesse Presley, whom was a stillborn leaving Elvis an only child. He was brought up with loving, working-class parents, Vernon and Gladys. His family had moved around frequently. Elvis was raised to have a strong faith in God and grew up attending church and listening to gospel music. He and his parents had moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948. He had later graduated highschool there in 1953.

John Hancock was born on January 23, 1737 in Braintree, Massachusetts. John was married to Dorothy Quincy in 1775. They had two kids a girl and a boy neither of them lived into adulthood. John’s parents were Mary Hawke and senior John Hancock. John’s father died and his mother gave him and his siblings to their aunt and uncle, Lydia and Thomas Hancock. Thomas was a wealthy merchant who had enough money to live in a mansion.

The first thing the group did was to make it cool to be a British

Beatlemania was all the rage trend of buying Beatle's merchandise and products. After the exposure of the Beatles' TV appearance, the group's popularity rose enormously everywhere in the world (Stokes). They brought the love of British rock and roll to the American public, and soon after them, many other British groups became famous in the United States. It is sometimes called "The British Invasion" at a hard time. The Beatles became famous during the time of the Vietnam War, and they used their lyrics to express their political, social, and spiritual beliefs to an audience that was against the war (Romanowski 59).

The 1960’s were a time of great turmoil and change; people had many different ways to express themselves. Some did this through drugs, others through assassination, while some chose music. While there were many American musicians who were influential during the 1960s such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, and The Eagles, arguably none were as influential as The Beatles. Consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, helped change the face of popular culture of the 1960’s through their music, image, and influence on the counterculture of the time.

Yoko Ono is known for being the famous John Lennon’s wife and the scapegoat that is blamed for breaking up the pop/rock sensation group, The Beatles. Unfortunately, She is lesser known and given less media credit for being a fantastic alternative artist.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono helped each other because they were in it together. Lennon and Ono would badly want peace for the world because on their honeymoon at Amsterdam hotel in March 1969 was used to host their first sit-in for days. They confused the world for days because of the way they decided to protest which would lead to them being in the newspapers all over the world which they enjoyed because that would bring more attention to what they were protesting. Yoko changed John because she was his muse to speak out about peace alongside her even though people didn’t like her because they thought she broke up the Beatles, it should also be said that if she wasn’t in the picture John Lennon wouldn’t of become this big inspiration that he is today. In one of these sit-ins John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band would create a song that would continue to be used for

The Beatles: Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) was born in Liverpool on 7 July 1940. Drums and vocals. John Lennon was born in Liverpool on 9 October 1940. He was shot dead in New York on 8 December 1980. Rhythm guitar, keyboards, harmonica, vocals. Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool on 18 June 1942. Bass guitar, keyboards, lead guitar, drums, vocals. George Harrison was born in Liverpool on 25 February 1943. Lead guitar, sitar, keyboards, vocals.

John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England (“John” 1). At the time, World War II was going on (Burlingame, John Lennon: Imagine 14). His parents, Alfred “Alf” Lennon and Julia Lennon divorced when he was a child (Burlingame, John Lennon: Imagine 21) and he had to move in with his aunt and uncle (Burlingame, John Lennon: Imagine 25). In elementary school, he played guitar and harmonica, always enjoying music (Burlingame, John Lennon: Imagine 32). The first song he ever learned was “That’ll be the Day” by Buddy Holly (Burlingame, John Lennon: Imagine 33). As music took over his life, John got distracted and his aunt told him that he could not make a living by playing guitar (Burlingame, John Lennon: Imagine 36). When John was teenager, he started writing and composing music (Canale 1) as well as drawing and writing books. He wrote two books, “In His Own Write” and “A Spaniard in the Works” (Watson 2). Similarly to Lennon, another musician got their inspiration at a young age. Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington to Wendy and Don Cobain (Burlingame, Kurt Cobain: Oh Well… 11). He came from a musical family and was introduced to music at an early age. When he was three years old, he wrote his first song, “Corn on the Cops.” When he started playing guitar, he held it backwards because he was left-handed, and played popular Beatles’ songs like “Hey Jude” (Burlingame, Kurt Cobain: Oh Well… 12). He was fourteen years old when he received his first electric guitar (Burlingame, Kurt Cobain: Oh Well… 18). Like John, Kurt was involved with the visual arts and enjoyed drawing, whittling, and painting (Burlingame, Kurt Cobain: Oh Well… 13). The two musicians’ background allowed them to prosper in the future.

rock band "Oasis" has stated that they get their greatest influence from the Beatles" (Lewisohn, 56).

Beginning in the 1960's until his death in 1980, Lennon was an advocate for peace and spread his message throughout the world.   His time with the Beatles gained him world wide fame and allowed for him to be heard in millions of households.  While it was his stardom that put him in the news more than most advocates for peace, he was much more than just that to many.   A poll conducted by the BBC in 2002 asking the nation who they thought the greatest Britons to have lived were ranked John Lennon number eight out of one hundred (BBC). While he was behind

Known for being pioneers for rock 'n roll music in the 1960s the Beatles weren 't always musical celebrities. Coming from humble beginnings in

Popular artists in today’s culture have been greatly influenced by many great artists from the past’s popular culture such as Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley was one of the most popular artists in the 1950’s. He was a revolution in music, being given the title “king of rock and roll” and introducing a new style of music to make its place in popular culture. Throughout his career, he sold more than one billion records and without realizing it, became an influence to many recent artists and bands in popular culture today such as Justin Bieber and Reece Mastin. Jessica Reaves from Time.com states that “Presley’s name fairly droops under the weight of its acquired cultural significance. Briefly tagged a teen idol, the king of rock and roll swiftly transitioned into category defying superstar. Today, professors devote whole careers examining Elvis’s influence on cultural mores”. Elvis’s style and new ideas inspired many new artists and made rock and roll popular. The Beatles are a

The well-known and popular Beatles made up of four talented men all from Liverpool,England. John Lennon, “The Leader”, played the guitar and sang. Sadly, he retired in 1975 to focus on his home life. He was shot and killed in New york on December 8,1980.

Next came the co-genius of this phenomenon, Paul McCartney. Born on June 18, 1942 to Jim and Mary Patricia Monin, Paul was the eldest of two boys in a very close-knit family. He first attended Stockton Wood Road Primary School but was soon switched to Joseph Williams Primary School at Gateacre because their mother insisted on the best education for her boys. Paul used to love to listen to the radio and was very influenced by his dad who played in a little band but eventually had to give it up because he "got false teeth and couldn't play the trumpet properly anymore." John's mother died of breast cancer when he was only fourteen, which devastated the family and launched John into spending some of his time writing songs, which would later be the pay off of his life.