John Lennon Biography

John Winston Ono Lennon MBE (born John Winston Lennon, 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist, and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in musical history. In 1969, he started the Plastic Ono Band with his second wife, Yoko Ono. After the Beatles disbanded in 1970, Lennon continued as a solo artist and as Ono’s collaborator.

Born in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1956, he formed his first band, the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. He was initially the group’s de facto leader, a role gradually ceded to McCartney. Lennon was characterised for the rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. In the mid-1960s, he had two books published: In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works, both collections of nonsensical writings and line drawings. Starting with 1967’s “All You Need Is Love”, his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the larger counterculture.

From 1968 to 1972, Lennon produced more than a dozen records with Ono, including a trilogy of avant-garde albums, his first solo LP JOHN LENNON/PLASTIC ONO BAND, and the international top 10 singles ‘Give Peace a Chance’, ‘Instant Karma!’, ‘Imagine’ and ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’. Controversial through his political and peace activism, after moving to New York City in 1971, his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a three-year attempt by the Nixon administration to deport him. In 1975, Lennon disengaged from the music business to raise his infant son Sean, and in 1980, returned with the Ono collaboration DOUBLE FANTASY. He was shot and killed in the archway of his Manhattan apartment building by a Beatles fan, Mark David Chapman, three weeks after the album’s release.

In 2002, Lennon was voted eighth in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, and in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all time. In 1987, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Lennon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994.

Full Biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon

The Wenner Tapes Interview Transcript: http://www.shakenstir.co.uk/interviews/john_lennon_the_wenner_tapes_interview/

Kenneth Womack Biography

Kenneth Womack is one of the world’s leading authorities on the Beatles and their enduring cultural influence. He is the author of a two-volume biography devoted to famed Beatles producer Sir George Martin, including Maximum Volume (2017) and Sound Pictures (2018). His latest book, Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles (2019), was published in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ swan song.

Womack’s Beatles-related books include Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles (2007), The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles (2009), and The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four (2014). Womack’s books about the Beatles are included in the permanent collection of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Library and Archives. He is also the author of four novels, including John Doe No. 2 and the Dreamland Motel (2010), The Restaurant at the End of the World (2012), Playing the Angel (2013), and I Am Lemonade Lucy! (2019). His work has appeared in such venues as Salon, Slate, Billboard, Time, Variety, The Guardian, USA Today, The Huffington Post, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Womack serves as Professor of English and Popular Music at Monmouth University. He is Editor of Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory, published by Penn State University Press, and Co-Editor of the English Association’s prodigious Year’s Work in English Studies, published by Oxford University Press. Over the years, he has shared his work with public libraries and community organizations across the nation, as well as with audiences in such venues as Princeton University, Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution, and the 92nd Street Y.

Womack’s work as teacher and writer has earned numerous awards, including the Grace D. Long Faculty Excellence Award (2002), Penn State University’s Alumni Teaching Fellow Award (2006), Northern Illinois University’s Golden Anniversary Alumni Award (2009), Penn State Altoona’s Honorary Alumni Award (2009), and the Kjell Meling Award for Distinction in the Arts and Humanities (2010). In 2013, Ken was selected to serve as the sixth Penn State University Laureate.

In addition to studying Russian language and literature at the Moscow Institute of Communication, Womack earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in English from Northern Illinois University. He lives in West Long Branch, New Jersey, with his wife Jeanine.

https://kennethwomack.com/
https://omnibuspress.com/