John Lennon

John Lennon  (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980), was an English musician, singer and songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as a founder member of the rock band the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music.  With Paul McCartney, he formed a songwriting partnership that is one of the most celebrated of the 20th century.  When the group disbanded in 1970, Lennon embarked on a solo career that produced iconic songs such as “Imagine”, “Give Peace a Chance” and “Working Class Hero”.  After disengaging himself from the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean, he re-emerged with Yoko Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy.  He was murdered three weeks after its release.  He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice; as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994.  (More from Wikipedia)