John Lennon was an English musician and songwriter, born in Liverpool, best known as co-founder of The Beatles alongside Paul McCartney. After the band’s breakup in 1970 he pursued a solo career with his wife Yoko Ono, producing politically and personally charged work including the anthem ‘Imagine’ (1971). He stepped away from music for roughly five years in the mid-1970s before returning with the 1980 album Double Fantasy, released weeks before he was murdered in New York City in December 1980.

Lennon’s solo work, particularly ‘Imagine,’ became one of the most enduring peace anthems in popular music, and his songwriting partnership with McCartney is considered the most successful in pop history, shaping the trajectory of rock songwriting broadly.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon