For this section of the arts award I have chosen John Lennon as an arts hero who has not only inspired me but many people across the globe.

John Winston  Lennon,  (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Along with fellow Beatle Paul McCartney, he formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.

Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved as a teenager in the skiffle craze; his first band, The Quarrymen, evolved into The Beatles in 1960. As the group disintegrated towards the end of the decade, Lennon embarked on a solo career that produced the critically acclaimed albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine". Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his family, but re-emerged in 1980 with a new album, Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release.  ( taken from wikipedia).

 

John Lennon inspires me as he stood up against the government with people that were campaigning for peace and freedom. For example he was disliked during the Vietnam war as he publicised how it was wrong and the horrors that were going on during that war. A weird thing is that I could be following in his footsteps as we have both gone to the same primary and secondary school. John Lennon's legacy is still strong years after his death. He is a critically acclaimed artist who will never be forgotten.

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In his early life John lived in LIverpool with his mum and dad. His early life though was one in which was full with tragedy. These events may have inspired him to write some of the songs in his musical career. His father Fred Lennon left when he was very young. His mum Julia Lennon decided that she could not take care of John anymore and so left him in the care of his aunt Mimi who lived at 251 Menlove Avenue. Even though the two lived separately they stayed in regular contact with his mum teaching him how to play the banjo. This created a lifelong enthusiasm for music. On his 16th birthday his mum was killed when she was struck by a car that was being driven by a drunk off-duty police officer. The worst thing is that John witnessed the whole event.

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John attended Dovedale Primary before attending Quarry Bank School ( known as Calderstones School today ) .  In Quarry Bank he and a number of schoolfriends created the Quarrymen. This eventually changed and transformed into the Beatles. The Beatles were a worldwide success with millions of albums being sold. He wrote the songs " All You Need is Love " and " Help! " .  After the band split up in 1970 John went into a solo career. This was successful but didn't have the worldwide popularity that the Beatles had. During this time he created songs like "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance" which obviously by the title of the 2nd song promote peace and goodwill.

 In 1980 though John was murdered by Mark Chapman outside the Dakota building in New York. People all around the world were saddened by the news of his death. It is reported that some people comitted suicide upon hearing the news. A permanant memorial is now located in central park opposite the place where he was murdered. The memorial is called the Strawberry Fields Memorial.

 

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My favourite song by John Lennon is Imagine as it promotes peace and makes you imagine about the things that are being said in the song like for example living in a world without religions and what if we all were a brotherhood of man. I believe I can relate to John as we both play the guitar and it is quite inspiring to see how far his career as a musician went. This makes me want to carry on with music and see how far I can go if anywhere.