The Lennon Legend

John Winston Lennon was born on 9 October, 1940 to a troubled, working-class Liverpool family. John's father deserted (бросил) his mother when John was only three, so Lennon was sent to live with his aunt, where he was a rebellious child. Frequently skipping school, Lennon left High School at the age of 16 after his aunt persuaded the headmaster to write him a recommendation to Liverpool Art College.

At art school Lennon became involved in music, buying a guitar and starting a band in early 1957. That band, the Quarrymen, evolved over the next few years into the Beatles. Lennon remained a principle singer and songwriter for the band through its decade-long career, splitting these duties with Paul McCartney. The pair agreed early on to share songwriting credits, though they directly collaborated on only a few of the Beatles' hits. Lennon, for his part, contributed more experimental and mystical music during the band's later years, while McCartney was more pop-oriented.

Shortly after forming the Beatles, Lennon married an art school classmate, Cynthia Powell, with whom he had a son, Julian, in 1963. Their marriage was rocky (тяжелый, неустойчивый), especially after Lennon began openly dating an older Japanese-American artist named Yoko Ono. Cynthia divorced John in 1968, clearing the way for John and Yoko to begin living and working together full time.

Lennon and Ono became the subject of media attention as reporters speculated that Ono was "controlling" Lennon and causing trouble for the beloved Beatles. In the spring of 1969, Lennon and Ono travelled to a "honeymoon" to Europe, stopping along the way to get married in Gibraltar on March 20^th. The couple staged a notorious "Bed-In" at the Amsterdam Hilton, where they recorded the single Give Peace a Chance, released later that year. Opposition to the Vietnam War was very important to the couple.

As Lennon spent more time collaborating with Ono, he began to distance himself from the other Beatles. In late 1969 he informed the group that he wanted to quit the band, but his decision was kept quiet for a while. Lennon intensified his political actions, paying for billboards in various cities that called for the end of war, and returning an award given to him by the Queen in protest of Britain's involvement. At that time, Lennon released the protest song Power to the People.

In the spring of 1971 Lennon and Ono moved to New York City, settling in the Dakota, an apartment building on Central Park West. Lennon wasted no time becoming involved in American society, siding with political radicals and frequently speaking out on political issues. At that time Lennon released his most popular solo album to date, containing his famous Imagine, which dealt with personal and political issues in a more accessible manner than his earlier works.

In 1974 Lennon separated from Yoko Ono, relocating to Los Angeles. For the next two years Lennon became heavily involved in drugs, and became a frequent visitor to celebrity parties and wild night clubs. Through that Lennon developed a friendship with Elton John, with whom he co-wrote the song Whatever Gets You through the Night. On Thanksgiving night Lennon joined Elton John onstage at Madison Square Garden, a legendary performance which turned out to be Lennon's last public concert.

By the end of 1975, things had turned around for Lennon: Elton John had helped John and Yoko resolve their marital differences (брачные разногласия), and in early October an appeals court overturned the deportation order which had been haunting (преследовать) Lennon. On 9 October, 1976 (John's birthday) Yoko gave birth to their child, Sean. After that, John retired from music to raise his child and tend house, while Ono handled the family's complicated business and legal affairs and worked on her conceptual art.

In early 1980 Lennon came out of retirement and recorded a new album, Double Fantasy, which was released in November. The highly listenable album and its first single (Just Like) Starting Over got into the music charts.

While leaving his New York apartment on 8 December, 1980 Lennon was approached by a fan who requested an autograph. When John returned home several hours later, the fan was still outside his apartment, and shot Lennon several times. Lennon died minutes later, and the crazed fan, Mark David Chapman, was quickly arrested.

On 14 December at 2 p.m., Lennon fans around the world participated in a widely publicized 10-minute silent vigil.

Naturally, Double Fantasy and Starting Over went to No. 1 and sold thousands of copies. As Chapman went to trial, bizarre details came out about the disturbed loner, who apparently was obsessed not only with Lennon, but also with the popular novel The Catcher in the Rye.

In the years following Lennon's death, his cult only grew.

In the text find English equivalents to the Russian expressions.

E.g. оставлять, покидать (напр. семью) – to desert

§  непослушный ребенок;

§  быть вовлеченным во что-либо;

§  развиться, превратиться во что-либо;

§  десятилетняя карьера;

§  разделять обязанности;

§  разводиться с кем-либо;

§  причинять вред;

§  выпустить сингл;

§  уходить из группы;

§  быть частым гостем звездных вечеринок;

§  отдалиться от музыки, уходить от музыкальной карьеры;

§  быть одержимым чем-то;