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John Lennon net worth speaks volumes about his passion for music. He was an English musician and a lead vocalist of the legendary English rock band, The Beatles. He was a peace activist. He founded the highly influential and commercially successful ‘The Beatles’ band. He was also the co-songwriter and rhythm guitarist for the band.
The Beatles gave an element of spirituality and a higher perspective to the world through their music and lyrics. John Lennon’s single ‘Imagine’ with Yoko Uno is a masterpiece that expresses his need for a world that is based on love without boundaries. But it did not reflect his personal views which were a series of cruel and mindless violent acts.
The Beatles was a rock band that gained worldwide commercial success providing unique perspectives on world issues with their lyrics and music. In times where the hip-hop genre was gaining popularity, The Beatles created a unique place on music charts and remained in hearts forever.
Transcendentalists, their spiritual journey started in the sacred mountains of India. John Lennon’s music did not die to post his death and his legacy continued with The Beatles’ journey from drugs, spirituality, and music. In 40 years of his life, he wrote and composed the most celebrated singles and authored two books.
He won numerous awards and accolades for his singles. His son Sean, continues his musical legacy and is one of the highest-earning musicians so far.
Lennon’s interest in music started in his early years when his mother taught him to play the Banjo. She also brought him his first acoustic guitar. Lennon was closely bonded with his mother until her death and didn’t keep in touch with his father.
His son Julian thinks Lennon was a hypocrite because he could never bond with him because of his addiction to drugs, violence, and lack of self-control. But Lennon had a different take on why he was being a peace activist.
He experienced violent and turbulent emotions in his personal life and it was a driving force for him to advocate peace in this world. It might not make him a hypocrite as he had come across. He might not be a total monster you would think knowing disturbing truths about his personal life.
Name | John Winston Ono Lennon |
D.O.B | 9-11-1940 |
D.O.D | 8-12-1980 |
Profession | Musician, Songwriter, Guitarist, Lead Vocalist |
Net Worth | $800 million |
Marriage | Cynthia Power(1962-1968), Yoko Ono(1969) |
Famous For | The Beatles, “Imagine” |
John Lennon Net Worth – Early Life
John Lennon’s mother was the inspiration behind his passion for music at a very young age. She encouraged him to take up music. He was abandoned by his parents and lived with his aunt Mimi and her husband took care of him as a child and an adolescent.
He often visited the ‘Strawberry Garden’ which the ‘Beatles’ group named as the ‘Secret Garden’ to find his solace as a child. He was never connected to his father. The first song he learned to play on his Banjo taught by his mother was ‘Ain’t That A Shame.’ He admitted that he would feel tortured to write lyrics and some of his lyrics had violence and gore details exposing his dark side.
He composed rhythms in pop, rock, and ballads which mesmerized the world. But all was not well inside the life of this peace activist. Lennon was violent towards his wife, children, and women in his life.
This was just one façade of his dark side. In numerous interviews, he revealed a lot of what goes on in his mind which can make you feel sick inside your stomach. Especially, the Oedipus Complex towards his mother as an adolescent.
John Lennon was born in Liverpool and was a choir boy in St.Peter’s Church, Liverpool, and the boy’s scout. Incidentally, the banjo which was the first musical instrument he played was missing post his mother, Julia’s death.
His father Alfred Lennon was a merchant seaman and would stay away from home leaving his mother Julia to take care of him. After his long return when Julia was found pregnant with another man’s child, Mimi, John’s maternal aunt fought for his custody.
John Lennon Net Worth – Tragic Childhood
He had a tragic childhood. At the age of five, he was forced to decide if he has to choose to live with his mother or father when his father tried to take him back from aunt Mimi. Throughout his childhood, he lived with his aunt Mimi and visited his mom often who taught him to play songs on Banjo.
WWII broke out when he was still a toddler and his father had to stay away from him for a longer period. Lennon had skewed emotions because of the chaos he dealt with as a child. His mother had to be away from him and died when he was sixteen years old which came as a blow. He dealt with deeper emotional pain which he couldn’t resolve as an adult and it showed up pretty early in his life.
He was known as a cruel kid who would mock disabled people. Something deep inside him wanted the peace that was probably why he advocated anti-war and was a peace activist though his personal life was traumatic. He couldn’t bring peace home and probably found a place to unleash his inner demons with the closest people in his life forgetting their need to be loved and cared for.
Despite his disturbing personal life, he was the God of the pop and rock music world. His acts of violence depicted his inbuilt pent-up anger about unresolved emotional traumas he had to go through as a child. With all the chaos going on the inside he still created soulful music.
His famous band member would go on record to describe him as someone who is always looking for ‘help’ as in ‘cry for help,’ because of his perturbed emotions. All the people closer in his life met tragic fate when he was still young. He lost his mother, aunty, and uncle who was like a mentor to him.
His uncle Smith was a profound influence on him and taught him to read and paint. He also brought him a mouth organ. It is said that The Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’ is based on the life and story of his uncle Smith who was a dairy farmer in Liverpool.
As a young man, he was addicted to heroin and was violent particularly towards women in his life. He met Paul McCartney at the age of 15 at a church and asked him to join his band which was then called ‘Quarry Men.’ Lennon attended Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School.
As a kid and a teenager, he was a troublemaker who failed at getting good grades and was also thrown out of college for failing in exams and being undisciplined. He had mood swings and violent outbursts which made Beatles band members walk on eggshells when he was around because they didn’t know what could trigger his outbursts. He was also a classified philanderer who had no remorse for cheating on women he loved.
John Lennon Net Worth – Career
John Lennon started the band with Paul McCartney at the age of 16 while he was still at school. The band rose to immense popularity within three years of playing live music. They pioneered recording style and were the first band ever to practice in the studio experimenting with various musical styles.
The band is known for making the best-selling albums of all time receiving Grammy, Brit, and Academy awards for their original compositions. The word ‘Beatlemania’ was coined by their fanatic fans and press to express adulation for the band’s success of hit songs in the 1960’s that created fan frenzy.
The Beatles created another record of performing at a Shea Stadium, New York. That was the first time a rock band ever performed at a stadium. They gain popularity for their artistic presentation and mixing songs with different genres and instruments. Their first hit was the single ‘Love Me Do.’
Post their residency in the infamous and wealthy Hamburg, Germany, they met their manager Brain Epstein in Liverpool who molded them as performing artists. Epstein was a major influence in Lennon’s life and his death shook him.
John Lennon Net Worth – The Birth Of Beatles
The Beatles was formed in the 1960s by Lennon and Paul McCartney. They came up with a couple of names before settling for this name which was suggested by his close friend Stu who was a part of the band before George Harrison and Ringo Starr joined.
The Beatles was a mix of musical styles ranging from traditional pop, rock, ballads, American folk, rock and roll, Indie, and psychedelic music. The Beatles is one of the most influential music bands of all time. Within a year of reaching the top charts, they gave 1400 record-breaking live performances.
Lennon was disruptive and together with his band, he created a cult during their trips to Hamburg in Germany. Lennon didn’t let his chaos and WWII get in the way of creating music that created history in the rock genre of music.
The Beatles Story is a museum dedicated to the band in Liverpool. Epstein’s faith in The Beatles got them the first commercial success they much needed. Their second recording ‘Please Please Me’ was a major commercial hit.
Their music was a deviation from the typical American rock and roll and brought a sense of novelty in the music genre giving hits one after another making them a popular rock band in England before they rose to global fame.
John Lennon Net Worth – Split Of The Beatles – Yoko Ono
John Lennon used to ask Yoko Ono to accompany her to all of their practice and recording sessions and even used to ask her to accompany to the bathroom. This behavior of Lennon caused trouble and spilt up the band making Ono take the blame for the split.
Lennon first married the traditional Cynthia and later the unconventional, avant-gardist Yoko Ono whose artistic sensibilities didn’t ring a bell with The Beatles. Double Fantasy was a commercial success and had artistic nuances influenced by Ono. The band spilt in the ’70s with an Academy Award winning song, ‘Let It Be’ which Lennon claimed to hate.
He cheated on Ono with his assistant May Pang. He pretty much didn’t believe in the idea of true love and cheated once again on the woman who seems to have influenced his music. The Beatles fans blamed Ono for the breakup but the band respected his relation with Ono and did not give credence to these rumors about the reason for the split.
John Lennon Net Worth – Singles Albums
John Lennon Net Worth – Awards And Achievements
After splitting with The Beatles, Lennon continued to stay on top with 25 singles ranging in the top charts for the longest period. Double Fantasy was the best seller in the U.S and won the Grammy Award for the best album of the year.
Shortly before his death, he received The BRIT award for outstanding contribution to music. He also received posthumous fame and was included in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame honor in 1987.
John Lennon Net Worth – Personal Life
John Lennon had a tragic childhood which reflected in his tumultuous relationships and marriages. He found his true calling at an early age and pursued it lifelong regardless of what was going on in his life. He lost the closest people in his life making his emotional wounds deeper.
Admitting he was a domestic abuser, nothing he did to vent seems to have healed his angst and wounds cutting deeper through his consciousness. At least he didn’t seem like a megalomaniac who was doing it to get a kick out of it. Celebrated artists are probably the most troubled on the inside.
The most celebrated musician was messed up, yet through his journey of finding love and music, his impact was nothing less than Jesus in the ’60s and ’70s. Yoko Ono was a major influence in his musical journey, though he cheated on her too, they had happier times.
John Lennon Net Worth – Controversies
The dark side and controversies which surrounded him throughout his life didn’t affect his journey in music. Tidbits of his abusive personal life, addiction to LSD, spirituality, views on the Vietnam War, advocating for peace through music was a symphony through the chaos.
Those who took Christianity seriously didn’t like his comment ‘Bigger than Jesus’ which almost ended the fan frenzy of ‘Beatlemania.’ When angry listeners started burning The Beatles records post the comment which was said in humor, Lennon later apologized for his comments.
His marriage with Cynthia did not last and he never bonded with his son Julian. Lennon got into the bad books of the FBI when he ran a rally for John Sinclair, a political activist, poet, and writer. His liberal views on war and peace were not taken well by former President Nixon and he was eventually deported and harassed until the Watergate Scandal was brought to light which gave Lennon his green card.
He was also accused of plagiarism for the song ‘Come Together’ on the Abbey Road album. He was a compulsive, pathological liar who made elaborate stories to make himself look larger than life said the critics. He lied about his heroin addiction and marriage when his stardom grew.
Now, this might be a subject of debate, and might as well not go down well with The Beatles fan, but Lennon’s talent in music and songwriting was overhyped. When you listen to his singles and The Beatles discography, only a few tracks make sense. The others are hyperbole and mishmash of wordy experiences coming from his hazed heroin addiction.
His violent acts with Wooler who wrote about his sexual relations with his manager Epstein set him off enough to beat the DJ for spreading these rumors while he was still married to Cynthia. You might want to question, did Lennon make a difference to this world in a good way and give back something meaningful to imbue?
Lennon has been dallying with numerous ideologies advocating peace and expressing himself through his music. With a turbulent past and a host of broken relations, his journey of forty years came to an end outside his Dakota apartment.
John Lennon Net Worth – Death
It was the evening of 8th December 1980, on the archway of his Dakota apartment, he was shot by his fan from Hawaii, Mark David Chapman who later admitted that he did it to get attention. He also said that he was inspired by The Catcher In The Rye, and has been planning to kill him over many months because he was angered by his statements on religion and lifestyle.
Lennon had signed a copy for Chapman in the morning and had left for a recording. Later in the night as Lennon was entering his apartment, Chapman shot five bullets, four of which stuck Lennon. Ono was with Lennon when this incident happened. He was cremated at the Ferncliff Cemetery in New York.
Interesting Facts
- The Beatles was initially named ‘Silver Beats.’
- Lennon once stated he would rather be a part of Monty Python than Beatles
- He loved playing monopoly during the tours
- Lennon and Ono hired psychics who helped them make business decisions
- In his teen years, his aunt Mimi once said “That guitar’s very well, John, but you’ll never make a living at it.”
- His first band ‘Quarrymen’ practiced in the bathroom
- As a teen, Lennon thought himself to be a Teddy Boy
- He was not a good driver
- Lennon developed a love for cooking and would cook for the entire staff
- The Beatles attended the transcendental sessions in India
- Lennon also wished to be a clothing retailer like Marks & Spencer
- He slept with the light on inside a coffin
- Elvis Presley inspired him to start his first Skiffle band ‘Quarrymen’
- Lennon’s molar tooth was auctioned for $31000
- Ono was the inspiration behind the song ‘Imagine.’
Conclusion
Lennon’s journey, John Lennon net worth as a musician is an example of how passion and business mix well together. He was a peace activist with a roster of controversies, was way ahead of his time. He had ideologies that were far-fetched and liberal which the conservative world didn’t take very well. Amongst all the people Ono was his inspiration and a reason to experience love with a sense of spirituality.
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