Life Remembering John Lennon

A collection of more than one hundred photographs and biographical essays reexamines the life and career of John Lennon, from his Liverpool youth and rise to success with the Beatles, to the breakup of the Fab Four, solo career, personal life, and tragicdeath at the hands of an assassin.

From the editors who have previously brought forth bestselling illustrated biographies on the Beatles as a group and John Lennon in particular, now comes Remembering George Harrison: 10 Years Later. He was the quiet Beatle only in that he was standing alongside two louder-than-life characters and in front of a guy playing drums. He held many strong opinions — on Beatlemania, on global want, on his right to privacy, on his God — and gave firm voice to most of them. But George Harrison was certainly the most reluctant Beatle, wanting out almost as soon as he was in. He often said that his luckiest break was joining the band and his second luckiest was leaving it. The standard line is that George Harrison was an enigma, but perhaps he was transparent: a terrific guitarist, a fine songwriter, a wonderer, a seeker and, overriding all, a celebrity who hated and feared celebrity. George Harrison died at a friend's home in Los Angeles ten years ago, in late 2001, at age 58, losing his last battle with cancer. He was beloved, and had been for a long time. He had thrived in the aftermath of the band's breakup, becoming a recording artist on the level of his former mates McCartney and Lennon. He became as well the Happy Mystic, leading his legion of fans — of followers — toward a more meaningful way of living. As would be expected from LIFE, it is all here in pictures — the Hamburg days, the Cavern Club, the craze that was Beatlemania, the fun movies, the psychedelic period, the solo years (replete with Harrison's reaction to Lennon's death, and the subsequent attack on him and his wife at his English estate). The photographers who knew George and the Beatles best — Astrid Kirchherr in Hamburg; Terence Spencer in the UK; Harry Benson in London, Paris and the U.S.; Bob Whitaker as the band's official photographer during the halcyon years; LIFE's John Loengard and Bill Eppridge throughout it all-are all here, as they were in our book on Lennon. This is an intimate look back, with many visual surprises. The narrative is largely written by (and the book is edited by) LIFE managing editor Robert Sullivan, who wrote TIME magazine's cover story on George's passing 10 years ago. One of the many marvels of the Beatles was that, although they all emerged from working-class Liverpool backgrounds, they were such distinct and fiercely individualistic personalities. None more so than George Harrison, who started well in the shadows and came to stand for something very large, and beautiful. This is his book.

"And, for the first time, renowned photographer Annie Liebovitz presents every frame of the historic last session with John and Yoko."--BOOK JACKET.

LIFE Magazine remembers John Lennon, 75 years later.

A lifetime of letters, collected for the first time, from the legendary musician and songwriter. John Lennon was one of the greatest songwriters the world has ever known, creator of "Help!", "Come Together", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Imagine", and dozens more. But it was in his correspondences that he let his personality and poetry flow unguarded. Now, gathered for the first time in book form, are his letters to family, friends, strangers, and lovers from every point in his life. Funny, informative, wise, poetic, and sometimes heartbreaking, his letters illuminate a never-before-seen intimate side of the private genius. This groundbreaking collection of almost 300 letters and postcards has been edited and annotated by Hunter Davies, whose authorized biography The Beatles (1968) was published to great acclaim. With unparalleled knowledge of Lennon and his contemporaries, Davies reads between the lines of the artist's words, contextualizing them in Lennon's life and using them to reveal the man himself.

Jonathan Cott met John Lennon in 1968 and was friends with him and Yoko Ono until John's death in 1980. He has kept in touch with Yoko since that time, and is one of the small group of writers who understands her profoundly positive influence on Lennon. This deeply personal book recounts the course of those friendships over the decades and provides an intimate look at two of the most astonishing cultural figures of our time. And what Jonathan Cott has to say and tell will be found nowhere else.

An account of the late Beatle's last days discusses Lennon's relationship with Yoko Ono, Yoko's heroin use and extramarital affairs, Lennon's virtual self-imprisonment in the Dakota, his battles with Yoko, and more. Reprint.