''Ad libitum'' is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun). The roughly synonymous phrase ''a bene placito'' ("at [one's] good pleasure") is less common but, in its Italian form ''a piacere'', entered the musical ''lingua franca'' (see below).

Music or rhythm

As a direction in sheet music, ''ad libitum'' indicates that the performer or conductor has one of a variety of types of discretion with respect to a given passage:

to play the passage in free time rather than in strict or "metronomic" tempo (a practice known as ''rubato'' when not expressly indicated by the composer);

to improvise a melodic line fitting the general structure prescribed by the passage's written notes or chords;

to omit an instrument part, such as a nonessential accompaniment, for the duration of the passage; or

in the phrase "repeat ''ad libitum''," to play the passage an arbitrary number of times (''cf.'' vamp).

Note that the direction ''a piacere'' (see above) has a more restricted meaning, generally referring to only the first two types of discretion. Baroque music, especially, has a written or implied ''ad libitum'', with most composers intimating the freedom the performer and conductor have.

For post-Baroque classical music and jazz, see cadenza.

Biology

''Ad libitum'' is also used in psychology and biology to refer to the "free-feeding" weight of an animal, as opposed, for example, to the weight after a restricted diet or pair feeding. For example, "The rat's ''ad libitum'' weight was about 320 grams." In nutritional studies, this phrase denotes providing an animal free access to feed or water thereby allowing the animal to self-regulate intake according to its biological needs. For example, "Rats were given ''ad libitum'' access to food and water."

In biological field studies it can also mean that information or data were obtained spontaneously without a specific method.

Medical prescriptions may use the abbreviation ''ad lib.'' to indicate "freely" or that as much as one desires should be used.

Drama

Ad-lib is used to describe individual moments during live theatre when an actor speaks through their character using words not found in the play's text. When the entire performance is predicated on spontaneous creation, the process is called improvisational theatre.

In film the term ''ad-lib'' usually refers to the interpolation of unscripted material in an otherwise scripted performance. In interviews, Dustin Hoffman says he ''ad-libbed'' the now famous line, "I'm walking here! I'm walking here!" as "Ratso" Rizzo in ''Midnight Cowboy''.

Live performers such as television talk-show hosts (e.g., Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, etc.) sometimes enhance their reputation for wit by the delivery of material that sounds ad-libbed but is actually scripted, and may employ ''ad-lib writers'' to prepare such material. Some actors are also known for their ability or tendency to ad-lib, such as Peter Falk (of the series ''Columbo''), who would ad-lib such mannerisms as absent-mindedness while in character.

See also

List of Latin phrases

Ad infinitum

Ad nauseam

Mad Libs

Category:Latin words and phrases Category:Latin biological phrases Category:Accompaniment

ca:Ad líbitum cs:Ad libitum de:Ad libitum et:Ad libitum es:Ad líbitum fr:Ad libitum gl:Ad libitum ko:애드리브 it:Ad libitum nl:Ad libitum (algemeen) no:Ad lib nn:Ad libitum pl:Ad libitum pt:Ad libitum ru:Ad libitum scn:Ad libitum sv:Ad libitum uk:Ad libitum zh:Ad libitum

Coordinates	35°0′41.69″N135°46′5.47″N
name	John Lennon
alt	A bearded, bespectacled man in his late twenties, with long dark brown hair and wearing a loose-fitting pajama shirt, sings and plays an acoustic guitar. White flowers are visible behind and to the right of him.
background	solo_singer
birth name	John Winston Lennon
birth date	October 09, 1940
birth place	Liverpool, England, UK
death date	December 08, 1980
death place	New York, New York, US
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, harmonium, electronic organ, six-string bass
genre	Rock, pop
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, artist, writer
years active	1957–75, 1980
label	Parlophone, Capitol, Apple, EMI, Geffen, Polydor
associated acts	The Quarrymen, The Beatles, Plastic Ono Band, The Dirty Mac, Yoko Ono
notable instruments	Rickenbacker 325Epiphone CasinoGibson J-160E }}

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". After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he changed his name to John Ono Lennon. Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his infant son Sean, but re-emerged in 1980 with a new album, ''Double Fantasy''. He was murdered three weeks after its release.

Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, his drawings, on film, and in interviews, becoming controversial through his political and peace activism. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while some of his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement.

As of 2010, Lennon's solo album sales in the United States exceed 14 million units, and as writer, co-writer or performer, he is responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all-time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

History

1940–57: Early years

Lennon was born in war-time England, on 9 October 1940 at Liverpool Maternity Hospital, to Julia and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman who was away at the time of his son's birth. He was named John Winston Lennon after his paternal grandfather, John "Jack" Lennon, and then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill. His father was often away from home but sent regular pay cheques to 9 Newcastle Road, Liverpool, where Lennon lived with his mother, but the cheques stopped when he went absent without leave in February 1944. When he eventually came home six months later, he offered to look after the family, but Julia—by then pregnant with another man's child—rejected the idea. After her sister, Mimi Smith, twice complained to Liverpool's Social Services, Julia handed the care of Lennon over to her. In July 1946, Lennon's father visited Smith and took his son to Blackpool, secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him. Julia followed them—with her partner at the time, 'Bobby' Dykins—and after a heated argument his father forced the five-year-old to choose between them. Lennon twice chose his father, but as his mother walked away, he began to cry and followed her. It would be 20 years before he had contact with his father again.

Throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence, he lived with his aunt and uncle, Mimi and George Smith, who had no children of their own, at Mendips, 251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton. His aunt bought him volumes of short stories, and his uncle, a dairyman at his family's farm, bought him a mouth organ and engaged him in solving crossword puzzles. Julia visited Mendips on a regular basis, and when he was 11 years old he often visited her at 1 Blomfield Road, Liverpool, where she played him Elvis Presley records, and taught him the banjo, learning how to play "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino.

In September 1980 he talked about his family and his rebellious nature: }}

He regularly visited his cousin, Stanley Parkes, who lived in Fleetwood. Seven years Lennon's senior, Parkes took him on trips, and to local cinemas. During the school holidays, Parkes often visited Lennon with Leila Harvey, another cousin, often travelling to Blackpool two or three times a week to watch shows. They would visit the Blackpool Tower Circus and see artists such as Dickie Valentine, Arthur Askey, Max Bygraves and Joe Loss, with Parkes recalling that Lennon particularly liked George Formby. After Parkes's family moved to Scotland, the three cousins often spent their school holidays together there. Parkes recalled, "John, cousin Leila and I were very close. From Edinburgh we would drive up to the family croft at Durness, which was from about the time John was nine years old until he was about 16." He was 14 years old when his uncle George died of a liver haemorrhage on 5 June 1955 (aged 52).

Lennon was raised as an Anglican and attended Dovedale Primary School. From September 1952 to 1957, after passing his Eleven-Plus exam, he attended Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool, and was described by Harvey at the time as, "A happy-go-lucky, good-humoured, easy going, lively lad." He often drew comical cartoons which appeared in his own self-made school magazine called ''The Daily Howl'', but despite his artistic talent, his school reports were damning: "Certainly on the road to failure ... hopeless ... rather a clown in class ... wasting other pupils' time."

His mother bought him his first guitar in 1956, an inexpensive Gallotone Champion acoustic for which she "lent" her son five pounds and ten shillings on the condition that the guitar be delivered to her own house, and not Mimi's, knowing well that her sister was not supportive of her son's musical aspirations. As Mimi was sceptical of his claim that he would be famous one day, she hoped he would grow bored with music, often telling him, "The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it". On 15 July 1958, when Lennon was 17 years old, his mother, walking home after visiting the Smiths' house, was struck by a car and killed.

Lennon failed all his GCE O-level examinations, and was accepted into the Liverpool College of Art only after his aunt and headmaster intervened. Once at the college, he started wearing Teddy Boy clothes and acquired a reputation for disrupting classes and ridiculing teachers. As a result, he was excluded from the painting class, then the graphic arts course, and was threatened with expulsion for his behaviour, which included sitting on a nude model's lap during a life drawing class. He failed an annual exam, despite help from fellow student and future wife Cynthia Powell, and was "thrown out of the college before his final year."

1957–70: The Quarrymen to The Beatles

1957–65: Formation, commercial breakout, and touring years

The Beatles evolved from Lennon's first band, the Quarrymen. Named after Quarry Bank High School, the group was established by him in September 1956 when he was 15, and began as a skiffle group. By the summer of 1957 the Quarrymen played a "spirited set of songs" made up of half skiffle, and half rock and roll. Lennon first met Paul McCartney at the Quarrymen's second performance, held in Woolton on 6 July at the St. Peter's Church garden fête, after which McCartney was asked to join the band.

McCartney says that Aunt Mimi: "was very aware that John's friends were lower class", and would often patronise him when he arrived to visit Lennon. According to Paul's brother Mike, McCartney's father was also disapproving, declaring Lennon would get his son "into trouble"; although he later allowed the fledgling band to rehearse in the McCartneys' front room at 20 Forthlin Road. During this time, the 18-year-old Lennon wrote his first song, "Hello Little Girl", a UK top 10 hit for The Fourmost nearly five years later.

George Harrison joined the band as lead guitarist, even though Lennon thought Harrison (at 14 years old) was too young to join the band, so McCartney engineered a second audition on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, where Harrison played "Raunchy" for Lennon. Stuart Sutcliffe, Lennon's friend from art school, later joined as bassist. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Sutcliffe became "The Beatles" in early 1960. In August that year The Beatles, engaged for a 48-night residency in Hamburg, Germany, and desperately in need of a drummer, asked Pete Best to join them. Lennon was now 19, and his aunt, horrified when he told her about the trip, pleaded with him to continue his art studies instead. After the first Hamburg residency, the band accepted another in April 1961, and a third in April 1962. Like the other band members, Lennon was introduced to Preludin while in Hamburg, and regularly took the drug, as well as amphetamines, as a stimulant during their long, overnight performances.

Brian Epstein, The Beatles' manager from 1962, had no prior experience of artist management, but nevertheless had a strong influence on their early dress code and attitude on stage. Lennon initially resisted his attempts to encourage the band to present a professional appearance, but eventually complied, saying, "I'll wear a bloody balloon if somebody's going to pay me". McCartney took over on bass after Sutcliffe decided to stay in Hamburg, and drummer Ringo Starr replaced Best, completing the four-piece line-up that would endure until the group's break-up in 1970. The band's first single, "Love Me Do", was released in October 1962 and reached #17 on the British charts. They recorded their debut album, ''Please Please Me'', in under 10 hours on 11 February 1963, a day when Lennon was suffering the effects of a cold, which is evident in the vocal on the last song to be recorded that day, Twist and Shout. The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership yielded eight of its fourteen tracks. With few exceptions—one being the album title itself—Lennon had yet to bring his love of wordplay to bear on his song lyrics, saying: "We were just writing songs ... pop songs with no more thought of them than that–to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant". In a 1987 interview, McCartney said that the other Beatles idolised John: "He was like our own little Elvis ... We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader; he was the quickest wit and the smartest".

The Beatles achieved mainstream success in the UK during the beginning of 1963. Lennon was on tour when his first son, Julian, was born in April. During their Royal Variety Show performance, attended by the Queen Mother and other British royalty, Lennon poked fun at his audience: "For our next song, I'd like to ask for your help. For the people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands ... and the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery." After a year of Beatlemania in the UK, the group's historic February 1964 US debut appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' marked their breakthrough to international stardom. A two-year period of constant touring, moviemaking, and songwriting followed, during which Lennon wrote two books, ''In His Own Write'' and ''A Spaniard in the Works''. The Beatles received recognition from the British Establishment when they were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1965.

Lennon grew concerned that fans attending Beatles' concerts were unable to hear the music above the screaming of fans, and that the band's musicianship was beginning to suffer as a result. Lennon's "Help!" expressed his own feelings in 1965: "I ''meant'' it ... It was me singing 'help'". He had put on weight (he would later refer to this as his "Fat Elvis" period), and felt he was subconsciously seeking change. The following January he was unknowingly introduced to LSD when a dentist, hosting a dinner party attended by Lennon, Harrison and their wives, spiked the guests' coffee with the drug. When they wanted to leave, their host revealed what they had taken, and strongly advised them not to leave the house because of the likely effects. Later, in an elevator at a nightclub, they all believed it was on fire: "We were all screaming ... hot and hysterical." A few months later in March, during an interview with ''Evening Standard'' reporter Maureen Cleave, Lennon remarked, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink ... We're more popular than Jesus now—I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity." The comment went virtually unnoticed in England but caused great offence in the US when quoted by a magazine there five months later. The furore that followed—burning of Beatles' records, Ku Klux Klan activity, and threats against Lennon—contributed to the band's decision to stop touring.

1966–70: Studio years, break-up and solo work

Deprived of the routine of live performances after their final commercial concert on 29 August 1966, Lennon felt lost and considered leaving the band. Since his involuntary introduction to LSD in January, he had made increasing use of the drug, and was almost constantly under its influence for much of the year." According to biographer Ian MacDonald, Lennon's continuous experience with LSD during the year brought him "close to erasing his identity". 1967 saw the release of "Strawberry Fields Forever", hailed by ''TIME'' magazine for its "astonishing inventiveness", and the group's landmark album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', which revealed Lennon's lyrics contrasting strongly with the simple love songs of the Lennon–McCartney's early years.

In August, after having been introduced to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the group attended a weekend of personal instruction at his Transcendental Meditation seminar in Bangor, Wales, and were informed of Epstein's death during the seminar. "I knew we were in trouble then", Lennon said later. "I didn't have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared". They later travelled to Maharishi's ashram in India for further guidance, where they composed most of the songs for ''The Beatles'' and ''Abbey Road''.

The anti-war, black comedy ''How I Won the War'', featuring Lennon's only appearance in a non–Beatles' full-length film, was shown in cinemas in October 1967. McCartney organised the group's first post-Epstein project, the self-written, -produced and -directed television film ''Magical Mystery Tour'', released in December that year. While the film itself proved to be their first critical flop, its soundtrack release, featuring Lennon's acclaimed, Lewis Carroll-inspired "I am the Walrus", was a success. With Epstein gone, the band members became increasingly involved in business activities, and in February 1968 they formed Apple Corps, a multimedia corporation comprising Apple Records and several other subsidiary companies. Lennon described the venture as an attempt to achieve, "artistic freedom within a business structure", but his increased drug experimentation and growing preoccupation with Yoko Ono, and McCartney's own marriage plans, left Apple in need of professional management. Lennon asked Lord Beeching to take on the role, but he declined, advising Lennon to go back to making records. Lennon approached Allen Klein, who had managed The Rolling Stones and other bands during the British Invasion. Klein was appointed as Apple’s chief executive by Lennon, Harrison and Starr, but McCartney never signed the management contract.

At the end of 1968, Lennon featured in the film ''The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus'' (not released until 1996) in the role of a Dirty Mac band member. The supergroup, comprising Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell, also backed a vocal performance by Ono in the film. Lennon and Ono were married on 20 March 1969, and soon released a series of 14 lithographs called "Bag One" depicting scenes from their honeymoon, eight of which were deemed indecent and most of which were banned and confiscated. Lennon's creative focus continued to move beyond The Beatles and between 1968 and 1969 he and Ono recorded three albums of experimental music together: ''Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins'' (known more for its cover than for its music), ''Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions'' and ''Wedding Album''. In 1969 they formed The Plastic Ono Band, releasing ''Live Peace in Toronto 1969''. In protest at Britain's involvement in the Nigerian Civil War, Lennon returned his MBE medal to the Queen, though this had no effect on his MBE status, which could not be renounced. Between 1969 and 1970 Lennon released the singles "Give Peace a Chance" (widely adopted as an anti-Vietnam-War anthem in 1969), "Cold Turkey" (documenting his withdrawal symptoms after he became addicted to heroin) and "Instant Karma!".

Lennon left the group in September 1969, and agreed not to inform the media while the band renegotiated their recording contract, but he was outraged that McCartney publicised his own departure on releasing his debut solo album in April 1970. Lennon's reaction was, "Jesus Christ! He gets all the credit for it!" He later wrote, "I started the band. I disbanded it. It's as simple as that." In later interviews with ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, he revealed his bitterness towards McCartney, saying, "I was a fool not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record." He spoke too of the hostility he perceived the other members had towards Ono, and of how he, Harrison, and Starr "got fed up with being sidemen for Paul ... After Brian Epstein died we collapsed. Paul took over and supposedly led us. But what is leading us when we went round in circles?"

1970–80: Solo career

1970–72: Initial solo success and activism

In 1970, Lennon and Ono went through primal therapy with Dr. Arthur Janov in Los Angeles, California. Designed to release emotional pain from early childhood, the therapy entailed two half-days a week with Janov for four months; he had wanted to treat the couple for longer, but they felt no need to continue and returned to London. Lennon's emotional debut solo album, ''John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band'' (1970), was received with high praise. Critic Greil Marcus remarked, "John's singing in the last verse of 'God' may be the finest in all of rock." The album featured the songs "Mother", in which Lennon confronted his feelings of childhood rejection, and the Dylanesque "Working Class Hero", a bitter attack against the bourgeois social system which, due to the lyric "you're still fucking peasants", fell foul of broadcasters. The same year, Tariq Ali's revolutionary political views, expressed when he interviewed Lennon, inspired the singer to write "Power to the People". Lennon also became involved with Ali during a protest against ''Oz'' magazine's prosecution for alleged obscenity. Lennon denounced the proceedings as "disgusting fascism", and he and Ono (as Elastic Oz Band) released the single "God Save Us/Do the Oz" and joined marches in support of the magazine.

With Lennon's next album, ''Imagine'' (1971), critical response was more guarded. ''Rolling Stone'' reported that "it contains a substantial portion of good music" but warned of the possibility that "his posturings will soon seem not merely dull but irrelevant". The album's title track would become an anthem for anti-war movements, while another, "How Do You Sleep?", was a musical attack on McCartney in response to lyrics from ''Ram'' that Lennon felt, and McCartney later confirmed, were directed at him and Ono. However, Lennon softened his stance in the mid-1970s and said he had written "How Do You Sleep?" about himself. He said in 1980: "I used my resentment against Paul ... to create a song ... not a terrible vicious horrible vendetta ... I used my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and The Beatles, and the relationship with Paul, to write 'How Do You Sleep'. I don't really go 'round with those thoughts in my head all the time".

Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971, and in December released "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". To advertise the single, they paid for billboards in 12 cities around the world which declared, in the national language, "WAR IS OVER—IF YOU WANT IT". The new year saw the Nixon Administration take what it called a "strategic counter-measure" against Lennon's anti-war propaganda, embarking on what would be a four-year attempt to deport him: embroiled in a continuing legal battle, he was denied permanent residency in the US until 1976.

Recorded as a collaboration with Ono and with backing from the New York band Elephant's Memory, ''Some Time in New York City'' was released in 1972. Containing songs about women's rights, race relations, Britain's role in Northern Ireland, and Lennon's problems obtaining a green card, the album was poorly received—unlistenable, according to one critic. "Woman Is the Nigger of the World", released as a US single from the album the same year, was televised on 11 May, on ''The Dick Cavett Show''. Many radio stations refused to broadcast the song because of the word "nigger". Lennon and Ono gave two benefit concerts with Elephant's Memory and guests in New York in aid of patients at the Willowbrook State School mental facility. Staged at Madison Square Garden on 30 August 1972, they were his last full-length concert appearances.

1973–75: "Lost weekend"

While Lennon was recording ''Mind Games'' (1973), he and Ono decided to separate. The ensuing 18-month period apart, which he later called his "lost weekend", was spent in Los Angeles and New York in the company of May Pang. ''Mind Games'', credited to the "Plastic U.F.Ono Band", was released in November 1973. Lennon also contributed "I'm the Greatest", to Starr's album ''Ringo'' (1973), released the same month. (an alternate take, from the same 1973 ''Ringo'' sessions, with Lennon providing a guide vocal, appears on ''John Lennon Anthology'').

In early 1974, Lennon was drinking heavily and his alcohol-fuelled antics with Harry Nilsson made headlines. Two widely publicised incidents occurred at The Troubadour club in March, the first when Lennon placed a menstruation "towel" on his forehead and scuffled with a waitress, and the second, two weeks later, when Lennon and Nilsson were ejected from the same club after heckling the Smothers Brothers. Lennon decided to produce Nilsson's album ''Pussy Cats'' and Pang rented an Los Angeles beach house for all the musicians but after a month of further debauchery, with the recording sessions in chaos, Lennon moved to New York with Pang to finish work on the album. In April, Lennon had produced the Mick Jagger song "Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)" which was, for contractual reasons, to remain unreleased for more than 30 years. Pang supplied the recording for its eventual inclusion on ''The Very Best of Mick Jagger'' (2007).

Settled back in New York, Lennon recorded the album ''Walls and Bridges''. Released in October 1974, it yielded his only number-one single in his lifetime, "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night", featuring Elton John on backing vocals and piano. A second single from the album, "#9 Dream", followed before the end of the year. Starr's ''Goodnight Vienna'' (1974) again saw assistance from Lennon, who wrote the title track and played piano. On 28 November, Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at Elton John's Thanksgiving concert at Madison Square Garden, in fulfilment of his promise to join the singer in a live show if "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night"—a song whose commercial potential Lennon had doubted—reached number one. Lennon performed the song along with "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Saw Her Standing There", which he introduced as "a song by an old estranged fiancee of mine called Paul".

Lennon co-wrote "Fame", David Bowie's first US number one, and provided guitar and backing vocals for the January 1975 recording. The same month, Elton John topped the charts with his cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", featuring Lennon on guitar and back-up vocals. He and Ono were reunited shortly afterwards. Lennon released ''Rock 'n' Roll'' (1975), an album of cover songs, in February. "Stand By Me", taken from the album and a US and UK hit, became his last single for five years. He made what would be his final stage appearance in the ATV special ''A Salute to Lew Grade'', recorded on 18 April and televised in June. Playing acoustic guitar, and backed by an eight-piece band, Lennon performed two songs from ''Rock 'n' Roll'' ("Stand By Me", which was not broadcast, and "Slippin' and Slidin'") followed by "Imagine".

1975–80: Retirement and return

With the birth of his second son Sean on 9 October 1975, Lennon took on the role of househusband, beginning what would be a five-year hiatus from the music industry during which he gave all his attention to his family. Within the month, he fulfilled his contractual obligation to EMI/Capitol for one more album by releasing ''Shaved Fish'', a compilation album of previously recorded tracks. He devoted himself to Sean, rising at 6 am daily to plan and prepare his meals and to spend time with him. He wrote "Cookin' (In the Kitchen of Love)" for Starr's ''Ringo's Rotogravure'' (1976), performing on the track in June in what would be his last recording session until 1980. He formally announced his break from music in Tokyo in 1977, saying, "we have basically decided, without any great decision, to be with our baby as much as we can until we feel we can take time off to indulge ourselves in creating things outside of the family." During his career break he created several series of drawings, and drafted a book containing a mix of autobiographical material and what he termed "mad stuff", all of which would be published posthumously.

He emerged from retirement in October 1980 with the single "(Just Like) Starting Over", followed the next month by the album ''Double Fantasy'', which contained songs written during a journey to Bermuda on a 43-foot sailing boat the previous June, that reflected Lennon's fulfillment in his new-found stable family life. Sufficient additional material was recorded for a planned follow-up album ''Milk and Honey'' (released posthumously in 1984). Released jointly with Ono, ''Double Fantasy'' was not well received, drawing comments such as ''Melody Maker'''s "indulgent sterility ... a godawful yawn".

8 December 1980: Death

At around 10:50 pm on 8 December 1980, as Lennon and Ono returned to their New York apartment in The Dakota, Mark David Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times at the entrance to the building. Lennon was taken to the emergency room of the nearby Roosevelt Hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:07 pm. Earlier that evening, Lennon had autographed a copy of ''Double Fantasy'' for Chapman.

Ono issued a statement the next day, saying "There is no funeral for John", ending it with the words, "John loved and prayed for the human race. Please pray the same for him." His body was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Ono scattered his ashes in New York's Central Park, where the Strawberry Fields memorial was later created. Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life; as of 2011, he remains in prison, having been denied parole six times.

Personal relationships

Cynthia Lennon

Lennon and Cynthia Powell met in 1957 as fellow students at the Liverpool College of Art. Although being scared of Lennon's attitude and appearance, she heard that he was obsessed with French actress Brigitte Bardot, so she dyed her hair blonde. Lennon asked her out, but when she said that she was engaged, he screamed out, "''I didn't ask you to fuckin' marry me, did I?''" She often accompanied him to Quarrymen gigs and travelled to Hamburg with McCartney's girlfriend at the time to visit him. Lennon, jealous by nature, eventually grew possessive and often terrified Powell with his anger and physical violence. Lennon later said that until he met Ono, he had never questioned his chauvinistic attitude to women. The Beatles' song "Getting Better", he said, told his own story, "I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically—any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace".

Recalling his reaction in July 1962 on learning that Cynthia was pregnant, Lennon said, "There's only one thing for it Cyn. We'll have to get married." The couple were married on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register Office in Liverpool. His marriage began just as Beatlemania took hold across the UK. He performed on the evening of his wedding day, and would continue to do so almost daily from then on. Epstein, fearing that fans would be alienated by the idea of a married Beatle, asked the Lennons to keep their marriage secret. Julian was born on 8 April 1963; Lennon was on tour at the time and did not see his son until three days later.

Cynthia attributes the start of the marriage breakdown to LSD, and as a result, she felt that he slowly lost interest in her. When the group travelled by train to Bangor, Wales, in 1967, for the Maharishi Yogi's Transcendental Meditation seminar, a policeman did not recognise her and stopped her from boarding. She later recalled how the incident seemed to symbolize the ending of their marriage. After arriving home at Kenwood, and finding Lennon with Ono, Cynthia left the house to stay with friends. Alexis Mardas later claimed to have slept with her that night, and a few weeks later he informed her that Lennon was seeking a divorce and custody of Julian on grounds of her adultery with him. After negotiations, Lennon capitulated and agreed to her divorcing him on the same grounds. The case was settled out of court, with Lennon giving her £100,000, and custody of Julian.

Brian Epstein

The Beatles were performing at Liverpool's Cavern Club in 1962, when all four Beatles were introduced to Epstein after a midday concert. Epstein was homosexual. According to biographer Philip Norman, one of his reasons for wanting to manage the group was that he was physically attracted to Lennon. Almost as soon as Julian was born, Lennon went on holiday to Spain with Epstein, leading to speculation about their relationship. Questioned about it later, Lennon said, "Well, it was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But it was a pretty intense relationship. It was my first experience with a homosexual that I was conscious was homosexual. We used to sit in a café in Torremolinos looking at all the boys and I'd say, 'Do you like that one? Do you like this one?' I was rather enjoying the experience, thinking like a writer all the time: I am experiencing this." Soon after their return from Spain, at McCartney's twenty-first birthday party in June 1963, Lennon physically attacked Cavern Club MC Bob Wooler for saying "How was your honeymoon, John?" The MC, known for his wordplay and affectionate but cutting remarks, was making a joke, but ten months had passed since Lennon's marriage, and the honeymoon, deferred, was still two months in the future. To Lennon, who was intoxicated with alcohol at the time, the matter was simple: "He called me a queer so I battered his bloody ribs in".

Lennon delighted in mocking Epstein for his homosexuality and for the fact that he was Jewish. When Epstein invited suggestions for the title of his autobiography, Lennon offered ''Queer Jew''; on learning of the eventual title, ''A Cellarful of Noise'', he parodied, "More like ''A Cellarful of Boys''". He demanded of a visitor to Epstein's flat, "Have you come to blackmail him? If not, you're the only bugger in London who hasn't." During the recording of "Baby, You're a Rich Man", he sang altered choruses of "Baby, you're a rich fag Jew".

Julian Lennon

Lennon's first son, Julian, was born as his commitments with The Beatles intensified at the height of Beatlemania during his marriage to Cynthia. Lennon was touring with The Beatles when Julian was born on 8 April 1963. Julian's birth, like his mother Cynthia's marriage to Lennon, was kept secret because Epstein was convinced public knowledge of such things would threaten The Beatles' commercial success. Julian recalls how some four years later, as a small child in Weybridge, "I was trundled home from school and came walking up with one of my watercolour paintings. It was just a bunch of stars and this blonde girl I knew at school. And Dad said, 'What's this?' I said, 'It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds.'" Lennon used it as the title of a Beatles' song, and though it was later reported to have been derived from the initials LSD, Lennon insisted, "It's not an acid song." McCartney corroborated Lennon's explanation that Julian innocently came up with the name. Lennon was distant from Julian, who felt closer to McCartney than to his father. During a car journey to visit Cynthia and Julian during Lennon's divorce, McCartney composed a song, "Hey Jules", to comfort him. It would evolve into The Beatles song "Hey Jude". Lennon later said, "That's his best song. It started off as a song about my son Julian ... he turned it into 'Hey Jude'. I always thought it was about me and Yoko but he said it wasn't."

Lennon's relationship with Julian was already strained, and after Lennon and Ono's 1971 move to New York, Julian would not see his father again until 1973. With Pang's encouragement, it was arranged for him (and his mother) to visit Lennon in Los Angeles, where they went to Disneyland. Julian started to see his father regularly, and Lennon gave him a drumming part on a ''Walls and Bridges'' track. He bought Julian a Gibson Les Paul guitar and other instruments, and encouraged his interest in music by demonstrating guitar chord techniques. Julian recalls that he and his father "got on a great deal better" during the time he spent in New York: "We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and had a great time in general."

In a ''Playboy'' interview with David Sheff shortly before his death, Lennon said, "Sean was a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me, and he always will." He said he was trying to re-establish a connection with the then 17-year-old, and confidently predicted, "Julian and I will have a relationship in the future." After his death it was revealed that he had left Julian very little in his will.

Yoko Ono

Two versions exist of how Lennon met Ono. According to the first, on 9 November 1966 Lennon went to the Indica Gallery in London, where Ono was preparing her conceptual art exhibit, and they were introduced by gallery owner John Dunbar. Lennon was intrigued by Ono's "Hammer A Nail": patrons hammered a nail into a wooden board, creating the art piece. Although the exhibition had not yet begun, Lennon wanted to hammer a nail into the clean board, but Ono stopped him. Dunbar asked her, "Don't you know who this is? He's a millionaire! He might buy it." Ono had supposedly not heard of The Beatles, but relented on condition that Lennon pay her five shillings, to which Lennon replied, "I'll give you an imaginary five shillings and hammer an imaginary nail in." The second version, told by McCartney, is that in late 1965, Ono was in London compiling original musical scores for a book John Cage was working on, ''Notations'', but McCartney declined to give her any of his own manuscripts for the book, suggesting that Lennon might oblige. When asked, Lennon gave Ono the original handwritten lyrics to "The Word".

Ono began telephoning and calling at Lennon's home, and when his wife asked for an explanation, he explained that Ono was only trying to obtain money for her "avant-garde bullshit". In May 1968, while his wife was on holiday in Greece, Lennon invited Ono to visit. They spent the night recording what would become the ''Two Virgins'' album, after which, he said, they "made love at dawn." When Lennon's wife returned home she found Ono wearing her bathrobe and drinking tea with Lennon who simply said, "Oh, hi." Ono became pregnant in 1968 and miscarried a male child they named John Ono Lennon II on 21 November 1968, a few weeks after Lennon's divorce from Cynthia was granted.

During Lennon's last two years in The Beatles, he and Ono began public protests against the Vietnam War. They were married in Gibraltar on 20 March 1969, and spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam campaigning with a week-long Bed-In for peace. They planned another Bed-In in the United States, but were denied entry, so held one instead at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, where they recorded "Give Peace a Chance". They often combined advocacy with performance art, as in their "Bagism", first introduced during a Vienna press conference. Lennon detailed this period in The Beatles' song "The Ballad of John and Yoko". Lennon changed his name by deed poll on 22 April 1969, adding "Ono" as a middle name. The brief ceremony took place on the roof of the Apple Corps building, made famous three months earlier by The Beatles' ''Let It Be'' rooftop concert. Although he used the name John Ono Lennon thereafter, official documents referred to him as John Winston Ono Lennon, since he was not permitted to revoke a name given at birth. After Ono was injured in a car accident, Lennon arranged for a king-sized bed to be brought to the recording studio as he worked on The Beatles' last album, ''Abbey Road''. To escape the acrimony of the band's break-up, Ono suggested they move permanently to New York, which they did on 31 August 1971.

They first lived in the St. Regis Hotel on 5th Avenue, East 55th Street, then moved to a street-level flat at 105 Bank Street, Greenwich Village, on 16 October 1971. After a robbery, they relocated to the more secure Dakota at 1 West 72nd Street, in May 1973.

May Pang

ABKCO Industries, formed in 1968 by Allen Klein as an umbrella company to ABKCO Records, recruited May Pang as a receptionist in 1969. Through involvement in a project with ABKCO, Lennon and Ono met her the following year. She became their personal assistant. After she had been working with the couple for three years, Ono confided that she and Lennon were becoming estranged from one another. She went on to suggest that Pang should begin a physical relationship with Lennon, telling her, "He likes you a lot." Pang, 22, astounded by Ono's proposition, eventually agreed to become Lennon's companion. The pair soon moved to California, beginning an 18-month period he later called his "lost weekend". In Los Angeles, Pang encouraged Lennon to develop regular contact with Julian, whom he had not seen for two years. He also rekindled friendships with Starr, McCartney, Beatles' roadie Mal Evans, and Harry Nilsson. Whilst drinking with Nilsson, after misunderstanding something Pang said, Lennon attempted to strangle her, relenting only when physically restrained by Nilsson.

On moving to New York, they prepared a spare room in their newly rented apartment for Julian to visit. Lennon, hitherto inhibited by Ono in this regard, began to reestablish contact with other relatives and friends. By December he and Pang were considering a house purchase, and he was refusing to accept Ono's telephone calls. In January 1975, he agreed to meet Ono—who said she had found a cure for smoking—but after the meeting failed to return home or call Pang. When Pang telephoned the next day, Ono told her Lennon was unavailable, being exhausted after a hypnotherapy session. Two days later, Lennon reappeared at a joint dental appointment, stupefied and confused to such an extent that Pang believed he had been brainwashed. He told her his separation from Ono was now over, though Ono would allow him to continue seeing her as his mistress.

Sean Lennon

When Lennon and Ono were reunited, she became pregnant, but having previously suffered three miscarriages in her attempt to have a child with Lennon, she said she wanted an abortion. She agreed to allow the pregnancy to continue on condition that Lennon adopt the role of househusband; this he agreed to do. Sean was born on 9 October 1975, Lennon's 35th birthday, delivered by Caesarean section. Lennon's subsequent career break would span five years. He had a photographer take pictures of Sean every day of his first year, and created numerous drawings for him, posthumously published as ''Real Love: The Drawings for Sean''. Lennon later proudly declared, "He didn't come out of my belly but, by God, I made his bones, because I've attended to every meal, and to how he sleeps, and to the fact that he swims like a fish."

Former Beatles

Although his friendship with Starr remained consistently warm during the years following The Beatles' break-up in 1970, Lennon's relationship with McCartney and Harrison varied. He was close to Harrison initially, but the two drifted apart after Lennon moved to America. When Harrison was in New York for his December 1974 ''Dark Horse'' tour, Lennon agreed to join him on stage, but failed to appear after an argument over Lennon's refusal to sign an agreement that would finally dissolve The Beatles' legal partnership. (Lennon eventually signed the papers while holidaying in Florida with Pang and Julian.) Harrison incensed Lennon in 1980 when he published an autobiography that made little mention of him. Lennon told ''Playboy'', "I was hurt by it. By glaring omission ... my influence on his life is absolutely zilch ... he remembers every two-bit sax player or guitarist he met in subsequent years. I'm not in the book."

Lennon's most intense feelings were reserved for McCartney. In addition to attacking him through the lyrics of "How Do You Sleep?", Lennon argued with him through the press for three years after the group split. The two later began to reestablish something of the close friendship they had once known, and in 1974 even played music together again, before growing apart once more. Lennon said that during McCartney's final visit, in April 1976, they watched the episode of ''Saturday Night Live'' in which Lorne Michaels made a $3,000 cash offer to get The Beatles to reunite on the show. The pair considered going to the studio to make a joke appearance, attempting to claim their share of the money, but were too tired. Lennon summarised his feelings towards McCartney in an interview three days before his death: "Throughout my career, I've selected to work with...only two people: Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono....That ain't bad picking."

Along with his estrangement from McCartney, Lennon always felt a musical competitiveness with him and kept an ear on his music. During his five-year career break he was content to sit back so long as McCartney was producing what Lennon saw as mediocre "product". When McCartney released "Coming Up" in 1980, the year Lennon returned to the studio and the last year of his life, he took notice. "It's driving me crackers!" he jokingly complained, because he could not get the tune out of his head. Asked the same year whether the group were dreaded enemies or the best of friends, he replied that they were neither, and that he had not seen any of them in a long time. But he also said, "I still love those guys. The Beatles are over, but John, Paul, George and Ringo go on."

Political activism

Lennon and Ono used their honeymoon as what they termed a "Bed-In for Peace" at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel; the March 1969 event attracted worldwide media ridicule. At a second Bed-In three months later at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal Lennon wrote and recorded "Give Peace a Chance". Released as a single, it was quickly taken up as an anti-war anthem and sung by a quarter of a million demonstrators against the Vietnam War in Washington, DC, on 15 October, the second Vietnam Moratorium Day.

Later that year, Lennon and Ono supported efforts by the family of James Hanratty, hanged for murder in 1962, to prove his innocence. Those who had condemned Hanratty were, according to Lennon, "the same people who are running guns to South Africa and killing blacks in the streets. ... The same bastards are in control, the same people are running everything, it's the whole bullshit bourgeois scene." In London, Lennon and Ono staged a "Britain Murdered Hanratty" banner march and a "Silent Protest For James Hanratty", and produced a 40-minute documentary on the case. At an appeal hearing years later, Hanratty's conviction was upheld.

Lennon and Ono showed their solidarity with the Clydeside UCS workers' work-in of 1971 by sending a bouquet of red roses and a cheque for £5,000. On moving to New York City in August that year, they befriended two of the Chicago Seven, Yippie peace activists Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. Another peace activist, John Sinclair, poet and co-founder of the White Panther Party, was serving ten years in prison for selling two joints of marijuana after previous convictions for possession of the drug. In December 1971 at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 20,000 people attended the "John Sinclair Freedom Rally", a protest and benefit concert with contributions from Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party, and others. Lennon and Ono, backed by David Peel and Rubin, performed an acoustic set of four songs from their forthcoming ''Some Time in New York City'' album including "John Sinclair", whose lyrics called for his release. The day before the rally, Michigan State had drastically reduced the penalties for Sinclair’s crimes and three days after the rally, he was released on bail. The performance was recorded and two of the tracks later appeared on ''John Lennon Anthology'' (1998).

Following the ''Bloody Sunday'' incident in Northern Ireland in 1972, in which 13 unarmed civil rights protesters were shot dead by the British Army, Lennon said that given the choice between the army and the IRA (who were not involved in the incident) he would side with the latter. Lennon and Ono wrote two songs protesting British presence and actions in Ireland for their ''Some Time in New York City'' album: "Luck of the Irish" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday". In 2000, David Shayler, a former member of Britain's domestic security service MI5 suggested that Lennon had given money to the IRA though this was swiftly denied by Ono. Biographer Bill Harry records that following Bloody Sunday, Lennon and Ono financially supported the production of the film ''The Irish Tapes'', a political documentary with a Republican slant.

According to FBI surveillance reports (and confirmed by Tariq Ali in 2006) Lennon was sympathetic to the International Marxist Group, a Trotskyist group formed in Britain in 1968. However, the FBI considered Lennon to have limited effectiveness as a revolutionary since he was "constantly under the influence of narcotics".

Deportation attempt

Following the impact of "Give Peace a Chance" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", both strongly associated with the anti–Vietnam War movement, the Nixon administration, hearing rumours of Lennon's involvement in a concert to be held in San Diego at the same time as the Republican National Convention, tried to have him deported. Nixon believed that Lennon's anti-war activities could cost him his re-election; Republican Senator Strom Thurmond suggested in a February 1972 memo that "deportation would be a strategic counter-measure" against Lennon. The next month the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) began deportation proceedings, arguing that his 1968 misdemeanor conviction for cannabis possession in London had made him ineligible for admission to the United States. Lennon spent the next three and a half years in and out of deportation hearings until on 8 October 1975, when a court of appeals barred the deportation attempt, stating " ... the courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds." While the legal battle continued, Lennon attended rallies and made television appearances. Lennon and Ono co-hosted the ''Mike Douglas Show'' for a week in February 1972, introducing guests such as Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale to mid-America. In 1972, Bob Dylan wrote a letter to the INS defending Lennon, stating:

John and Yoko add a great voice and drive to the country’s so-called art institution. They inspire and transcend and stimulate and by doing so, only help others to see pure light and in doing that, put an end to this dull taste of petty commercialism which is being passed off as Artist Art by the overpowering mass media. Hurray for John and Yoko. Let them stay and live here and breathe. The country’s got plenty of room and space. Let John and Yoko stay!

On 23 March 1973, Lennon was ordered to leave the US within 60 days. Ono, meanwhile, was granted permanent residence. In response, Lennon and Ono held a press conference on 1 April 1973 at the New York City Bar Association, where they announced the formation of the state of Nutopia; a place with "no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people". Waving the white flag of Nutopia (two handkerchiefs), they asked for political asylum in the US. The press conference was filmed, and would later appear in the 2006 documentary ''The U.S. vs. John Lennon''. Lennon's ''Mind Games'' (1973) included the track "Nutopian International Anthem", which comprised three seconds of silence. Soon after the press conference, Nixon's involvement in a political scandal came to light, and in June the Watergate hearings began in Washington, DC. They led to the president's resignation 14 months later. Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford, showed little interest in continuing the battle against Lennon, and the deportation order was overturned in 1975. The following year, his US immigration status finally resolved, Lennon received his "green card" certifying his permanent residency, and when Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as president in January 1977, Lennon and Ono attended the Inaugural Ball.

FBI surveillance and declassified documents

After Lennon's death, historian Jon Wiener filed a Freedom of Information Act request for FBI files documenting the Bureau's role in the deportation attempt. The FBI admitted it had 281 pages of files on Lennon, but refused to release most of them on the grounds that they contained national security information. In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. It took 14 years of litigation to force the FBI to release the withheld pages. The ACLU, representing Wiener, won a favourable decision in their suit against the FBI in the Ninth Circuit in 1991. The Justice Department appealed the decision to the Supreme Court in April 1992, but the court declined to review the case. In 1997, respecting President Bill Clinton's newly instigated rule that documents should be withheld only if releasing them would involve "foreseeable harm", the Justice Department settled most of the outstanding issues outside court by releasing all but 10 of the contested documents. Wiener published the results of his 14-year campaign in January 2000. ''Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files'' contained facsimiles of the documents, including "lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges". The story is told in the documentary ''The U.S. vs. John Lennon''. The final 10 documents in Lennon's FBI file, which reported on his ties with London anti-war activists in 1971 and had been withheld as containing "national security information provided by a foreign government under an explicit promise of confidentiality", were released in December 2006. They contained no indication that the British government had regarded Lennon as a serious threat; one example of the released material was a report that two prominent British leftists had hoped Lennon would finance a left-wing bookshop and reading room.

Writing and art

Lennon's biographer Bill Harry writes that Lennon began drawing and writing creatively at an early age with the encouragement of his uncle. He collected his stories, poetry, cartoons, and caricatures in a Quarry Bank High School exercise book that he called the ''Daily Howl''. The drawings were often of crippled people, and the writings satirical, and throughout the book was an abundance of wordplay. According to classmate Bill Turner, Lennon created the ''Daily Howl'' to amuse his best friend and later Quarrymen band mate, Pete Shotton, to whom he would show his work before he let anyone else see it. Turner said that Lennon "had an obsession for Wigan Pier. It kept cropping up", and in Lennon's story ''A Carrot In A Potato Mine'', "the mine was at the end of Wigan Pier." Turner described how one of Lennon's cartoons depicted a bus stop sign annotated with the question, "Why?". Above was a flying pancake, and below, "a blind man wearing glasses leading along a blind dog—also wearing glasses".

Lennon's love of wordplay and nonsense with a twist found a wider audience when he was 24. Harry writes that ''In His Own Write'' (1964) was published after "Some journalist who was hanging around The Beatles came to me and I ended up showing him the stuff. They said, 'Write a book' and that's how the first one came about". Like the ''Daily Howl'' it contained a mix of formats including short stories, poetry, plays and drawings. One story, "Good Dog Nigel", tells the tale of "a happy dog, urinating on a lamp post, barking, wagging his tail—until he suddenly hears a message that he will be killed at three o'clock". ''The Times Literary Supplement'' considered the poems and stories "remarkable ... also very funny ... the nonsense runs on, words and images prompting one another in a chain of pure fantasy". ''Book Week'' reported, "This is nonsense writing, but one has only to review the literature of nonsense to see how well Lennon has brought it off. While some of his homonyms are gratuitous word play, many others have not only double meaning but a double edge." Lennon was not only surprised by the positive reception, but that the book was reviewed at all, and suggested that readers "took the book more seriously than I did myself. It just began as a laugh for me".

In combination with ''A Spaniard in the Works'' (1965), ''In His Own Write'' formed the basis of the stage play ''The John Lennon Play: In His Own Write'', co-adapted by Victor Spinetti and Adrienne Kennedy. After negotiations between Lennon, Spinetti and the artistic director of the National Theatre, Sir Laurence Olivier, the play opened at the Old Vic in 1968. Lennon and Ono attended the opening night performance, their second public appearance together to date. After Lennon's death, further works were published, including ''Skywriting by Word of Mouth'' (1986); ''Ai: Japan Through John Lennon's Eyes: A Personal Sketchbook'' (1992), with Lennon's illustrations of the definitions of Japanese words; and ''Real Love: The Drawings for Sean'' (1999). ''The Beatles Anthology'' (2000) also presented examples of his writings and drawings.

Musicianship

Instruments played

His playing of a mouth organ during a bus journey to visit his cousin in Scotland caught the driver's ear. Impressed, the driver told Lennon of a harmonica he could have if he came to Edinburgh the following day, where one had been stored in the bus depot since a passenger left it on a bus. The professional instrument quickly replaced Lennon's toy. He would continue to play harmonica, often using the instrument during The Beatles' Hamburg years, and it became a signature sound in the group's early recordings. His mother taught him how to play the banjo, later buying him an acoustic guitar. At 16, he played rhythm guitar with the Quarrymen. As his career progressed, he played a variety of electric guitars, predominantly the Rickenbacker 325, Epiphone Casino and Gibson J-160E, and, from the start of his solo career, the Gibson Les Paul Junior. Occasionally he played a six-string bass guitar, the Fender Bass VI, providing bass on some Beatles' numbers that occupied McCartney with another instrument. His other instrument of choice was the piano, on which he composed many songs, including "Imagine", described as his best-known solo work. His jamming on a piano with McCartney in 1963 led to the creation of The Beatles' first US number one, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". In 1964, he became one of the first British musicians to acquire a Mellotron keyboard, though it was not heard on a Beatles' recording until "Strawberry Fields Forever" in late 1966.

Vocal style

When Lennon recorded "Twist and Shout", the final track during the mammoth one-day session that captured the band's 1963 debut album ''Please Please Me'', his voice, already compromised by a cold, came close to giving out. Lennon said, "I couldn't sing the damn thing, I was just screaming." In the words of biographer Barry Miles, "Lennon simply shredded his vocal cords in the interests of rock 'n' roll." The Beatles' producer, George Martin, tells how Lennon "had an inborn dislike of his own voice which I could never understand. He was always saying to me: 'DO something with my voice! ... put something on it ... Make it ''different''.'" Martin obliged, often using double-tracking and other techniques. Music critic Robert Christgau says that Lennon's "greatest vocal performance ... from scream to whine, is modulated electronically ... echoed, filtered, and double tracked."

As his Beatles' era segued into his solo career, his singing voice found a widening range of expression. Biographer Chris Gregory writes that Lennon was, "tentatively beginning to expose his insecurities in a number of acoustic-led 'confessional' ballads, so beginning the process of 'public therapy' that will eventually culminate in the primal screams of 'Cold Turkey' and the cathartic ''John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band''." David Stuart Ryan notes Lennon's vocal delivery to range from, "extreme vulnerability, sensitivity and even naivety" to a hard "rasping" style. Wiener too describes contrasts, saying the singer's voice can be "at first subdued; soon it almost cracks with despair" Music historian Ben Urish recalls hearing The Beatles' ''Ed Sullivan Show'' performance of "This Boy" played on the radio a few days after Lennon's murder: "As Lennon's vocals reached their peak ... it hurt too much to hear him scream with such anguish and emotion. But it was my emotions I heard in his voice. Just like I always had."

Legacy

Music historians Schinder and Schwartz, writing of the transformation in popular music styles that took place between the 1950s and the 1960s, say that The Beatles' influence cannot be overstated: having "revolutionized the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts", the group then "spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers". Liam Gallagher, his group Oasis among the many who acknowledge the band's influence, identifies Lennon as a hero; in 1999 he named his first child Lennon Gallagher in tribute. On National Poetry Day in 1999, after conducting a poll to identify the UK's favourite song lyric, the BBC announced "Imagine" the winner.

In a 2006 ''Guardian'' article, Jon Wiener wrote: "For young people in 1972, it was thrilling to see Lennon's courage in standing up to [US President] Nixon. That willingness to take risks with his career, and his life, is one reason why people still admire him today." Whilst for music historians Urish and Bielen, Lennon's most significant effort was "the self-portraits ... in his songs [which] spoke to, for, and about, the human condition."

Lennon continues to be mourned throughout the world and has been the subject of numerous memorials and tributes. In 2010, on what would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday, the John Lennon Peace Monument was unveiled in Chavasse Park, Liverpool, by Cynthia and Julian Lennon. The sculpture entitled ‘Peace & Harmony’ exhibits peace symbols and carries the inscription “Peace on Earth for the Conservation of Life · In Honour of John Lennon 1940–1980”.

Awards and sales

The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is regarded as one of the most influential and successful of the 20th century. As performer, writer or co-writer Lennon has had 25 number one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. His album sales in the US stand at 14 million units. ''Double Fantasy'', released shortly before his death, and his best-selling, post-Beatles' studio album at three million shipments in the US, won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The following year, the BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music went to Lennon. Participants in a 2002 BBC poll voted him eighth of "100 Greatest Britons". Between 2003 and 2008, ''Rolling Stone'' recognised Lennon in several reviews of artists and music, ranking him fifth of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and 38th of "The Immortals: The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time", and his albums ''John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band'' and ''Imagine'', 22nd and 76th respectively of "The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) with the other Beatles in 1965. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Discography

''Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins'' (with Yoko Ono) (1968)

''Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions'' (with Yoko Ono) (1969)

''Wedding Album'' (with Yoko Ono) (1969)

''John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band'' (1970)

''Imagine'' (1971)

''Some Time in New York City'' (with Yoko Ono) (1972)

''Mind Games'' (1973)

''Walls and Bridges'' (1974)

''Rock 'n' Roll'' (1975)

''Double Fantasy'' (with Yoko Ono) (1980)

''Milk and Honey'' (with Yoko Ono) (1984)

''Menlove Ave.'' (1986)

Notes

Lennon was responsible for 25 Billboard Hot 100 number one singles as performer, writer or co-writer. Solo (2): "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night", "(Just Like) Starting Over". With The Beatles (20): "Can't Buy Me Love", "I Feel Fine", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Love Me Do", "She Loves You", "A Hard Day's Night", "Eight Days a Week", "Help!", "Ticket to Ride", "Yesterday", "Paperback Writer", "We Can Work It Out", "All You Need Is Love", "Hello Goodbye", "Penny Lane", "Hey Jude", "Something/"Come Together", "Get Back", "Let It Be", "The Long and Winding Road"/"For You Blue". As co-writer of and performer on release by another artist (1): "Fame" (David Bowie). As co-writer of releases by other artists (2): "A World Without Love" (Peter and Gordon), "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (Elton John).

Citations

References

Further reading

Kane, Larry (2007). ''Lennon Revealed''. Running Press. ISBN 9780762429660

Pang, May; Edwards, Henry (1983). ''Loving John: The Untold Story''. Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-37916-6.

Wiener, Jon. The John Lennon FBI Files

Yorke, Richard (1969). "John Lennon: Ringo’s Right, We Can’t Tour Again", ''New Musical Express'', 7 June 1969, reproduced by ''Crawdaddy!'', 2007.

External links

The Liverpool Lennons

''BBC'' Archive on John Lennon

''NPR'' Archive on John Lennon

John Lennon and Yoko Ono – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

John Lennon hosted by EMI Group Limited

Unveiling of ‘Peace & Harmony’, European Peace Monument – Dedicated to John Lennon

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David Vaughan Icke (born April 29, 1952) is an English writer and public speaker, best known for his views on what he calls "who and what is really controlling the world." Describing himself as the most controversial speaker in the world, he has written 18 books explaining his position, and has attracted a substantial following across the political spectrum. His 533-page ''The Biggest Secret'' (1999) has been called the conspiracy theorist's Rosetta Stone.

Icke was a well-known BBC television sports presenter and spokesman for the Green Party, when in 1990 he had an encounter with a psychic who told him he was a healer placed on Earth for a purpose. In April 1991 he said on the BBC's Terry Wogan show that he was a son of the godhead—though he said later he had been misinterpreted—and predicted that the world would soon be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes. He said the show changed his life, turning him from a respected household name into someone who was laughed at whenever he appeared in public.

He continued nevertheless to develop his ideas, and in four books published over seven years—''The Robots' Rebellion'' (1994), ''And the Truth Shall Set You Free'' (1995), ''The Biggest Secret'' (1999), and ''Children of the Matrix'' (2001)—set out a moral and political worldview that combined New-Age spiritualism with a passionate denunciation of totalitarian trends in the modern world. At the heart of his theories lies the idea that the world is becoming a global fascist state, that a secret group of reptilian humanoids called the Babylonian Brotherhood controls humanity, and that many prominent figures are reptilian, including George W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, Kris Kristofferson, and Boxcar Willie.

Michael Barkun has described Icke's position as "New Age conspiracism," writing that he is the most fluent of the conspiracist genre. Richard Kahn and Tyson Lewis argue that the reptilian hypothesis may simply be Swiftian satire, a way of giving ordinary people a narrative with which to question what they see around them.

Personal life and career

Early life and education

Icke was born in Leicester General Hospital to Beric Vaughan Icke and Barbara J. Icke, née Cooke, who were married in Leicester in 1951. Icke was the middle child; there was a brother seven years older, and another seven years younger. Beric had wanted to be a doctor, but his family had no money, so he joined the Royal Air Force instead. He was awarded a British Empire Medal for gallantry in May 1943 after helping to save the crew of an aircraft that had crashed into the Chipping Warden air base in Oxfordshire. Along with a Squadron Leader, he ran into the burning aircraft, without protective clothing, and saved the life of a crew member who was trapped inside.

After the war, Beric got a job in the Gents clock factory, and the family lived in a slum terraced house on Lead Street, near Wharf Street in the centre of Leicester. When Icke was three, they moved to a housing estate known as the Goodwood, one of the 1950s council estates the post-war Labour government built. "To say we were skint," he wrote in 1993, "is like saying it is a little chilly at the North Pole." He remembers having to hide under a window or chair when the council man came to collect the rent—after knocking, the rent man would walk round the house peering through the windows to see whether anyone was at home. His mother never explained that it was about the rent; she just told him to hide, and Icke writes that he still gets a fright when he hears a knock on the door.

He was always a loner, spending hours playing alone with toy steam trains, and preferring to cross the street rather than speak to anyone. He attended Whitehall Infant School, then Whitehall Junior School, where he spent most of his time feeling nervous and shy, often to the point of feeling faint during the morning assembly and having to leave before he passed out. The family doctor suggested a referral to a child psychologist, but his father put his foot down. He made no effort at school and failed at practically everything, but when he was nine, he was chosen for the junior school's football team. It was the first time he had succeeded at anything, and he came to see football as his way out of poverty. He played in goal, which he writes suited the loner in him and gave him a sense of living on the edge between hero and villain.

Football and first marriage

He failed his 11-plus and in 1963 was sent to the city's Crown Hills Secondary Modern. He left at 15 after being talent-spotted, and was signed up as a goalkeeper for Coventry City. Arthritis in his left knee—which later spread to the right knee, ankles, elbows, wrists, and hands—stopped him from making a career out of football, but he managed to play for Coventry and Hereford United, before retiring in 1973 at the age of 21. He met his first wife, Linda Atherton, in May 1971 at a dance at the Chesford Grange Hotel near Leamington Spa. She was working as a van driver for a garage in Leamington. Shortly after they met, Icke had another one of the huge rows he had started having with his father—always a domineering man, his father was upset that Icke's arthritis was interfering with his football career—so he packed his bags and left home. He moved into a tiny bedsit and worked in a local travel agency during the day, travelling to Hereford in the evenings to play football. He and Linda were married on September 30 that year, four months after they'd met. A daughter was born in March 1975, followed by a son in December 1981, and another son in November 1992.

Sports presenter

He found a job in 1973 as a reporter with the weekly ''Leicester Advertiser'', through a contact who was a sports editor at the ''Daily Mail''. He writes that he got the job because he was the only applicant. He advanced through local radio to television, and became a regional sports presenter for the BBC's ''South Today'' in 1982. He moved that year to Ryde on the Isle of Wight, somewhere he had always wanted to live. He appeared on the first edition of British television's first national breakfast show, ''Breakfast Time'', on January 17, 1983, presenting the sports news for them until 1985. He published his first book in 1983, ''It's a tough game, son!'', about how to break into football.

He worked for BBC Sport until August 1990, often as a stand-in host on ''Grandstand'' and snooker programmes, and also at the 1988 Summer Olympics, but a career in television began to lose its appeal for him. He wrote in ''Tales from the Time Loop'' that he found television workers insincere, shallow, and vicious, with rare exceptions. His contract with the BBC was terminated in 1990 when he refused to pay his poll tax, a controversial local tax introduced by Margaret Thatcher. He ended up paying it in November 1990, but his announcement that he was willing to go to jail rather than pay prompted the BBC, by charter an impartial public-service broadcaster, to distance itself from him.

Green Party; meeting with psychic healer

During the 1980s, he began to flirt with fringe medicine and New Age philosophies in an effort to find relief from his arthritis. He wrote his second book in 1989, ''It Doesn't Have To Be Like This'', an outline of his views on the environment, and became involved with the Green Party from 1988 to 1991, rising to become one of their four national Speakers, a position the party had created in lieu of a leader. ''The Observer'' called him "the Greens' Tony Blair." His name regularly appeared at high-profile events. He was invited in 1989 to debate animal rights at the Royal Institute of Great Britain, alongside Tom Regan, Mary Warnock, and Germaine Greer, and in September 1990 his name appeared on advertisements for a children's charity along with Audrey Hepburn, Woody Allen, and other celebrities.

In 1989 he began to feel a presence around him; he wrote that it was a time of considerable personal despair for him, though he gave no details. In March 1990, he had an experience in a newsagent's that felt as though a magnetic force was pulling his feet to the ground, and he heard a voice tell him to look at a particular section of books. One of the books was by Betty Shine, a psychic healer in Brighton. He decided to visit her to ask for help with his arthritis. She told him she had a message for him, and said he had been sent to heal the Earth. He would become famous, but would face opposition. The spirit world was going to pass ideas to him, which he would speak about to others, sometimes not understanding the words himself. She said he would write five books in three years; that in 20 years there would be a different kind of flying machine, where we could go wherever we wanted and time would have no meaning; and there would be earthquakes in unusual places, because the inner earth was being destabilized by having oil taken from the seabed.

In February 1991, he visited the pre-Inca Sillustani burial ground near Puno , Peru. He writes that he felt drawn to a large mound of earth, at the top of which lay a circle of waist-high stones. As he stood in the circle, he again felt his feet pulled to the earth as if by a magnet, and an urge to outstretch his arms. His feet started vibrating, and his head felt as though a drill was passing through it. Two thoughts entered his mind: that people will be talking about this in 100 years, and then, "it will be over when you feel the rain." He said his body started shaking as though plugged into an electrical socket and new ideas began to pour into him. Then it started raining, and the experience ended as suddenly as it had begun. He described it later as the "kundalini"—a term from Indian yoga describing a libidinal force that lies coiled at the base of the spine—exploding up through his spine, activating his brain and his chakras, or energy centres, triggering a higher level of consciousness.

He returned to England and began to write a book about the experience, ''Truth Vibrations'', published in May that year. At a Green Party conference in Wolverhampton on March 20, 1991, before the book appeared, he resigned from the party, telling them he was about to be at the centre of "tremendous and increasing controversy," and winning a standing ovation from them after the announcement.

Turquoise period

What followed became what Icke calls his "turquoise period." He began to wear only turquoise because, he explained, it is a conduit of positive energy. He had met Deborah Shaw, an English psychic living in Calgary, Alberta, in August 1990, and after he returned from Peru, he began an adulterous relationship with her, which led to the birth of an illegitimate daughter in December 1991. At one point, Shaw moved in with him and his legal wife. As polygamists, Icke's mistress, Shaw, changed her name to Mari Shawsun, while Icke's legal wife became known as Michaela, supposedly an aspect of the Archangel Michael, and they became known in the press as the "turquoise triangle."

In March 1991, a week after resigning from the Green Party, he held a press conference to announce that he had become a "channel for the Christ spirit," a title conferred on him by "the Godhead." He said the world would end in 1997, preceded by a number of disasters. There would be a severe hurricane around the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans, eruptions in Cuba, disruption in China, a hurricane in Derry, and an earthquake on the Isle of Arran. Los Angeles would become an island, New Zealand would disappear, and the cliffs of Kent would be under water by Christmas 1991. He said the information was being given to them by voices and automatic writing. He wrote in 1993 that he didn't feel in control during the press conference. He heard his voice predicting the end of the world, and was appalled by what he was saying. "I was speaking the words," he wrote, "but all the time I could hear the voice of the brakes in the background saying, 'David, what the hell are you saying? This is absolute nonsense'." His predictions were splashed all over the next day's front pages, to his great dismay.

Terry Wogan interview

The headlines attracted an invitation from the BBC's prime-time Terry Wogan show on April 29, 1991. He implied during the interview, amid laughter from the studio audience, that he was "the son of God," and said Britain would be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes. He later said he had used the term "the son of God" to mean an aspect of the infinite consciousness. He also talked about politics, energy and the environment: "[W]hen a child dies in this world of preventable disease every two seconds, when the economic system of this world must destroy the earth simply for that system to survive; when you see all the wars, and when you see all the pain, and when you see all the suffering, is it a force of love and wisdom and tolerance that is in control of this planet?"

The interview proved devastating for him. The BBC was criticized for allowing it to go ahead, Des Christy in ''The Guardian'' calling it a "media crucifixion." Wogan interviewed Icke again in 2006, acknowledging that his comments during the interview had been a bit sharp. Icke disappeared from public life for a time, unable to walk down the street without people mocking him. His children were followed to school by journalists and ridiculed by schoolmates, and his wife would open the back door to get the washing in only to find a camera crew filming her. Icke told Jon Ronson in 2001:

One of my very greatest fears as a child was being ridiculed in public. And there it was coming true. As a television presenter, I'd been respected. People come up to you in the street and shake your hand and talk to you in a respectful way. And suddenly, overnight, this was transformed into "Icke's a nutter." I couldn't walk down any street in Britain without being laughed at. It was a nightmare. My children were devastated because their dad was a figure of ridicule.

Writing and lecturing

Icke said the interview had been the making of him in the end, that the laughter had set him free. He wrote that every bridge back to his past was ablaze, giving him the courage to develop his ideas without caring what anyone thought of him. He continued to write, turning himself into a prolific and popular author and speaker. In 1995 he established his own publisher, Bridge of Love Publications, now called David Icke Books. As of 2006, he had lectured in 25 countries—sometimes speaking for six hours at a time—his lectures were attracting thousands, his books had been translated into eight languages, and his website was getting 600,000 hits a week. ''The Biggest Secret'' went through six reprintings between 1999 and 2006, and ''Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster'' (2002) became a top-five seller in South Africa. In 2008 he was invited to address the Oxford Union, the University of Oxford's debating society.

Lewis and Kahn write that he has produced a consolidation of all conspiracy theories into a massive project with unlimited explanatory power, his work cutting across political, religious, and socio-economic divisions, uniting the right and left. They write that his lectures might see neo-Nazis and Christian Patriots sitting next to 60-something UFO buffs and New Age earth goddesses.

He stood for parliament in the UK as an independent in the July 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election, after initially announcing he would stand as "Big Brother—The Big Picture". He came 12th in the polling with 110 votes and lost his deposit. He explained that he stood because, "if we don't face this now we are going to have some serious explaining to do when we are asked by our children and grandchildren what we were doing when the global fascist state was installed. 'I was watching ''EastEnders'', dear,' will not be good enough."

Key ideas

Icke combines metaphysical discussion about the nature of the universe and consciousness with conspiracy theories about public figures being satanic paedophiles, and how apparently random events are attempts to control humanity. He argued in ''The Biggest Secret'' that human beings originated in a breeding program run by a race of reptilians called Anunnaki from the Draco constellation, and that what we call reality is just a holographic experience; the only reality is the realm of the Absolute. He believes in a collective consciousness that has intentionality; in reincarnation; in other possible worlds that exist alongside ours on other frequencies; and in acquired characteristics, arguing that our experiences change our DNA by downloading new information and overwriting the software. We are also able to attract experiences to ourselves by means of good and bad thoughts.

Global Elite

Icke argues that humanity was created by a network of secret societies run by an ancient race of interbreeding bloodlines from the Middle and Near East, originally extraterrestrial. Icke calls them the "Babylonian Brotherhood." The Illuminati, Round Table, Council on Foreign Relations, Chatham House, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the International Monetary Fund, United Nations, the media, military, science, religion, and the Internet are all Brotherhood created and controlled. The Brotherhood is mostly male. Their children are raised from an early age to understand the mission; those who don't are pushed aside. Key Brotherhood bloodlines are the British House of Windsor, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, European royalty and aristocracy, and the Eastern establishment families of the United States. At the apex of the Brotherhood stands the "Global Elite," identified throughout history as the Illuminati, and at the top of the Global Elite stand the "Prison Wardens." The goal of the Brotherhood—their "Great Work of Ages"—is world domination and a micro-chipped population.

Reptilians and shape-shifting

In ''The Biggest Secret'' (1999), Icke introduced the reptoid hypothesis. He identified the Brotherhood as originating from reptilians from the constellation Draco, who walk on two legs and appear human, and who live in tunnels and caverns inside the earth. They are the race of gods known as the Anunnaki in the Babylonian creation myth, ''Enûma Eliš'' who share almost identical parallels across the ancient world cultures. Lewis and Kahn write that Icke has taken his "ancient astronaut" narrative from the Jewish Azeri-American writer, Zecharia Sitchin. Icke's idea of "inner-earth reptilians" is also not new, though Barkun writes that Icke has done more than most to expand it.

Lewis and Kahn write that Sitchin argued—for example in ''Divine Encounters'' (1995)—that the Anunnaki came to Earth for its precious metals. Icke says they came specifically for "monoatomic gold," a mineral he says can increase the carrying capacity of the nervous system ten thousandfold. After ingesting it, they can process vast amounts of information, speed up trans-dimensional travel, and shapeshift from reptilian to human form. They use human fear, guilt, and aggression as energy. "Thus we have the encouragement of wars," he wrote in 1999, "human genocide, the mass slaughter of animals, sexual perversions which create highly charged negative energy, and black magic ritual and sacrifice which takes place on a scale that will stagger those who have not studied the subject."

He writes that the Anunnaki have crossbred with human beings, the breeding lines chosen for political reasons. Icke argued that they are the Watchers, the fallen angels, or "Grigori," who mated with human women in the Biblical apocrypha. Their first reptilian-human hybrid, possibly Adam, was created 200,000–300,000 years ago. There was a second breeding program around 30,000 years ago, and a third 7,000 years ago. It is the half-bloods of the third breeding program who today control the world, more Anunnaki than human, he argued. They have a powerful, hypnotic stare, the origin of the phrase to "give someone the evil eye," and their hybrid DNA allows them to shapeshift when they consume human blood.

In ''Children of the Matrix'' (2001), he added that the Anunnaki bred with another extraterrestrial race called the "Nordics," who had blond hair and blue eyes, to produce a race of human slave masters, the Aryans. The Aryans retain many reptilian traits, including cold-blooded attitudes, a desire for top-down control, and an obsession with ritual, lending them a tendency toward fascism, rationalism, and racism. Lewis and Kahn write that, with the Nordic hypothesis, Icke is mirroring standard claims by the far right that the Aryan bloodline has ruled the Earth throughout history. For Icke, Sumerian Kings and Egyptian pharaohs have all been Aryan reptilian humanoids, as have 43 American presidents and the Queen Mother, who he wrote in 2001 was "seriously reptilian." All have taken part in Satanic rituals, paedophilia, kidnapping of children, drug parties and murder, needed to satisfy their reptilian blood lust, which allows them to retain their temporary human form.

Dimensions

The reptilians not only come from another planet, but are also from another dimension, the lower level of the fourth dimension, the one nearest the physical world. Icke writes that the universe consists of an infinite number of frequencies or dimensions of life that share the same space, like television and radio frequencies. Some people can tune their consciousness to other wavelengths, which is what psychic power consists of, and it is from one of these other dimensions that the Anunnaki are controlling this world—though just as fourth-dimensional reptilians control us, they are controlled, in turn, by a fifth dimension. The lower level of the fourth dimension is what others call the "lower astral dimension." Icke argued that it is where demons live, the entities Satanists summon during their rituals. They are, in fact, summoning the reptilians. Barkun argues that the introduction of different dimensions allows Icke to skip awkward questions about which part of the universe the reptilians come from and how they got here.

Problem-reaction-solution

In ''Tales From The Time Loop'' (2003), Icke argues that most organized religions, especially Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are Illuminati creations designed to divide and conquer the human race through endless conflicts, as are racial, ethnic, and sexual divisions. He cites the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 as examples of events organized by the Global Elite. The incidents allow the Elite to respond in whatever way they intended to act in the first place, a concept Icke calls "order out of chaos," or "problem-reaction-solution". He writes that there are few, if any, public events that are not engineered, or at least used, by the Brotherhood: "You want to introduce something you know the people won't like. ... So you first create a PROBLEM, a rising crime rate, more violence, a terrorist bomb ... You make sure someone else is blamed for this problem and not you, the real people behind it all. So you create a "patsy," as they call them in America, a Timothy McVeigh or a Lee Harvey Oswald. ... This brings us to stage two, the REACTION from the people—"This can't go on; what are THEY going to do about it?" ... This allows THEM to then openly offer the SOLUTION to the problems they have created ..."

Red Dresses

In ''Infinite Love is the Only Truth'' (2005), Icke introduces the idea of "reptilian software." He says that there are three kinds of people. The highest level of the Brotherhood are the "Red Dresses." These are "software people," elsewhere called "reptilian software," or "constructs of mind," without consciousness, without free will. Their human bodies are holographic veils. A second group, the so-called "sheeple"—the vast majority of humanity—have what Icke calls "back seat consciousness." They are conscious, but they do whatever they are told and are the main source of energy for the Brotherhood. They include the "repeaters," the people in positions of influence who simply repeat what other people have told them. Doctors repeat what they are told in medical school and by drug companies, teachers repeat what they learned at teacher training college, and journalists are the greatest repeaters of all. The third group, by far the smallest, are those who see through the illusion; they are people like Neo from the film, ''The Matrix''. They are usually dubbed dangerous or mad. The "Red Dress" genetic lines keep obsessively interbreeding to make sure their bloodlines are not weakened by the second or third levels of consciousness, because consciousness can rewrite the software.

The Moon Matrix

Icke wrote in 2010 that the Earth and what he calls the collective human mind are manipulated from the Moon, which is actually a spacecraft controlled by the reptilians. The "Moon Matrix" is a broadcast from that spacecraft that gives us our sense of reality.

Reception

Protests

In ''The Robots' Rebellion'' (1994), Icke introduced the idea that the Global Elite's plan for world domination was laid out in ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'', a hoax published in Russia in 1903, which supposedly presented a plan by the Jewish people to take over the world. The ''Protocols'' is the most influential piece of antisemitic material of modern times, portraying the Jewish people as cackling villains from a Saturday matinee, as Jon Ronson put it in his documentary about Icke, ''David Icke, the Lizards and the Jews'' (2001). It was published in English in 1920 by ''The Dearborn Independent'', Henry Ford's newspaper, becoming mixed up with conspiracy theories about anti-Christian Illuminati, international financiers, and the Rothschilds, a Jewish banking dynasty. After it was exposed as a hoax, Michael Barkun of Syracuse University writes that it disappeared from mainstream discourse until interest in it was renewed by the American far right in the 1950s. According to Mark Honigsbaum, Icke refers to it 25 times in the ''Robot's Rebellion'', calling it the "Illuminati protocols." Barkun writes that this is the first of a number of examples of Icke moving dangerously close to antisemitism.

Louis Theroux cautioned that it might not only be unfair to Icke to allege that he is associating Jews with the Global Elite, but might also lend what Theroux called a patina of seriousness to his ideas. Icke said it was "friggin' nonsense" that his reptiles represented Jews. "There is a tribe of people interbreeding," he told Jon Ronson in 2001, "which do not, ''do not'', relate to any earth race ... This is not a Jewish plot. This is not a plot on the world by Jewish people".

Icke's use of the ''Protocols'' was greeted with dismay by the Green Party's executive. They had allowed him to address the party's annual conference in 1992, despite the controversy over his Wogan interview, but in September 1994 decided to deny him a platform. Icke wrote to ''The Guardian'' protesting the decision, denying ''The Robots' Rebellion'' was antisemitic, and rejecting racism, sexism and prejudice of any kind, but in the same letter insisted that whoever wrote the ''Protocols'' "knew the game plan" for the 20th century. Barkun argues that Icke was trying to have it both ways, offended by the allegation of antisemitism while "hinting at the dark activities of Jewish elites." Alick Bartholomew of Gateway, Icke's former publisher, said that an early draft of ''And the Truth Shall Set You Free'' (1995) contained material questioning the Holocaust, and that Icke was dropped because of it. Sam Taylor wrote in ''The Observer'' in 1997 that, having read the material, he did not believe it was antisemitic, but argued that Icke was "tapping into a seriously paranoid, aggressive strain in U.S. society."

Icke was briefly detained by immigration officials when he entered Canada in 2000, after his name was added to a watch list because of complaints from the Canadian Jewish Congress. His books were removed from Indigo Books, and several stops on his speaking tour were cancelled. Human rights lawyer Richard Warman, working at the time for the Canadian Green Party, took credit for much of this in Jon Ronson's documentary about Icke, which catalogued the cancelled appearances.

Academic reception

Michael Barkun sees Icke as a professional conspiracy theorist of the Alex Jones variety, and the most fluent of the genre. He calls Icke's work "improvisational millennialism," with an end-of-history scenario involving a final battle between good and evil. Because everything is connected in the conspiracist world view, Barkun writes, every source can be mined for links. The greater the stigma attached to an idea, the more attractive it becomes, and the vehemence with which the mainstream rejects an idea is almost a measure of its validity. For Icke, the widespread ridiculing of the lizard theory is a guarantee that there's something to it, Barkun argues.

According to Barkun, Icke has actively tried to cultivate the far right. In 1996, he spoke to a conference in Reno, Nevada, alongside opponents of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act—which mandates background checks on people who buy guns in the United States—including Kirk Lyons, a white nationalist lawyer who has represented the Ku Klux Klan. Barkun argues that the relationship between Icke, the militias, and the Christian Patriots is complex because of the New Age baggage Icke brings with him, and he stresses that Icke is not actually a member of any of these groups, but he has nevertheless absorbed the world view of the radical right virtually intact. "There is no fuller explication of its beliefs about ruling elites than Icke's," he writes. Icke regards Christian patriots as the only Americans who understand the truth about the New World Order, but he also told a Christian patriot group: "I don't know which I dislike more, the world controlled by the Brotherhood, or the one you want to replace it with."

Tyson Lewis and Richard Kahn see Icke as a spiritual philosopher, arguing that it's not clear he believes in the reptilians himself. They write that there is an almost obsessive-compulsive element to his writing, which includes anything he can find to support a narrative that connects ancient Sumer to modern America, in a way that "defies the laws of academic gravity." They argue that the lizards may be allegorical, a Swiftian satire describing the emergence of a global fascist state. In ''Children of the Matrix'', Icke writes that, that if the reptilians did not exist, we would have to invent them. "In fact," he says, "we probably have. They are other levels of ourselves putting ourselves in our face." Lewis and Kahn make use of Douglas Kellner's distinction in ''Media Spectacle'' (1995) between a reactionary clinical paranoia—a mindset dissociated from reality—and a progressive, critical paranoia that confronts power. They argue that Icke displays elements of both, writing that what they call his "postmodern metanarrative" may be a way of giving ordinary people a narrative structure within which to question what they see around them.

Works

;Books

''It's a Tough Game, Son!''. Piccolo Books, 1983. ISBN 0330280473

''It Doesn't Have To Be Like This: Green Politics Explained''. Green Print, 1989. ISBN 1854250337

''Truth Vibrations''. Gateway, 1991, 1994. ISBN 1858600065

''Love Changes Everything''. Harper Collins Publishers, 1992. ISBN 1855382474

''In the Light of Experience: The Autobiography of David Icke''. Time Warner Books, 1993. ISBN 0751506036

''Days of Decision''. Jon Carpenter Publishing, 1993. ISBN 1897766017

''The Robot's Rebellion''. Gateway, 1994. ISBN 1858600227

''Heal the World: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Personal and Planetary Transformation''. Gateway, 1994. ISBN 1858600057

''...And the Truth Shall Set You Free''. Bridge of Love Publications, 1995. ISBN 0953881059

''I Am Me, I Am Free: The Robot's Guide to Freedom''. Truth Seeker, 1996, 1998. ISBN 0952614758

''Lifting the Veil: David Icke interviewed by Jon Rappoport''. Truth Seeker, 1998. ISBN 0939040050

''The Biggest Secret: The Book That Will Change the World''. Bridge of Love Publications, 1999. ISBN 0952614766

''Children of the Matrix''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2001. ISBN 0953881016

''Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2002. ISBN 0953881024

''Tales from the Time Loop''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2003. ISBN 0953881040

''Infinite Love Is the Only Truth: Everything Else Is Illusion''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2005. ISBN 0953881067

''The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy (and how to end it)''. David Icke Books Ltd, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9538810-8-6

''Human Race Get Off Your Knees—The Lion Sleeps No More''. David Icke Books Ltd, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9559973-1-0

;DVDs and videos

''Speaking Out: Who Really Controls the World and What We Can Do About It''

''David Icke: Turning of the Tide'' (1996)

''The Reptilian Agenda'' (1999) (DVD)

''David Icke: Revelations of a Mother Goddess''

''David Icke: The Freedom Road'' (2003)

''David Icke: Secrets of the Matrix'', Parts 1–3 (2003) (DVD)

''David Icke, Live in Vancouver: From Prison to Paradise'' (2005) (DVD)

''Freedom or Fascism: The Time to Choose'' (2006) (DVD)

''David Icke: Big Brother, the Big Picture'', (2008) free Internet Video

''Beyond The Cutting Edge'' (2008) (DVD)

''David Icke Live at the Oxford Union Debating Society

''The Lion Sleeps No more'' (2010) (DVD)

''Secret Space

''Secret Space 2

See also

Erich von Däniken

Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa

Notes

References

David Icke's website

Barkun, Michael. ''A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America''. University of California, 2003.

Barkun, Michael. ''Chasing Phantoms: Reality, Imagination, and Homeland Security Since 9/11''. The University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

Channel 5 Television. David Icke: Was He Right?, December 12, 2006, ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Chaudhary, Vivek. "Greens see red at 'Son of God's anti-Semitism'," ''The Guardian'', September 12, 1994.

Christy, Des. "Crucifixion, courtesy of the BBC," ''The Guardian'', May 6, 1991.

Evans, Paul. Interview: David Icke, ''New Statesman'', March 3, 2008.

Gillis, Charlie. "Righteous Crusader or Civil Rights Menace?", ''Macleans'', April 9, 2008.

Greenslade, Nick. "The ten worst sportsmen in politics", ''The Observer'', September 5, 2004.

Grossman, Wendy. "Green Party Cofounder Icke Goes New Age", ''Skeptical Inquirer'', January 1, 1991.

Honigsbaum, Mark. "The Dark Side of David Icke", ''London Evening Standard'', May 26, 1995, accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David. ''It's a tough game, son!''. Piccolo Books, 1983.

Icke, David. "Does the Animal Kingdom need a Bill of Rights?", Royal Institute of Great Britain, 1989, ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David. ''In the Light of Experience'', Warner Books, 1993.

Icke, David. ''Days of Decision''. Jon Carpenter Publishing, 1993.

Icke, David. ''And the Truth Shall Set You Free''. David Icke Books, 1995.

Icke, David. ''The Biggest Secret: The Book that Will Change the World''. David Icke Books, 1999.

Icke, David. ''Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster'', Bridge of Love Publications, 2002.

Icke, David. ''Tales from the Time Loop. David Icke Books, 2003.

Icke, David. ''Infinite Love is the Only Truth''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2005.

Icke, David. ''The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy''. David Icke Books, 2007.

Icke, David (undated). "Problem-reaction-solution", ''News for the Soul'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David (undated). David Icke part 1, part 2, Davidicke.com, accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David (undated). Was Hitler a Rothschild?, DavidIcke.com, accessed December 12, 2010.

Jabbari, Dorsa. "U of T provides accused anti-Semite with mike", ''Varsity News'', October 12, 1999, accessed December 12, 2010.

Kraft, Frances. "New Age speaker set to talk in Toronto", ''The Canadian Jewish News'', October 7, 1999, accessed December 12, 2010.

Lewis, Tyson E., and Kahn, Richard. ''Education Out of Bounds: Reimagining Cultural Studies for a Posthuman Age''. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Lewis, Tyson and Kahn, Richard. "The Reptoid Hypothesis: Utopian and Dystopian Representational Motifs in David Icke's Alien Conspiracy Theory", ''Utopian Studies'', Vol. 16, 2005, accessed December 12, 2010.

Marre, Oliver. "Pendennis", ''The Observer'', January 20, 2008.

Mitchell, Ben. "This much I know", interview with David Icke, ''The Observer'', January 22, 2006.

Naughton, Philippe. "Reptilians beware - David Icke is back!", ''The Times'', June 27, 2008.

Offley, Will (2000a). "Selected Quotes Of David Icke", Political Research Associates, February 23, 2000, accessed December 12, 2010.

Offley, Will (2000b). "David Icke And The Politics Of Madness: Where The New Age Meets The Third Reich", Political Research Associates, February 29, 2000, accessed December 12, 2010.

Ronson, Jon. "Beset by lizards, part 1", part 2, extracts from Ronson's book, ''Them: Adventures with Extremists'', ''The Guardian'', March 17, 2011.

Ronson, Jon. "David Icke, the Lizards, and the Jews" 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, 4/5, 5/5, Channel 4 Television, UK, 2001; ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Taylor, Sam. "So I was in this bar with the son of God ...," ''The Observer'', April 20, 1997.

Theroux, Louis. "Stranger than fiction: Are 12ft lizards running the world?", ''The Guardian'', April 7, 2001.

Whitney, Nicole (undated). "Interview with David Icke", ''News for the Soul'', 2004, accessed December 12, 2010.

Wogan, Terry. David Icke interviewed by Terry Wogan, April 1991 and again in 2006, BBC, courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

''The Guardian''. "Protester David Icke finally pays community charge," November 14, 1990.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Protocols of the Elders of Zion, accessed December 12, 2010.

Further reading

DavidIcke.com, accessed December 12, 2010.

Banyan, Will. "The Big Picture" A review of ''Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster'' (pdf) ''Paranoia Magazine'', October 2003, accessed December 12, 2010.

Cowley, Jason. "The Icke Files", ''The Independent on Sunday'', October 1, 2000.

Kay, Jonathan. "When paranoia goes intergalactic", ''The National Post'', May 12, 2011.

Kay, Jonathan. ''Among the Truthers''. Harper, 2011.

Shermer, Michael. ''Illuminati, The New World Order & Paranoid Conspiracy Theorists (PCTs)'', ''The Skeptic's Dictionary'', accessed December 12, 2010.

;Audio/video

Britton, Fern. Interview with David Icke, 1/3, 2/3, 3/3, BBC's Coast to Coast People, 1991; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David. Presenting snooker, BBC, 1980s; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David. Does the Animal Kingdom need a Bill of Rights?, Royal Institute of Great Britain, ''Arena'', BBC2, 1989; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed November 15, 2009.

Icke, David. Live at the Oxford Union, June 10, 2009; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Maher, Bill. Interview with David Icke, ''Religulous'', 2008; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Category:1952 births Category:Anti-globalist activists Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:Association football goalkeepers Category:British sports broadcasters Category:British television presenters Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Pseudohistory Category:Fringe theory Category:Coventry City F.C. players Category:English footballers Category:English occult writers Category:English political writers Category:Environmental skepticism Category:Hereford United F.C. players Category:Independent politicians in England Category:Living people Category:People from Leicester Category:People from Ryde Category:Psychedelic drug advocates Category:Religious skeptics Category:The Football League players Category:UFO conspiracy theorists

bg:Дейвид Айк ca:David Icke de:David Icke et:David Icke es:David Icke eo:David Icke fr:David Icke hr:David Icke it:David Icke nl:David Icke ja:デイビッド・アイク no:David Icke pl:David Icke pt:David Icke ro:David Icke ru:Айк, Дэвид sr:Дејвид Ајк fi:David Icke sv:David Icke uk:Девід Айк vo:David Icke

Coordinates	35°0′41.69″N135°46′5.47″N
name	Hank Jones
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Henry Jones
born	July 31, 1918Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States
died	May 16, 2010Manhattan, New York, United States
instrument	Piano
genre	BebopJazz
occupation	MusicianBandleaderComposer
years active	1944–2010
label	Verve, Savoy, Epic, Capitol, Argo, Impulse, Concord, Chesky, Sony
associated acts	Ella FitzgeraldCharlie HadenNancy WilsonCharlie ParkerSalena JonesRoberta Gambarini
website	Hank Jones official site
notable instruments	}}

Henry "Hank" Jones (July 31, 1918 – May 16, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award. He was also honored in 2003 with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award. In 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. On April 13, 2009, the University of Hartford presented Jones with a Doctorate Degree for his musical accomplishments.

Jones recorded over sixty albums under his own name, and countless others as a sideman.

Biography

Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Henry "Hank" Jones moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where his father, a Baptist deacon and lumber inspector, bought a three-story brick home. One of seven children, Jones was raised in a musical family. His mother sang; his two older sisters studied piano; and his two younger brothers—Thad, a trumpeter, and Elvin, a drummer—also became prominent jazz musicians. He studied piano at an early age and came under the influence of Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, and Art Tatum. By the age of 13 Jones was performing locally in Michigan and Ohio. While playing with territory bands in Grand Rapids and Lansing in 1944 he met Lucky Thompson, who invited Jones to work in New York City at the Onyx Club with Hot Lips Page.

In New York, Jones regularly listened to leading bop musicians, and was inspired to master the new style. While practicing and studying the music he worked with John Kirby, Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Andy Kirk, and Billy Eckstine. In autumn 1947, he began touring in Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic package, and from 1948 to 1953 he was accompanist for Ella Fitzgerald, and accompanying her in England in the Fall of 1948, developed a harmonic facility of extraordinary taste and sophistication. During this period he also made several historically important recordings with Charlie Parker, which included "The Song Is You", from the ''Now's the Time'' album, recorded in December 1952, with Teddy Kotick on bass and Max Roach on drums.

Engagements with Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman followed, and recordings with artists such as Lester Young, Cannonball Adderley, and Wes Montgomery, in addition to being for a time, 'house pianist' on the Savoy label. From 1959 through 1975 Jones was staff pianist for CBS studios. This included backing guests like Frank Sinatra on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. He played the piano accompaniment to Marilyn Monroe as she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962. By the late 1970s, his involvement as pianist and conductor with the Broadway musical ''Ain't Misbehavin''' (based on the music of Fats Waller) had informed a wider audience of his unique qualities as a musician.

During the late 1970s and the 1980s, Jones continued to record prolifically, as an unaccompanied soloist, in duos with other pianists (including John Lewis and Tommy Flanagan), and with various small ensembles, most notably the Great Jazz Trio. The group took this name in 1976, by which time Jones had already begun working at the Village Vanguard with its original members, Ron Carter and Tony Williams (it was Buster Williams rather than Carter, however, who took part in the trio's first recording session in 1976); by 1980 Jones' sidemen were Eddie Gomez and Al Foster, and in 1982 Jimmy Cobb replaced Foster. The trio also recorded with other all-star personnel, such as Art Farmer, Benny Golson, and Nancy Wilson. In the early 1980s Jones held a residency as a solo pianist at the Cafe Ziegfeld and made a tour of Japan, where he performed and recorded with George Duvivier and Sonny Stitt. Jones' versatility was more in evidence with the passage of time. He collaborated on recordings of Afro-pop with an ensemble from Mali and on an album of spirituals, hymns and folksongs with Charlie Haden called ''Steal Away'' (1995).

Some of his later recordings are ''For My Father'' (2005) with bassist George Mraz and drummer Dennis Mackrel, a solo piano recording issued in Japan under the title ''Round Midnight'' (2006), and as a side man on Joe Lovano's ''Joyous Encounter'' (2005). Jones made his debut on Lineage Records, recording with Frank Wess and with the guitarist Eddie Diehl, but also appeared on ''West of 5th'' (2006) with Jimmy Cobb and Christian McBride on Chesky Records. He also accompanied Diana Krall for "Dream a Little Dream of Me" on the album compilation, ''We all Love Ella'' (Verve 2007). He is one of the musicians who test and talk about the piano in the documentary ''Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037'', released in November 2007.

In early 2000, the Hank Jones Quartet accompanied jazz singer Salena Jones at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho, and in 2006 at the Monterey Jazz Festival with both jazz singer Roberta Gambarini and the Oscar Peterson Trio.

Hank Jones lived in upstate New York and in Manhattan. He died at a hospice in Manhattan, New York, on May 16, 2010. He is survived by his wife Theodosia.

Awards and recognitions

;Grammy history

Career Wins: 2009: Lifetime Achievement Grammy

Career Nominations: 5

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan=5 align=center | Hank Jones Grammy Awards History |- ! Year ! Category ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Result |- align=center | 1977 | Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Soloist | "Bop Redux" | Jazz | Muse | Nominee |- align=center | 1980 | Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Soloist | "I Remember You" | Jazz | Black & Blue | Nominee |- align=center | 1980 | Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Group | "I Remember You" | Jazz | Black & Blue | Nominee |- align=center | 1995 | Best Jazz Instrumental Solo | "Go Down Moses" | Jazz | Verve | Nominee |- align=center | 1995 | Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Individual or Group | "Steal Away" | Jazz | Verve | Nominee |- align=center |}

Discography

As leader

{| cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" border="0" |- style="background:#ffdead;" !Year !Title !Personnel !Label !Notes |- |1950 |''Hank Jones Piano'' | |Mercury |- |1956 |''Urbanity'' | |Clef |- |1958 |The Talented Touch | |Capitol Records |- |1966 |''Happenings'' |with Oliver Nelson and Orchestra |Impulse |- |1975 |''Hanky Panky'' |Trio with Ron Carter and Grady Tate |Inner City / East Wind |- |1976 |''Hank (Hank Jones Solo Piano)'' | |Jazz Alliance / All Art Jazz |Original LP : ''Satin Doll'' |- |1976 |''Love for Sale'' |The Great Jazz Trio : with Buster Williams and Tony Williams |Inner City / East Wind | |- |1976 |''Rockin' In Rhythm'' |Trio with Ray Brown and Jimmie Smith |Concord | |- |1976 |''Arigato'' |With Ray Rivera, Jay Leonhart or Richard Davis and Ronnie Bedford |Progressive |Reissued on CD with bonus tracks. |- |1977 |''Bop Redux'' |Trio with George Duvivier and Ben Riley |Muse |- |1977 |''Great Jazz Trio at the Village Vanguard'' Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 |The Great Jazz Trio : with Ron Carter and Tony Williams |Inner City / East Wind |Live |- |1977 |''Great Jazz Trio at the Village Vanguard again'' |The Great Jazz Trio : with Ron Carter and Tony Williams |East Wind / Test Of Time |Live |- |1977 |''I Remember You'' |Trio with George Duvivier and Oliver Jackson |Black & Blue |- |1977 |''Just for Fun'' |With Ray Brown, Shelly Manne and Howard Roberts |Galaxy |- |1978 |''Our Delights'' |Piano duo with Tommy Flanagan |Galaxy |- |1978 |''Ain't Misbehavin''' |Richard Davis, Roy Haynes, Bob Ojeda, Teddy Edwards, and Kenny Burrell |Galaxy |- |1978 |''Groovin' High'' |Quintet with Sam Jones, Mickey Roker, Thad Jones, and Charlie Rouse |Muse |- |1995 |''Steal Away'' | |Verve |- |2003 |''Porgy & Bess'' | |Toshiba EMI |- |2004 |''Satin Doll'' | |Absord Japan |- |2005 |''My Funny Valentine'' | |Sony/CBS |- |2006 |''Round Midnight'' | |Sony |- |2006 |''West of 5th'' | |Chesky |- |2006 |''Hank and Frank'' | |Lineage |- |2009 |''Hank and Frank II'' |Frank Wess, Ilya Lushtak, Marion Cowings, John Webber, and Mickey Roker. |Lineage |- |2009 |''Pleased to Meet You'' |Oliver Jones, Brandi Disterheft and Jim Doxas |Justin Time Records |}

As sideman

1956: Milt Jackson - ''The Jazz Skyline''

1957: Curtis Fuller - ''New Trombone''

1957: Paul Chambers - ''Bass on Top''

1958: Cannonball Adderley - ''Somethin' Else''

1960: John Coltrane - ''Bags & Trane''

1961: Wes Montgomery - ''So Much Guitar''

1962: Shelly Manne - ''2-3-4''

1962: Milt Jackson - ''Statements''

1962: Ella Fitzgerald - ''Rhythm Is My Business''

1962: Curtis Fuller: ''Cabin in the Sky''

1963: Johnny Hartman - ''I Just Dropped By to Say Hello'' (impulse!)

1964: Ben Webster - ''See You at the Fair''

1964: Johnny Hartman - ''The Voice That Is!'' (Impulse!)

1965: Lionel Hampton: ''You Better Know It!!!'' (Impulse!)

1965: Elvin Jones - ''Dear John C.'' (Impulse!)

1966: Oliver Nelson - ''Oliver Nelson Plays Michelle'' (Impulse!)

1967: Oliver Nelson - ''The Spirit of '67'' with Pee Wee Russell (Impulse!)

1967: Oliver Nelson - ''The Kennedy Dream'' (Impulse!)

1969: Nancy Wilson - ''But Beautiful''

1971: Bobbi Humphrey - ''Flute In'' (Blue Note)

1972: Dexter Gordon - ''Ca' Purange''

1978: Ron Carter - ''Carnaval''

1978: Jackie Mclean - ''New Wine in Old Bottles''

1986: Bob Stewart - ''Welcome to the Club''

2004: Bob Stewart -''Talk of The Town''

2004: Joe Lovano - ''I'm All For You''

2005: Joe Lovano - ''Joyous Encounter''

References

External links

Hank Jones official home page

Hank Jones complete discography

"Profile: Hank Jones" by Arnold Jay Smith (Jazz.com)

Obituary - New York Times

"Magic Numbers," an essay on Hank Jones, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams

Category:1918 births Category:2010 deaths Category:People from Vicksburg, Mississippi Category:Swing pianists Category:Bebop pianists Category:African American musicians Category:American jazz pianists Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:Savoy Records artists Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Verve Records artists Category:Muse Records artists Category:Musicians from Mississippi

bg:Ханк Джоунс da:Hank Jones de:Hank Jones es:Hank Jones eo:Hank Jones fr:Hank Jones nl:Hank Jones ja:ハンク・ジョーンズ nds:Hank Jones fi:Hank Jones sv:Hank Jones

Coordinates	35°0′41.69″N135°46′5.47″N
name	Buddy Rich
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Bernard Rich
alias	Traps the Drum Wonder (as a boy) and "B" (as an adult)
birth date	September 30, 1917
death date	April 02, 1987
religion	Jewish
origin	Brooklyn, New York, US
instrument	Drums, percussion
genre	Jazz, big band, swing, bebop
occupation	Musician, songwriter, bandleader, actor
years active	1919–1987
associated acts	Joe MarsalaBunny BeriganArtie ShawTommy DorseyBenny CarterHarry JamesLes BrownCharlie VenturaJazz at the PhilharmonicNat King ColeElla FitzgeraldGene Krupa and Louis Armstrong
website	http://www.buddyrich.com/
notable instruments	}}

Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.

Early life

Rich was born in Brooklyn, New York, to vaudevillians Robert and Bess Rich. His talent for rhythm was first noted by his father, who saw that Buddy could keep a steady beat with spoons at the age of one. He began playing drums in vaudeville when he was 18 months old, billed as "Traps the Drum Wonder." At the peak of Rich's childhood career, he was reportedly the second-highest paid child entertainer in the world (after Jackie Coogan). At 11 he was performing as a bandleader. He received no formal drum instruction, and went so far as to claim that instruction would only degrade his musical talent. He also never admitted to practicing, claiming to play the drums only during performances and was not known to read music. He expressed great admiration for, and was influenced by, the playing of Chick Webb, Gene Krupa, Dave Tough, and Jo Jones, among others.

Jazz career

Rich first played jazz with a major group in 1937 with Joe Marsala and guitarist Jack Lemaire. He then played with Bunny Berigan (1938) and Artie Shaw (1939), and even instructed a 14-year-old Mel Brooks in drumming for a short period when playing for Shaw. At 21, Rich participated in his first major recording with the Vic Schoen Orchestra (the band that backed the Andrews Sisters). In 1938, he was also hired to play in Tommy Dorsey's orchestra where he met and performed with Frank Sinatra. In 1942, Rich left the Dorsey band to join the United States Marine Corps. He rejoined the Dorsey group after leaving the Marines two years later. In 1946, Rich formed his own band with financial support from Sinatra, and continued to lead different groups on and off until the early fifties.

In addition to Tommy Dorsey (1939–1942, 1945, 1954–1955), Rich also played with Benny Carter (1942), Harry James (1953-1956–1962, 1964, 1965), Les Brown, Charlie Ventura, and Jazz at the Philharmonic, as well as leading his own band and performing with all-star groups. In the early fifties Rich played with Dorsey and also began to perform with trumpeter Harry James, an association which lasted until 1966. In 1966, Rich left James in order to develop a new big band. For most of the period from 1966 until his death, he led successful big bands in an era when the popularity of big bands had waned from their 1930s and 40s peak. In this later period, Rich continued to play clubs but he had stated in multiple interviews that the great majority of his big band's performances were at high schools, colleges and universities, with club performances done to a much lesser degree. Rich also served as the session drummer for many recordings, where his playing was often much more understated than in his own big-band performances. Especially notable were Rich's sessions for the late-career comeback recordings of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, on which he worked with pianist Oscar Peterson and his famous trio featuring bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis.

Drumming technique and well known performances

Rich's technique has been one of the most standardized and coveted in drumming. His dexterity, musicality of playing style, speed and smooth execution are considered "holy grails" of drum technique and have been considered next to impossible to duplicate. While Rich typically held his sticks using traditional grip, he was also a skilled "match grip" player, and was one of few drummers to master the one-handed roll on both hands. Some of his more spectacular moves are crossover riffs, where he would criss-cross his arms from one drum to another, sometimes over the arm, and even under the arm at great speed.

He often used contrasting techniques to keep long drum solos from getting mundane. Aside from his energetic explosive displays, he would go into quieter passages. One passage he would use in most solos starts with a simple single-stroke roll on the snare picking up speed and power, then slowly moving his sticks closer to the rim as he gets quieter and then eventually playing on just the rim itself while still maintaining speed. Then he would reverse the effect and slowly move towards the center of the snare while increasing power.

Rich also demonstrated incredible skill at brush technique. On one album, 1955's ''The Lionel Hampton Art Tatum Buddy Rich Trio'', Rich plays brushes almost exclusively throughout.

Another Rich technique that few drummers have been able to perfect is the stick-trick – a fast roll performed by slapping two drumsticks together in a circular motion.

In 1942, Rich and drum teacher Henry Adler co-authored the instructional book ''Buddy Rich's Modern Interpretation of Snare Drum Rudiments,'' regarded as one of the more popular snare-drum rudiment books.

One of Adler's former students introduced Adler to Rich. "The kid told me Buddy played better than [Gene] Krupa. Buddy was only in his teens at the time and his friend was my first pupil. Buddy played and I watched his hands. Well, he knocked me right out. He did everything I wanted to do, and he did it with such ease. When I met his folks, I asked them who his teacher was. 'He never studied,' they told me. That made me feel very good. I realized that it was something physical, not only mental, that you had to have."

In a 1985 interview, Adler clarified the extent of his teacher-student relationship to Rich and their collaboration on the instructional book:

"I had nothing to do with [the rumor that I taught Buddy how to play]. That was a result of Tommy Dorsey's introduction to the Buddy Rich book," Adler said. "I used to go around denying it, knowing that Buddy was a natural player. Sure, he studied with me, but he didn't come to me to learn how to hold the drumsticks. I set out to teach Buddy to read. He'd take six lessons, go on the road for six weeks and come back. He didn't have time to practice."

"Tommy Dorsey wanted Buddy to write a book and he told him to get in touch with me. I did the book and Tommy wrote the foreword. Technically, I was Buddy's teacher, but I came along after he had already acquired his technique."

When asked about Rich's ability to read music, Bobby Shew, lead trumpeter in Rich's mid-60s big band replied, :"No. He’d always have a drummer there during rehearsals to read and play the parts initially on new arrangements... He’d only have to listen to a chart once and he’d have it memorized. We'd run through it and he'd know exactly how it went, how many measures it ran and what he'd have to do to drive it... The guy had the most natural instincts."

The ''West Side Story'' Medley

Perhaps his most popular later performance was a big band arrangement of a medley derived from the Leonard Bernstein classic ''West Side Story'', first released on the 1966 album ''Buddy Rich's Swingin' New Big Band''

The West Side Story medley is a complex and difficult-to-perform big-band arrangement which highlights Rich's remarkable ability to blend the rhythm of his drumming into his band's playing of the musical chart. Penned by Bill Reddie, Rich received the West Side Story arrangement of Leonard Bernstein's melodies from the famed musical in the mid-1960s and found it to be very challenging even for him. It consists of many rapid-fire time changes and signatures and took almost a month of constant rehearsals to perfect. It since became a staple in all his performances, clocking in at various lengths from seven to fifteen minutes. Bernstein himself had nothing but praise for it. In 2002, a DVD was released called ''The Lost West Side Story Tapes'' that captured a 1985 performance of this along with other numbers. These tapes had been previously thought to have been lost in a fire. Rich's ability to create spontaneous drum solos that matched and melded with the musical intricacies and intensity of big band scores was chief among his musical brilliance.

''Channel One'' Suite

After the West Side Story Medley, Rich's most famous performance was the Channel One Suite by Bill Reddie. Like the West Side Story Medley, the Channel One Suite generally was a quite long performance ranging from about 12 minutes to about 26 minutes and usually contained 2 or 3 drum solos. Although 26 minute performances of the Channel One Suite were not incredibly common, they were not unheard of. A recording of one of his live performances was released in 2006 which contained a 26 minute Channel One Suite.

TV appearances

In the 1950s, Rich was a frequent guest on ''The Steve Allen Show'' and other television variety shows. Beginning in 1962, Rich was also a frequent guest on Johnny Carson's ''Tonight Show'' and ''The Merv Griffin Show'', among others, and appeared with his Big Band on British television, on Michael Parkinson's talk show ''Parkinson'' and on the Terry Wogan Show (the last on October 29, 1986, only a few months prior to his death). One of his most widely seen television performances was in a 1981 episode of ''The Muppet Show'', where he engaged Muppet drummer "Animal" (played by Ronnie Verrell) in a drum battle. Rich also made guest appearances on the TV shows ''Here's Lucy'' and ''Hee Haw''.

In an episode of Michael Parkinson's British talk show, Parkinson kidded Rich about his Donny Osmond kick, by claiming that Rich was the president of The Osmonds' fan club.

Instruments

Buddy was known as a performer and endorser of Slingerland ''Radio King'', and Rogers Drums. He switched to Ludwig drums for much of the 1970s to the early 1980s. While recovering from a heart attack in 1959, Rich was presented with an original Slingerland Radio King 5X14 wood snare drum completely reconditioned by the Eames drum company. Later, a mismatched Radio King set was completely refurbished for Rich and he used that set right up to his death in 1987. His typical setup included a 14"X26" bass drum, 9"X13" mounted tom, two 16"X16" floor toms (although he rarely used the second tom where he would simply place a towel on the surface), and a 5"X14" snare drum. His cymbals were typically Zildjian consisting of standard 14" hi hats, 20" ride, either a 6" or 8" splash, two 18" crashes, and a 20" swish.

Personality

Although Rich was usually helpful and friendly, he had a short temper. While he threatened many times to fire members of his band, he seldom did so, and for the most part he lauded his band members during television and print interviews. Dusty Springfield allegedly slapped Rich after several days of "putting up with Rich's insults and show-biz sabotage."

In the Beastie Boys song "Sabotage", the lyrics "I'm Buddy Rich when I fly off the handle," referred to Rich's temper. Buddy Rich held a black belt in karate, as mentioned in a CNN television interview with Larry King, c. 1985.

Band member and lifelong friend David Lucas says that "Rich had a soft heart underneath it all. His favorite song was "It's Not Easy Being Green".

The tapes

Rich's temper, mercurial attitude and imposing personality are documented in secret recordings that pianist Lee Musiker made during some of his tantrums on tour buses and backstage in the early 1980s. These recordings, long circulated in bootleg form, have done much to fuel the reputation of Rich's personality. The tapes were popular with comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who used three quotes from them more or less verbatim on ''Seinfeld'':

"If I have to tell you again, we're gonna take it outside and I'm gonna show you what it's like!" ("The Opposite")

"This guy – this is not my kind of guy." ("The Understudy")

"Then let's see how he does, up there, without all the assistance!" ("The Butter Shave")

On one recording, Rich threatens to fire Dave Panichi, a trombonist, for wearing a beard. Days before Rich died, he was visited by Mel Tormé, who claims that one of Rich's last requests was "to hear the tapes" that featured his angry outbursts. At the time, Tormé was working on an authorized biography of Rich which was released after Rich's death, titled ''Traps, The Drum Wonder: The Life of Buddy Rich''.

Death and legacy

Buddy Rich remained active performing until the end of his life. On April 2, 1987, Rich died of heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumor. He is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. He was 69.

Since Rich's death, a number of memorial concerts have been held. In 1994, the Rich tribute album ''Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich'' was released. Produced by Rush drummer/lyricist Neil Peart, the album features performances of Rich staples by a number of rock and jazz drummers such as Kenny Aronoff, Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Max Roach, Steve Smith, and Peart himself, accompanied by the Buddy Rich Big Band. A second volume was issued in 1997.

In Italy, Rich's version of Winning the West was from 1973 to 1976 the musical theme of a weekly TV sports magazine broadcast, ''La domenica sportiva''.

Buddy is also mentioned in the television show Archer as the possible father of Sterling Mallory Archer.

Discography

Studio and live albums as leader or co-leader

1953: ''The Flip Phillips Buddy Rich Trio'' (Clef Records)

1954: ''The Swinging Buddy Rich'' (Norgran Records)

1955: ''Sing and Swing with Buddy Rich'' (Norgran)

1955: ''Buddy and Sweets'' (Norgran)

1955: ''The Lester Young Buddy Rich Trio'' (Norgran)

1955: ''The Wailing Buddy Rich'' (Norgran)

1955: ''Krupa and Rich'' (Clef) (with Gene Krupa)

1955: ''The Lionel Hampton Art Tatum Buddy Rich Trio'' (Clef)

1956: ''Buddy Rich Sings Johnny Mercer'' (Verve Records)

1956: ''This One's for Basie'' (Verve) – re-issued 1967 as ''Big Band Shout''

1957: ''Buddy Rich Just Sings'' (Verve)

1958: ''Buddy Rich in Miami'' (Verve)

1959: ''Richcraft'' (Mercury Records) – also ''The Rich Rebellion'' (Wing)

1959: ''Rich versus Roach'' (Mercury) (with Max Roach)

1959: ''The Voice is Rich'' (Mercury)

1960: ''The Driver'' (EmArcy Records)

1961: ''Playtime'' (Argo Records)

1961: ''Blues Caravan'' (Verve)

1962: ''Burnin' Beat'' (Verve) (with Gene Krupa)

1965: ''Are You Ready for This? (Roost) – with Louie Bellson

1966: ''Swingin' New Big Band'' (Pacific Jazz Records/Blue Note Records)

1966: ''The Sounds of '66'' (Reprise Records) (Live, with Sammy Davis, Jr.)

1967: ''Big Swing Face'' (Pacific Jazz) (Live)

1967: ''The New One!'' (Pacific Jazz) – aka ''Take it Away''

1968: ''Rich à la Rakha'' (World Pacific) (with Alla Rakha)

1968: ''Mercy, Mercy'' (Pacific Jazz) (Live)

1969: ''Buddy & Soul'' (Pacific Jazz) (Live)

1970: ''Keep the Customer Satisfied'' (Liberty Records) (Live)

1971: ''A Different Drummer'' (RCA Records)

1971: ''Rich in London'' (RCA) – expanded UK release = ''Buddy Rich: Very Alive at Ronnie Scott's'' (RCA (UK)) (Live)

1972: ''Stick It'' (RCA)

1973: ''The Roar of '74'' (Groove Merchant Records)

1974: ''Very Live at Buddy's Place'' (Groove Merchant) (Live)

1974: ''Transition'' (Groove Merchant) – with Lionel Hampton

1974: ''The Last Blues Album, Vol. 1'' (Groove Merchant)

1975: ''Big Band Machine'' (Groove Merchant)

1976: ''Speak No Evil'' (RCA)

1977: ''Buddy Rich Plays and Plays and Plays'' (RCA)

1977: ''Lionel Hampton Presents Buddy Rich'' (Who's Who In Jazz) – aka ''Buddy's Cherokee...'' also released as ''The Sound of Jazz, Vol 10''

1977: ''Class of '78'' (The Great American Gramophone Company) – also released as ''The Greatest Drummer That Ever Lived with The Best Band I Ever Had''

1977: ''Europe '77'' (Magic)

1978: ''Together Again: For the First Time'' (Gryphon/Century) – aka ''When I Found You'' (with Mel Tormé)

1980: ''Live at Ronnie Scott's'' (DRG) – aka ''The Man from Planet Jazz'' (Live)

1981: ''The Buddy Rich Band'' (MCA)

1983: ''Rich and Famous'' (Amway) – aka ''The Magic of Buddy Rich'', aka ''Buddy Rich – The Man''

1985: ''Mr. Drums: Live on King Street, San Francisco'' (Café) (Live)

Posthumous releases of previously unreleased recordings

2001: ''Wham! The Buddy Rich Big Band Live'' (Label M)

2004: ''No Funny Hats'' (Lightyear)

Notable compilation albums

1960: ''The Drum Battle (Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich at JATP)'' (Verve)

196?: ''The Best of Buddy Rich'' (Pacific Jazz)

1969: ''Super Rich'' (Verve)

1971: ''Time Being'' (Bluebird/RCA)

1987: ''Compact Jazz: Buddy Rich'' (Verve)

1990: ''Compact Jazz: Gene Krupa & Buddy Rich'' (Verve)

1992: ''No Jive'' (Novus)

1998: ''Buddy Rich: The Legendary '47–'48 Orchestra Vol. 1'' (Hep Records)

1998: ''Buddy Rich: The Legendary '46–'48 Orchestra Vol. 2'' (Hep)

2005: ''Classic EmArcy, Verve, Small Group Buddy Rich Sessions'' (7 CD Box set, Mosaic Records #232)

References

External links

Official website

Buddy Rich at Wikiquote

(Discography and brief biography)

Buddy Rich videos, pictures, quotes, and set-up at TotalDrumsets.com

Category:1917 births Category:1987 deaths Category:American jazz drummers Category:American jazz composers Category:Bebop drummers Category:Big band drummers Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from brain cancer Category:Deaths from heart failure Category:Jazz bandleaders Category:Mainstream jazz drummers Category:Musicians from New York Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Swing drummers Category:Vaudeville performers Category:RCA Records artists Category:American Jews

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