John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 - 8 December 1980), was a 20th-century Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning English songwriter, singer, instrumentalist, painter, author and political activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founders of The Beatles. Lennon and Paul McCartney formed a critically acclaimed and commercially successful partnership writing songs for the Beatles and other artists. In his solo career, Lennon wrote and recorded songs such as "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance".
