It was after hearing Paul McCartney's new single "Coming Up" that Lennon decided to return to music in early 1980. His reported response was, "Oh shit, I've got to get back." Lennon loved the song.
It was said that the birth of his son and his new fatherhood in 1975 made him much more sweet and mellow, even watching The Beatles' films and cartoons and listening to their records with Sean Lennon. Although he gave a rather biting interview to Playboy magazine in 1980, he was said by most of his associates to be much easier to work with in that part of his life.
John's first wife, Cynthia, says that when they were dating, John was smitten by French actress, Bridget Bardot. Cynthia says that in order to please John, she dyed her hair blond and began wearing outfits in the same style as Bardot. This included wearing berets, short skirts, and black thigh-high stockings, like the actress. There are many photos of Cynthia from the 1963-65 time period that show her dressed and styled in this manner.
Kept his old bow-tie from Quarry Bank School, and wore it for special occasions as an adult. Also had a favorite necktie that he wore every day to court in the mid-1970s, during his immigration hearings, and later during a lawsuit brought against him by publisher Morris Levy.
Lennon declared his favorite album to be "Safe as Milk", by Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, buying two copies for the included sticker. Shortly before his death, he also said he enjoyed The Pretenders' hit single "Brass in Pocket" as well as the debut album of The B-52's because it reminded him of Yoko Ono's music.
Married first wife Cynthia Lennon at the Mount Pleasant Registry Office in Liverpool; married second wife Yoko Ono on the Rock of Gibraltar.
Moving to New York City in the early 1970s, he and Yoko Ono first sublet a luxury apartment in the Dakota Hotel from actor Robert Ryan, then purchased it from Ryan's estate following his death. They later purchased several other apartments in the same building. One became their office, another storage for their video collection, another storage for clothing. One with Lennon's instruments and jukebox briefly became the "Club Dakota", for a New Year's party with publicist Elliot Mintz.
Number 9 connection: he was born on 9 October 1940, his son Sean Lennon was also born 9 October, 1975. He wrote the songs "#9 Dream" (part of Lennon's ninth solo album "Walls and Bridges", which was released in the ninth month of 1974 and peaked at #9 in the US charts) and with The Beatles - One After 909 and Revolution 9.
One of the last recordings he made prior to his death was for fellow Beatle Ringo Starr's solo album "Stop and Smell the Roses". John and his wife, Yoko Ono, joined Starr at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood where the album was being recorded.
Only performed three songs of The Beatles in concert after the group broke up, "Come Together" in Madison Square Garden in 1972, and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and "I Saw Her Standing There" with Elton John, back at Madison Square Garden on Thanksgiving, 1974.
Owned several cars in the 1960s, but gave up driving after he totaled his Aston-Martin on a trip to Scotland with Yoko Ono, Julian Lennon and Kyoko Ono Cox. Ono's back was sprained; the rest of them required stitches. Lennon and Ono later mounted the wrecked car on a pillar at Tittenhurst Park. 'May Pang' learned to drive when she and Lennon were living in Los Angeles, so they could travel together along the California coast.
Portrayed by Aaron Johnson in Nowhere Boy (2009).
Posthumous winner of the British Phonographic Industry Award for Outstanding Contribution in 1982.
Posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a solo artist) in 1994.
Several of his personal assistants (and also his and Yoko Ono's tarot reader) later wrote memoirs of their time with Lennon, and each successive one picks up the approximate storyline where the last left off. These in order are: "The Beatles, Lennon and Me" by Peter Shotton (Lennon's boyhood friend, later on the board of Apple Corps; worked briefly as their personal assistant), "John Lennon: One Day At a Time" by Anthony Fawcett (personal assistant from 1968-1971), "Loving John" by May Pang (personal assistant from 1972-1975, and also Lennon's lover with Ono's sanction), "Dakota Days" by John Green (Lennon and Ono's tarot reader from 1975-1980), and "The Last Days of John Lennon" by Frederic Seaman (personal assistant from 1979-1982).
The band O.A.R. (of a revolution) wrote "Dakota" off of their album "Stories of a Stranger" in memory of Lennon.
The cover of Rolling Stone issue featuring a nude Lennon hugging and kissing a fully clothed Yoko Ono taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz was voted the top magazine cover of the last 40 years by a panel of magazine editors, artists and designers chosen by the American Society of Magazine Editors. The photo was the cover of Rolling Stone's tribute to Lennon after his death. Ironically, the picture was taken on the last day of Lennon's life.
The first instrument he learned to play was the harmonica.
The only member of The Beatles never to attend a Paul McCartney solo concert. Ringo Starr went to one in 1976 and Harrison went to one in 1993 (both preferred not to go onstage). Lennon was planning to visit McCartney in New Orleans during the "Venus and Mars" album sessions, but canceled when Yoko Ono became pregnant with Sean Lennon.
Voted the fifth greatest singer of the rock era in a Rolling Stone magazine poll in 2008.