约翰·列侬――天才早逝.doc

约翰·列侬――天才早逝 　　“You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will live as one”―Imagine John Lennon was born in Liverpool in the autumn of 1940. The Battle of Britain注1 had just ended， but the war with Germany was far from over. It was into this 1）unsound environment that John Lennon 2）emerged. Who would have thought that he would become such a multi-talented musical genius？ John’s early years were certainly not easy. His parents 3）split when he was a 4）toddler and he was raised by his aunt， Mimi Smith. But he remained close to his mother， who encouraged him to learn the 5）banjo， later 6）switching to guitar. 7）Tragedy struck when John was 18， when his mother was struck and killed by a car. Lennon was 8）traumatised by her death. The turning point in his life though came when he developed a strong interest in skiffle注2， a type of rock and roll music， whilst in his teenage years. It was while playing for a skiffle band he had formed at school that he met Paul McCartney. The two 9）struck up an immediate friendship， and developed a fine partnership， writing and composing songs. After performing under several band names， the pair， along with George Harrison and Pete Best， settled on calling themselves The Beatles. They played eight-hour 10）shifts at various nightclubs in Hamburg， and were popular at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. The drummer， Pete Best， was not particularly good though and held them back. The decision was made to replace him with Ringo Starr， and soon afterwards The Beatles were signed by George Martin for EMI records. The band began 11）churning out 12）hit after hit， with numerous number ones. Lennon and McCartney were the creative force behind the group， and the amount of quality material they produced was amazing. They began touring the world and were hugely popular， especially in the US. This all changed however， when at a 13）press conference， John Lennon claimed the band were more popular