A John Lennon AutographJohn Lennon was the "dangerous" Beatle. He was the rebel, the most outspoken, the most outrageous and in the early years, arguably the most talented. Perhaps most-indicative of his importance and influence was that most Beatles songs were credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney – in that order. Born in October, 1940, in Liverpool, Lennon formed a skiffle group, the Quarrymen, in 1956, soon after he got his first guitar. He asked Paul McCartney to join the band, and Paul nagged John until he agreed to allow George Harrison, who was barely fifteen years old, to join. By 1960, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison along with Stu Sutcliffe on bass and Tommy Moore on drums, were calling themselves the Silver Beatles. At the time, Lennon was in art school, on his way to becoming an artist. His studies ended as his music career took off, but the visual arts were always an important part of his life, and many of his drawings are still popular.
He wrote or co-wrote with McCartney the majority of the Beatles biggest hits, including “Help,” “Nowhere Man,” “You Got To Hide our Love Away,” “Come Together,” “All You Need Is Love,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “I am the Walrus,” “Revolution” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Although the Beatles broke up in 1969, Lennon’s solo career (and collaboration with his second wife, Yoko Ono) thrived. It also caused great controversy, as did their anti-war antics. It reminded some of the stir Lennon caused early in the Beatles career when he said, “We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock and roll or Christianity.” Whether he was being flip or serious it was not known, but it was like a dose of ice water in the face for Lennon, who was a bit more careful for awhile with his words. Later Lennon hits included “Imagine,” “Instant Karma,” “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” “Woman,” “Give Peace a Chance,” “Jealous Guy,” “Beautiful Boy,” and a song that was to signal an early 1980s comeback and turned out to be a big part of his legacy, “Starting Over.” John Lennon was assassinated on December 8, 1980, as he was returning home to his apartment in New York. His musical accomplishments are at least equal to those of the greatest popular music composers of the twentieth century, from the Gershwins to Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein. His body of work was so deep that “new” collections of his music are released from time to time, along with technology-enhanced versions of the Beatles songs. Lennon died at age forty. It's sad to think about what he could accomplished had he lived another forty years. A John Lennon autograph is not only a nice addition to a collection, it is an investment that will continue to rise in value. Lennon was often quite friendly to collectors when approached in public. He had just signed an autograph for his assassin. Current Values for John Lennon Autographs: Simple Signature: $1500 Return to Collecting Celebrity Autographs from a John Lennon Autograph
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