John Lennon was a musician.
`` Give Peace a Chance '' is a song written by John Lennon ( credited to Lennon -- McCartney ) , and performed with Yoko Ono in Montreal , Quebec , Canada . John Winston Ono Lennon , ( born John Winston Lennon ; 9 October 19408 December 1980 ) was an English guitarist , singer , and songwriter who co-founded the Beatles , the most commercially successful and musically influential band in the history of popular music . Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music , writing , drawings , on film and in interviews . 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 .