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 . Born and raised in Liverpool , Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager ; his first band , the Quarrymen , first became the Silver Beatles , and finally , evolved into the Beatles in 1960 . The Quarrymen ( also written as `` the Quarry Men '' ) are a British skiffle/rock and roll group , formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956 , which eventually evolved into the Beatles in 1960 .