Got his first guitar, a Gallotone Champion acoustic given by his mother, in 1956. Lennon was born John Winston Lennon on Octoin Liverpool, England at the height of the Second World War. John Lennon was the other half of the incredible songwriting juggernaut, the famed Lennon-McCartney tandem with fellow Beatle Paul McCartney, that produced one hit song after another during The Beatles' incredible run from their inception of the group's classic lineup, with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, in 1962 up to their break-up in 1970.