What was John Lennon's birth year?

John Lennon was born in 1940. His full birth date was 9 October 1940, and he was born at Liverpool Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, England.

Lennon was born during the Second World War to Julia Stanley and Alfred Lennon. He was raised largely by his aunt Mimi Smith in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton, where he developed an early interest in music and formed The Quarrymen as a teenager.

His birth year places him among the first generation of British rock musicians shaped by American rhythm and blues, rock ’n’ roll and skiffle. Lennon was 19 when The Beatles formed in 1960 and 22 when the band’s first single, “Love Me Do,” was released in 1962.

The year is sometimes confused with 1941 because Lennon’s younger contemporary Brian Epstein was born in 1934 and The Beatles’ early timeline is often compressed. Lennon died in New York on 8 December 1980, aged 40.