March 20, 1969: John Lennon And Yoko Ono Marry

03/20/09 1:28pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were wed on this date in 1969 in Gibraltar, Spain. Their wedding came just eight days after Paul McCartney married photographer Linda Eastman.

There are two versions of how Lennon and Ono met, but the one I've heard the most is that the two met in 1966 at one of Ono's shows at a gallery in London, England. They became romantically involved two years later after Lennon returned from India. Their affair was the cause of Lennon's divorce from his wife, Cynthia Lennon.

After Lennon and Ono were married, Lennon tacked Ono's surname onto his own and became John Ono Lennon later that year. The couple spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam, Netherlands conducting a "bed-in" for peace. They later conducted several more bed-ins, including the most famous in Montreal that same year, where they recorded "Give Peace A Chance."

Lennon and Ono briefly separated in 1973, which led to Lennon's "lost weekend" when he spent 18 months engaging in silly behaviour while drunk and on drugs. He was also in a relationship with May Pang, his and Ono's personal assistant, during this period.

Sean Lennon, Lennon and Ono's son, was born in 1975 after the couple reunited, and he and his father share the same birthday. Lennon continued to live with Ono until he was assassinated by Mark David Chapman in 1980.