For me John Lennon would certainly fill that bill. People who have read this blog in the past will know of my interest in Liverpool and the early days of the Beatles.
I am intrigued by how four working class Liverpool boys (although to be fair Lennon was brought up mainly in a middle class neighbourhood) can come together as if by fate to produce a new and wonderful sound and become the greatest rock/pop band of all time.
I know some would dispute that but without the Beatles so much of what followed would not have happened. They were the catalyst if you like. But they were very different and I just wonder what a dinner party would have been like with each of them on separate occasions.
I should imagine with George Harrison it would have been quite a quiet but polite affair with the odd joke thrown in. With Ringo Starr it would probably have been a bit more matey. With Paul McCartney it would have been a riot of memories, jokes and good vibes, but what about Lennon?
There would have been caustic sarcasm, probably a dollop of rudeness and possibly more than a hint of mickey taking with the host as the subject. For Lennon was a renegade and someone who could just as easily have wandered into a life of crime if rock n roll had not handed him a passage to riches.
Unfortunately money didn't make Lennon hoppy. When he died he was as restless as he had been as a teenager on the streets of Liverpool.
I bring this up because I share a birthday with John Lennon and often wonder if I have any of his traits (perhaps people who know me will be able to confirm this). John Lennon would have been 80 next Friday (October 9th). Had he not been so viciously gunned down in 1980 what would he have been like today? Would he still be making music and would he have been re-united with McCartney? Somehow I doubt it.
Lennon was murdered by Mark Chapman who is still serving a life sentence in Wende Correctional Facility in New York State. This is a maximum security prison that also houses Harvey Weinstein who is serving a 23 years sentence for sex offences. According to law, Chapman becomes eligible for parole every two years. To date his application has been turned down on 11 occasions. He is due to make another application in 2022.
Back to John Lennon. His story as a youngster with a dysfunctional mother and absentee father is a very interesting one, as is the fact that he was brought up by his rather prim and proper Aunt Mimi. If you are interested in Lennon or any of the other Beatles there are hundreds of books about them but the Beatles Bible is "All These Years" by Mark Lewisohn. This work is split into three massive volumes - the first of which came out in 2013 and deals with the Fab Four's early lives and how they first came together. Volume Two is eagerly awaited but doesn't look as if it will hit the bookshops until at least 2023. For Lewisohn the writing for the history is both a labour of love and an obsession.