John Lennon John Lennon was a great song writer and musician. He played the rhythm guitar, the piano, and sang. He was in the most popular group in the history of rock music. In 1959, John founded this group, called The Beatles. The original Beatles were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Pete Best. Brian Epstein became the manager of the Beatles in 1961. Epstein made many changes in the group. John rebelled and did not want to "package" and "clean up" the group in order to please fans. These changes were made anyway despite John's protests. The Beatles had signed a contract with EMI records and were beginning to record with them. On August 16, 1962, Pete Best, the dru