John Lennon secretly quits the Beatles

John Lennon privately told his bandmates on this day in 1969 he was leaving the group. He agreed to not disclose it publicly until after the soon-to-be-issued “Abbey Road” and the still-shelved “Get Back” albums were released, thus fulfilling their recording contract. John actually decided the previous week to quit. He and Yoko were invited to a music festival in Toronto as guests, but Lennon told the promoter he’d assemble a band and play. On one day’s notice he called Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann (long-time friend of the Fabs) and drummer Alan White. They rehearsed on the plane and did the gig as the Plastic Ono Band before 200,000 people. But even before departing London for Canada, John concluded his days as a Beatle were over. Adviser Allen Klein asked that it be kept quiet, as he was negotiating a new contract with better royalty rates for the band. Klein’s name would resurface a lot before the group finally broke up. Stay tuned...