British musician (1940–1980)

Claude says:You keep coming back to Lennon's seasonal anthems—"Happy Xmas" is your reliably repeated touchstone—but his deeper solo work (Plastic Ono Band, Working Class Hero) surfaces just enough to remind you there's more to him than yuletide nostalgia. The singer-songwriter who dismantled The Beatles' mythology and rebuilt himself as a solo artist in the early '70s still lands with you, even if you're more likely to reach for him in December.