Is John Lennon dead? Former Beatle, John Lennon had grown weary of being famous. The title of being a "Beatle" hung around his neck like an albatross. The Beatles hadn't been a group for 10 years and still he and Yoko were hounded by the press and paparazzi. There seemed to be no escape from the scrutiny he and his wife had been experiencing since 1969, until he met Ray Greiner, the owner of Bon Voyage Yacht Club in Rhode Island who would give John a way to vanish into thin air.