Julian Lennon, pictured here with his mother in 2010, has paid tribute to her in song. Credit:AP "Her son Julian Lennon was at her bedside throughout. The family are thankful for your prayers." Yoko Ono, Lennon's second wife, also released a statement, saying she was "very saddened" to hear the news, hailing her a "great person and wonderful mother". "I'm very saddened by Cynthia's death. She was a great person and a wonderful mother to Julian," she said. "I felt proud how we two women stood firm in The Beatles family."

John and Cynthia Lennon in 1964. Credit:AP Paul McCartney spoke of his sadness at the news, saying she was a "lovely lady" and will be "missed by us all". Ringo Starr, the former Beatle, sent his condolences online, tweeting: "Peace and love to Julian Lennon God bless Cynthia love Ringo and Barbara xx". Cynthia Lennon was married to the Beatles legend from 1962 until 1968. John was shot to death in 1980 at the age of 40. Her impact on the Beatles was always covert, if not intentionally marginalised. When she became pregnant with Julian, thus threatening the band's young-and-single image, manager Brian Epstein helped arrange their wedding on the condition that it be kept quiet even though the marriage was an open secret in the British music press.

In her book A Twist of Lennon Cynthia Lennon described her life with John as an "undercover existence," and according to her memoirs, she spent her wedding night without John while the Beatles played a concert in Chester. However, she does show up as a presence in several Beatles songs. Both Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds and Good Night were written about the young Julian while John and Cynthia were married. Paul McCartney's Hey Jude was written as a comforting ballad for Julian during his parents' separation.

Cynthia was born in Blackpool, England, and was the youngest of three children of Charles and Lillian Powell. She grew up in England and attended the Liverpool College of Art, where she met John in 1957. After Cynthia and John divorced in 1968, John married Yoko Ono and had another son, Sean Lennon. After her divorce from John, Cynthia said her income was "never stable," according to People. In her book, "John," she talked about being mistreated by her ex-husband during their marriage. Author Hunter Davies, who wrote the only authorised Beatles biography, described Cynthia as a "lovely woman" who was ill-treated by her famous husband, according to The Associated Press. He said that unlike John, she was "quiet and reserved and calm" and "not a hippy at all." In 1991, Cynthia auctioned off some of John's writing, including memorabilia he had collected over the years. "I've enjoyed these things for 30 years," Cynthia told People at the time. "But it's time for a change."

The Los Angeles Times interviewed Cynthia in 1988, when she described how she and John were drawn to each other after suffering the loss of parents at a young age. Throughout her six-year marriage to John she was an "eternal optimist," according to the 1988 interview. The interview came around the time "Imagine," a documentary about John, was released. "I'd like this to be a culmination of sorts - of the good, the bad and the brilliant side of John Lennon, and not to have anything smoothed over." Hunter Davies, who penned the only official biography of The Beatles, in 1968, said Cynthia was "a lovely woman". He said: "She was totally different from John; she was quiet and reserved and calm.

"When they got together at art school, everyone was amazed - she was seen as refined and reserved and nobody thought they would last. "John treated her appallingly. He slept with Yoko in their marital home and, as we discovered later, he also physically attacked her, but she was loyal to him." Los Angeles Times, The Telegraph London