John Lennon was fatally shot by Mark Chapman at the entryway of his The Dakota home, in New York City, on this day in 1980, just moments after having returned from the Record Plant Studio. A police vehicle rushed Lennon to St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead on arrival.
When the news report went out very late that 8th of December during a broadcast of ABC’s Monday Night Football, the world was stunned and shaken. (A week earlier I had celebrated my ninth birthday and was given as a gift my first John Lennon album Double Fantasy. I was devastated.) An amazing outpouring of public grief instantly rang out that night and the days that followed. Music fans around the world had lost an incredible talent.
John Lennon was famously one of the members of The Beatles, who co-wrote almost all of the bands songs with his collaborator Paul McCartney. His hits are instantly recognizable, which include – A Day in the Life, Strawberry Fields Forever, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and All You Need is Love. As a solo artist though he had intermittent success with his most celebrated anthems being Give Peace A Chance, Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and Imagine.
Besides his illustrious career, he was also famed for his political activism and paciificism. Interestingly, it was his celebrated role as a pacifist that led to the Nixon administration to move proceeding to have Lennon deported from the United States in 1972. In 1975, Lennon’s three and a half year legal battle with the US government was overturned in his favour. He lived out the rest of his life with his wife Yoko Ono and their son Sean, in his beloved New York City.
I would like to leave the reader with one of my favourite songs from the album Double Fantasy. It is somewhat ironic because it was suppose to be something of a new start or phase in his life with Yoko and his son(s). He apparently looked healthy and happier than ever before. He had found peace and was looking forward to the future. Unfortunately, he left this world in a horrible way. Please enjoy my tribute to John Lennon with his song “(Just like) Starting Over”.
Note: This featured article was originally published in 2013 and has been updated here with some minor changes.
Rearview Mirror 
I have to admit, he wasn’t one of my favorite people, but I give credit where it’s due – a terrific musician.
I remember the alarm set for NPR news and waking to the death of John Lennon and thinking John, Bobby, Martin and john and the world had changed forever, gone were those who “gave peace a chance”
John Lennon was a fascinating man. Tangentially related to this subject is the very interesting history of the Dakota building, which is now most famous for being the place he was assassinated. I might do a blog on it.