Sadly, today marks the 30th anniversary of the murder of one of the world’s greatest musicians and songwriters. December 8th 1980 saw deranged fan Mark David Chapman shoot John Lennon dead outside his home in the Dakota Building in New York City, with music fans across the world united in their grief. In an event seared on the memory of a generation of fans, Lennon had stopped earlier in the evening to autograph a copy of his recently released album Double Fantasy for Chapman, before heading off to The Record Plant recording studio to complete mixing a track.
Returning to his home late that evening accompanied by wife Yoko Ono, he stopped outside his home to sign autographs for fans who had waited in the cold to meet their hero. Yelling out ‘Mr. Lennon’ as he approached him, Chapman fired several bullets in to Lennon’s back. Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at New York City’s Roosevelt Hospital at 11.15pm.
The world reeled at news of his death, while an estimated crowd of 225,000 people gathered in Central Park across the road from Lennon’s home in the Dakota Building on December 14th to observe 10 minutes silence to mark his death. Chapman is still serving a life sentence in Attica Prison in upstate New York. He became eligible for parole in 2000, but has been consistently denied his application every two years, most recently in September this year.
As we take time to pause and reflect on the tragic and senseless death of arguably the world’s greatest songwriter: take a moment to resolve a petty difference, offer an olive branch to someone you care about and have had a falling out with, tell your loved ones you love them, and finally – tell your favourite artists how much they mean to you.
You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
