John Lennon and Yoko Ono released their fifth album, "Double Fantasy," in November of 1980.
The Hit Factory in New York City had recorded the album earlier that year. When it was first launched, it was not a big hit.
However, it won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1981, owing to the fact that Lennon was assassinated two weeks after it was released.
Lennon had autographed a copy of the record for a fan on the night of December 8, 1980. Mark David Chapman, a fan, shot and murdered the former Beatle as he went home from a recording session with his wife, Ono, just seven hours later.
Chapman allegedly expressed dissatisfaction with the way Lennon scrawled his name on the CD at the time, according to authorities. According to the Associated Press, police knew Chapman and described him as "a local screwball."
Lennon and Ono had their portrait shot by Annie Leibovitz for Rolling Stone magazine earlier in the day.
In their apartment in New York City's Dakota building, Ono was completely dressed, while Lennon was naked at her side. Lennon was interviewed at his room by radio personality Dave Sholin a little time afterward.
"I think that my job won't be over until I'm dead and buried, and I hope that's a long, long time," Lennon stated at the end of the conversation, according to biography.com.
Around 4:30 p.m., the couple left their apartment building to visit the Record Plant. For Chapman, Lennon autographed the album. Chapman shot Lennon four times in the back and chest with a.38-caliber revolver when they returned home.
When Lennon and Ono arrived, witnesses say Chapman was spotted "crouching under the doorway of the Dakota." "He had a sneer on his face as the cops carried him away," a witness stated.
That night, at 11:15 p.m., Lennon was pronounced dead in the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital.
According to biography.com, Lennon was born in England on October 9, 1940, and was raised by an aunt. However, he visited his mother on a regular basis.
His mother taught him how to play the guitar and purchased him his first instrument. According to biography.com, Lennon formed a "skiffle band called the Quarry Men" when he was 16 years old.
In 1957, John Lennon met Paul McCartney and urged him to join his band.
They finally developed a successful song composing duo that would later become known as The Beatles, a British phenomenon.
A year after meeting McCartney, Lennon was introduced to George Harrison by McCartney. Stuart Sutcliffe, a college acquaintance, joined the band, followed by Pete Best, the drummer.
"In 1958, they recorded their debut recording, Buddy Holly's 'That'll Be the Day.' In fact, Holly's band, the Crickets, was the catalyst for the band's name change. When Lennon was 12 years old, he had a vision in which a guy arrived on a flaming pie and told them, "From this day forward, you are Beatles with an 'A.'"
In 1961, Brian Epstein found the Beatles and signed them to a contract. Ringo Starr joined the band as a drummer. The group's debut record, "Love Me Do," was released in October 1962.
"Please Please Me," which reached number one in the United Kingdom, was followed by "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
Julian Lennon was born in 1962 after Lennon married Cynthia Powell. After their divorce in 1968, Lennon married Yoko Ono, a Japanese avant-garde artist, 1969.
The Beatles performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964, bringing their show to the United States.
Following the performance, the Beatles created the film "A Hard Day's Night." According to biography.com, their second film, "Help!" was released in 1965.
In September 1969, John Lennon departed the Beatles. In April 1970, McCartney announced his departure.
In 1970, Lennon released his first solo album, "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band," which was followed by "Imagine" in 1971.
In 1971, Lennon and Ono moved to the United States, but the Nixon government repeatedly threatened them with deportation. Lennon was informed that he was being deported because of his 1968 marijuana conviction in the United Kingdom, but the singer felt he was being deported because of his anti-Vietnam War activities. Documents eventually revealed that he was accurate. (Lennon was awarded permanent U.S. residence two years after Nixon resigned, in 1976)," according to biography.com.
Lennon and Ono split up in 1973. "Mind Games," "Walls and Bridges," and "Rock 'n' Roll" were among Lennon's many hit albums.
In 1974, he and Ono reunited, and their son, Sean, was born in 1975.
Lennon died five years later.
"John was a terrific man," Paul McCartney commented following Lennon's death. The entire world is going to miss him."
Chapman, who pled guilty to the murder of John Lennon, is serving a sentence of 20 to life in prison and has been rejected parole 11 times, the most recent being in August 2020. In August 2022, he will be up for parole again.