Murder of John Lennon

A crowd gathered outside the Dakota the night of Lennon's death. Ono sent word that their singing kept her awake and asked that they re-convene in Central Park the following Sunday for ten minutes of silent prayer (see also the 1980 Central Park Vigil - Tribute to John Lennon). Her request for a silent gathering was honoured all over the world.

On 9 December 1980, Bruce Springsteen, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, noted after hearing of Lennon's death: "It's a hard night to come out and play but there's nothing else you can do." He ended the show with a spirited performance of "Twist and Shout".

A special commemorative issue of Rolling Stone magazine released shortly after the murder featured as its cover a photo taken the morning of the shooting by Annie Leibovitz showing a nude Lennon in an embryonic pose kissing a fully clothed Ono. In 2005, this cover was voted as the #1 magazine cover of all time by The American Society of Magazine Editors.

In 1981, George Harrison released his album Somewhere in England which included the song "All Those Years Ago", a subtle tribute to Lennon. Additionally, Elton John's Jump Up! featured a hit single, "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)," also a tribute to Lennon. The Kinks recorded another tribute that year, the Ray Davies-written "Killer's Eyes", on the album Give The People What They Want.

In 1981 Yoko released her album 'Season of Glass', her way of coping with Lennon's death.

In 1982, Paul McCartney's tribute to Lennon, the sentimental "Here Today", appeared on his acclaimed album, Tug of War. The same year, Queen's album Hot Space contained a song entitled "Life Is Real," also a tribute to Lennon.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel remembered Lennon in their 1981 reunion concert in Central Park, performing a song titled "The Late Great Johnny Ace". (Johnny Ace had been a promising singer-songwriter, who had also died tragically, in the 1950s.) Simon and Garfunkel had tried recording in the 1970s with Lennon and Harry Nilsson; their one session together had unfortunately yielded no results.

The Strawberry Fields Memorial was constructed in Central Park across the street from the Dakota, in memory of Lennon. (When George Harrison died in 2001, people congregated on the "Imagine" mosaic circle in Strawberry Fields.)

In the 1980's, Lennon fans in Prague created the "Lennon Wall" across from the French Embassy. Adorned with portraits and quotes from Lennon, along with other graffiti, it was used as a venue for anti-government and pro-peace commentary from locals. During the communist era, there was a running battle of sorts between artists and the police, since public commentary of this type was illegal.

In 1988, Warner Bros. produced a documentary film, Imagine: John Lennon (sanctioned in part by Yoko Ono). The movie was a biography of the former Beatle, featuring interviews, rarely seen musical material, and narration by Lennon himself (formed from interviews and tapes recorded by Lennon). It also introduced "Real Love", one of the last songs composed by Lennon, in an early demo (a later demo would form the basis for the version rehashed by The Beatles for The Beatles Anthology). The following year, at an auction of Beatles memorabilia, Lennon's jukebox was sold at Christie's for £2,500. The Mellotron that Lennon used to record, amongst other songs, "Strawberry Fields Forever", is currently owned by Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails.

Specially selected radio stations aired a syndicated series called The Lost Lennon Tapes in 1990. Hosted by Lennon publicist Elliot Mintz, the show spotlighted raw sessions from throughout Lennon's career with and without The Beatles, including rare material never released to the public.

In the same year, 1990, a tribute concert was held in memory of Lennon. Aptly entitled 'John Lennon: The Tribute Concert', the concert was held on the bank of the River Mersey in Liverpool. The highlight of the night was diminutive Australian star, Kylie Minogue's tribute of The Beatles' classic, "Help". Both Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and critics praised Minogue for her efforts, and the performance was generally well received.

In 1993, the early punk band Bad Religion released a song called "Don't Pray on Me", from their eighth studio album Recipe for Hate. The lyric of the song is "Mark David did it to John". The song was also not inspired or dedicated to Lennon.

On 31 October 1994, Phish, a jam band, paid tribute to Lennon and the Beatles by covering The Beatles album (also known as the White Album).

In 1995, the band Oasis released a song called "Don't Look Back in Anger", from their second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. The piano at the beginning of the song is taken from "Imagine".

In 1996, the band The Cranberries released a song called "I just Shot John Lennon", from their third album To the Faithful Departed. The song chronicles the death of John Lennon. The title comes from the words Mark David Chapman spoke immediately after shooting John Lennon.

In October 2000, John Lennon Museum was opened in Ono's hometown Saitama, Japan, to preserve knowledge of his works and career.

During the America: A Tribute to Heroes concert on September 21, 2001, Neil Young (an avowed devotee of Lennon) sang "Imagine."

In March, 2002, his native city, Liverpool, honoured his memory by renaming their airport "Liverpool John Lennon Airport," and adopting as its motto a line from his song "Imagine": "Above us only sky". In the same year, Lennon was voted 8th by the British public in the "100 Greatest Britons" poll run by the BBC. BBC History Magazine commented that his "generational influence is immense."

In 2003 Ivory Wire, consisting of former members of the Chicago rock band Dovetail Joint, released the song "To the Very Marrow," from their first album "The World is Flat." The song chronicles the death of John Lennon and the effect it had on Ivory Wire frontman/songwriter Chuck Gladfelter.

In 2004 Madonna paid tribute to Lennon by singing a cover of "Imagine" during her anti-war themed "Re-Invention World Tour." Also in 2004, A Perfect Circle recorded a cover of "Imagine" on their album eMOTIVe.

In 2005, Cowboy Junkies covered "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier" on their anti-war album, "Early 21st Century Blues".

A biographical Broadway musical titled Lennon was mounted at New York City’s Broadhurst Theater in 2005. Written and directed by Don Scardino from Lennon's own words in interviews and songs, Lennon featured nine diverse actors and actresses portraying the singer-songwriter at various stages in his life backed by an onstage 10-piece band. The play was produced with the endorsement of Yoko Ono, who gave permission for the production to use two unpublished Lennon songs, India, India and I Don't Want to Lose You, and who attended preview performances of the show at New York City's Broadhurst Theater on August 5 & 6, 2005. The Musical had been premiered in San Francisco to poor reviews and had received a very lacklustre response from theatre critics and Beatles fans alike. It was subsequently reworked, later gaining a much better reception. After 42 preview performances, Lennon opened on Broadway on 14 August 2005, and closed on 24 September 2005 after 49 performances.

Country music superstar Dolly Parton included "Imagine" on her 2005 album Those Were The Days.

To coincide with Human Rights Day 2005, Amnesty International released four Lennon covers - the Black Eyed Peas’ version of Power to the People, The Cure’s interpretation of Love, Snow Patrol’s recording of Isolation, and Grow Old With Me performed by The Postal Service. More tracks will follow in 2006, under the banner of 'Make Some Noise'.

John Lennon Park was built in Cuba as a memorial to the musician.

Julian Lennon, John's son with Cynthia, enjoys a notable recording career of his own, as does Sean Lennon, his son with Yoko.

The Band O.A.R. wrote a song called "Dakota" in honour and remembrance of Lennon.