John Lennon’s death on December 8, 1980, alerted the world to bigotry and the dark side of fame. The artist was preparing his return to solo music, and five shots were enough to end his dreams.
The murder of John Lennon was a trauma for his followers around the world. The legacy of The Beatles had positioned him to fame and his solo career was no less. The English composer planned his return after five years of absence that, according to what he declared before dying, he destines to write and his family.
Along with other fans, Chapman crowds to wait for the iconic couple to appear. After a while, the British musician and the Japanese artist arrive in a limousine. Lennon habitually acts generously in front of supporters waiting outside his apartment, but during that day he was in a hurry, so he only attends to few.
Lennon’s voice trailed off forever. On December 8, 1980, he was shot five times by fan Mark David Chapman. Four decades later, the myth lives on. In front of his home, one hectare of Central Park was called Strawberry Fields, featuring a black and white Italian mosaic on the ground where the word “Imagine” can be read. It is the place of pilgrimage to honor her memory and a legacy that Yoko has left in the hands of her son.
In an instance, the author of “Imagine” was pronounced dead in the Roosevelt Hospital emergency room and days later his ashes were scattered in New York’s Central Park, where the Strawberry Fields memorial remains today.
Chapman was sentenced to life in prison and has been denied parole several times since. Fanaticism showed its negative side with the murder of Lennon, the musical idol remembered for generations every December.