Lennon was murdered in
New York City. After his death, a crowd gathered in mourning to pay tribute to him in ten minutes of silence as requested by his widow,
Yoko Ono.
Posthumous recognition Lennon has been the subject of numerous posthumous awards. His album
Double Fantasy was awarded a 1982
Grammy Award for Album of the Year and a 1982 Brit Award for outstanding contribution to music.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked Lennon in sixth place in a countdown of the greatest artists of all time, and Lennon's song "Imagine" was voted the third greatest song of all time. Several posthumous compilation albums have been released, such as
Lennon Legend and
Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon.
Concerts and albums Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur In 2006, a selection of modern recording artists released versions of Lennon's songs on a charitable album called
Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, named after a
John Lennon song. Performers included
U2,
Lenny Kravitz,
The Cure,
Green Day,
R.E.M.,
Christina Aguilera,
Duran Duran, and
The Black Eyed Peas, among others. U2 recorded the title track.
Songs "All Those Years Ago" George Harrison had written "All Those Years ago" before the death of Lennon. The lyrics were originally different, however; upon hearing the news of Lennon's death, Harrison changed the lyrics and rewrote the song as a tribute to Lennon. Surviving Beatles,
Ringo Starr and
Paul McCartney, along with McCartney's wife
Linda and
Wings member
Denny Laine, contributed to the recording.
"Here Today" McCartney recorded his own personal tribute to Lennon, titled "Here Today," on his 1982 album,
Tug of War. McCartney had been affected by Lennon's death to the extent that he became reluctant about touring.
"Life Is Real (Song for Lennon)" Freddie Mercury of
Queen wrote "Life Is Real" as a tribute to Lennon. The title may be a reference to the lyric 'love is real', from Lennon's 1970 song "
Love", or the line 'nothing is real', from
The Beatles' "
Strawberry Fields Forever".
"Hey John" The
GDR rock band
Die Puhdys dedicated Lennon their song "Hey John", performed and recorded in 1981. The band describes their fan feelings about John Lennon, especially to his song "
Give Peace a Chance". The song contains Lennon samples from "Give Peace a Chance" and "
Imagine".
"Roll On John" Bob Dylan wrote "Roll On John" as a tribute to Lennon on his 2012 album entitled
Tempest.
"Empty Garden (Hey, Hey Johnny)" Elton John wrote "Empty Garden (Hey, Hey Johnny)" for Lennon, a dedication for Lennon to show a love for their friendship. Elton John titled it "Empty Garden," as Lennon told him stories how he was going to create a garden outside of
The Dakota, which was the building where Lennon lived, and how he never was able to grow it as he was shot by a crazed fan outside of his home in 1980.
"The Late Great Johnny Ace" Paul Simon wrote this song about both the fifties singer
Johnny Ace and John Lennon in 1981. It was first performed for the concert in
Central Park in 1981, as seen in the film, but not included on the
album. It was finally released on his 1982 album "
Hearts and Bones".
Films ====
The U.S. vs. John Lennon ==== ====
Imagine: John Lennon ==== == George Harrison ==