John Lennon, Elton John, Madison Square Garden, Thanksgiving 1974
John Winston Lennon; 9 October 1940 ? 8 December 1980)
In 1974 Elton performed on John Lennon's comeback single Whatever Gets You Through The Night, and later that year was joined by Lennon onstage at New York's Madison Square Garden. This performance, always cited by Elton as one of the most memorable of his entire career, was to be John Lennon's final concert.
English rock musician, singer, writer, songwriter, artist, actor and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. Lennon along with Paul McCartney formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and "wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history".
On the night of 8 December 1980 Mark David Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times (the fifth shot missed) in the entrance hallway of the Dakota. Lennon had autographed a copy of Double Fantasy for Chapman earlier that same night.
Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival in the Emergency Room at the Roosevelt Hospital at 11:15 p.m. On the following day, 9 December 1980, Ono issued a statement: "There is no funeral for John. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please pray the same for him. Love, Yoko and Sean."[185] Chapman pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life. He is still in prison, having been denied parole five times.
Comments
John:
"I'd like to thank Elton and the boys for having me on tonight. We tried to think of a number that we could finish off with so I could get out of here and be sick (Elton chuckles), so we thought we'd do a number of an old estranged fiance of mine called Paul. We just barely know it...one two three..."
Reporter:
And they kicked into "I Saw her Standing There." Also the night he and Yoko got back together. An amazing night, to say the least!
