Died On This Date (December 8, 1980) John Lennon / The Beatles
themusicsover John Lennon
October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980
John Lennon was to some, the leader of the Beatles. As guitarist and primary songwriter along with Paul McCartney, it was Lennon’s vision and drive that helped transform the young Liverpool skiffle band into the game-changing band that would become arguably the greatest pop band in history. Lennon was given his first guitar when he was 16, and within a year, he formed his first band, the Quarrymen. The following year he met McCartney at one of their shows and asked him to join the band based solely on his ability to tune a guitar and his knowledge of songs. They would soon become the Beatles with the addition of George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Over the next decade, the Beatles would change the face of popular music and would go on to be the biggest selling group in history. Following the break up of the Beatles in 1970, Lennon began releasing albums with his wife and sometime musical partner, Yoko Ono. Songs like “Imagine,” “Cold Turkey,” “Happy X-Mas (War Is Over),” and “Whatever Gets You Through The Night” kept Lennon relevant during a time that saw many changes throughout America and beyond. In November of 1980, Lennon’s Double Fantasy was released to rave reviews and strong fan anticipation due to the fact that Lennon had been all but invisible raising his son Sean. His last albums was 1975’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, a collection of covers with no new compositions by Lennon. Before that, it was 1974’s Walls and Bridges. Just three weeks after the release of Double Fantasy, and while still enjoying the overwhelming response to the album, Lennon was walking outside of his New York City apartment building only to be senselessly shot and killed by deranged fan, Mark David Chapman. John Lennon was 40 years old when he was murdered, and the world was never the same.
What You Should Own
Eric Woolfson was a much respected Scottish musician, songwriter and singer who is best remembered as one-half of the driving force behind the Alan Parsons Project. Woolfson started out mostly as a songwriter, penning songs for the likes of Marianne Faithfull, Peter Noone and the Tremeloes. In the early ’70s, he got into artist management, guiding the careers of Carl Douglas of “Kung Fu Fighting” fame and an up-and-coming producer, Alan Parsons who had previously engineered the Beatles’ Abbey Road and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. In 1975, the two began collaborating creatively and the Alan Parsons Project was born. Over the next decade, the group released such popular prog rock albums as I Robot, Pyramid and Eye in the Sky. Overall, they sold in excess of 40 million albums. By the early ’90s, Woolfson and Parsons parted ways with Woolfson moving into musical theater. Woolfson was later diagnosed with cancer and died from the disease on December 2, 2009. He was 64.
John Rostill was an English musician and songwriter who is perhaps best remembered as a bassist for one of England’s most successful rock groups, the Shadows. With 69 UK charting singles (including 17 #1s) they have been recognized as England’s third most successful charted singles act in history. Only Cliff Richard and 