The Last Days of John Lennon Read online

  “I guess when you die you become much more bigger because you’re part of everything”: Keith Badman, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up, 1970–2001 (London: Omnibus Press, 2001), 274.

  —

  He has never slept better in his entire life: James R. Gaines, “Mark David Chapman Part III: The Killer Takes His Fall,” People, March 9, 1987.

  “If he was obsessed with anything, it was bringing attention to himself”: “The Murder of John Lennon,” Crimes of the Century, CNN.com, January 25, 2014.

  an epiphany one night while sitting in a lounge at Rikers Island: Gaines, “Mark David Chapman Part III.”

  “And then it hit me, like a joyful thing, that I was called out for a special purpose”: Gaines, “Mark David Chapman Part III.”

  “stimulate the reading of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye”: Paul L. Montgomery, “Lennon Murder Suspect Preparing Insanity Defense,” New York Times, February 9, 1981.

  He shares his promotional plans with Bantam, the publisher of the paperback edition: Gaines, “Mark David Chapman Part III.”

  “Everyone will read The Catcher in the Rye”: Gaines, “Mark David Chapman Part III.”

  tears up his copy of The Catcher in the Rye: Gaines, “Mark David Chapman Part III.”

  he’s possessed by a demon: Gaines, “Mark David Chapman Part III.”

  “picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all”: Katharine Shaffer, Stuart Marques, and Don Singleton, “Mark David Chapman Is Sentenced to 20 Years to Life in Prison in 1981 for Killing John Lennon,” New York Daily News, August 23, 2015.

  speak out about phoniness and corruption: Gaines, “Mark David Chapman Part III.”

  lack his superior intelligence: Gaines, “Mark David Chapman Part III.”

  a minimum of twenty years: Shaffer, Marques, and Singleton, “Mark David Chapman Is Sentenced to 20 Years to Life in Prison for Killing John Lennon.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author and most trusted storyteller. He has created many enduring fictional characters and series, including Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Middle School, and I Funny. Among his notable literary collaborations are The President Is Missing, with President Bill Clinton, and the Max Einstein series, produced in partnership with the Albert Einstein Estate. Patterson’s writing career is characterized by a single mission: to prove that there is no such thing as a person who “doesn’t like to read,” only people who haven’t found the right book. He’s given over three million books to schoolkids and the military, donated more than seventy million dollars to support education, and endowed over five thousand college scholarships for teachers. For his prodigious imagination and championship of literacy in America, Patterson was awarded the 2019 National Humanities Medal. The National Book Foundation presented him with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, and he is also the recipient of an Edgar Award and nine Emmy Awards. He lives in Florida with his family.

  Casey Sherman is a New York Times bestselling author or coauthor of eleven books, including The Finest Hours and Hunting Whitey. He’s an award-winning journalist who has written for the Washington Post, Esquire, and the Boston Herald.

  Dave Wedge is a New York Times bestselling author or coauthor of four books, including Boston Strong and Hunting Whitey. He’s an award-winning journalist who has written for the Boston Herald, Vice, and Esquire.

  Photos

  John in the leather gear he favors as a young rocker in Liverpool.

  EVENING STANDARD/GETTY IMAGES

  The original “Silver Beatles” in Liverpool (L to R: Stuart Sutcliffe, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, with a sit-in drummer).

  MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

  German poster advertising the Beatles alongside Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (the band Ringo Starr played in).

  GAB ARCHIVE/REDFERNS

  Everything clicks into place for the band once Ringo Starr joins as drummer.

  MAX SCHELER - K & K/REDFERNS

  Everything clicks into place for the band once Ringo Starr joins as drummer.

  LMPC VIA GETTY IMAGES

  John is initially delighted by the Beatles’ rise to fame.

  DAVID FARRELL/REDFERNS

  John with his wife, Cynthia, and their son, Julian. John finds the transition between rock star and family man difficult.

  BOB WHITAKER/GETTY IMAGES

  The Beatles (with manager, Brian Epstein, in Paris) tour almost constantly.

  HARRY BENSON/GETTY IMAGES

  A 2-for-1 photo op in Florida for the Beatles and rising boxing star Cassius Clay (the future Muhammad Ali).

  PAUL SLADE/PARIS MATCH VIA GETTY IMAGES

  John’s handwritten set list from the Beatles’ first concert in America on February 11, 1964, on stationery from their hotel in Washington, DC.

  ROBERT MACPHERSON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

  Dr. Joyce Brothers interviews the Beatles at the Plaza Hotel in New York.

  BETTMANN

  The Beatles chafe under their squeaky-clean image and cause controversy with the “Butcher Cover.”

  MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

  John grows weary with the constant demands of press.

  MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

  A “Beatles Bonfire,” where teens are urged to burn records and memorabilia in protest of John’s observation that the band is more popular than Jesus.

  BETTMANN

  The Beatles celebrate the release of their latest album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which goes on to become the bestselling studio album in British history.

  MARK AND COLLEEN HAYWARD/GETTY IMAGES

  The Beatles celebrate the release of their latest album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which goes on to become the bestselling studio album in British history.

  DAVID MAGNUS/SHUTTERSTOCK

  John and his son Julian in front of John’s psychedelic Rolls-Royce.

  KEYSTONE-FRANCE/GAMMA-KEYSTONE VIA GETTY IMAGES

  In early 1968, the Beatles are among many celebrities who travel to India to study transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (L to R: John, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, the Maharishi, George, actress Mia Farrow and her brother John Farrow, singer Donovan, and Paul).

  KEYSTONE FEATURES/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

  During a month at the ashram, John and Paul write most of the songs for what will become The Beatles, aka the White Album.

  ROLLS PRESS/POPPERFOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

  John and Julian with Eric Clapton, during the December 1968 filming of the documentary The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.

  CHRIS WALTER/WIREIMAGE

  Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and John Lennon at the Rock and Roll Circus.

  GLOBE PHOTOS/SHUTTERSTOCK

  John with Mick Jagger in London.

  DAVID MAGNUS/SHUTTERSTOCK

  On January 30, 1969, the Beatles give their last-ever live performance together, on the rooftop of Apple Records.

  EXPRESS/EXPRESS/GETTY IMAGES

  John Lennon and Yoko Ono, one of rock music’s most famous pairings.

  SUSAN WOOD/GETTY IMAGES

  On March 20, 1969, John and Yoko get married in Gibraltar, then stage a lengthy “Bed-In” Peace Protest as part of their honeymoon.

  KEYSTONE FEATURES/GETTY IMAGES

  On March 20, 1969, John and Yoko get married in Gibraltar, then stage a lengthy “Bed-In” Peace Protest as part of their honeymoon.

  CENTRAL PRESS/GETTY IMAGES

  John at the piano where he wrote Imagine, the most celebrated album and single of his solo career.

  ARCHIVE PL/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

  Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono goofing poolside in Toronto, the day after the Plastic Ono Band’s first public performance.

  MARK AND COLLEEN HA
YWARD/GETTY IMAGES

  John plays “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On),” which he wrote in less than an hour.

  ICON AND IMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

  John wearing a “People for Peace” armband on the TV program Top of the Pops with the Plastic Ono Band.

  CHRIS WALTER/WIREIMAGE

  At the New York Office of Immigration and Naturalization, fighting deportation in 1972.

  BETTMANN

  Four years later, John is issued a Green Card. Visible here is the “Ono” added to his legal name.

  TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

  John with Alice Cooper, fellow member of the Hollywood Vampires, a celebrity drinking club.

  GLOBE PHOTOS/MEDIAPUNCH/SHUTTERSTOCK

  Drinking Brandy Alexanders at the Troubadour in LA in 1974 (L to R: Peter Lawford, John, May Pang, and Harry Nilsson).

  MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

  John’s last live performance, with Elton John in Madison Square Garden on November 28, 1974.

  STEVE MORLEY/REDFERNS

  David Bowie, Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Yoko Ono, John, and Roberta Flack at the 1975 Grammy Awards in New York.

  STEPHEN MORELY/SHUTTERSTOCK

  John in New York City with Yoko and their toddler son Sean, born on John’s 35th birthday in 1975.

  VINNIE ZUFFANTE/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

  John makes musical memories with Sean.

  MEDIAPUNCH/SHUTTERSTOCK

  John and Yoko pose in front of the Dakota on November 21, 1980, days after their album Double Fantasy—John’s first in five years—comes out.

  ALLAN TANNENBAUM/GETTY IMAGES

  John Lennon signs autographs for fans waiting outside his home in the Dakota—including Mark David Chapman, who murders him later that night.

  PAUL GORESH/POPPERFOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

  Producer David Geffen escorts Yoko from Roosevelt Hospital after John is declared dead on arrival.

  GENE KAPPOCK/NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE VIA GETTY IMAGES

  Huge crowds of mourners gather outside the Dakota before moving their vigil to nearby Central Park.

  KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES

  Huge crowds of mourners gather outside the Dakota before moving their vigil to nearby Central Park.

  KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES

  The logbook Chapman signs as “John Lennon” before setting off for New York.

  BETTMANN

  Chapman is escorted from the police station in handcuffs.

  BETTMANN

  Mark David Chapman’s mugshot.

  BUREAU OF PRISONS/GETTY IMAGES

  Chapman carries a new copy of The Catcher in the Rye (his previous copy is held in police evidence) to his 1981 court proceedings.

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  Coming Soon

  The Russian

  Walk in My Combat Boots

  The Red Book

  21st Birthday

  The President’s Daughter