Chapman is the Lennon killer. Chapman Mark David: biography

26.11.2011 - 14:02

Fame comes in different forms. Someone creates it by writing a brilliant book or an outstanding novel, and someone gets into history by committing a terrible crime. Mark David Chapman became famous for killing John Lennon - killing him because the "little men" in his head told him to...

American teenager

Mark was born in Atlanta in October 1955, the son of a bank employee and a housewife. Chapman's childhood and youth occurred in an era when America's youth actively rebelled against the ideals of their fathers and lived by the principle of "Sex, drugs, rock and roll." Mark kept up with his peers - he smoked weed, and at 14 he ran away from home and went into long haul on US roads.

Life did not spoil the adventures of a runaway teenager, and by the age of twenty, Chapman, as it might seem, had settled down. In any case, he now had a completely worthy goal, from the point of view of a respectable American: to get an education and become a full member, and then, if possible, the leader of the Christian Youth Union.

Mark takes his college exams and becomes freelancer HSM, conscientiously pays dues and fulfills all the tasks of the union: goes on a humanitarian mission to Beirut, then helps Vietnamese refugees. Mark gets a job (he gets a job as a security guard near the college) and a girlfriend. IN free time he constantly rereads Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, a book that became a veritable "bible" for teenagers and young adults at the time, and listens to the Beatles.

However, in 1977, the process of turning the “rebel” into a full member of society stalled: Mark’s parents divorced; For some reason he himself began to quickly gain weight and abandoned his studies and the Christian Union. Plus, his girlfriend left him. On the one hand, these are not such serious troubles, but they had a completely unpredictable effect on Chapman.

One day, he rented a car, went to a secluded place and, having connected a rubber hose to the exhaust pipe and pushed it into the cabin, locked himself from the inside, turning on the engine. He was saved by accident - the hose burned out before carbon monoxide filled his lungs. Mark did not attempt suicide again, but this act clearly characterizes his mental state.

Why John Lennon?

As already mentioned, Mark was fond of the Beatles. However, he was more attracted not by the music of the famous four, but by the philosophy itself, the views on life expressed by the leader of the Beatles. At first, Mark literally worshiped Lennon, tried to learn to play the guitar “like the Beatles,” and he even succeeded.

But the stronger the passion, the more painful it is. For Mark, this process resulted in real mania. His wife Gloria Abe, 18 months before the tragedy, recalled that Mark often loudly accused Lennon of “betraying ideals”, that the singer exchanged the freedom that he sang and his fans for wealth and “quiet vegetation.”

Already in prison, he said: “I felt completely defeated. I looked at his photographs. Put yourself in my place. Here he is standing on the roof of a luxurious building. So young and beautiful! He encouraged us to develop our imagination and not be greedy. And I believed him! All the walls of my room were covered with photographs of the Beatles. I believed that they were not doing all this for money. From the age of ten I was imbued with the rightness of John Lennon, I accepted him with all my heart... But suddenly I discovered “little people” in my head. I talked to them every day, asking them what I should do. And it was they, the “little men,” who convinced me to kill the famous musician John Lennon.”

In 1980, Mark moved to New York - closer to his former idol...

Five shots

Chapman stayed at the New York YMCA on December 7, 1980, but moved to an expensive hotel the very next day. He spent the next day in front of Lennon's house with his new album under his arm. He also had a pistol and the book “The Catcher in the Rye.”

At exactly 16.30 Lennon came out into the street, accompanied by Yoko. He headed towards the limousine, but at that time Chapman emerged from the crowd and asked for an autograph. “Lennon was very cordial to me,” Chapman later said. “I handed him the album, and he took out a black pencil and, while signing, scratched it on the cover. He tried to write out the first letter of his name, then scratched it a couple more times and laughed. Then he wrote: “John Lennon” and below “1980.” Handing me the album, he asked: “Is that all you want?” And I said, "Thank you, John." Now I think about his words back then: “Is that all you want?” It seems he had a presentiment of his death."

That evening, Chapman returned to the musician’s house again. John Lennon's car arrived at half past eleven. The singer slammed the door and headed towards the entrance. Mark called out to him and when Lennon looked back, he aimed five bullets from his...

When the police arrived, Mark was sitting on the sidewalk reading The Catcher in the Rye...

"Mentally abnormal..."

America hated Mark Chapman. The first lawyer invited, a passionate Beatles fan himself, refused to defend him. The second said that Lennon’s killer would be acquitted, since, according to psychologists, Mark was insane. Psychiatrist Robert Marvitt, who was looking for motives for the murder, said: “Mark began signing Lennon’s name. It's safe to say he believed he was or was becoming Lennon.

At a critical moment, Chapman could say to himself: "Lord, Lennon knows there are two of us. I have to reduce them to one." But if we look at the Mark David Chapman phenomenon as a whole, I am not sure that we will ever know what really controlled him, what set this diabolical mechanism in motion.”

For the murder of John Lennon, the court sentenced Chapman to life imprisonment in Attica prison (New York state). After 20 years behind bars, he became eligible for parole in 2000, which he has since applied for every two years, as permitted by law.

Eleven years ago, when he first filed his petition, Mark claimed that he had forever gotten rid of the “little people” in his brain that pushed him to commit this senseless and cruel crime. He tried to prove that he had recovered from a psychological disorder and no longer heard the voices that forced him to shoot the musician. But he was denied release - the memory of John Lennon was still too fresh.

A representative of the parole commission said that they received fifty letters and a petition signed by 1,100 people demanding that Mark Chapman not be released, and only three letters asking for his release. Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, also joined the opponents of early release.

Since then, every two years Mark submits another petition. Last time he asked the court for clemency in September 2010. And in once again he was refused. He will be able to submit his next application in August 2012.

(UPD. In August 2012, Mark Chapman was denied a pardon for the seventh time).

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Mark Chapman will likely never be released

June 22, 1981 American Mark David Chapman At a trial in New York, he pleaded guilty to the murder of one of the most famous musicians of the twentieth century - John Lennon, one of the creators and leaders of the British group The Beatles.

The judges found Chapman sane and sentenced him to life imprisonment, which he was to serve in the Attica prison near Buffalo.

Six months earlier, on December 8, 1980, Chapman shot the legendary Beatle at the gates of the Dakota House building in Manhattan, where Lennon lived with his wife, a Japanese avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, and a five-year-old son Sean.

Autograph before death

The events of that ill-fated December day, when one of the “murders of the century” was committed in New York, the world media later vied with each other to describe in great detail. Around five in the evening, John and Yoko went to the recording studio to work on a new composition - Walking on Thin Ice.

Leaving the Dakota House (they had lived in this house for eight years by that time), the couple, before getting into the car, managed to chat with a group of fans who, according to tradition, were waiting for them at the entrance to the building, holding photographs and covers at the ready autograph plates.

The couple did not know that among the fans there was a man who, five hours later, would fire five bullets at John. 25-year-old Mark Chapman, a guy from the Hawaiian city of Honolulu, was waiting for the musician in the company of other fans. When Lennon approached, Champion handed him the cover of the Double Fantasy album and a pen. The Beatle smiled and wrote: “John Lennon, December 1980,” after which he asked: “Is this everything you wanted?” “Yes,” answered the young man. “Thank you, John.”

It is amazing that the moment of this meeting was preserved on film. Historical photo taken by an amateur photographer Paul Goresh. He was also a devoted Beatles fan, and when stranger guy approached him with a request to help get Lennon’s autograph and even offered $50 for Goresh to document their interaction—the photographer agreed without any doubt.

When asked why it was so important for Mark to get this photo, Chapman replied: “Otherwise no one in Hawaii will believe me that I talked to John Lennon himself.”

Then events developed like this: at half past ten the Lennon couple returned from the studio. They could have driven the limousine directly into the protected yard of the Dakota, but, as luck would have it, this time they decided to walk the last, short part of the journey. Leaving the car outside, John and Yoko walked through the wide archway into the courtyard.

Shots into history

John walked a little behind his wife and even managed to pay attention to the man trampling at the gate young man, with whom he communicated during the day. A few seconds later, when the musician was almost leading into the yard, a shout was heard from the street: “Mr. Lennon!”

John turned around - and at that moment a bullet whistled over his head, and behind him there was a crash of glass: it was one of the windows of the Dakota breaking. A second later, the Beatle was hit by a second bullet. Then the third, fourth... Two of them hit Lennon in the left shoulder, and two more in the back, piercing the lung and aorta.

Amazingly, after this the musician was still able to stand on his feet. He walked staggering a few steps; got to the entrance, wheezed to the concierge Jay Hastings: “They shot at me!..” - and fell, dropping from his hands a cassette with a recording of a song just recorded in the studio.

While Dakota employees were bustling around in the hall, trying to help the mortally wounded musician, and Yoko was screaming in horror; While the police arrived, without waiting for the ambulance, they loaded John into the car and rushed to the nearest hospital, trying to get there before he bled to death. Chapman calmly took off his hat and coat and sat down on the sidewalk. Opposite the Dakota, across the street, was the entrance to the subway, but the killer did not even try to reach it, run away or hide.

Waiting for the police to finally come after him, he took a book out of his pocket and began to flip through the pages, running his eyes over them. It was the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" Jerome Salinger. When going on a crime, Mark deliberately took him with him. Later he admits that in his thoughts he often identified himself with the main character of the novel, a teenager Holden Caulfield.

Doorman Jose Perdomo, jumping out of the Dakota, shouted at Chapman: “Do you know what you did?!” “Yes,” he answered. “I just shot John Lennon.”

Split personality

The question that for many years after this tormented both John’s fans and journalists who conducted numerous investigations on this matter: what made Chapman commit the crime?

At one time, the conspiracy version of the murder was popular in the American press; it was, in particular, promoted by the famous publicist Phil Strongman. He was sure that Lennon was “ordered” by the American intelligence services at the suggestion of even higher and “darker” figures in the country’s leadership.

Politicians and influential lobbyists from arms companies could not help but be irritated by Lennon's declarative pacifism, Strongman is convinced. John and Yoko staged protests many times against the Vietnam War, the arms race and, in general, the rabid militarism for which the United States is so famous. Each of these performances, without exaggeration, became a global event.

However, fans of this version remain in the minority. Most are sure that the matter is a matter of mental illness, a strange insanity of Mr. Chapman himself.

A day after the murder, on December 9, Mark, while at the police station, wrote a statement that two entities lived inside him. The one who is more kind, she would never want to offend anyone, much less take their life. But his smaller inner half, his own pocket devil, had been “persuading” him for several months to carry out his insidious plan.

The devil wanted to become famous, to become famous throughout the world, as John Lennon was famous. I wanted to become new Herostratus. And in the end the devil won. Mark flew from Hawaii to the States, came to the Dakota and committed murder.

Chapman later admitted that when he shot his victim, he was trying to “become a little Lennon.” In his work log - he worked as a security guard and watchman - he sometimes signed not as “Mark Chapman”, but as “John Lennon”.

A century of will not to be seen

36 years have passed since the murder, and Chapman spent all these years behind bars. Nine times he applied for pardon and parole, but the court never took his side.

The killer first addressed the authorities and the public with such a request in 2001, after serving 20 years. He stated that he had overcome his psychological problems and was no longer a danger to society. John Lennon, Chapman recalled, was a man of progressive, tolerant views, and would certainly have pardoned him if he had been alive.

However, for the trial - both that time and all subsequent times - the opinion of the widow of the deceased, Yoko Ono, turned out to be decisive. The artist said that she would no longer be able to live in peace if the killer was released.

Fear for his own life and for John's children - Sean and Juliana, born in the first marriage of a musician with a college classmate by Cynthia Powell, - will turn her life into hell.

“I am afraid that this will bring back nightmare and chaos,” the Japanese woman wrote to the judges. “Neither I nor both of John’s sons will be safe for the rest of our lives.”

Surprisingly, unlike so many people who would prefer to move away from a place where everything reminds of the tragedy, Yoko did not even think about selling her apartment in Dakota. He still lives in his and John’s home, not wanting to part with the memories dear to his heart.

Not far from home, in New York's Central Park, there is a Lennon memorial, where Yoko scattered the ashes of her beloved husband on a platform with the word Imagine laid out on it - in honor of one of his most famous songs.

en.wikipedia.org

Mark Chapman, John Lennon's killer, could be released next month. The request for his early release will be considered on October 4. Lennon's fans promise that if Chapman is released from prison, he will not live another day.

"I'll be happy to deal with him"

In 1981, Mark Chapman was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of ex-Beatles member John Lennon, committed a year earlier. However, according to US law, after 20 years from the date of committing the crime, he received the right to apply for early release every two years. Chapman took advantage of this opportunity as soon as it presented itself to him, in 2000. At the time, he told the parole board that he had “overcome his psychological problems” and was no longer a danger to society. However, Lennon's widow Yoko Ono said that neither she nor the singer's children Julian and Sean would feel safe if Chapman was released from prison. In addition, the killer infuriated Lennon's fans by saying that the singer himself would probably have forgiven him: "I think he would have been generous, he would have taken care of me." As a result, a special commission decided to leave Chapman in prison. Repeated hearings in 2002 coincided with John Lennon's 62nd birthday, and Chapman was again unable to be released. His third clemency application will be heard by the New York State Parole Board on October 4. Officials have so far declined to make any predictions about the upcoming hearing, but John Lennon fans sincerely hope that Chapman will be denied again. In this regard, one of the Internet sites has already begun collecting signatures for a petition calling on the commission to reject the petition and completely deprive Chapman of the right to pardon. Otherwise, John Lennon's fans threaten the killer with violence. “Chapman should be executed. If they don’t do this, I will gladly deal with him myself,” wrote a fan from Finland. “Mark David Chapman is a bloody killer. He doesn't deserve to be released from prison, not just for what he did to John Lennon, but for what he did to Julian, Sean, Yoko, Ringo, George, Paul and all of us. Let him rot in prison! - writes another fan. - If Chapman is released from prison, he will not live a day. Too many people want him dead." It is noteworthy that the New York police officially refused to provide security for Chapman if he received his freedom. “Guarding an ex-criminal is not the job of the police. If necessary, Chapman should be provided with security by

State Parole Board,” said the New York Police Department press officer coolly.

"I killed my double in Lennon"

Mark Chapman was born into the family of a bank employee and housewife, David and Diana Chapman, in North Carolina in October 1955. At the age of 15, Chapman, who felt a strong desire to assert himself, let go long hair, began smoking marijuana and constantly carrying the Bible with him, which he quoted at every opportunity. At the age of 16, Chapman joined the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). In 1975, as part of a humanitarian mission, he even traveled to Lebanon, where he recruited new members of the movement and preached Christian values ​​as interpreted by the YMCA. In addition, Chapman was interested in music, He himself played the guitar well. His idols were such rock stars as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and, of course, John Lennon. Beginning in 1977, Chapman began to suffer from attacks of acute depression, as his career and personal life remained unsettled. Over the years, he became disillusioned with Lennon, because he, they say, “betrayed himself, exchanging dreams for wealth.” Chapman more than once started talking about the fact that the leader of The Beatles was a “traitor,” and at the same time tried to be like his idol in everything. He even married an American of Japanese origin, Gloria Abe. On October 27, 1980, Mark Chapman purchased a short-barreled pistol and began to wander around New York, carefully considering a certain plan. Later, at the trial, he would say that he was forced to kill Lennon. inner voice, to whom the little men spoke." Chapman spent the entire day of December 8 near the musician’s house, surrounded by his fans, and even took an autograph from Lennon himself - at 16.30 he signed his latest record, “Double Fantasy,” for him. Eight hours later, when the ex-Beatle's limousine stopped in front of his house and Lennon headed towards the front door, he was called out. The musician stopped and turned around at the exclamation. Five shots were fired, all of them reaching their target. Mark Chapman didn't even try to hide. He was immediately arrested and sent for psychiatric examination. As a result of a trial that lasted a year, Chapman received a life sentence. Speaking with the last word At the sentencing, the killer said: “Lord, Lennon knows there are two of us. I have to reduce us to one. In it I killed my double.”

Mark David Chapman

Mark David Chapman David Chapman). Born May 10, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. American criminal. John Lennon's killer.

Father - David Curtis Chapman, US Air Force sergeant.

Mother - Diana Elizabeth Chapman (nee Peace), nurse.

Lived and studied in Atlanta.

WITH early years was interested in music. At the age of ten, his idols were the musicians of the world famous group The Beatles. Mark was an avid Beatle fan who collected all of The Beatles' records. His room was plastered with posters of his idols, and he himself, in imitation of them, grew long hair and dressed a la the Beatles.

Played guitar in a school rock band.

Chapman was 15 years old at the time of the Beatles' breakup. A year later, he disappeared from Atlanta. According to rumors, he went to Los Angeles, where he joined the YMCA and became an activist, which is why he appearance changed dramatically - now he wore a short, neat haircut, a white shirt and a strict black tie. But then he returned to continue his studies at school. During school breaks, I carefully studied the Holy Scriptures. Also, in his free time, he walked around the school and offered everyone to buy records from his Beatles collection.

After school, Chapman did not study anywhere and did not have a specific profession. From the time he left school until his arrest at the Dakota Gate, he traveled extensively as an "Asiatic Refugee Agent." Went to South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Lebanon and England. From Lebanon, Chapman brought a tape recording of a street shootout. At home, he often listened to this tape several times in a row. According to eyewitnesses, she “excited him greatly and at the same time terrified him.”

Lived on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. In December 1979, he took a job as a caretaker at the Waikiki Cooperative Housing in downtown Honolulu, only to quit less than a year later. On his last day of work at Waikiki (October 23, 1980), Chapman signed his work log not as “Mark Chapman” but as “John Lennon.” Having settled with Waikiki, Chapman bought a pistol, borrowed $2,000 in cash and, without properly explaining to his wife where he was going, crossed the Pacific Ocean.

John Lennon's murder

He began planning the murder three months before it was committed. Earlier, in late October of that year (before the release of the Double Fantasy album), he had come to New York intending to kill Lennon; For this trip, he sold Norman Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait lithograph and bought a pistol from a friend, but on November 5 he flew to his hometown of Atlanta because he needed ammunition that could not be legally purchased in New York.

A few days later he returned to New York with a pistol and ammunition, but under the impression of the film " Ordinary people“changed his mind about making an attempt on Lennon and returned to Hawaii in mid-November. Chapman told his wife about his plans, and she asked him to seek treatment, after which Mark even made an appointment with a psychiatrist. However, in the end he convinced her that he had gotten rid of the weapon and changed his mind about committing murder, and was leaving to write a children's book. On December 6, two days before the assassination attempt, he returned to New York.

On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon near his home in Manhattan, New York. Chapman spent most of that day at John's house, and when Lennon went to the recording studio around 4 p.m., he asked him to autograph the Double Fantasy album, which he did (the copy of the Double Fantasy album that Chapman signed was sold with auction in March 2011 for 530 thousand pounds). At this point, photographer Paul Goresh took a photo of Lennon and Chapman. This photo was the last photograph of Lennon during his lifetime. Goresh promised to make a copy of the photo for Chapman, and he stayed at the Dakota under the pretext of waiting for the photo.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., after four hours of work on "Walking On Thin Ice," the Lennons left the studio. On the way home, they wanted to grab something to eat at Stage Deliruen, but changed their minds, deciding to go back to Dakota first to wish Sean Good night. Lennon liked to please fans who waited for a long time for him to get an autograph or take a photo. In an interview with BBC Radio 1's Andy Peebles two days before his death, he said people would come up to him and ask for autographs or say "Hi" without pestering him or bothering him. Instead of leaving the limo in the Dakota's secure yard, the Lennons left on 72nd Street and continued on foot.

At 22:50, when Lennon and Yoko Ono were returning from the studio, Chapman, seeing Lennon, shouted after him, “Hey, Mr. Lennon!”, after which he shot him five times. Lennon was hit by four bullets. Then Chapman sat down on the asphalt under a streetlight and began reading the book by the American writer J.D. Salinger, “The Catcher in the Rye.” Lennon was taken to hospital, where he died from severe blood loss. Death was pronounced at 11:07 p.m. Chapman did not try to escape from the crime scene and did not resist arrest.

At the trial, Chapman stated that he had already come to New York to kill Lennon, but did not carry out his intention that time. Chapman said the purpose of the murder was to attract attention to himself and simply to assert himself.

Chapman later said that the main motive for the murder of John Lennon was that he wanted to “steal the fame” of the musician and become famous; it was hard for him to feel like a “big nonentity” and a “big empty place.” He later admitted to realizing that he had made a terrible decision for selfish reasons: “I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody. Instead, I became a murderer, and murderers are not anyone.”

It is also known that Chapman considered Lennon a “cheater”, like several other celebrities. So, Mark’s wife recalled what he said after reading the book about Lennon: “He got angry and called Lennon a bastard. He was angry because Lennon preached love and peace and had millions at the same time.” A few hours before the murder, Chapman read John's interview in the current issue of Playboy and realized again "how right he was in thinking Lennon was a liar, and how right it would be to kill him." Shortly before the murder, Mark turned on the TV in the hotel and began to imagine how much media coverage there would be about him and how everyone would wonder why he killed the ex-Beatle.

The court found Chapman sane and sentenced him to life imprisonment with the right to apply for pardon after 20 years.

Chapman served his sentence in the Attica maximum security prison in Buffalo, New York. In 2012, it became known that he was transferred to another maximum security prison, Wende, located in Erie County (New York).

In 2000, after twenty years from the date of sentencing, Mark David Chapman received the right to file a petition for clemency and parole (if refused, the next petition can be filed after 2 years). Once every two years, starting in 2000, in August, Chapman submits another petition.

Yoko Ono, before considering her first petition in October 2000, sent a letter to the New York State Pardons Commission. Calling Chapman a "subject," Yoko wrote, in part, that she would not feel safe if he were released, and that releasing Chapman would be unfair to John Lennon, who did not deserve to die. In addition, Chapman's release could lead to violence against himself. On October 3, 2000, the Pardons Board reviewed and rejected Chapman's first petition, in which he claimed to have dealt with his psychological problems and no longer poses a danger to society. The commission's decision, in particular, noted that Chapman remained interested in maintaining his fame, which was the motive for the murder.

The very fact of Chapman filing petitions for pardon has always caused a negative public reaction.

In August 2018. The commission decided to deny Chapman because his release “would be incompatible with the welfare and safety of the public.”

John Lennon's murder

Mark David Chapman's height: 178 centimeters.

Personal life of Mark David Chapman:

Married. Wife - Gloria Hiroko Chapman (nee Gloria Hiroko Ab), Japanese. According to some reports, Mark David Chapman was attracted by Gloria’s nationality and some similarities with her - even in the event of marriage, he tried to imitate Lennon. We met in March 1978. They got married in 1979 in Hawaii.

After the conviction of Mark David Chapman, Gloria Hiroko not only did not divorce her husband, but said in an interview that she continued to love him.

She described to journalists how their dates in a New York prison were going: “We were given 44 hours once a year to stay together. During these hours we cooked pizza, had sex and watched the TV show “Wheel of Fortune.” In a word, we lived an ordinary life. family life... My friends wanted me to divorce Mark. They insisted on this. I was confused because I still loved my husband. There was a time when I was on the verge of divorce. A year after Lenon’s murder, Mark confessed, saying he told me that he had a weapon and was planning to kill Lenon. He blamed me for not stopping him! But that's a lie. He told me that he threw away the weapon. I didn't know anything and therefore I don't feel guilty. Mark and I didn’t see each other for three years, we only corresponded. I didn’t have money to go to him, and he didn’t want to see me. But I still didn’t divorce him, because God is against divorce. Although Mark told me more than once that he would not interfere, that it was better for me to forget him. However, our love only grows over the years, although we also have quarrels, as in all families. But today we love each other even more than when we got married. I have never regretted that I did not leave my husband. And he is grateful to me for this. We once wanted to have children, Mark especially wanted... If Mark had not been in prison, we would have had children, a dog and a cat.”

Gloria now works in a hospital in Hawaii.

Image of Mark David Chapman in art:

About Mark Chapman and his last days filmed before John Lennon's assassination feature films"The Assassination of John Lennon" and "Chapter 27".

Great interview with Mark Chapman in a prison cell shown in documentary film John Lennon: The Messenger, released in 2002.

American alt-rock band Mindless Self Indulgence has a song Mark David Chapman.

The Cranberries have a song on their 1996 album To the Faithful Departed, "I Just Shot John Lennon", dedicated to the murder of John Lennon.

The song Lies by the British band EMF (album Shubert Dip, 1991) begins with a sample of Chapman's voice. Later, due to pressure from Yoko Ono, the sample had to be removed from the song and it no longer appears on reissued releases of the album.

Detroit rapper Big Proof (Deshaun Dupree Holton) had the song "72nd & Central" (formerly called "1x1") featuring Obie Trice and J. Hill (Jay Gill/J-Hill) on his second album Searching for Jerry Garcia (LP) , where Big Proof depicts the murder of John Lennon by fan Chapman.

Marilyn Manson has a song, Lamb Of God, which is about the murder of John Lennon.

Today marks 35 years since the assassination of John Lennon. Mark Chapman was found guilty and is serving a life sentence to this day. Ruposters Life remembered 10 little known facts concerning the death of the famous singer.

Lennon gave his killer an autograph before he died.

A few hours before the murder, Mark Chapman had already met his idol. At 5 pm, the famous musician left his apartment and headed to the recording studio. An unknown fan met him along the way and asked for an autograph. An ominous photograph of the rock star and his would-be killer has become the latest image to appear of John Lennon.

Lennon was killed because extraordinary warmth in New York.

After several grueling hours in the studio, Lennon and Ono decided to return home. But due to the incredibly warm December weather the couple decided to walk a little instead of driving home with bodyguards. This fatal choice cost the great singer his life.

Lennon managed to run into the building of his house after receiving fatal wounds.

As Lennon passed by Chapman, he took a quick glance at him and, apparently, recognized him. The killer hit the rock star four times, but despite this Lennon was strong enough to take five steps and enter the building. Before falling to the floor, the singer was even able to shout out the phrase “They shot at me” twice in a row.

Television crews interrupted the football match to report Lennon's death.

The ABC producer had an accident on his motorcycle the day before and was taken to hospital. Seeing Lennon on a stretcher and learning about his death, the TV broadcaster immediately informed the president of the ABC News channel about this. The channel had to interrupt a football match with the highest ratings to report the tragic news.

The morgue employee did post-mortem photograph Lennon.

After the rock star's death, his body was sent to a New York morgue. His employee took a post-mortem photograph of the singer a few hours after the body was delivered. The American tabloid National Enquirer paid him five thousand dollars for this photo.

Chapman took Salinger's book to the murder scene.

The cult book “The Catcher in the Rye” by Jerome Salinger was found by police during a search of Mark Chapman, who was waiting ambulance next to the wounded musician. The killer associated himself with the hero of the famous book, Holden Caulfield.

Champion was going to kill Marlon Brando and David Bowie.

Chapman admitted that he also planned to kill celebrities such as Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor. The police learned that the killer had attended a play in which David Bowie took part. Chapman took a photo of him near the stage, after which he drove to Lennon and shot the rock star. According to Chapman, if he had failed to kill Lennon, he would have driven back to the theater and shot Bowie. The killer was even found with a program for the play “The Elephant Man,” on which David Bowie’s name was boldly circled in black ink.

Yoko Ono still lives in the same building where she and John Lennon spent time.

The avant-garde artist still does not want to part with her memories and sell her apartment in the Dakota building in Manhattan. Not far from this house is a memorial dedicated to John Lennon, with the word “Imagine” engraved on it in honor of the artist’s famous song.

Chapman had been preparing for the murder for months.

According to the killer himself, he tried to force himself to kill Lenonne several times, but until the fateful evening she defeated him each time bright side. The criminal bought a weapon several months before the murder and even quit his job. Chapman worked as a watchman, and on his last day of work he signed his work log not as “Mark Chapman”, but under the name “John Lennon”.

Lennon was remembered with a minute of silence by 225 thousand people.

After the murder of her husband, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono asked his fans to gather in Central Park in New York. More than 225 thousand people gathered in the park and remembered the singer with 10 minutes of silence. Every New York radio station that day also honored the singer's memory with 10 minutes of silence.

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