New York's Empire State Building was lit up in blue with a peace sign to mark what would have been John Lennon's 80th birthday (09.10.20).
Sean Ono Lennon at Empire State Building
The late Beatles legend's son, Sean Ono Lennon, officially switched on the lights at sunset in honour of his late father - who was shot dead outside his home at The Dakota building in New York City in 1980.
New York was a special place for the Liverpool-born musician and it was where he recorded and wrote many of his solo albums, including 1973's 'Mind Games' and 1975's Rock 'n' Roll', as well as his collaborations with his wife, Yoko Ono, such as 'Sometime In New York City'.
His best-selling solo work, the 1971 'Imagine' album was also finished at Record Plant Studios.
Following Lennon's death, a memorial named after The Beatles song 'Strawberry Fields Forever' was opened in the city's world famous Central Park.
In the build up to Lennon's birthday, those closest to him have been sharing their memories of the music legend.
Sean, 45, admitted he struggles to listen to the music his father wrote because it makes him too emotional and reminds him of the moments before he was killed.
He said: “I honestly do worry about crying because I think sometimes when I talk about certain songs that dad wrote, they’re just so emotional.
“They are hard for me to even think about, let alone listen to some of them, especially the later stuff just because I have so many memories of them making 'Double Fantasy' and some of that stuff just breaks my heart because … it’s like a time machine, it takes me right back to those moments before (John Lennon was killed), pretty tough.”
Meanwhile, Sir Paul McCartney, 78, spoke of first meeting "teddy boy" Lennon in Liverpool, and how the pair "complemented each other".
The 'Let It Be' hitmaker said of his late bandmate: "I look back on it now like a fan, how lucky was I to meet this strange teddy boy off the bus, who played music like I did and we get together and boy, we complemented each other!"
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