Celebrity Celebrity Deaths Celebrity Death News 15 Photos of John Lennon on the Anniversary of His Death John Lennon died 42 years ago Thursday, and his contributions to music and culture are still hard to overstate. To that end, we've pulled together an array of photos of Lennon from our archives to peruse while considering his legacy today. By Alex Heigl Alex Heigl Alex Heigl is a former associate editor at PEOPLE. He left PEOPLE in 2017. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on December 8, 2022 01:20PM EST 01 of 15 Courtesy Gunther/MPTV The Beatles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (not pictured) — backstage before a show at the height of the "Beatlemania" craze. 02 of 15 Courtesy Gunther/MPTV The Beatles during their historic Ed Sullivan Show performance in 1964. 03 of 15 AP Lennon with McCartney — the songwriting pairing The Sunday Times called "the greatest composers since Beethoven." 04 of 15 AP The Beatles exerted a never-before-seen grip on popular cultlure, mingling with figures from virtually every other walk of life — they're pictured above with Muhammad Ali. 05 of 15 Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Lennon with the rest of the Beatles in 1965. 06 of 15 AP Many of Lennon's personal affectations became popular crazes, from his so-called "granny glasses" to the sideburns he favored later in the Beatles' career. 07 of 15 Everett Collection The Beatles in a rare outtake from the Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band's album cover shoot, considered one of the watershed moments in "psychedelic" style and fashion. 08 of 15 GAB Archive/Redferns/Getty It's rare for lightning to strike twice, but the Beatles managed to have a hard time not making icons of themselves, as in the widely imitated cover of Abbey Road. 09 of 15 Ron Howard/Redferns Lennon left the Beatles in 1970. 10 of 15 AP Lennon and Yoko Ono in N.Y.C. in 1975, ahead of that year's Grammy Awards. 11 of 15 Alpha Press Ono and Lennon pictured with a young David Bowie; Lennon cowrote Bowie's "Fame" in 1975. 12 of 15 Lennon and Yoko Ono at President Jimmy Carter's Inaugural Ball on Jan. 20, 1977. As the pair became more and more politically active, they expanded their circle from just music and art. 13 of 15 Courtesy Yoko Ono Lennon pictured in June 1980 during a vacation he took to Bermuda. 14 of 15 Courtesy Yoko Ono Lennon and son Sean on their Bermuda vacation in June 1980. He also had son Julian with ex Cynthia Lennon. 15 of 15 Courtesy Nate D. Sanders Auctions One of the last photos of Lennon ever, taken just two days before his death. Close