The world was shocked to hear the news of John Lennon’s death in 1980. Each member of The Beatles had a different reaction to the news, as they never expected to lose their bandmate and friend so soon. Ringo Starr was on vacation when he heard John Lennon was shot, and he immediately abandoned his trip to be with Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono.
Ringo Starr left his vacation after John Lennon was killed
On Dec. 8, 1980, Lennon was shot and killed just outside his apartment building in New York City. The former Beatle lived in New York with Ono, and their son, Sean Lennon. The news broke worldwide soon after, and tributes to the “Imagine” singer began emerging. The Beatles’ former drummer Starr was on vacation in the Bahamas at the time. In an interview with Howard Stern, Starr said he quickly abandoned his trip and flew to NYC to be with Yoko.
“It was like mad,” Starr said. “We were in the Bahamas. Francesca, my stepdaughter, she calls and said, ‘Something’s happened to John,’ and I was like, ‘What’s happened to John?’ and then we heard. So we got on a plane, and we just flew to New York. We didn’t know what we could do, we just knew we had to go.
Ringo Starr had always liked Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono and the other members of The Beatles had a complicated relationship. It took some time for Paul McCartney and George Harrison to warm up to her, and they initially weren’t happy with her involvement in their recording sessions. However, Ringo Starr said he always liked Ono because her “craziness” matched John Lennon’s, which benefitted him creatively.
“I’ve always liked the woman,” Starr told Newsday in 1981. “I’ve always felt she was strong. And I always loved her when she used to do her art exhibitions. I liked that craziness about her. She was good for John because she had these crazy ideas, too.”
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Starr was the only Beatle who went to New York
Everyone processes grief differently, and Ringo Starr was the only Beatle who flew to New York after John Lennon was killed. The other two Beatles had strikingly opposite reactions. In the documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Harrison’s wife, Olivia, said Harrison was initially angry about Lennon’s death. Harrison looked at death spiritually and was upset Lennon hadn’t done more to prepare himself.
“George put so much emphasis and importance on the moment of death, of leaving your body. That was very – that’s really what he was practicing for,” Olivia said.
McCartney’s reaction initially was more casual. In his first quote after Lennon’s death, McCartney said it was a “drag,” surprising many people with his nonchalant words. However, in a recent interview with Sirius XM’s The Beatles Channel, the “Let it Be” singer said he was so deep in grief that he struggled to talk about it.
“I remember getting home from the studio on the day that we’d heard the news he died. Turning the TV on and seeing people say, ‘Well, John Lennon was this,’ and, ‘What he was, was this,’ and, ‘I remember meeting him,’” McCartney shared. “I was like, ‘I can’t be one of those people. I can’t go on TV and say what John meant to me.’ It was too deep. I couldn’t put it into words.”
He later turned his grief into the song “Here Today”, which debuted on 1982’s Tug of War.
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