It was a night that changed music history: Dec. 8, 1980.
Beatles alum John Lennon, who taught us all to "Imagine" had just returned home with his wife Yoko Ono when he was assassinated outside the Dakota Building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Now, WTOP is learning exclusive insights on that fateful night from singer/songwriter Willie Nile, who performs at Hamilton Live on April 8 and was at the recording studio with Lennon that night.
“On Dec. 5, 1980, I took my band in to make my second album for Arista Records,” Nile told WTOP. “I was in Studio A and John was in the mix room upstairs with Yoko working on a Yoko project. My co-producer, Thom Panunzio, knew John [and] said, ‘Do you wanna meet John?’ I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely, but let’s wait a couple days.’ … This was Friday night, so I figured Tuesday we’ll see him.”
During the interim, Lennon’s team actually called downstairs to ask Nile a favor.
“Sunday night, the 7th of December, we’re in the studio recording and the phone rings at midnight,” Nile said. “It’s one of John’s engineers saying, ‘John is out of guitar strings. Do you have any guitar strings he could use?’ We just looked: ‘John Lennon needs guitar strings?!?’ So we go diving into our bags and pull out guitar strings. I was gonna put a note with the strings: ‘To John, thanks for the music. Love ya,’ but I decided that’s too corny. I’m gonna meet him in a few days. I’ll tell him when I see him.”
By: Jason Fraley
Source: Washington's Top News
