NYC's famed Dakota apartments, where John Lennon was shot (courtesy Getty Images)

It was 31 years ago today (1980) former Beatle JOHN LENNON was gunned down in front of his Manhattan apartment in the Dakota by a deranged man who had been stalking him for several days. As he returned home with his wife, YOKO ONO, the man called out, “Mr Lennon.” When John turned around, he pumped five shots into his body with a .38 caliber revolver. Lennon was pronounced dead within thirty minutes. Much of the country heard the news from HOWARD COSELL while watching “Monday Night Football.” I can remember hearing it –shocked– as I was driving home from a date. John’s biggest hit, “Just Like Starting Over,” had been released the month before, and hit #1 after his death. As a Beatle, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and in 1991, he was awarded a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy. His killer, Mark David Chapman, is currently imprisoned in the Attica Correctional Facility, outside of Buffalo, NY, serving 20 years to life. Since he’s served the original sentence of 20 years, he’s eligible for a parole hearing every two years; his latest parole hearing took place in Sep, 2010, and was denied.
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Today’s Celebrity Birthdays include: TERI HATCHER (“Desperate Housewives” –47); Hip Hop star NICKI MINAJ (27), PHIL COLLEN of Def Leppard (54); GREGG ALLMAN (64), guitarist WARREN CUCURULLO of Duran Duran (55); actress KIM BASINGER (58); and how could we forget SINEAD O’CONNOR (45). And there are a bunch of dead folks, too: the late SAM KINISON would be 58; the original “Hawaii 5-0′s” JAMES MacARTHUR would’ve been 74. The late SAMMY DAVIS, Jr, would have been 86 and “Will Rogers Follies” and “Kung Fu” star DAVID CARRADINE would have been 75; JIM MORRISON would have been 68. Also, the late comedian FLIP WILSON (died of liver cancer 13 years ago, in 1998). Mr “Instant Replay,” DAN HARTMAN, would have been 61; he also wrote “Free Ride” when he played bass with the Edgar Winter Group in 1972. He died of a brain tumor resulting from AIDS in 1994.
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