How old was John Lennon when he died?

John Lennon was 40 years old when he died. He was born on 9 October 1940 in Liverpool, England, and was fatally shot on 8 December 1980 outside the Dakota apartment building in New York City.

Lennon had returned to the United States in 1971 after several years focused on activism and family life. In 1980, he resumed recording and released Double Fantasy with Yoko Ono. The album’s success made his sudden death especially shocking; he had been enjoying a major creative and commercial comeback.

A common mix-up is confusing Lennon’s age with the year of his death or with the ages of other Beatles. George Harrison was 58 when he died, while Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were born in 1942 and 1940 respectively. Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, shot him after Lennon and Ono returned home from a recording session. Lennon was pronounced dead shortly afterward at Roosevelt Hospital.