the death of john lenin.el george looks back at that day and the legacy lenin leaves behind. >> reporter: fans of john lenin came together at the memorial in central park known as strawberry fields. >> one of the greatest artists, philosophers, humanitarians and inspirations. >> some of these fans were also right here on that tragic night 40 years ago when the beetles legend was gunned down outside his apartment at the age of 40. >> came here at night with a big crowd of people and sang songs and cried. very sad day i'll never forget. >> i was driving along the road and a song came on and i just -- it just hit me, and the tears started flowing. and i started crying. >> reporter: charles rosenay is a beetles expert who published a magazine about the band. he says lenin was one of the most influential musicians of all time but his death transcended music. >> what we lost that night was not the killing of one rock star, what we lost is somebody who till today would have probably given us great insight. he spoke

. >> we're playing that song because it was 40 years ago today that we lost john lenin. >> gunned down york city apartment building. he was just 40 years old. the news of his death devastated fans around the world. he's memorialized of course in the strawberry fields section of central park which is right across the street. his killer still behind bars. his legacy lives on especially in the fractured times with the messages of peace. i happened to walk by the dakota on my way home last night and -- >> are there flowers there? >> there weren't yet. a pair of gas lanterns that always flicker outside the dakota. they're absolutely beautiful. they seemed so poignant to me last night. i posted this image that you see there on instagram and all these memories, comments started coming in of people saying things. there was one woman, debby, she said that day gutted me. i can still conjure up the feeling and how i wept for weeks. it's 40 years later but it's still such a powerful moment to so many people. such a sense of loss. >> anthony, it was so shocking. >> yes. >> not only that it happened

robin desnlow appeared on the bbc‘s newsday programme that after lenin died with this assessment of the former beatles professional career. johnle records that 40 years on, does robin desnlow still see lennon's stature in the same way? it's grown in that he's a legendary figure, people still write books about him, people buy books about him in large numbers still, so he's one of those few heroes who have kept going and going and going. in terms of his stature musicly, i think an awful lot of people just member him, apart from the beatles of course, for just a few songs, give peace a chance and imagine. so i think probably musically, people have forgotten how good he was. i revisited lennon's death ever decade since 1980 during special programming, and i've always found it relatively easy to get big names in the industry to reflect on his talents as a musician and to express how much he means to them, perhaps because he so revered. my whole life as an artist was kind of shaped by him. and i... ican't... ..exaggerate enough the effect is music had on me. his music had on me. he was synthesising a lot of other things that were co