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Limited edition semi-glossy 30.5 x 23 museum-quality archival pigment print of John Lennon, numbered 1/25, depicting Lennon in a full-figure pose standing on the roof of his New York City apartment building, the Dakota, on February 25, 1975. The Beatles legend is pictured with crossed legs, wearing a beret, a coat, and a large diamante ‘Elvis’ pin, a tribute to his musical idol. The image was originally taken by photographer Brian Hamill, who has signed the lower border in black ink. In very fine condition.
Celebrity photojournalist Brian Hamill first captured John Lennon and Yoko Ono in New York City in 1972, at their apartment, on the street, and on the stage. Three years later, in 1975, he returned to photograph Lennon at The Dakota. ‘He answered the door. The first thing he said to me, ‘How've you been, Brian?,’’ recalled Hamill in a People Magazine interview from 2020. ‘He was totally cool, made me feel very relaxed.’ Hamill captured the beloved singer-songwriter on his bed and at the kitchen table, where he paused to write song lyrics. At one point, they stopped to listen to music — Marvin Gaye and then The Isley Brothers.
When they moved to the roof to take more photographs, Hamill put on his cap ‘with the snap open,’ just like Lennon had been known to do. ‘He looked at me, and I thought he was going to say something, but I beat him to the punch, and I said, 'Sorry for copying your style.' He just chuckled…Then, when I was leaving the apartment, he walked me to the door, and he put his hand on my back…he pointed to my cap, and he said, 'Don't worry about copying my style, Brian. I copped it from Dylan.'
Elvis Presley had a major influence on John Lennon, beginning in April 1956 when Lennon first heard ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ shortly after its U.K. release. The song ‘seemed to change everything,’ remembered Lennon, ‘When I first heard ‘Heartbreak Hotel’…me whole life changed from then on, I was just completely shaken by it.’ This moment pushed him to start his own band, which would eventually become the Beatles. Lennon later summed up Presley’s importance by famously stating, ‘Without Elvis, there would be no Beatles.’ In August 1965, Lennon finally met his idol when the Beatles visited Elvis at his Los Angeles home. The meeting—arranged by their managers, Colonel Parker and Brian Epstein—was a success, even including an informal jam session, and marked a meaningful connection between two of rock music’s most influential figures.
