Collective Soul’s Will Turpin lays bare admiration for John Lennon

Founding Collective Soul bassist Will Turpin spends time dissecting John Lennon as a lyricist, father, and counterculture icon felled by an assassin’s warm gun over the course of a spellbinding feature. Seen here on the early afternoon of December 8, 1980, Rolling Stone dispatched noted photographer Annie Leibovitz to Lennon’s Dakota apartment in New York City to take a series of shots for a magazine cover story plugging the comeback “Double Fantasy” record. Proudly showing off his newly trimmed hair — cut in a 1950s style quiff — Lennon was senselessly murdered later that night. Photography by Annie Leibovitz

John Lennon was senselessly murdered in Manhattan on December 8, 1980. After a five-year sabbatical from recording, the erstwhile Beatle leader had unleashed his multi-platinum comeback record, Double Fantasy. Songs recorded during those August through September 1980 sessions like “I’m Losing You,” “[Just Like] Starting Over,” “Watching the Wheels,” “Beautiful Boy [Darling Boy],” “Borrowed Time,” “I’m Stepping Out,” and “I Don’t Wanna Face It” uncovered a songwriter rediscovering his muse, made all the more heartbreaking by his sudden demise.

Although Lennon hadn’t been much of a father to his first child, Julian, he was given a rare second opportunity when Sean was born on October 9, 1975, serendipitously the same birthday as the elder Lennon. Friends or musical acquaintances visiting the Lennon’s home at the Dakota were often stunned to catch a domesticated Beatle baking bread or tending to Sean.

Another dedicated father is Will Turpin, a Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee best known as the founding bassist of alternative rockers Collective Soul. Although he didn’t find it necessary to abandon his day job to raise his three kids, Turpin recognizes that setting an example is essential to being a good dad.