Thursday marks the 31st anniversary of one of music's darkest moments, the murder of John Lennon and a tribute is planned at the Capitol Records Tower Building where Lennon's Hollywood Walk of Fame star is located.

Lennon, 40, was fatally shot in the back four times outside his New York City home on Monday, December 8, 1980 by Mark David Chapman, a crazed fan. Late football announcer Howard Cosell famously told the nation about Lennon's death during the Monday Night Football broadcast that evening.

Last year, Rolling Stone Magazine, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Lennon’s murder, released an unpublished interview they conducted with the lead Beatle December 5, 1980. In the chat, Lennon -- just three days before his death -- talked about his mortality in addressing music critics who'd knocked the turn his career had taken by the start of the decade.

With Wednesday marking the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's murder, a number of tributes and retrospectives, including a new look into the musician's final thoughts, have sprouted up paying homage to the fallen Beatle . 

PHOTOS: John Lennon Through The Years

It was a balmy evening -- on Monday, December 8, 1980 -- when  Lennon, 40, was  shot in the back four times outside The Dakota, the apartment building in Central Park West in New York City where he lived with his wife Yoko Ono and 5-year-old son Sean.  Lennon and Yoko were returning home from a studio session.  She had walked ahead.