John Lennon, The Beatles Sheet of 16 For

The newest stamps in the Music Icons series honor singer-songwriter John Lennon (1940–1980), a rock-and-roll hero successful both as a founding member of the Beatles and as a solo artist. Still beloved around the world, Lennon‘s music remains an anchor of pop radio and continues to speak for truth, peace, and tolerance. The stamp design features a photograph of Lennon taken by noted rock-and-roll photographer Bob Gruen in August 1974 during the photo session for Lennon‘s 1974 album Walls and Bridges. For the stamps, the original black-and-white image has been treated in gradations of color.

The stamp pane is designed to resemble a vintage 45 rpm record sleeve. One side of the pane includes the stamps, brief text about Lennon‘s legacy, and the image of a sliver of a record seeming to peek out the top of the sleeve. A black-and-white photograph of Lennon seated at his white piano appears on the reverse, along with Lennon‘s signature and the Music Icons series logo. Taken by photographer