Paul McCartney shares rare photo of John Lennon in celebration of what would have been his 81st birthday

Paul McCartney is honoring his late friend John Lennon on what would have been his 81st birthday.

The music icon took to Twitter and Instagram on October 9 to share a rare black and white photo of himself and the late “Imagine” singer, who was murdered in 1980 at age 40 by Mark David Chapman. McCartney captioned the photo, which shows the former Beatles bandmates playing music together, “Happy birthday thoughts for @johnlennon - Paul.”

McCartney wasn’t the only one who took the time to commemorate Lennon’s birthday. Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, shared a sweet photo of her late husband with their son, Sean Lennon, blowing out birthday candles. The father and son happened to share the same birthday.

“Happy Birthday John! Happy Birthday Sean!” Ono wrote. “I love you!”

Last December, Ono honored the 40th anniversary of Lennon’s death by sharing a message of peace.

“The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience,” she tweeted at the time, alongside a statistic about gun violence and photo of Lennon’s blood-splattered glasses. “After 40 years, Sean, Julian and I still miss him. 'Imagine all the people living life in peace.'”

At the time, McCartney also took to Twitter to share a message about Lennon’s death, along with a photo of the friends, taken by his late wife Linda.

“A sad sad day but remembering my friend John with the great joy he brought to the world,” he shared. “I will always be proud and happy to have known and worked with this incredible Scouser!”