John Lennon death: Beatles fans, Yoko Ono, bandmates mark 40 years since musician died “When we actually heard them, it was amazing to hear John speaking because they’re such clear audio recordings that it feels that he’s actually sat in the room with you,” Fairweather said.The interviews from 1969 and in the early 1970s were done by the late Ken Zeilig, a journalist originally from Winnipeg.“We always knew from him that he’d hung out with John Lennon and that he’d interviewed John Lennon.