The Postal Service will release a stamp this week to honor John Lennon, a founding member of the Beatles and one of the world’s most-renowned musicians.
The stamp, part of the Music Icons series, will be available in panes of 16. Each stamp on the pane features a 1974 black-and-white photograph of Lennon that has been treated in gradations of color.
Lennon’s legacy includes his work with the Beatles, which still hold records for a string of hits released from 1962-1970. One of the band’s biggest hits, “All You Need is Love,” later served as an anthem for Lennon’s humanitarian endeavors.
His last solo album was released in 1980.
Lennon was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — as a member of the Beatles in 1988, and as a solo artist in 1994.
The stamp represents a special tribute to Lennon, who collected stamps as a child. His collection can be viewed on the National Postal Museum’s site.
The stamp pane, created by art director Antonio Alcalá and designer Neal Ashby, resembles a vintage 45-rpm record sleeve. One side of the pane includes the stamps and brief text about Lennon’s legacy, while the reverse features a black-and-white photograph of Lennon that was used to promote “Imagine,” his 1971 landmark solo album.
Bob Gruen took the photograph of Lennon that appears on the stamp, which is part of a series of images that Gruen took for Lennon’s 1974 album “Walls and Bridges.”
The image on the reverse of the stamp pane was taken by Peter Fordham.
USPS will dedicate the stamp Friday, Sept. 7, in New York City. The stamp will be available at Post Offices and usps.com.