Piano tour marks anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death

The piano on which John Lennon composed his peace anthem Imagine is helping to commemorate the anniversary of the death of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.

The piano, owned by pop singer George Michael and his partner, Kenny Goss, is on a world tour as a symbol of peace. Lennon, who was killed in New York City in 1980, was a founding member of the Beatles and recorded Imagine in 1971.

Memphis is the second stop of a journey that began in Dallas, the site of the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The Steinway upright is being photographed at each site for a possible book and documentary on world peace. "This is about hopes and dreams and the world condition," Goss said.

The tour includes anniversary appearances at the sites of world tragedies, such as the World Trade Center, the bombed federal building in Oklahoma City and the Branch Davidian compound destroyed in a fiery siege in Waco, Texas.

The Memphis stop coincides with the 39th anniversary of King's death on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, now the visual centerpiece of the National Civil Rights Museum.

--The Associated Press

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