A letter that John Lennon signed on day of his murder in 1980 is going on auction.

• READ MORE: From the archives – NME‘s obituary on John Lennon

The late Beatle‘s signature is displayed on a legal document that is up for auction through Gotta Have Rock and Roll tomorrow (October 4). You can view it here.

The typed letter lists three people to whom Lennon gave his proxy to vote at an annual meeting for the Beatles corporations that was happening nine days later in London.

It was signed by Lennon on December 8, 1980, hours before he was shot and killed by Mark Chapman outside his New York City apartment block.

The document is expected to fetch between $30,000 (£26,366) and $50,000 (£43,943).

Incidentally, Lennon also put his signature on another item that same day. He signed a copy of his fifth album with his wife Yoko Ono, ‘Double Fantasy’, which Chapman had asked him to sign hours before killing him. That was auctioned in 2020, and sold for $900,000 (£791,275).

Earlier this year Chapman was denied parole for the 12th time.

Chapman, now aged 67, appeared before a parole board at the end of August, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (via Billboard). He is next due to appear before the parole board in February 2024.

Meanwhile, in related news, Ringo Starr has cancelled several shows he had planned in Canada for this week, with the Beatle putting his tour on hold to recuperate after contracting COVID.

After shows in New Buffalo, Michigan and Prior Lake, Minnesota were cancelled over the weekend “due to illness”, an official statement from Starr’s team confirmed the musician had tested positive for COVID. As a result, five shows that were scheduled for this week – in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Lethbridge, Abbotsford and Penticton – have been axed.