(Entered October 22, 2000)

Thanks to-Richard Joly, Ono-Web and Larry McGahey, LOWPOCKETS RADIO

Reuters reports that George Michael has paid $2.1 million for the upright Steinway piano that John Lennon used to compose "Imagine." A spokeswoman for Michael said, "He decided to do this because the piano was a part of music history and because he wanted it to remain in Britain." Lennon paid £1,000 in 1970 for the piano, which went on the block Tuesday (October 17) in a live transatlantic auction.

The piano had been owned by a private collector who loaned it to the Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool before putting it up for sale. "I am delighted that it was a British buyer," said Shelagh Johnston, curator at the museum. "We won't go knocking on George Michael's door at this stage, but we have made our desire to keep the piano clear."