George Michael Buys Lennon's Piano

October 18, 2000 -- George Michael announced today that he was the buyer of the piano on which John Lennon composed "Imagine," paying $2.1 million for the upright Steinway.

"We can confirm that George Michael has bid successfully for John Lennon's piano," a spokeswoman for the British singer told Reuters. "He decided to do this because the piano was a part of music history, and because he wanted it to remain in Britain."

The walnut piano went on the block late on Tuesday in a live transatlantic auction. Michael, who went unnamed during the auction, did not take part in the sale himself and has yet to decide what to do with it, his spokeswoman said.

The sale caps the latest month of Beatlemania, which saw the opening of a new Lennon museum in Japan and the release of the band's first autobiography charting its meteoric rise to fame and fortune. Lennon was murdered in New York by Mark David Chapman on Dec. 8, 1980. Last week would have been his 60th birthday.

Reuters contributed to this report.