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George Harrison, Order of the British Empire|MBE
(February 24, 1943 – November 29, 2001) was
a popular United Kingdom|British guitarist,
singer, songwriter, record producer, and film
producer, best known as a member of The Beatles. 

Harrison was the lead guitarist of The Beatles.
During the band’s extremely successful career,
John Lennon and Paul McCartney were its main
songwriters. However, Harrison usually wrote and
sang lead on one-to-two songs per album, including
the popular "Taxman", "While My Guitar Gently
Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun", and "Something
(song)|Something". 

During the era of The Beatles, Harrison also
became attracted to Indian music and Hinduism,
sparking unprecedented interest in both in the
Western Hemisphere. Both would play a prominent
role in Harrison’s life and music. 

Harrison had a modestly successful solo career
after the break-up of The Beatles, scoring hits
with "My Sweet Lord" (1970), "Give Me Love (Give
Me Peace on Earth)" (1973), "All Those Years Ago"
(1981), and "Got My Mind Set on You" (1987). He
also organized the first large-scale charity
concert, the Concert for Bangladesh, which took
place on August 1, 1971. Harrison was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo
artist in 2004.

Harrison was also a film producer and founded
Handmade Films in 1979. The company's films
include Monty Python’s The Life of Brian, Time
Bandits, Withnail and I, and Mona Lisa
(movie)|Mona Lisa.

==Early years==
Harrison was born in Liverpool, England in 1943.
His sister has said that their mother wrote in her
diary that he was born ten minutes after midnight
on February 25, though Harrison subsequently
discovered that he had, in fact, been born on
February 24 at 11:40 PM.

Harrison’s childhood home is located at 12
Arnold Grove. He first attended school at Dovedale
Infants, just off Penny Lane. Later on, he
attended the Liverpool Institute, a "smart
school", but was regarded as a poor student, and
contemporaries described him as someone who would
"sit alone in the corner". In the mid-1950s he
knew Paul McCartney (also a Liverpool Institute
student) and beginning in February 1958 played
lead guitar in the band (initially called the
Quarry Men) that eventually became the Beatles. 

==Role in The Beatles==

Harrison was a fluent, inventive and highly
accomplished lead and rhythm guitarist, whose
influences included Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and
Chet Atkins. Although he was a creative soloist,
several of his famous Beatles guitar solos were
recorded under specific directions from Paul
McCartney, who on occasion demanded that Harrison
play what he envisioned virtually note-for-note.

During the era of Beatlemania, Harrison was
characterized as the "Quiet Beatle", noted for his
introspective manner

A turning point in Harrison's career came during
an American tour in 1965, when his friend David
Crosby of The Byrds introduced him to Indian
classical music and the work of sitar maestro Ravi
Shankar. Harrison quickly became fascinated with
the sitar, immersed himself in Indian music and
was instrumental in popularizing the sitar in
particular and Indian music in general in the
West. He traveled to India to take lessons from
Shankar, bought a sitar himself, and became the
first western popular musician to use one on a
recording "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".
He championed Shankar with western audiences and
was largely responsible for having him included on
the bill at the Monterey International Pop
Festival in June 1967.

Harrison’s interest in Indian culture eventually
expanded to Hinduism and meditation. It was his
meeting with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi that led him
first into meditation. In the summer of 1969, the
Beatles produced the single "Hare Krishna Mantra",
performed by Harrison and the devotees of the
London Radha-Krishna Temple that topped the 10
best-selling record charts throughout UK, Europe,
and Asia. The same year, he and fellow Beatle John
Lennon met A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
Founder-acharya of the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness. Soon after, Harrison
embraced the Hare Krishna tradition and remained
associated with it until his death. While during
his lifetime, Harrison had bequeathed to the
society his Letchmore Heath mansion (renamed
http://chantandbehappy.com/manorvirtual/
Bhaktivedanta Manor) north of London, he redoubted
speculations that he would leave ISKCON a large
sum in his will: in fact, he left nothing to the
organization.
http://www.newsindia-times.com/2002/12/13/intl-top
14.html.

Harrison formed a close friendship with Eric
Clapton in the late 1960s and they co-wrote the
song "Badge (song)|Badge", which was released on
Cream_%28band%29|Cream's farewell album in 1969 in
music|1969.  This song was the basis for
Harrison's composition for The Beatles' Abbey Road
(album)|Abbey Road album, "Here Comes the Sun",
which was written in Clapton's back garden. 

Friction between Harrison and McCartney increased
markedly during the recording of The Beatles
(album)|The White Album,  with Harrison
threatening to leave the group on several
occasions. The tension between Harrison and
McCartney can be clearly seen in several scenes in
the Let It Be documentary film and relations
became so strained during the making of the film
that Harrison briefly quit the band.

While not the primary composer in the group
(Lennon and McCartney wrote the vast bulk of the
Beatles' material), as time went on Harrison's
songwriting improved greatly and his material
gradually earned respect from both his fellow
Beatles and the public. By the mid-Sixties Lennon
and McCartney had become somewhat more accepting
of his contributions, although he later said that
he always had difficulty getting his songs
recorded and only managed to get one or two
included on each album. 

Notable Harrison compositions from the Beatles'
oeuvre include: the intricate "If I Needed
Someone"; "I Want to Tell You"; the
Indian-influenced "Love You To"; the acerbic
"Taxman" (later referenced in Cheap Trick's
"Taxman, Mr. Thief" and The Jam's "Start"); the
much-maligned "Within You Without You", which is
arguably a foundation stone of the world music
genre; "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which was
strongly influenced by the music of his friend Roy
Orbison and featured a guitar solo by his close
friend Eric Clapton; and "Piggies", which later
featured inadvertently in the notorious Charles
Manson murder case. 

"Something (song)|Something" and "Here Comes the
Sun" are probably his two best-known Beatles
songs. "Something" is considered one of his very
best works, and was even covered by Frank Sinatra
and Elvis Presley. His increasing productivity,
coupled with his difficulties in getting The
Beatles to record his music, meant that by the end
of the group's career he had amassed a
considerable stockpile of unreleased material.

See also: List of Beatles songs written by George
Harrison.

==1970s==
After the Beatles split in 1970, Harrison released
a number of albums that were critically and
commercially successful, both as solo projects and
as a member of other groups.  After years of being
limited in his contributions to the Beatles, he
released a large number of the songs he had
stockpiled in the first major solo work released
after the breakup, All Things Must Pass, the first
triple album in rock history. It included the
number one hit single "My Sweet Lord", although
Harrison was later sued for copyright infringement
over the supposed similarities to the 1963 The
Chiffons|Chiffons single "He's So Fine". Harrison
denied deliberately stealing the song, but he did
lose the case in 1976; in the ruling, the court
accepted the possibility that Harrison had
"unconsciously plagiarised" the Chiffons song as
the basis for his own song.  Disputes over damages
dragged on into the 1990s.

Harrison was probably the first modern musician to
organize a major charity concert. His Concert for
Bangladesh on August 1, 1971, drew over 40,000
people to two shows in New York City|New York's
Madison Square Garden with the intention of aiding
the starving refugees from the war in Bangladesh.
Ravi Shankar opened the proceedings, which
included other popular musicians such as Bob Dylan
(who rarely appeared live in the early 1970s),
Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Badfinger, Billy
Preston and fellow Beatle Ringo Starr.
Unfortunately, however, the concert actually lost
money due to expenses.
http://www.theconcertforbangladesh.com/ Apple
Corps announced that they would be releasing a
newly arranged concert DVD and CD on October 25,
2005 in the USA, and October 24 in the rest of the
world. The DVD and CD will each contain additional
material (such as previously unreleased rehearsal
footage of "If Not For You" featuring Harrison and
Dylan), and all artists' sales royalties will
continue to go to UNICEF.

In addition to his own works, during this time
Harrison wrote or produced several hits for Ringo
Starr and also appeared on tracks by John Lennon.

Harrison's next album was Living in the Material
World in 1973.  "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on
Earth)" was a big hit, and "Sue Me Sue You Blues"
was a window into the former Beatles' miserable
legal travails, but overall the record was seen as
too overtly religious.  

In 1974 Harrison released Dark Horse_(album)|Dark
Horse and at the same time launched a major tour
of the United States.  The album was not received
well, despite the occasional gem such as "So Sad",
and the tour got poor notices due to excessive
preachiness and Harrison's voice being hoarse.

Harrsion formed his own record label, Dark Horse
Records, in 1974 (with A&M Records as
distributors) and issued a small number of records
by performers such as Splinter (band)|Splinter,
Attitudes and Ravi Shankar. He also planned to
issue his own records through Dark Horse after his
contract with EMI expired.

His final album for EMI (and Apple Records) was
Extra Texture|Extra Texture (Read All About It),
featuring a textured cover. The album spawned two
singles, "You" and "This Guitar (Can't Keep From
Crying)", which became Apple's final single
release in 1975.

Business and personal troubles took their toll on
Harrison over the next year, and when his first
Dark Horse album (Thirty Three & 1/3, his age at
the time) was due, Harrison was suffering from
hepatitis and couldn't complete the production.
After A&M threatened to take him to court, Warner
Bros. Records stepped in, buying out Harrison's
Dark Horse contract with A&M, and allowing him
time to regain his health.

Thirty Three & 1/3 was his most successful
late-1970s album, and featured the hits "This
Song" (a satire of the "My Sweet Lord" ruling) and
"Crackerbox Palace" (a humourous and surrealistic
number, looking back on his life to date; the
title was the name of comedian Lord Buckley's
former small home in Hollywood, California, which
Harrison visited, and 'Mr. Greif' in the song had
been Buckley's manager).

After his second marriage and the birth of son
Dhani, Harrison's next album was self-titled:
1979's George Harrison (album)|George Harrison
included the hits "Blow Away", "Love Comes To
Everyone" and "Faster". "Blow Away" featured a
memorable electric-slide guitar introduction, and
became a much-loved single at the end of the
Seventies.

==1980s==
Immediately following the murder of his friend and
former bandmate John Lennon, Harrison modified the
lyrics of a song he had written for Ringo Starr to
make it a tribute song to Lennon, "All Those Years
Ago", which found substantial radio airplay and
continues to be a staple of "classic rock" radio.
All the three remaining Beatles performed on it,
although it was expressly a Harrison single.
"Teardrops" was issued as a follow-up single, but
wasn't nearly as successful.

Aside from a song on the Porky's Revenge
soundtrack in 1984, Harrison released no new
records for five years after 1982's Gone Troppo
was met with apparent indifference. He returned in
1987 with the album Cloud Nine, co-produced with
Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, and
enjoyed a hit (#1 in the U.S.; #2 in the U.K) when
his cover version of "Got My Mind Set On You"  was
released as a single; another single, "When We Was
Fab", was also a minor hit. The album got to #8.

During the late 1980s, he helped form the
Traveling Wilburys with Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne,
Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty when they gathered in
Dylan's garage to quickly record an additional
track for a projected Harrison European single
release. The record company realised the track
("Handle With Care (song)|Handle With Care") was
too good for its original purpose as a single
B-side and asked for a separate album. This had to
be completed within two weeks, as Dylan was
scheduled to start a tour. Released in October
1988, and recorded under pseudonyms as
half-brothers (supposed sons of Charles Truscott
Wilbury, Sr.), Travelling Wilburys Vol. 1 was
dubbed as one of the top 100 albums of all time by
Rolling Stone magazine.

One of Harrison's most successful ventures during
this period was his involvement in film production
through his company Handmade Films. Since
childhood The Beatles had been fans of the
anarchic humour of The Goons, and Harrison became
a dedicated fan of their successors, the Monty
Python team. He provided financial backing for the
Python film The Life of Brian after the original
backers (EMI Films) withdrew, fearing the subject
matter of the film was too controversial. Other
films produced by Handmade included Mona Lisa
(movie)|Mona Lisa, Time Bandits, Shanghai Surprise
and Withnail and I. He made several cameo
appearances in these movies, including appearing
as a nightclub singer in Shanghai Surprise, and as
Mr. Papadopolous in Life of Brian. One of his most
memorable cameos was in the cult Beatles parody
The Rutles, created by ex-Python Eric Idle.

1989 saw the release of Best of Dark Horse
1976-1989, a compilation drawn from his later solo
work. This album also included three excellent new
songs: "Poor Little Girl", "Cheer Down", and
"Cockamamie Business", the last of which saw him
once again looking wryly upon his Beatley past.

==1990s==
The first year of the new decade saw a new
Traveling Wilburys album, despite the sad death of
Roy Orbison. The band had allegedly approached Del
Shannon about replacing Roy, but he also met an
untimely death. The album was recorded as a
four-piece.

It was not as successful as the previous album,
but still managed to stay on the charts for quite
a time, spawning the singles "She's My Baby" and
"Wilbury Twist".

In 1991 Harrison staged a tour of Japan along with
Eric Clapton.  It was his first tour since the
ill-fated 1974 U.S. tour, and although he seemed
to enjoy it more there were to be no others.
The Live in Japan recording came from these shows.

Throughout the 1990s, Harrison, a former tobacco
smoking|smoker, endured an ongoing battle with
cancer, having growths removed first from his oral
cancer|throat, then his lung cancer|lung. There
was also a December 30, 1999 attempt on his life
by a crazed fan, 35 year-old Michael Abram, who
broke into his home, Friar Park in
Henley-on-Thames, and stabbed him multiple times,
puncturing his lung. Harrison and his wife fought
the intruder and detained him for the police. 
Abram, who believed he was Spiritual
possession|possessed by Harrison and was on a
"Mission (Christian)|mission from God" to kill
him, was later acquitted on grounds of insanity.

==Death==
George died at the home of a friend, Gavin de
Becker, in Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles,
California on November 29, 2001, at the age of
only 58. His death was ascribed to lung cancer
that had metastasis|metastasized to the brain
cancer|brain. He was cremation|cremated, and
although it was widely reported that his ashes
were scattered in the River Ganga|Ganges, the
ceremony was not conducted at the expected time
http://www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrint
Article.pl?path=/articles/2002/11/30/1038386359453
.html. The actual disposition of the ashes has not
been publicly disclosed.

After his death, the Harrison family released the
following statement: "He left this world as he
lived in it: conscious of God, fearless of death
and at peace, surrounded by family and friends. He
often said: 'Everything else can wait but the
search of God can't wait, and love one another'". 

His final album, Brainwashed (album)|Brainwashed,
was completed by Dhani Harrison and Jeff Lynne and
released in November 2002.

On November 29, 2002, the first anniversary of his
death, the Concert For George saw the two
remaining Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr
join many of Harrison's other friends for a
special memorial concert at the Royal Albert Hall
in London that benefitted the Material World
Charitable Foundation. Some of the highlights of
the concert were:
*"The Inner Light (song)|The Inner Light"
performed by Ravi Shankar's daughter Anoushka
Shankar with Jeff Lynne
*"The Lumberjack Song" sung by members of Monty
Python (Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and
Terry Gilliam)
*"If I Needed Someone" sung by Eric Clapton
*"Here Comes the Sun" sung by Joe Brown
*"Horse to the Water" sung by Sam Brown
*"Taxman" and "I Need You" performed by Tom Petty
and The Heartbreakers (with Jools Holland and Sam
Brown)
*"Photograph (song)|Photograph" performed by Ringo
Starr
*"For You Blue" performed by Paul McCartney and
Ringo Starr
*All of the artists came on stage to perform
"Something (song)|Something", "All Things Must
Pass (song)|All Things Must Pass", "While My
Guitar Gently Weeps", "My Sweet Lord" (including
Billy Preston on keyboards) and "Wah-Wah". 
*Joe Brown concluded with the Gus Kahn/Isham Jones
classic "I'll See You In My Dreams".

George Harrison and Aaliyah|Aaliyah Haughton made
UK Chart History when they scored the first, and
to this date only, back to back posthumous number
one hits when Haughton's "More than a Woman"
(released on January 7, 2002 and topped the chart
on January 13, 2002) was followed by Harrison's
"My Sweet Lord" (re-released on January 14, 2002
and topped the chart on January 20, 2002).

Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame on March 15, 2004.

==Personal and family life==
Harrison married model Pattie Boyd in 1966 and is
reputed to have written the song "Something
(song)|Something" for her in 1969, although he
himself denied this, saying he was actually
thinking about Ray Charles. In the late 1960s,
Eric Clapton fell in love with Boyd, and famously
poured out his unrequited passion on the landmark
Derek and the Dominos album Layla and Other
Assorted Love Songs (1971). Soon after its release
Boyd left her husband and she and Clapton
subsequently married. Despite this, the two men
remained close friends, calling themselves
"husbands in law."

Harrison married for a second time to Olivia
Trinidad Arias, in September 1978. The ceremony
took place at their home, with singer Joe Brown
(singer)|Joe Brown acting as best man. They had
one son, Dhani Harrison, born the previous month.

==Discography==

For a detailed discography, see: George Harrison
discography

==External links==

*http://georgeharrison.com/ GeorgeHarrison.com
— Official Site
* imdb name|id=0365600|name=George Harrison
*http://www.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/30/harri
son.obit/ "Beatle George Harrison dies" —
CNN.com article dated 1 December 2001
*http://home.att.net/~chuckayoub/the_beatles_video
_28.htm Sound clip on the life of George Harrison
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/14
92446.stm "George Harrison dies" — BBC News
article dated 30 November 2001
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/14
30259.stm "George Harrison: Life in pictures"
— Life story of George in pictures, BBC News
dated 30 November 2001
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/14
32634.stm "George Harrison: The quiet Beatle"
— Profile by BBC News dated 30 November 2001
(more pictures can be found here)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/583411.stm UK
version with different pictures
*http://georgeharrison.lyrics.info/ George
Harrison lyrics — A complete collection of
lyrics organized by album from http://lyrics.info/
lyrics.info
* http://www.thebeatles.com.hk/george/ The Beatles
Studio: George Harrison A Hong Kong based fansite
with lyrics, discography and many George Harrison
information.

The Beatles