George Harrison
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George Harrison (February 24, 1943 - November 29, 2001) was a British musician. He was born and grew up in Liverpool, England, and was first famous as a member of The Beatles. After the group broke up in 1970, he had a solo career. He made many albums and worked with other musicians including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Phil Spector, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Ravi Shankar. He was also known for his interest in Eastern mysticism and charitable causes.
His best-known album was All Things Must Pass, which he made just after the Beatles broke up. Harrison owned a mansion in England called Friar Park, where he lived from 1970 until he died. He built his own recording studio inside the mansion, which for a time was better than Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles had made their records. Having a private studio meant Harrison could work on songs and recordings anytime he wanted.
Ravi Shankar came to Harrison during 1971 with news about a war in Bangladesh, where thousands of people had died and millions more were refugees and starving. Shankar asked for Harrison's help to give a benefit to buy food for them. Harrison called on many of his musician friends, who put together an all-star charity concert to help the refugees. The Concert for Bangla Desh, a live recording, became a best-selling album, raised money for the refugees, and brought worldwide attention to the problems in their country. It also inspired later benefits, including Live Aid in the 1980s.
Harrison married a fashion model, Pattie Boyd, in 1966, but they were divorced a few years later, and had no children. Boyd left Harrison to be with his friend, guitarist Eric Clapton, but all three remained friendly. Harrison married again in 1978, to Mexican-born Olivia Trinidad Arias, who had worked for his record company. Arias became the mother of Harrison's son Dhani, whose name means "rich man" in English. Dhani grew up to be a musician like his father, and he attended Brown University in the United States.
In the late 1970s Harrison formed a film production company, Handmade Films, which produced movies including Monty Python's Life of Brian and Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits.
The grounds of Harrison's home, Friar Park, had been more or less open to the public, until the murder of his former bandmate John Lennon late in 1980. Harrison was very hurt and shocked by Lennon's death, and was afraid someone might try to harm him or his family. Afterwards, the gates were locked, and no-entry notices were posted. (Late in 1999, an intruder did indeed break into his home, stabbing Harrison with a knife, but he and wife Olivia stopped the intruder, and called the police. Harrison recovered, and the man who attacked him, who was mentally ill, was sent to a mental hospital.)
Harrison found a new musical partner in the 1980s, when Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra began to write and record songs with him. Lynne had imitated the Beatles's musical style, and the two men worked well together and became close friends. Harrison and Lynne formed another band, the Traveling Wilburys, with fellow musicians Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison. The Traveling Wilburys recorded two albums, which became hits.
In the 1990s, years of smoking cigarettes caused Harrison to develop throat cancer. He was treated, but the cancer came back and spread, leading to Harrison's death in 2001. His family issued a last statement from him: "Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another." Even music was not as important to Harrison as his wanting people to learn to get along with each other, and to make the world a better place.
A year after Harrison's death, Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison, the two remaining Beatles (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr), and other musicians held the Concert for George, which remembered Harrison's music, his life, and his gifts to humanity. All the profits from the concert were given to charity.
[edit] Best-Known Songs
In the Beatles:
- I Need You
- If I Needed Someone
- Taxman
- Within You, Without You
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- Something
- Here Comes the Sun
- I Me Mine
Solo:
- What is Life
- My Sweet Lord
- Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
- Ding Dong: Ding Dong
- Crackerbox Palace
- Blow Away
- All Those Years Ago
- Got My Mind Set on You
| The Beatles |
|---|
| John Lennon | Paul McCartney | George Harrison | Ringo Starr Pete Best | Stuart Sutcliffe |
| Management and production |
| Brian Epstein | George Martin | Phil Spector | Abbey Road Studios |
| Other |
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | Yoko Ono |
