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George Harrison
*** Shopping-Tip: George Harrison
:''This article is about songwriter and musician George Harrison. For the early twentieth century singer, see
Clinton Ford (singer) Clinton Ford. For Nintendo's Senior VP of Marketing and Corporate Communication, see
George Harrison (Executive).''
{{Infobox_Biography |
subject_name=George Harrison |
image_name= GHarrison.JPG |
image_caption= |
dead=dead |
date_of_birth=
February 25,
1943 |
place_of_birth=
Liverpool,
England |
date_of_death=
November 29,
2001 |
place_of_death=
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles,
California,
United States U.S.
}}
'''George Harrison''',
Order of the British Empire MBE (
February 25,
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 or two songs per album, including the popular "
If I Needed Someone", "
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
Music of India Indian music and
Hinduism, sparking unprecedented interest in them in the
Western Hemisphere. Both would subsequently play a prominent role in Harrison’s life and music.
Harrison also had an uneven but sometimes very successful solo career after the break-up of The Beatles, scoring major 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''. Harrison also has a cameo role in the Beatles parody film ''
All You Need Is Cash The Rutles''.
Early years
George 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 claimed that he had, in fact, been born on
February 24 at 11:40 PM. His full name is often given as "George Harold Harrison," but this is incorrect. Harrison had no middle name, as one can see on his birth certificate. Harold was his father's name.
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 for Boys (now the
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts), 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.
In 1959, Harrison worked briefly as an apprentice electrician at
Blacklers Stores in
Liverpool. The training helped, and Harrison became the member who knew the most about rigging their sound equipment. Later he set up his own
multitrack recording gear at his Esher home,
Kinfauns, making
demo (music) song demos for himself and 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. Other Harrison solos were directed or modified by producer
George Martin, who also vetoed several of Harrison's song and instrument offerings; Martin admitted years later, "I was always rather beastly to George."
During the era of
Beatlemania, Harrison was characterized as the "Quiet Beatle", noted for his introspective manner and his tendency not to speak in press conferences. He studied situations and people closely, though, and was the most interested of any Beatle in the band's finances, often quizzing
Brian Epstein about them. He could also wisecrack as well as anyone in the band; when a reporter asked what they did in their hotel suite between shows, Harrison told him "We
ice skating ice-skate." When asked what the band called their distinctive haircut, he replied, "Arthur."
Image:PDGeorge Harrison.jpg right|thumb|Harrison in the early 1960s
Harrison wrote his first song, "
Don't Bother Me", during a sick day in 1963, as an exercise "to see if I ''could'' write a song", as he remembered. "Don't Bother Me" appeared on the second Beatles album (''
With the Beatles'') late that year, on ''
Meet the Beatles!'' in the US in early 1964, and also in ''
A Hard Day's Night (film) A Hard Day's Night''. After that, the Beatles did not record another Harrison song until 1965, when he contributed "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" to the album ''
Help! (album) Help!''
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 (musician) Ravi Shankar. Harrison quickly became fascinated with the instrument, immersed himself in Indian music and was pivotal in popularizing the sitar in particular and Indian music in general in the West. Buying a sitar himself as the Beatles came back from a Far East tour, he became the first western popular musician to play one on a pop record "
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 Pop Festival Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967. Shankar didn't admire Harrison's first Indian-influenced efforts, but the two became friends, and Harrison began his first formal musical studies with Shankar.
A personal turning point for Harrison came during the filming of the movie ''
Help! (film) Help!'', on location in the
Bahamas, when a
Hinduism Hindu devotee presented each Beatle with a book about
reincarnation. Harrison’s interest in Indian culture expanded to his embracing
Hinduism. A pilgrimage with wife Pattie to the
Republic of India, where Harrison studied sitar, met several gurus and visited various holy places, filled the months between the end of the final Beatles tour in 1966 and the commencement of the ''Sgt. Pepper'' sessions. Ironically though, it was through Pattie (and back in England) that George met
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced the Beatles, their wives and girlfriends to
Transcendental Meditation. While they parted company with the Maharishi months afterwards, Harrison continued his pursuit of
Eastern philosophy Eastern spirituality.
In the summer of 1969, he produced the single "
Hare Krishna Mantra", performed by Harrison with the devotees of the London
Radha-
Krishna Temple, that topped the 10 best-selling record charts throughout UK, Europe, and Asia. That same year, he and fellow Beatle John Lennon met
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-
acharya of the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Soon after, Harrison embraced the Hare Krishna tradition (particularly ''japa-yoga'' chanting with beads; a meditation technique similar to the
Catholic rosary), and remained associated with it until his death. When during his lifetime, Harrison bequeathed to ISKCON his
Letchmore Heath mansion (renamed [http://chantandbehappy.com/manorvirtual/ Bhaktivedanta Manor]) north of London, he redoubled 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-top14.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 (band) 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 ''
The Beatles (album) White Album'', with Harrison threatening to leave the group on several occasions. Between 1967 and 1969, McCartney on several occasions expressed dissatisfaction with Harrison's guitar playing. As a result, a number of Beatles songs from that period feature either McCartney or Lennon on lead guitar. In addition, the tension between Harrison and McCartney can be clearly seen in several scenes in the ''
Let It Be (film) Let It Be'' documentary film and relations became so strained during the making of the film that Harrison briefly quit the band.
Harrison's songwriting improved greatly through the years, and his material gradually earned respect from both his fellow Beatles (with Lennon telling McCartney during 1969 "George's songs this year are at least as good as ours") and the public. Nonetheless, he later said that he always had difficulty getting the band to record his songs.
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"; "
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 (as did McCartney's "
Helter Skelter" actually about a fairground ride).
"
Something (song) Something" and "
Here Comes the Sun" (both from the album
Abbey Road), are probably his two best-known Beatles songs. "Something" is considered one of his very best works, and was even covered by
Elvis Presley and
Frank Sinatra, who famously deemed it "the greatest love song of the last 50 years." At the same time, "Something" serves as a supreme example of Harrison's lack of recognition as a songwriter - Frank Sinatra once called it his "favorite Lennon-McCartney tune." 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.
When asked years later what kind of music The Beatles might have made if they'd stayed together, his answer was to the point: "The solo stuff that we've done would have been on Beatle albums." Harrison, Lennon and McCartney had always largely written apart; on one level, breaking up for each was merely a change of collaborators
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 by a single artist 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 in court during 1976; in the ruling, the court accepted the possibility that Harrison had "unconsciously copied" the Chiffons melody as the basis for his own song. Disputes over damages dragged on into the 1990s, with manager
Allen Klein changing sides by buying Bright Tunes, which published "He's So Fine", and continuing the suit after parting with Harrison, and Harrison ultimately winding up as the owner of both songs.
Image:BanglaDeshCover.jpg right|thumb|The Concert for Bangladesh
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 (musician) Ravi Shankar opened the proceedings, which included other popular musicians such as
Bob Dylan (who rarely appeared live in the early 1970s),
Eric Clapton who made his first public appearance in months (due to a heroin addiction, begun as
Derek and the Dominos broke up),
Leon Russell,
Badfinger,
Billy Preston and fellow Beatle
Ringo Starr. Unfortunately, tax troubles and questionable expenses tied up many of the concert's proceeds. ([http://www.theconcertforbangladesh.com/ Apple Corps] recently released 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 contains additional material (such as previously unreleased rehearsal footage of "If Not For You" featuring Harrison and Dylan), and all artists' sales royalties continue to go to
UNICEF.)
In addition to his own works, during this time Harrison wrote and/or produced several hits for Ringo Starr ("It Don't Come Easy", "Photograph") and also appeared on tracks by John Lennon ("How Do You Sleep?"),
Harry Nilsson ("You're Breakin' My Heart"),
Badfinger ("Day After Day"),
Billy Preston ("That's The Way God Planned It") and
Cheech & Chong ("Basketball Jones").
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 which was subsequently criticised for its long opening act of Ravi Shankar & Friends, Harrison's hoarse voice, and his frequent preaching to the audience. The album made the Top 20 in the US album chart, but was a failure in the UK, due to a combination of declining interest and negative reviews. The single "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", a Top 40 UK hit, was widely panned for its unadventurous lyric, though it has since become a favourite record with radio programmers in the closing moments of each year, and at new year's eve parties.
It was during this period while in LA preparing for the 1974 tour that he also opened offices for his new
Dark Horse Records on the
A&M Records lot on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. It was in those offices that he met a beautiful young woman by the name of Olivia Trinidad Arias who was assigned to work at his label with
Terry Doran from Apple and Jack Oliver who came over from London to run Dark Horse Records. The relationship progressed during the rehearsals and Olivia joined George on his 1974 tour during which their relationship blossomed into something more resulting in her permanent relocation to
Friar Park in
Henley-on-Thames, England, George's home.
Subsequent to the 1974 tour he returned to his home in the UK and commuted between there and Los Angeles for the next few years while Dark Horse 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.
Amidst a music media rife with Beatle-reunion speculation, Harrison was probably the least accommodating of these theories, telling the press in 1974 that while he wouldn't mind working with John Lennon and Ringo Starr again, he could not see himself being involved in a band with Paul McCartney, who had limited his contributions while in the Beatles.
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.
Following the former Beatles' release from Capitol at the beginning of that year, the record company was in a position to license releases featuring Beatles and post-Beatles work on the same album, and used Harrison for this unfortunate experiment. ''
The Best of George Harrison'' combined the musician's best Beatle songs with a slim selection of his best solo Apple work, doing neither era a favor. Harrison made plain his annoyance with the track listing, and the fact that he was not consulted. It did not chart in the UK.
Business and personal troubles took their toll on Harrison over during 1976, 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 Brothers 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. Grief' in the song had been Buckley's manager).
After his second marriage and the birth of son
Dhani Harrison, Harrison's next album was self-titled: 1979s ''
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
In 1980 Harrison became the only ex-Beatle to write an autobiography, ''I Me Mine''. Former Beatles publicist
Derek Taylor helped with the book, which was initially released in a high-priced limited edition. The book said little about the Beatles, focusing instead on Harrison's hobbies, such as
gardening and
Formula One auto racing. It also included the lyrics to his songs and many rare photographs.
Immediately following the December 1980 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. Both singles were pulled from the album ''
Somewhere in England'', released in 1981. The album was originally slated for release in late 1980, but Warner Brothers rejected it, and ordered Harrison to replace some of the tracks, and apparently change the album cover (!) as well. This was another professional humiliation for an artist who had already been sued successfully for his most famous post-Beatles song, "
My Sweet Lord".
Aside from a song on the ''
Porky's Revenge''
soundtrack in 1984, his version of a little-known
Bob Dylan song, ''
I Don't Want To Do It'', Harrison released no new records for five years after 1982s ''
Gone Troppo'' was met with apparent indifference. He returned in 1987 with the highly successful album ''
Cloud Nine (George Harrison 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
James Ray (musician) James Ray's early 1960s number "
Got My Mind Set on You" was released as a single; another single, "
When We Was Fab", was also a minor hit. MTV regularly played the two videos, and elevated George's public profile as a relevant 80's artist. The album got to #8.
During the late 1980s, he was instrumental in forming 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.), ''
Traveling 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 as a reporter 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 new songs: "Poor Little Girl", "
Cheer Down", and "
Cockamamie Business", the last of which saw him once again looking wryly upon his Beatley past. Unlike his previous greatest hits package, Harrison made sure to oversee this one.
1990s
Image:1991 Japan Tour.jpg Eric Clapton.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|240px|from Concert tour with [[Eric Clapton & His Band,
December 1991.html" title="Meaning of 240px|from Concert tour with [[Eric Clapton">thumb|240px|from Concert tour with [[Eric Clapton & His Band,
December 1991">240px|from Concert tour with [[Eric Clapton">thumb|240px|from Concert tour with [[Eric Clapton & His Band,
December 1991
The first year of the new decade saw a new Traveling Wilburys album, despite the untimely 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, there were to be no others.
The ''
Live in Japan'' recording came from these shows. In October of 1992, he played two songs ("
If Not For You" and "
Absolutely Sweet Marie") at a huge Bob Dylan tribute concert at
Madison Square Garden in
New York City.
In
1995, at the height of the
britpop movement - which was heavily influenced by Harrison's music - he became embroiled in a feud with
Oasis (band) Oasis' Gallagher brothers. Devoted fans of The Beatles, the brothers were offended when Harrison referred to them as "silly" and "a passing fad".
Noel Gallagher responded by saying "George was always the quiet Beatle - maybe he should keep that up" whilst
Liam Gallagher described him as a "nipple" and threatened to play golf off of Harrison's head should they ever meet. Apparently the feud was short lived, and when Noel Gallagher and Harrison actually met, they got on well.
Harrison's final television appearance was not intended as such; in fact, he was not the featured artist, and the appearance was to promote ''
Chants of India'', another collaboration with Ravi Shankar released in 1997, at the height of interest in
chant music.
John Fugelsang conducted the interview, and at one point an acoustic guitar was produced, and handed to Harrison. When an audience member asked to hear "a Beatles song!" Harrison pulled a sheepish look and answered "I don't think I know any!" He did finish the show with a loose rendition of "All Things Must Pass".
A former
tobacco smoking smoker, Harrison endured an ongoing battle with
cancer throughout the 1990s, having growths removed first from his
oral cancer throat, then his
lung cancer lung.
Then there was an attempt on Harrison's life. On
December 30,
1999 crazed fan
Michael Abram broke into the Harrison's
Friar Park home in
Henley-on-Thames, stabbed George multiple times, ultimately puncturing his
lung. Harrison and his wife, Olivia, fought the intruder and detained him for the police. 35-year-old 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.
In 2001, Harrison appeared as a guest musician on the
Electric Light Orchestra album, ''
Zoom'', and wrote a new song, ''
Horse To The Water'', and recorded it (on what was his final recording, a few weeks before his death) with
Jools Holland on the latter's album, ''
Small World, Big Band''.
Death
George Harrison died at the home of a friend, security specialist ''Gavin de Becker'', in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles,
California on
November 29 2001, at the age of 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/popupPrintArticle.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 cannot wait; and love one another.'"
Harrison and
Aaliyah Aaliyah Haughton made UK chart history when they scored the first (and so far the only) pair of back-to-back
posthumous number one hits as Aaliyah'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's final album, ''
Brainwashed (album) Brainwashed'', was completed by
Dhani Harrison and
Jeff Lynne and released on
November 18 2002. A media-only single, "Stuck Inside a Cloud", was heavily played on UK radio to promote the album, and the official single "Any Road", released in May 2003, was a Top 40 hit.
On
November 29 2002 – the first anniversary of George Harrison's 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.
Harrison was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist on
March 15 2004.
From March 2005 to February 2006, a survey was conducted on the George Harrison.com message board, asking members to vote on any and every George Harrison song (songs which featured Harrison as the prominent performer or vocalist of the song, including songs by
The Beatles and
the Traveling Wilburys) on a scale from 1 to 10. Over 3,200 votes were cast, and on February 25, 2006 (what would have been George's 63rd birthday), the top 50 were revealed in an online radio countdown show hosted by two members of the forum. The #1 song was "
Here Comes the Sun."
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'' (1970). 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 (born
18 May 1948) in 1978. The ceremony took place on
September 2 at their home, with
guitarist and singer
Joe Brown (singer) Joe Brown, acting as
best man. They had one son,
Dhani Harrison, born the previous month. Dhani looks so remarkably like his father, that McCartney quipped on stage at Concert For George: "It looks like George stayed young and we all got old."
Pseudonyms
Harrison used pseudonyms well before his work as a
Traveling Wilburys Traveling Wilbury. Some of these were due to his recording contracts - he could legally not be credited as himself on many collaborations, and others were merely humourous and often self-deprecating. Some of the aliases George used were Arthur Wax, Bette Y El Mysterioso, Carl Harrison, George H., George Harrysong, George O'Hara, George O'Hara-Smith, The George O'Hara-Smith Singers, George Ohnothimagen Harrison, Hari Georgeson, Jai Raj Harisein, L'Angelo Mysterioso, P. Roducer, and Son of Harry.
See also
*
List of notable brain tumor patients
Discography
''For a detailed discography, see:
George Harrison discography''
External links
{{wikiquote}}
-
GeorgeHarrison.com — Official Site
* {{imdb name|id=0365600|name=George Harrison}}
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"''Beatle George Harrison dies''" —
CNN.com article dated
1 December 2001
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Sound clip on the life of George Harrison
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"''George Harrison dies''" —
BBC News article dated
30 November 2001
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"''George Harrison: Life in pictures''" — Life story of George in pictures, BBC News dated
30 November 2001
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"''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]
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George Harrison lyrics — A complete collection of lyrics organized by album from [http://lyrics.info/ lyrics.info]
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The Beatles Studio: George Harrison A Hong Kong based fansite with lyrics, discography and many George Harrison information.
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BeatleLinks
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George Harrison Songs
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George Harrison Lyrics
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Guitarist George Harrison
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http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/georgeharrison.txt
{{George Harrison}}
{{The Beatles}}
Category:George Harrison
Category:The Beatles Harrison, George
Category:1943 births Harrison, George
Category:2001 deaths Harrison, George
Category:Deaths by lung cancer Harrison, George
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{{Catmore|George Harrison}}
Articles relating to the
musician and
The Beatles ex-Beatle,
George Harrison.
Category:The Beatles Harrison, George
Category:Apple Records recording artists Harrison, George
Category:British guitarists Harrison, George
Category:British male singers Harrison, George
Category:British songwriters Harrison, George
Category:Liverpudlians Harrison, George
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Category:The Quarrymen Harrison, G
{| style="margin:0 auto; padding: 0 auto" align=center id=toc
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George Harrison'''
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!align=center bgcolor=lightgrey|'''
Album (music) Studio Albums'''
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|align=center|''
All Things Must Pass'' .html">Living in the Material World''
''Dark Horse (album)|Dark Horse'' | ''
Extra Texture (Read All About It)'' .html">Thirty Three & 1/3''
''George Harrison (album)|George Harrison'' | ''
Somewhere in England'' .html">Gone Troppo''
''Cloud Nine (George Harrison album)|Cloud Nine'' | ''
Brainwashed (album) Brainwashed''
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!align=center bgcolor=lightgrey|'''Live Albums'''
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The Concert For Bangla Desh'' | ''
Live in Japan''
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!align=center bgcolor=lightgrey|'''Compilations'''
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The Best of George Harrison'' | ''
Best of Dark Horse 1976-1989''
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!align=center bgcolor=lightgrey|'''Soundtracks'''
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Wonderwall Music'' .html">Concert for George (album)
Concert for George''
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!align=center bgcolor=lightgrey|'''Experimental Albums'''
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Electronic Sound''
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!align=center bgcolor=lightgrey|'''Box Sets'''
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|align=center|''
The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992''
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!align=center bgcolor=lightgrey|'''With
Traveling Wilburys'''
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|align=center|''
Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1'' | ''
Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3''
|}
*** Shopping-Tip: George Harrison
