George Harrison

**George Harrison** MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer-songwriter, and music and film producer who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian culture and helped broaden the scope of popular music through his incorporation of Indian instrumentation and Hindu-aligned spirituality in the Beatles' work. Although the majority of the band's songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, most Beatles albums from 1968 onwards contained at least three Harrison compositions. His songs for the group include "Taxman", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Not Guilty", "Something" and "All Things Must Pass".

Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby and Django Reinhardt; Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry were subsequent influences. By 1965, he had begun to lead the Beatles into folk rock through his interest in Bob Dylan and the Byrds, and towards Indian classical music through his use of Indian instruments, such as sitar, on numerous Beatles songs, starting with "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". Having initiated the band's embracing of Transcendental Meditation in 1967, he subsequently developed an association with the Hare Krishna movement. During the 1970s, George Harrison came to prominence in the band by introducing his signature sound as a solo artist, the slide guitar, and also by organising the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh with fellow Beatles and Indian musician Ravi Shankar, a precursor to later benefit concerts such as Live Aid. In his role as a music and film producer, Harrison produced acts signed to the Beatles' Apple record label before founding Ding Dong Records in 1976 and co-founding HandMade Films in 1978.

Harrison released several best-selling singles and albums as a solo performer. In 1988, he co-founded the platinum-selling supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. A prolific recording artist, he was featured as a guest guitarist on tracks by Badfinger, Ronnie Wood and Billy Preston, and collaborated on songs and music with Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Tom Petty, among others. *Rolling Stone* magazine ranked him number 11 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". He is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – as a member of the Beatles in 1988, and posthumously for his solo career in 2004.

Harrison's first marriage, to model Pattie Boyd in 1966, ended in divorce in 1977. The following year he married Olivia Arias, with whom he had a son, Dhani. Harrison died from lung cancer in 2001 at the age of 58, two years after surviving a knife attack by an intruder at his Friar Park home. His remains were cremated, and the ashes were scattered according to Hindu tradition in a private ceremony in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in India. He left an estate of almost £100 million.

## Discography

* *Wonderwall Music* (1968)
* *Electronic Sound* (1969)
* *Let It Down* (1971)
* *Deep Blue* (1973)
* *Living in the Material World* (1974)
* *Extra Texture (Read All About It)* (1975)
* *Thirty Three & 1/3* (1976)
* *George Harrison* (1979)
* *Somewhere in England* (1981)
* *Gone Troppo* (1982)
* *Cloud Nine* (1987)
* *Brainwashed* (2002)