Name of george harrison biography book
George Harrison
English musician and member of the Beatles (–)
This article is about the musician. For other people named George Harrison, see George Harrison (disambiguation).
George Harrison[nb 1] (25 February &#;– 29 November )[nb 2] was an English musician, singer and songwriter 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 most of the band's songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, most Beatles albums from onwards contained at least two Harrison compositions.
His songs for the group include "Taxman", "Here Comes the Sun", "Within You Without You", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby and Django Reinhardt; subsequent influences were Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry. By , 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 the sitar, which he had become acquainted with on the set of the film Help!.[3] He played sitar on numerous Beatles songs, starting with "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".
Having initiated the band's embrace of Transcendental Meditation in , he subsequently developed an association with the Hare Krishna movement.
After the Beatles disbanded, Harrison released the triple album All Things Must Pass, a critically acclaimed work that produced his most successful hit single, "My Sweet Lord", and introduced his signature sound as a solo artist, the slide guitar.
He also organised the Concert for Bangladesh with 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 Dark Horse Records in He co-founded HandMade Films in , initially to produce the Monty Python troupe's comedy filmThe Life of Brian ().
Harrison released several best-selling singles and albums as a solo performer. In , he co-founded the platinum-sellingsupergroup 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.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 31 in their list of greatest guitarists of all time.[4] He is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – as a member of the Beatles in , and posthumously for his solo career in [5]
Harrison's first marriage to model Pattie Boyd in ended in divorce in In the following year he married Olivia Arias, with whom he had a son, Dhani.
A lifelong cigarette smoker, Harrison died of numerous cancers in at the age of 58, two years after surviving a knife attack by an intruder at his home, Friar Park. 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 £&#;million.
Early years: –
George Harrison was born at 12 Arnold Grove in Wavertree, Liverpool, on 25 February [nb 2] He was the youngest of four children of Harold Hargreaves (or Hargrove) Harrison (–) and Louise (née French;[11] –). Harold was a bus conductor who had worked as a ship's steward on the White Star Line, and Louise was a shop assistant of Irish Catholic descent.
George harrison biography scorsese After the Concert for Bangladesh, the book downplays or outright dismisses pretty much everything Harrison did from his music to his humor to his response to Lennon's murder to his relationships with his siblings. Thank you! James M. Or read Hunter Davies' "The Beatles.He had one sister, Louise (16 August – 29 January ), and two brothers, Harold (20 July -&#;?) and Peter (20 July – 1 June ).
According to Boyd, Harrison's mother was particularly supportive: "All she wanted for her children is that they should be happy, and she recognised that nothing made George quite as happy as making music." Louise was an enthusiastic music fan, and she was known among friends for her loud singing voice, which at times startled visitors by rattling the Harrisons' windows.
When Louise was pregnant with George, she often listened to the weekly broadcast Radio India. Harrison's biographer Joshua Greene wrote, "Every Sunday she tuned in to mystical sounds evoked by sitars and tablas, hoping that the exotic music would bring peace and calm to the baby in the womb."
Harrison lived at 12 Arnold Grove until 1 January [16] A terraced house on a cul-de-sac, it had an outdoor toilet, and its only heat came from a single coal fire.
In the autumn of , the family was offered a council house and moved to 25 Upton Green, Speke. In , Harrison enrolled at Dovedale Primary School. He passed the eleven-plus exam and attended Liverpool Institute High School for Boys from to [19][20] Though the institute did offer a music course, Harrison was disappointed with the absence of guitars, and felt that the school "moulded [students] into being frightened".
Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby, Cab Calloway, Django Reinhardt and Hoagy Carmichael; by the s, Carl Perkins and Lonnie Donegan were significant influences.[23] In early , he had an epiphany: while riding his bicycle, he heard Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" playing from a nearby house, and the song piqued his interest in rock and roll.[24] He often sat at the back of the class drawing guitars in his schoolbooks, and later commented, "I was totally into guitars." Harrison cited Slim Whitman as another early influence: "The first person I ever saw playing a guitar was Slim Whitman, either a photo of him in a magazine or live on television.
George harrison family tree: Buy from Other Retailers. Following the charity Concert for Bangladesh event and his ill-fated Dark Horse tour he retreated, as he attempted to reconcile his fame with his desire for peace and quiet. Released in , this intriguing read from author and music journalist Graeme Thomson paints a well-rounded portrait of who Harrison really was outside of his fame. If you already love the man then you definitely need to read the book.
Guitars were definitely coming in."
When George Harrison was about 14, a friend of Harrison, Raymond Hughes, offered to sell a guitar. Harrison's mother then paid for the guitar, which cost £s.– (equivalent to £ in [27]).[28][29] One of his father's friends taught Harrison how to play "Whispering", "Sweet Sue" and "Dinah".
Inspired by Donegan's music, Harrison formed a skiffle group, the Rebels, with his brother Peter and a friend, Arthur Kelly.[30] On the bus to school, Harrison met Paul McCartney, who also attended the Liverpool Institute, and the pair bonded over their shared love of music.[31]
The Beatles: –
Main article: The Beatles
McCartney and his friend John Lennon were in a skiffle group called the Quarrymen.
In March , at McCartney's urging, Harrison auditioned for the Quarrymen at Rory Storm's Morgue Skiffle Club, playing Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith's "Guitar Boogie Shuffle", but Lennon felt that Harrison, having just turned 15, was too young to join the band. McCartney arranged a second meeting, on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, during which Harrison impressed Lennon by performing the lead guitar part for the instrumental "Raunchy".[33] He began socialising with the group, filling in on guitar as needed, and then became accepted as a member.
Although his father wanted him to continue his education, Harrison left school at 16 and worked for several months as an apprentice electrician at Blacklers, a local department store.[36] During the group's first tour of Scotland, in , Harrison used the pseudonym "Carl Harrison", in reference to Carl Perkins.
In , promoter Allan Williams arranged for the band, now calling themselves the Beatles, to play at the Indra and Kaiserkeller clubs in Hamburg, both owned by Bruno Koschmider.
Their first residency in Hamburg ended prematurely when Harrison was deported for being too young to work in nightclubs. When Brian Epstein became their manager in December , he polished up their image and later secured them a recording contract with EMI.[40] The group's first single, "Love Me Do", peaked at number 17 on the Record Retailer chart, and by the time their debut album, Please Please Me, was released in early , Beatlemania had arrived.[41] Often serious and focused while on stage with the band, Harrison was known as "the quiet Beatle".[42][43] That moniker arose when the Beatles arrived in the United States in early , and Harrison was ill with a case of Strep throat and a fever and was medically advised to limit speaking as much as possible until he performed on The Ed Sullivan Show as scheduled.
As such, the press noticed Harrison's apparent laconic nature in public appearances on that tour and the subsequent nickname stuck, much to Harrison's amusement.[44] He had two lead vocal credits on the LP, including the Lennon–McCartney song "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", and three on their second album, With the Beatles ().
The latter included "Don't Bother Me", Harrison's first solo writing credit.
Harrison served as the Beatles' scout for new American releases, being especially knowledgeable about soul music.
Name of george harrison biography book Become a member. Here, the Fab Four's inimitable chronicler Philip Norman gives us the portrait of Harrison's remarkable life that only he can: myth-dispelling, richly detailed, and full of humor. And the music, always the music. One who sought out and practiced the solace and peace associated with the Indian religious practices.By 's Rubber Soul, he had begun to lead the other Beatles into folk rock through his interest in the Byrds and Bob Dylan, and towards Indian classical music through his use of the sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".[48][nb 3] He later called Rubber Soul his "favourite [Beatles] album".Revolver () included three of his compositions: "Taxman", selected as the album's opening track, "Love You To" and "I Want to Tell You".[51] His drone-like tambura part on Lennon's "Tomorrow Never Knows" exemplified the band's ongoing exploration of non-Western instruments, while the sitar- and tabla-based "Love You To" represented the Beatles' first genuine foray into Indian music.
According to the ethnomusicologist David Reck, the latter song set a precedent in popular music as an example of Asian culture being represented by Westerners respectfully and without parody.[54] Author Nicholas Schaffner wrote in that following Harrison's increased association with the sitar after "Norwegian Wood", he became known as "the maharaja of raga-rock".
Harrison continued to develop his interest in non-Western instrumentation, playing swarmandal on "Strawberry Fields Forever".
By late , Harrison's interests had moved away from the Beatles. This was reflected in his choice of Eastern gurus and religious leaders for inclusion on the album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in [nb 4] His sole composition on the album was the Indian-inspired "Within You Without You", to which no other Beatle contributed.[59] He played sitar and tambura on the track, backed by musicians from the London Asian Music Circle on dilruba, swarmandal and tabla.[nb 5] He later commented on the Sgt.
Pepper album: "It was a millstone and a milestone in the music industry&#; There's about half the songs I like and the other half I can't stand."
In January , he recorded the basic track for his song "The Inner Light" at EMI's studio in Bombay, using a group of local musicians playing traditional Indian instruments. Released as the B-side to McCartney's "Lady Madonna", it was the first Harrison composition to appear on a Beatles single.
Derived from a quotation from the Tao Te Ching, the song's lyric reflected Harrison's deepening interest in Hinduism and meditation.[64] During the recording of The Beatles that same year, tensions within the group ran high, and drummer Ringo Starr quit briefly. Harrison's four songwriting contributions to the double album included "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which featured Eric Clapton on lead guitar, and the horn-driven "Savoy Truffle".
Dylan and the Band were a major musical influence on Harrison at the end of his career with the Beatles.
While on a visit to Woodstock in late , he established a friendship with Dylan and found himself drawn to the Band's sense of communal music-making and to the creative equality among the band members, which contrasted with Lennon and McCartney's domination of the Beatles' songwriting and creative direction. This coincided with a prolific period in his songwriting and a growing desire to assert his independence from the Beatles.
Tensions among the group surfaced again in January , at Twickenham Studios, during the filmed rehearsals that became the documentary Let It Be. Frustrated by the cold and sterile film studio, by Lennon's creative disengagement from the Beatles, and by what he perceived as a domineering attitude from McCartney, Harrison quit the group on 10 January.
He returned 12 days later, after his bandmates had agreed to move the film project to their own Apple Studio and to abandon McCartney's plan for making a return to public performance.
Relations among the Beatles were more cordial, though still strained, when the band recorded their album Abbey Road. The LP included what Lavezzoli describes as "two classic contributions" from Harrison – "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something" – that saw him "finally achieve equal songwriting status" with Lennon and McCartney.
During the album's recording, Harrison asserted more creative control than before, rejecting suggestions for changes to his music, particularly from McCartney. "Something" became his first A-side when issued on a double A-side single with "Come Together"; the song was number one in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and West Germany, and the combined sides topped the Billboard Hot chart in the United States.
In the s Frank Sinatra recorded "Something" twice ( and ) and later dubbed it "the greatest love song of the past fifty years". Lennon considered it the best song on Abbey Road, and it became the Beatles' second most covered song after "Yesterday".[76][nb 6] In May , Harrison's song "For You Blue" was coupled on a US single with McCartney's "The Long and Winding Road" and became Harrison's second chart-topper when the sides were listed together at number one on the Hot His increased productivity meant that by the time of their break-up he had amassed a stockpile of unreleased compositions.
While Harrison grew as a songwriter, his compositional presence on Beatles albums remained limited to two or three songs, increasing his frustration, and significantly contributing to the band's break-up. Harrison's last recording session with the Beatles was on 4 January , when he, McCartney and Starr recorded overdubs to the song "Let It Be" for the soundtrack album of the same name.
Solo career: –
Early solo work: –
Before the Beatles' break-up, Harrison had already recorded and released two solo albums: Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound, both of which contain mainly instrumental compositions.
George harrison biography book It really wasn't much to me. Your First Name. His increasing interest in spirituality coincided with the growing Hare Krishna movement, which spilled over into his music. Log in.Wonderwall Music, a soundtrack to the film Wonderwall, blends Indian and Western instrumentation, while Electronic Sound is an experimental album that prominently features a Moog synthesizer.[82] Released in November , Wonderwall Music was the first solo album by a Beatle and the first LP released by Apple Records.[83] Indian musicians Aashish Khan and Shivkumar Sharma performed on the album, which contains the experimental sound collage "Dream Scene", recorded several months before Lennon's "Revolution 9".[84]
In December , Harrison participated in a brief tour of Europe with the American group Delaney & Bonnie and Friends.
During the tour, which included Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, drummer Jim Gordon and band leaders Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Harrison began to play slide guitar, and also began to write "My Sweet Lord", which became his first single as a solo artist.
All Things Must Pass:
Main article: All Things Must Pass
For many years, Harrison was restricted in his songwriting contributions to the Beatles' albums, but he released All Things Must Pass, a triple album with two discs of his songs and the third of recordings of Harrison jamming with friends.
The album was regarded by many as his best work, and it topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.[nb 7] The number-one hit single "My Sweet Lord" and the top-ten single "What Is Life" were taken from the album, which was co-produced by Phil Spector using his "Wall of Sound" approach; the musicians included Starr, Clapton, Gary Wright, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, the whole of Delaney and Bonnie's Friends band, and the Apple group Badfinger.[nb 8] On its release, All Things Must Pass was received with critical acclaim; Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone described it as being "of classic Spectorian proportions, Wagnerian, Brucknerian, the music of mountain tops and vast horizons".[97] Author and musicologist Ian Inglis considers the lyrics of the album's title track "a recognition of the impermanence of human existence&#; a simple and poignant conclusion" to Harrison's former band.
In , Bright Tunes sued Harrison for infringement over "My Sweet Lord", owing to its similarity to the Chiffons hit "He's So Fine". When the case was heard in the United States district court in , he denied deliberately plagiarising the song, but lost the case, as the judge ruled that he had done so subconsciously.
In , Apple Records released a thirtieth-anniversary edition of the album, and Harrison actively participated in its promotion.
In an interview, he reflected on the work: "It's just something that was like my continuation from the Beatles, really. It was me sort of getting out of the Beatles and just going my own way&#; it was a very happy occasion." He commented on the production: "Well, in those days it was like the reverb was kind of used a bit more than what I would do now.
In fact, I don't use reverb at all. I can't stand it&#; You know, it's hard to go back to anything thirty years later and expect it to be how you would want it now."
The Concert for Bangladesh:
Main article: The Concert for Bangladesh
Harrison responded to a request from Ravi Shankar by organising a charity event, the Concert for Bangladesh, which took place on 1 August The event drew over 40, people to two shows in New York's Madison Square Garden.[] The goal of the event was to raise money to aid starving refugees during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Shankar opened the show, which featured popular musicians such as Dylan, Clapton, Leon Russell, Badfinger, Preston and Starr.
A triple album, The Concert for Bangladesh, was released by Apple in December, followed by a concert film in [nb 9] Credited to "George Harrison and Friends", the album topped the UK chart and peaked at number 2 in the US,[] and went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Tax troubles and questionable expenses later tied up many of the proceeds, but Harrison commented: "Mainly the concert was to attract attention to the situation&#; The money we raised was secondary, and although we had some money problems&#; they still got plenty&#; even though it was a drop in the ocean. The main thing was, we spread the word and helped get the war ended."[]
Living in the Material World to George Harrison: –
Harrison's album Living in the Material World held the number one spot on the Billboard albums chart for five weeks, and the album's single, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", also reached number one in the US.[] In the UK, the LP peaked at number two and the single reached number 8.
The album was lavishly produced and packaged, and its dominant message was Harrison's Hindu beliefs. In Greene's opinion it "contained many of the strongest compositions of his career".Stephen Holden, writing in Rolling Stone, felt the album was "vastly appealing" and "profoundly seductive", and that it stood "alone as an article of faith, miraculous in its radiance".
Other reviewers were less enthusiastic, describing the release as awkward, sanctimonious and overly sentimental.
In November , Harrison became the first ex-Beatle to tour North America when he began his date Dark Horse Tour. The shows included guest spots by his band members Billy Preston and Tom Scott, and traditional and contemporary Indian music performed by "Ravi Shankar, Family and Friends".[] Despite numerous positive reviews, the consensus reaction to the tour was negative.[] Some fans found Shankar's significant presence to be a bizarre disappointment, and many were affronted by what Inglis described as Harrison's "sermonizing".
Further, he reworked the lyrics to several Beatles songs, and his laryngitis-affected vocals led to some critics calling the tour "dark hoarse".[] The author Robert Rodriguez commented: "While the Dark Horse tour might be considered a noble failure, there were a number of fans who were tuned-in to what was being attempted.
They went away ecstatic, conscious that they had just witnessed something so uplifting that it could never be repeated." Simon Leng called the tour "groundbreaking" and "revolutionary in its presentation of Indian Music".
On 16 November , Harrison and several others involved in the tour visited the White House. They were invited by President Gerald Ford's son, Jack.[]
In December, Harrison released Dark Horse, which was an album that earned him the least favourable reviews of his career.Rolling Stone called it "the chronicle of a performer out of his element, working to a deadline, enfeebling his overtaxed talents by a rush to deliver a new 'LP product', rehearse a band, and assemble a cross-country tour, all within three weeks".
The album reached number 4 on the Billboard chart and the single "Dark Horse" reached number 15, but they failed to make an impact in the UK.[][nb 10] The music critic Mikal Gilmore described Dark Horse as "one of Harrison's most fascinating works – a record about change and loss".
Harrison's final studio album for EMI and Apple Records, the soul music-inspired Extra Texture (Read All About It) (), peaked at number 8 on the Billboard chart and number 16 in the UK.
Harrison considered it the least satisfactory of the three albums he had recorded since All Things Must Pass. Leng identified "bitterness and dismay" in many of the tracks; his long-time friend Klaus Voormann commented: "He wasn't up for it&#; It was a terrible time because I think there was a lot of cocaine going around, and that's when I got out of the picture&#; I didn't like his frame of mind".
He released two singles from the LP: "You", which reached the Billboard top 20, and "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", Apple's final original single release.
Thirty Three & 1/3 (), Harrison's first album release on his own Dark Horse Records label, produced the hit singles "This Song" and "Crackerbox Palace", both of which reached the top 25 in the US.[nb 11] The surreal humour of "Crackerbox Palace" reflected Harrison's association with Monty Python's Eric Idle, who directed a comical music video for the song.
With an emphasis on melody and musicianship, and a more subtle subject matter than the pious message of his earlier works, Thirty Three & 1/3 earned Harrison his most favourable critical notices in the US since All Things Must Pass. The album peaked just outside the top ten there, but outsold his previous two LPs. As part of his promotion for the release, Harrison performed on Saturday Night Live with Paul Simon.
In , Harrison released George Harrison, which followed his second marriage and the birth of his son Dhani.
Co-produced by Russ Titelman, the album and the single "Blow Away" both made the Billboard top [] The album marked the beginning of Harrison's gradual retreat from the music business, with several of the songs having been written in the tranquil setting of Maui in the Hawaiian archipelago. Leng described George Harrison as "melodic and lush&#; peaceful&#; the work of a man who had lived the rock and roll dream twice over and was now embracing domestic as well as spiritual bliss".
Somewhere in England to Cloud Nine: –
The murder of John Lennon on 8 December disturbed Harrison and reinforced his decades-long concern about stalkers.
The tragedy was also a deep personal loss, although Harrison and Lennon had little contact in the years before Lennon was killed.[nb 12] Following the murder, Harrison commented: "After all we went through together I had and still have great love and respect for John Lennon. I am shocked and stunned." Harrison modified the lyrics of a song he had written for Starr to make the song a tribute to Lennon.
"All Those Years Ago", which included vocal contributions from Paul and Linda McCartney, as well as Starr's original drum part, peaked at number two in the US charts. The single was included on the album Somewhere in England in
Harrison did not release any new albums for five years after 's Gone Troppo received little notice from critics or the public.[] During this period he made several guest appearances, including a performance at a tribute to Carl Perkins titled Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session.[nb 13] In March he made a surprise appearance during the finale of the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert, an event organised to raise money for the Birmingham Children's Hospital.
The following year, he appeared at The Prince's Trust concert at London's Wembley Arena, performing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun". In February he joined Dylan, John Fogerty and Jesse Ed Davis on stage for a two-hour performance with the blues musician Taj Mahal. Harrison recalled: "Bob rang me up and asked if I wanted to come out for the evening and see Taj Mahal&#; So we went there and had a few of these Mexican beers – and had a few more&#; Bob says, 'Hey, why don't we all get up and play, and you can sing?' But every time I got near the microphone, Dylan comes up and just starts singing this rubbish in my ear, trying to throw me."
In November , Harrison released the platinum album Cloud Nine.[] Co-produced with Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), the album included Harrison's rendition of James Ray's "Got My Mind Set on You", which went to number one in the US and number two in the UK.[][] The accompanying music video received substantial airplay,[] and another single, "When We Was Fab", a retrospective of the Beatles' career, earned two MTV Music Video Awards nominations in [] Recorded at his estate in Friar Park, Harrison's slide guitar playing featured prominently on the album, which included several of his long-time musical collaborators, including Clapton, Jim Keltner and Jim Horn.Cloud Nine reached number eight and number ten on the US and UK charts respectively, and several tracks from the album achieved placement on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart – "Devil's Radio", "This Is Love" and "Cloud 9".[]
Later career: –
The Traveling Wilburys and return to touring: –
Main article: Traveling Wilburys
In , Harrison formed the Traveling Wilburys with Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty.
The band had gathered in Dylan's garage to record a song for a Harrison European single release.[] Harrison's record company decided the track, "Handle with Care", was too good for its original purpose as a B-side and asked for a full album. The LP, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, was released in October and recorded under pseudonyms as half-brothers, supposed sons of Charles Truscott Wilbury Sr.[] It reached number 16 in the UK and number 3 in the US, where it was certified triple platinum.[] Harrison's pseudonym on the album was "Nelson Wilbury"; he used the name "Spike Wilbury" for their second album.
In , Harrison and Starr appeared in the music video for Petty's song "I Won't Back Down".
In October that year, Harrison assembled and released Best of Dark Horse –, a compilation of his later solo work. The album included three new songs, including "Cheer Down", which Harrison had recently contributed to the Lethal Weapon 2 film soundtrack.
Following Orbison's death in December , the Wilburys recorded as a four-piece.
Their second album, issued in October , was mischievously titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. According to Lynne, "That was George's idea. He said, 'Let's confuse the buggers.'"[] It peaked at number 14 in the UK and number 11 in the US, where it was certified platinum.[] The Wilburys never performed live, and the group did not record together again following the release of their second album.[]
In December , Harrison joined Clapton for a tour of Japan.
It was Harrison's first since and no others followed.[nb 14] On 6 April , Harrison held a benefit concert for the Natural Law Party at the Royal Albert Hall, his first London performance since the Beatles' rooftop concert.[] In October , he performed at a Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, playing alongside Dylan, Clapton, McGuinn, Petty and Neil Young.[]
The Beatles Anthology: –
Main article: The Beatles Anthology
In , Harrison began a collaboration with McCartney, Starr and producer Jeff Lynne for the Beatles Anthology project.
This included the recording of two new Beatles songs built around solo vocal and piano tapes recorded by Lennon as well as lengthy interviews about the Beatles' career. Released in December , "Free as a Bird" was the first new Beatles single since [] In March , they released a second single, "Real Love". They also attempted to finish a third single, "Now and Then", but did not finish it because the audio quality of the cassette was, according to Harrison, "fucking rubbish." The song was later finished by McCartney and Starr and released in He later commented on the project: "I hope somebody does this to all my crap demos when I'm dead, make them into hit songs."
Later life and death: –
After the Anthology project, Harrison collaborated with Ravi Shankar on the latter's Chants of India.
Harrison's final television appearance was a VH-1 special to promote the album, taped in May Soon afterwards, Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer; he was treated with radiotherapy, which was thought at the time to be successful.[] He publicly blamed years of smoking for the illness.[]
In January , Harrison attended Carl Perkins' funeral in Jackson, Tennessee, where he performed a brief rendition of Perkins' song "Your True Love".
In May, he represented the Beatles at London's High Court in their successful bid to gain control of unauthorised recordings made of a performance by the band at the Star-Club in Hamburg. The following year, he was the most active of the former Beatles in promoting the reissue of their animated film Yellow Submarine.
On 30 December , Harrison and his wife Olivia were attacked at their home, Friar Park.
The perpetrator was year-old paranoid schizophrenic man Michael Abram, who broke in and attacked Harrison with a kitchen knife, puncturing a lung and causing head injuries before he was incapacitated by Harrison's wife, who struck him repeatedly with a fireplace poker and a lamp.[] Harrison later commented, "I felt exhausted and could feel the strength draining from me.
I vividly remember a deliberate thrust to my chest. I could hear my lung exhaling and had blood in my mouth. I believed I had been fatally stabbed."[] Following the attack, Harrison was hospitalised with more than 40 stab wounds, and part of his punctured lung was removed. He released a statement soon afterwards regarding his assailant: "He wasn't a burglar, and he certainly wasn't auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys.
Adi Shankara, an Indian historical, spiritual and groovy-type person, once said, 'Life is fragile like a raindrop on a lotus leaf.' And you'd better believe it."[nb 15] Upon being released from a psychiatric institution in , Abram said: "If I could turn back the clock, I would give anything not to have done what I did in attacking George Harrison, but looking back on it now, I have come to understand that I was at the time not in control of my actions.
I can only hope the Harrison family might somehow find it in their hearts to accept my apologies."[]
The injuries inflicted on Harrison during the home invasion were downplayed by his family in their comments to the press. Having seen Harrison looking so healthy beforehand, those in his social circle believed that the attack brought about a change in him and was the cause for his cancer's return.
In May , it was revealed that Harrison had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs,[] and in July, it was reported that he was being treated for a brain tumour at a clinic in Switzerland.[] While in Switzerland, Starr visited him but had to cut short his stay to travel to Boston, where his daughter was undergoing emergency brain surgery.
Harrison, who was very weak, quipped: "Do you want me to come with you?"[] In November , he began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for non–small cell lung cancer that had spread to his brain.[] When the news was made public, Harrison, who would die within the month, bemoaned his physician's breach of privacy, and his estate later claimed damages.[nb 16]
On 29 November , Harrison died at a property belonging to McCartney, on Heather Road in Beverly Hills, California.[] He was 58 years old.[] He died in the company of Olivia, Dhani, Shankar and the latter's wife Sukanya and daughter Anoushka, and Hare Krishna devotees Shyamasundar Das and Mukunda Goswami, who chanted verses from the Bhagavad Gita.
His final message to the world, as relayed in a statement by Olivia and Dhani, was: "Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another."[nb 17] He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and his funeral was held at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades, California.[] His close family scattered his ashes according to Hindu tradition in a private ceremony in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers near Varanasi, India.[] He left almost £&#;million in his will.[]
Harrison's final studio album, Brainwashed (), was released posthumously after it was completed by his son Dhani and Jeff Lynne.[] A quotation from the Bhagavad Gita is included in the album's liner notes: "There never was a time when you or I did not exist.
Nor will there be any future when we shall cease to be." A media-only single, "Stuck Inside a Cloud", which Leng describes as "a uniquely candid reaction to illness and mortality", achieved number 27 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.[] The single "Any Road", released in May , peaked at number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.[] "Marwa Blues" went on to receive the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, while "Any Road" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.[]
Musicianship
Guitar work
Harrison's guitar work with the Beatles was varied and flexible.
Although not fast or flashy, his lead guitar playing was solid and typified the more subdued lead guitar style of the early s. His rhythm guitar playing was innovative, for example when he used a capo to shorten the strings on an acoustic guitar, as on the Rubber Soul () album and "Here Comes the Sun", to create a bright, sweet sound.[] Eric Clapton felt that Harrison was "clearly an innovator" as he was "taking certain elements of R&B and rock and rockabilly and creating something unique".Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner described Harrison as "a guitarist who was never showy but who had an innate, eloquent melodic sense.
George harrisons middle name A largely private person, Harrison spent most of his adult life trying to escape from the very thing Beatle George that had made him famous and helped him amass an enormous amount of wealth. It certainly prompted me to download some of George's solo albums to hear what was being commented on in the book. After The Beatles parted ways in , he recorded the celebrated triple album All Things Must Pass , which served as the catalyst for a long-lasting solo career. Tell us what you like and we'll recommend books you'll love.He played exquisitely in the service of the song". The guitar picking style of Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins influenced Harrison, giving a country music feel to many of the Beatles' recordings. He identified Chuck Berry as another early influence.[]
In , the Beatles recorded "Cry for a Shadow", a blues-inspired instrumental co-written by Lennon and Harrison, who is credited with composing the song's lead guitar part, building on unusual chord voicings and imitating the style of other English groups such as the Shadows.
Harrison's liberal use of the diatonic scale