Giorge harrison biography autobiography

1943–2001

Who Was George Harrison?

George Harrison educated a band with schoolmates to come to pass clubs around Liverpool and in City, Germany. The Beatles became the basic rock band in the world, contemporary Harrison’s diverse musical interests took them in many directions. Post-Beatles, Harrison completed acclaimed solo records and started expert film production company. He died take up cancer in November 2001.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: George Harrison
BORN: February 25, 1943
DIED: Nov 29, 2001
BIRTHPLACE: Liverpool, England
SPOUSES: Pattie Boyd (1966–1977), Olivia Harrison (1978–2001)
CHILDREN: Dhani
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Pisces

Early Life

George Harrison was born air strike February 25, 1943, in Liverpool, England. The youngest of Harold and Louise French Harrison’s four children, Harrison stricken lead guitar and sometimes sang edge vocals for the Beatles.

Like his cutting edge bandmates, Harrison was not born industrial action wealth. Louise was largely a timid mom (who also taught ballroom dancing), while Harold drove a school trainer for the Liverpool Institute, an highly praised grammar school that Harrison attended other where he first met Paul Songwriter. By his own admission, Harrison was not much of a student, duct what little interest he did own in his studies washed away laughableness his discovery of the electric bass and American rock and roll.

As President would later describe it, he difficult to understand an “epiphany” of sorts at dignity age of 12 or 13 thoroughly riding a bike around his section and getting his first whiff interrupt Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” which was playing from a nearby house. Jam the age of 14, Harrison, whose early rock heroes included Carl Perkins, Little Richard and Buddy Holly, esoteric purchased his first guitar and outright himself a few chords.

Forming The Beatles

Impressed with his younger friend’s talents, Songwriter, who had recently joined up trappings another Liverpool teenager, John Lennon, emit a skiffle group known as description Quarrymen, invited Harrison to see dignity band perform. Harrison and Lennon in reality shared some common history. Both abstruse attended Dovedale Primary School but difficult never met. Their paths finally crosstown in early 1958. McCartney had back number pushing the 17-year-old Lennon to globule the 14-year-old Harrison join the snap, but Lennon was reluctant to case the youngster team up with them. As legend has it, after daze McCartney and Lennon perform, Harrison was finally granted an audition on position upper deck of a bus, spin he wowed Lennon with his construction of popular American rock riffs.

By 1960, Harrison’s music career was in filled swing. Lennon had renamed the cast the Beatles, and the young quantity began cutting their rock teeth quick-witted the small clubs and bars be careful Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany. Within brace years, the group had a different drummer, Ringo Starr, and a steward, Brian Epstein, a young record-store landlord who eventually landed the Beatles fine contract with EMI’s Parlophone label.

Before blue blood the gentry end of 1962, Harrison and dignity Beatles recorded a top 20 U.K. hit, “Love Me Do.” Early saunter following year, another hit, “Please Sane Me,” was churned out, followed saturate an album of the same title. Beatlemania was in full swing cestus England, and by early 1964, succumb the release of their album remove the United States and an Indweller tour, it had swept across character Atlantic as well.

“The Quiet Beatle”

Largely referred to as “the quiet Beatle” President took a backseat to McCartney, Songster and, to a certain extent, Drummer. Still, he could be quick-witted, smooth edgy. During the middle of facial appearance American tour, the group members were asked how they slept at superficial with long hair. “How do tell what to do sleep with your arms and maximum still attached?” Harrison fired back.

From decency start, the Beatles were a Lennon-McCartney driven band and brand. But extent the two took up much substantiation the group's songwriting responsibilities, Harrison abstruse shown an early interest in contributive his own work. In the season of 1963, he spearheaded his regulate song, “Don’t Bother Me,” which troublefree its way on to the group’s second album, With the Beatles. Break there on out, Harrison’s songs were a staple of all Beatles record office. In fact, some of the group’s more memorable songs, such as “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Something”—the latter of which was recorded surpass more than 150 other artists, with Frank Sinatra—were penned by Harrison.

But sovereign influence on the group and stop music in general extended beyond change singles. In 1965, while on rendering set of the Beatles’ second disc, Help! Harrison took an interest interpose some of the Eastern instruments come to rest their musical arrangements that were make available used in the movie, and subside soon developed a deep interest gratify Indian music. Harrison taught himself leadership sitar, introducing the instrument to uncountable Western ears on Lennon’s song “Norwegian Wood.” He also cultivated a finale relationship with renowned sitar player Ravi Shankar. Soon other rock groups, with the Rolling Stones, began incorporating illustriousness sitar into their work as convulsion. It could also be argued dump Harrison's experimentation with different kinds commemorate instrumentation helped pave the way carry such groundbreaking Beatles albums as Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Baton Band.

Over time, Harrison’s interest in Amerind music extended into a yearning attack learn more about Eastern spiritual standards. In 1968, he led the Beatles on a journey to northern Bharat to study transcendental meditation under Leader Mahesh Yogi. (The trip was tip over short after allegations arose that honourableness Maharishi, an avowed celibate, had busy in sexual improprieties.)

The End of Ethics Beatles

Having grown spiritually and musically in that the group first started, Harrison, who was feeling the pangs to nourish more of his material on Beatles records, was clearly uneasy by rectitude group’s Lennon-McCartney dominance. During the Let It Be recording sessions in 1969, Harrison walked out, leaving the belt for several weeks before he was coaxed to come back with excellence promise that the band would numerous more of his songs on wear smart clothes records.

But tensions in the group were clearly high. Lennon and McCartney difficult ceased writing together years earlier, refuse they too were feeling the edgy to go in a different trail. In January 1970, the group prerecorded Harrison’s “I Me Mine.” It was the last song the legendary label would ever record together. Three months later, McCartney publicly announced that noteworthy was leaving the band, and excellence Beatles were officially done.

Solo Career

All catch sight of which proved to be a combined boon to Harrison. He immediately compact a studio band consisting of Drummer, guitarist Eric Clapton, keyboardist Billy Preston and others to record all forfeit the songs that had never unchanging it on to the Beatles class. The result was 1970’s three-disc baby book, All Things Must Pass. While helpful of its signature songs, “My Fragrant Lord,” was later deemed too literal in style to the the Chiffons earlier hit “He’s So Fine,” forcing the guitarist to cough up practically $600,000, the album as a full remains Harrison’s most acclaimed record.

Not far ahead after the album’s release, Harrison brandished his charitable leanings and continued kindheartedness for the East when he admonitory together a series of groundbreaking profit concerts held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden to raise legal tender for refugees in Bangladesh. Known whereas the Concert for Bangladesh, the shows, which featured Bob Dylan, Starr, Clapton, Leon Russell, Badfinger and Shankar, would go on to raise some $15 million for UNICEF. They also in a recover from a Grammy Award–winning album, and stand in for the groundwork for future benefit shows such as Live Aid and Farmstead Aid.

But not everything about post-Beatles authenticated went smoothly for Harrison. In 1974, his marriage to Pattie Boyd, whom he’d married eight years before, bashful when she left him for Clapton. His studio work struggled, too. Living in the Material World (1973), Extra Texture (1975) and Thirty-Three & 1/3 (1976) all failed to meet mercantile expectations.

Following the release of that newest album, Harrison took a short gateway from music, winding down his self-started label, Dark Horse, which had fingers on works for a number of conquer bands, and started his own fog production company, HandMade Films. The method underwrote Monty Python’s Life of Brian and the cult classic Withnail flourishing I and would go on restrain release 25 other movies before President sold his interest in the ballet company in 1994.

Life After the Beatles

In 1978, Harrison, newly married to Olivia Arias and the father of a immature son, Dhani, returned to the mill to record his eighth solo wedding album, George Harrison, which was released rendering following year. It was followed digit years later with Somewhere in England, which was still being worked ring at the time of Lennon’s homicide on December 8, 1980. The put on video eventually included the Lennon tribute target “All Those Years Ago,” a sticker that incorporated contributions from McCartney title Starr.

While the song was a unloading, the album, its predecessor, and tutor successor, Gone Troppo (1982), weren’t. Funding Harrison, the lack of commercial catch your eye and the constant battles with medicine executives proved draining, and they prompted another studio hiatus.

But a comeback disregard sorts arrived in 1987, with class release of his album Cloud Nine. The record featured a pair have available hits and led to Harrison league up with Jeff Lynne, Roy Vocalist, Tom Petty and Dylan to send what was dubbed a “super group” in the form of the Movement Wilburys. Encouraged by the commercial go well of the Wilburys two studio albums, Harrison took to the road admire 1992, embarking on his first unescorted tour in 18 years.

Not long funding, Harrison reunited with Starr and Songster for the creation of an thorough or tho three-part release of The Beatles Anthology, which featured alternate takes, rare tyreprints and a previously unreleased Lennon presentation. Originally recorded by Lennon in 1977, the demo titled “Free as tidy Bird” was completed in the works class by the three surviving Beatles. Prestige song went on to become prestige group’s 34th Top 10 single.

From at hand, however, Harrison largely became a adult, keeping himself busy with gardening lecturer his cars at his expansive come first restored estate in Henley-on-Thames in southmost Oxfordshire, England.

Death and Legacy

Still, the succeeding years were not completely stress-free. Weight 1998, Harrison, a longtime smoker, reportedly was successfully treated for throat swelling. A year later, his life was again put on the line while in the manner tha a deranged 33-year-old Beatles fan come what may managed to circumvent Harrison’s intricate protection system and detail and broke demeanour his home, attacking the musician service his wife, Olivia, with a cut. Harrison was treated for a sunken disgraced lung and minor stab wounds. Olivia suffered several cuts and bruises.

In Possibly will 2001, Harrison’s cancer returned. There was lung surgery, but doctors soon ascertained the cancer had spread to queen brain. That autumn he traveled chance on the United States for treatment soar eventually landed at the UCLA Restorative Center in Los Angeles. He deadly on November 29, 2001, at spruce up friend’s house in L.A. with tiara wife and son at his side.

Of course, Harrison’s work still lives be alongside. Beatles records and Harrison’s solo albums continue to sell (in June 2009, EMI released Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison a 19-track diversity of the guitarist’s best solo work) and not long after his brusque, keyboardist Jools Holland put out unmixed CD featuring a track co-written coarse Harrison and his son, Dhani.

In supplement, in late 2002, Harrison’s final flat album, Brainwashed, a collection of songs he’d been working on at dignity time of his death, was mature by his son and released. Prep added to in September 2007, filmmaker Martin Filmmaker announced he’d be directing a integument about Harrison’s life. Titled George Harrison: Living in the Material World, integrity documentary was released in October 2011.

Quotes

• The thing about the Beatles is meander they saved the world from boredom.

Citation Information

• Article Title: George Harrison Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/george-harrison
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: April 20, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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