Born February 25Th, 1943, Died November 29 2001.
George was the one who stood halfway between John and Paul playing his lead guitar in a style in which every note mattered. George's playing was heavily influences by the likes of Carl Perkins, Duane Eddy, Lonnie Donegan, Buddy Holly, Chet Atkins and Eddie Cochran to name a few. At the tender age of fifteen he began to sit in with the Quarrymen and by the age of sixteen he was a Beatle. Four years later in 1963 Beatlemania well and truly took off . The touring years from 1963 to 1966 were a mixed blessing to George as his lead playing was often buried under the characteristic ( at this time ) rhythm guitar playing of John. In addition to this the consistent high quality and voluminous output of songs by John and Paul left little room for input by anyone else.
By 1966 George's songwriting ability had grown markedly witnessed by the inclusion of three of his songs on Revolver, "Taxman,Love You Too,I Want To Tell You". Also becoming prominent was his interest in Eastern Religion and Musical Instrumentation
which added an element of mysticism to the Beatles sound eg: "Within You,Without You: The Inner Light".
After the Beatles Decision to stop touring George's playing and songwriting grew exponentially, from 1968 onward he contributed classic songs including, " While My Guitar gently Weeps, Here Comes The Sun" and "Something" which became the only Beatle A Side not penned by Lennon or Mc Cartney.
By the time of the Beatles breakup in 1970 George had a virtual bucketload of songs which had been written over the past couple of years but had not seen the light of day. This is easily verified by the number of beatles bootlegs which include versions of All Things Must Pass,Hear Me Lord,Wah-Wah
and Let It Down amonst others.
The resulting triple album "All Things Must Pass" and the single " My Sweet Lord" had the distinction of being the first solo work to top the charts at number one.
Long before charity events became common George was asked by his friend Ravi Shankar to help raise money to aid the starving masses of Bangla Desh. Two shows were organised in 1971 at Madison square Garden under the title of "Concert For Bangla Desh", the second show being taped and released as a triple album and movie.
1973 saw the release of "Living In The Material World" which while initially selling well, lacked the appeal of its predecessor, due perhaps to the leaner production and the overt religious connotations which were evident on subsequent releases.
George's output from this point to the early eighties was patchy and seemingly none too well-crafted or executed with the exception of a couple of albums. George Harrison spent more time with his passion for motor racing and embarking on a career as a movie producer, founding Handmade Films which released such movies as "The Life Of Brian" and "Time Bandits".
In 1987 George made a return to the top of the charts with his album "Cloud Nine" assisted by notables such as Elton John, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Jeff Lynne. The album spawned successful singles such as "When We Was Fab" and "Got My Mind Set On You" an old Rudy Clark number.
In 1988 George joined Bob Dylan,Tom Petty,Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison in forming the" Traveling Wilburys" who released two successful albums , "Volume One" and "Volume Three". 1992 saw George Harrison teaming up with Eric Clapton and performing a tour of Japan, from which a double CD resulted.
Once again George took a back seat from the music business. Recent times have seen the Re-release of All Things Must Pass and the sad news that George is currently battling cancer.
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