George Harrison
| Videos | |
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| George Harrison "Let It Be" Solo |
George Harrison Interview |
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| George Harrison "While Guitar Gently Weeps" |
The Beatles "Twist And Shout" |
| Guitarist Quick-Facts |
| Name: George Harrison |
| Born: February 25, 1943 |
| Origin: Liverpool, England |
| Guitar Gear |
| Guitars: Gibson, Gretsch, Rickenbacker, |
| Amplifiers: Fender, VOX |
| Bands: Past & Present |
| The Beatles, The Rebels, The Traveling Wilburys |
George Harrison was born on February 25, 1943 in Liverpool, England. As a child, Harrison attended the same school as John Lennon, although a few grades behind. At the age of 14, Harrison spent his time in class sitting in the back and drawing guitars. He was fascinated by guitars and when a kid at school announced he was selling his guitar for £3 10s, Harrison got the money from his mother. At the time it was a lot of money for the family. Harrison quickly formed a skiffle group with his brother and a friend, which they called The Rebels. Through their mutual interest in music, Harrison met Paul McCartney, who attended the same school as him and played in a band called The Quarrymen.
McCartney liked the way that George played the guitar, saying that his playing was “Raunchy”, and suggested to Quarrymen bandmate John Lennon that Harrison be allowed to join the band. Initially, John thought George to be too young, but allowed him to come watch practices and fill in when needed. Harrison performed well, and by the time he was 16, he was allowed into the band as a full member.
By 1961, the band had renamed themselves The Beatles and were discovered by manager Brian Epstein in December of that year while they were performing at The Cavern Club. At the time, the Beatles were sporting a rough edged, leather jacket wearing, rock and roll image. At Epstein's urging, the band took on a more refined look and accepted a contract with EMI records. Their first single with the company, “Love Me Do”, went to 17 on the UK charts. The song was so popular that the band was already famous by the time their debut album, “Please Please Me” was released.
The band became a sensation, and by 1965 were all made Members of the Order of the British Empire, but the Queen during that year's Queens Birthday Honours. At this time, Harrison was coming into his own as an influence within the band and, driven by his interest in the folk rock sounds of The Byrds and Bob Dylan, and Harrison wrote three songs on the 1966 release, “Revolver”. The followup album, “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, included only one song penned by Harrison, and his interests seemed to be drifting away from his band.
Harrison briefly quit the Beatles in 1968 as tensions began to arise. Harrison was frustrated with poor working conditions, and Lennon's creative disengagement from the group. He returned to the group after only 12 days following negotiations with the other Beatles. By early 1970, though, Harrison had left the group for good. He had amassed a large collection of songs that did not make the cut onto Beatles albums, and was growing increasingly productive.
Those collection of songs was so large, in fact, that Harrison's first album after leaving the Beatles, “All Things Must Pass” was released as a triple album. The song was a commercial and critical success in both America and England and included the number one hit “My Sweet Lord”. The song created lengthy legal problems for Harrison when he was accused of plagiarizing the song “He's So Fine” by the Chiffons. A judge ruled against Harrison, awarding Bright Tunes the sum of $1,599,987. Harrison's manager, Allen Klein, inadvertently saved Harrison money by greedily buying Bright Tunes for $587,000 in an attempt to collect the settlement money. A judge agreed that Klein was in the worng, and reduced Harrison's settlement amount to the $587,000 that Klein had paid for Bright Tunes and awarding control of the company to Harrison, giving him the rights to both of the songs.
Harrison never did achieve the same success that he had enjoyed with “All Things Must Pass”, but his 1973 release, “Living in the Material World”, topped the U.S. Charts for five weeks and got to the number two spot on the UK charts.
In 1988, Harrison formed supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys featuring Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty. Initially the group was put together to record a track for an upcoming album by Harrison, but the track turned out so well that the group decided to write and record more material together. The group recorded two albums together, although the second was done without Roy Orbison, who had died before the album was recorded. Both albums were successful, although the second did not achieve the same level of success as the first.
Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997, and underwent treatments for lung cancer, a brain tumour, but eventually succombed to cancer on November 29, 2001. Eric Clapton organized a tribute concert on the one year anniversary of Harrison's death and the profits went to Harrison's charity, the Material World Charitable Foundation.
