George Harrison

(1943 -2001)

George was often frustrated with the lack of attention that his own songwriting was given in the band. He was definitely relegated to second place behind the duo of Lennon & McCartney. However, he eventually showed what a talented songwriter he was.

During the filming of the movie, A Hard Day's Night, George met Pattie Boyd, and the two were married on January 21, 1966. At the same time, he met guitar virtuoso Eric Clapton, and the two became friends, despite Clapton's visible longing for Pattie, a desire that is immortalized in the song "Layla" by Clapton's band Derek and the Dominoes. Pattie and Clapton both gave George something that was lacking in his life. Pattie gave George love and self-confidence; Clapton gave him respect as a guitar player and self-esteem.

Two new acquaintances remained to enter and have a profound effect on George's life. The first was Ravi Shankar and the other was the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. From Shankar, George developed a love for Indian music and an affinity for playing the sitar. From the Maharishi, George gained an understanding of Transcendental Meditation. In January of 1968, George travelled to Bombay to record tracks for the album "Wonderwall" with Indian musicians. >From that time forward, George's musical influence on The Beatles was obvious. In the late 1960s, as DeCurtis phrased it, "Harrison led the Beatles to Maharashi Mahesh Yogi and transcendental meditation." And, while they were no match in number to the group's Lennon-McCartney efforts, Harrison's compositions for the Beatles included impressive hits such as "Something," "Taxman," "Here Comes the Sun," "I Need You," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

After The Beatles broke up, George began his solo career. He toured the United States in 1974, but he was severely criticized by the media for being overly experimental in his music and for failing to play Beatle songs at his concerts. The tour drained him physically and emotionally, and he lapsed into a depression. Soon after, his marriage to Pattie also came apart and the two were divorced in 1977. They had no children, and Pattie soon after married Eric Clapton.

In 1977, George met Olivia Arrias, a Mexican-Californian who had originally come to work as a secretary in George's Dark Horse record company. They fell in love and lived together. They had a son, Dhani, born on August 1, 1978. George and Olivia married one month later. They now live in Friar Park in an enormous Victorian Gothic mansion. Insistent that he have his privacy, George has a sign outside his house with "Private: Keep Out!" written in ten different languages. There is even an American version that reads: "Get your ass outta here!"

I, Me, Mine was published in 1980. In this book, George dedicated the book to "gardeners everywhere" simply because as he states in the book that he now looks at himself as a gardener

In the late '80's George made several stage and television appearances and became a part of The Travelling Wilburys, a band consisting of Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne (now recording with Paul), Tom Petty, the late Roy Orbison, and George. Harrison has also become involved in filmmaking. Of course, as a Beatle, he appeared in the motion pictures A Hard Day's Night and Help!, and provided the voice for the cartoon image of himself in the animated film Yellow Submarine, but in the 1980's he has busied himself as the co-owner of the production company Hand Made Films. The company has brought to the screen popular works such as Monty Python's Life of Brian and Time Bandits. Harrison told Dougherty: "We tend to do low-budget movies that nobody else will do."

Musically, Harrison was very active in the late 1980s. His 1987 album, Cloud Nine, produced hits with the singles "Got My Mind Set on You," lauded by DeCurtis as a "cocky, early-rock kicker"; "When We Was Fab," a recollection of being a Beatle; and "Devil's Radio," which DeCurtis described as an "assault on gossip journalism."

In the late 90's, George was diagnosed with throat cancer. Radiation and chemotherapy seemed to have caught it in time. But the cancer was malignant and eventually spread. In 2001, George finally succumbed to the disease and passed away in Los Angeles on November 29. He was survived by his wife, Olivia and their son Dhani.