George Harrison MBE (February 25, 1943 – November 29, 2001) was an English musician, singer-songwriter, and music and film producer 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 the majority of the band’s songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, most Beatles albums from 1965 onwards contained at least two Harrison compositions. His songs for the group include “Taxman”, “Within You Without You”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something”.
Harrison’s earliest musical influences included George Formby and Django Reinhardt; Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry were subsequent influences. By 1965, 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 sitar, on numerous Beatles songs, starting with “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”. Having initiated the band’s embracing of Transcendental Meditation in 1967, he subsequently developed an association with the Hare Krishna movement. After the band’s break-up in 1970, 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 1971 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 1974 and co-founding HandMade Films in 1978.
Harrison released several best-selling singles and albums as a solo performer. In 1988, he co-founded the platinum-selling supergroup 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, among others. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 11 in their list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. He is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – as a member of the Beatles in 1988, and posthumously for his solo career in 2004. Traveling Wilbury tunes appear on this chart.
Harrison’s first marriage, to model Pattie Boyd in 1966, ended in divorce in 1977. The following year he married Olivia Arias, with whom he had a son, Dhani. Harrison died from lung cancer in 2001 at the age of 58, two years after surviving a knife attack by an intruder at his Friar Park home. 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 £100 million.
1 – Got My Mind Set on You – 1987
2 – All Those Years Ago – 1981
3 – My Sweet Lord – 1970
4 – Bangla Desh – 1971
5 – Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) – 1973
6 – What Is Life – 1971
7 – Handle with Care – 1988
8 – End of the Line – 1989
9 – When We Was Fab – 1988
10 – My Sweet Lord (reissue) – 2002
11 – Blow Away – 1979
12 – You – 1975
13 – Ding Dong, Ding Dong – 1974
14 – She’s My Baby – 1990
15 – Crackerbox Palace – 1977
16 – This Song – 1976
17 – Dark Horse – 1974
18 – This Is Love – 1988
19 – Nobody’s Child – 1990
20 – That’s What it Takes – 1989
21 – Inside Out – 1990
22 – Heading for the Light – 1989
23 – Wilbury Twist – 1991
24 – Teardrops – 1981
25 – Last Night – 1988
26 – Any Road – 2003
27 – Love Comes to Everyone – 1979
28 – Tweeter and the Monkey Man – 1989
29 – Wake Up My Love – 1982
30 – This Guitar (Can’t Keep from Crying) – 1975
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