George Harrison

"I'll give up this sort of touring madness certainly, but music-everything is based on music. No, I'll never stop my music."

- George Harrison George Harrison (February 25, 1943 – November 29, 2001 [aged 40]), was an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and sitarist. He gained worldwide fame as the bass guitarist for the Beatles. After the group disbanded in 1970, he had a successful solo career.

Early life and career
In the mid-1950s he met Paul McCartney and later played lead guitar in the band the Quarry Men, which eventually became the Beatles.

At the height of the Beatles' popularity, he was often characterised as the "Quiet Beatle", noted for his introspective manner and his growing interest in Hinduism. In the mid 1960s he began playing the sitar, which influenced the sound of the Beatles music in such songs as "Norwegian Wood," "Love You To", and "Within You Without You". His experimentation with the instrument brought him into contact with the sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, who became a close friend and mentor.

While not the primary composer in the group (Lennon and McCartney wrote most of the Beatles' material), as time went on his songs improved greatly and his material earned respect from both his fellow Beatles and the music-buying public. Notable examples include "Taxman", "Here Comes the Sun", "Something", and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which was strongly influenced by the music of his friend Roy Orbison and featured a guitar solo by Eric Clapton.

Solo career
After the Beatles split in 1970, Harrison released a number of albums that were critically and commercially successful, both as solo projects and as the member of other groups. After many years of being limited in his contributions to the Beatles' catalog, he unleashed a torrent of material in the first major solo work released after the breakup, the triple album All Things Must Pass. Harrison owned a mansion in England called Friar Park, where he lived from 1970 until he died. He built his own recording studio inside the mansion, which for a time was better than Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles had made their records. Having a private studio meant Harrison could work on songs and recordings anytime he wanted.

Ravi Shankar came to Harrison during 1971 with news about a war in Bangladesh, where thousands of people had died and millions more were refugees and starving. Shankar asked for Harrison's help to give a benefit show to buy food for them. Harrison called on many of his musician friends, who put together an all-star charity concert to help the refugees. The Concert for Bangla Desh, a live recording, became a best-selling album, raised money for the refugees, and brought worldwide attention to the problems in their country. It also inspired later benefits, including Live Aid in the 1980s.

Harrison found a new musical partner in the 1980s, when Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra began to write and record songs with him. The two men worked well together and became close friends. Harrison and Lynne formed another band, the Traveling Wilburys, with fellow musicians Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison. The Traveling Wilburys recorded two albums, which became hits.

Death and legacy
In the 1990s, decades of smoking cigarettes caused Harrison to develop throat cancer. He later developed lung cancer, which caused his death in 2001. His family issued a last statement from him: "Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another." Even music was not as important to Harrison as his wanting people to learn to get along with each other, and to make the world a better place.

A year after Harrison's death, Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison, the two remaining Beatles (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr), and other musicians held the Concert for George, which remembered Harrison's music, his life, and his gifts to humanity. All the profits from the concert were given to charity.

Discography

 * Wonderwall Music (1968)
 * Electronic Sound (1969)
 * All Things Must Pass (1970)
 * Living in the Material World (1973)
 * Dark Horse (1974)
 * Extra Texture (Read All About It) (1975)
 * Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976)
 * George Harrison (1979)
 * Somewhere in England (1981)
 * Gone Troppo (1982)
 * Cloud Nine (1987)
 * Brainwashed (2002)