George Harrison

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. Harrison was the youngest of four children born to Harold, a bus driver, and Louise, a homemaker. A precocious youth who was a mediocre student, Harrison was given his first guitar by his mother who encouraged him continually despite her son’s pleadings that he could never learn to play it. His mothers encouragement won over and Harrison’s fate was sealed on 6 February 1958 when a friend of his, Paul McCartney introduced him to a guitar player named John Lennon. The three teenagers, along with their friend Pete Best formed a band named the "Quarrymen" and rehearsed in Harrison’s home, with Mom Harrison cheering all their efforts. The Quarrymen eventually changed their name to "The Beatles" and with drummer Ringo Starr replacing Best, performed in the local Liverpool club known as "The Cavern," toured Scotland and Germany. After signing with manager Brian Epstein, they toured America and became overnight sensations, ultimately becoming a household word. Although the majority of the bands songs were written by Lennon and 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". When the band broke up in 1970, Harrison, who had been heavily influenced by eastern mysticism and Indian musician Ravi Shankar, pursued his own spiritual and musical path with such albums including All Things Must Pass, Dark Horse (after the record company he established of the same name in 1974), Living In The Material World and Somewhere in England. He purchased a film company in 1978 with partner Dennis O’Brien called "HandMade Films," and bankrolled movies including The Long Good Friday, Mona Lisa, Time Bandits, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, and Shanghai Surprise. Despite the success of HandMade Films, Harrison had no plans of being a full-time producer. "I don’t really want an office job, going there day after day. I like to have it as a hobby," he said. Following the assassination of fellow Beatle John Lennon in 1980, Harrison became absolutely terrified of appearing in public and rarely granted interviews. Making his first concert appearance after 12 years in 1987, he emerged officially from the shadows. Friend Michael Palin of Monty Python remarked, "I think in some ways he is just recovering from being a Beatle. I think he’s deciding now that he can’t live locked away all the time." In regards to Harrison’s religious and spiritual leanings, Palin also observed, "I think he’s absorbed as much as he can, and he’s not on the quest, the search for truth as he once was." Once out of his shell, Harrison toured with the super-group "The Traveling Wilburys" in 1995 and, that same year, joined ex-Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney to produce The Beatles’ Anthology. His autobiography I Me Mine was published in 1980. While gardening in July 1997, Harrison noticed a lump in his neck. He underwent surgery the following month to remove the cancerous nodule followed by radiation. "I got it purely from smoking. I gave up cig Read less