GEORGE HARRISON

George Harrison
Known as the quiet Beatle, George Harrison received his first guitar at the age of 10. (Which is now on display at the rock and roll hall of fame) He practiced till his fingers bled and was a natural guitar player. George Harrison teamed up with John Lennon and Paul McCartney at the age of 15. After the legendary Hamburg tours in 1960 and now known as “The Beatles” the boys honed themselves into a top act .By the end of 1963 “The Beatles” were the most popular group in England. By February1964 they had conquered America owning the top five hit singles on the pop charts. George was considered the most accomplished guitar player of the group and played most of the leads, although John tweaked a string or two. George sang occassional lead vocal and contributed to the Beatles trademark harmonies.

After the official breakup of the Beatles in 1970 George began work on a solo album. Most of the songs were compositions John and Paul axed from potential Beatle albums. The studio line-up included a tour-de-force of musicians including Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Ringo and the whole Delaney and Bonnie Leon Russell tribe. Produced by Phil Spector incorporating his famous wall of sound “All Things Must Pass” was released in November 1970 as a 3 record set and contained such masterpeices as “My Sweet Lord”,”What Is Life”,”If Not For You”,”Isn’t It A Pity”, “All Things Must Pass”, “Beware Of Darkness”,”Wah Wah”,”Apple Scruffs” and more. “My Sweet Lord” was a number one hit. The third record was entitled “Apple Jam” and contained extended jam sessions featuring Eric Clapton. The album also included a poster of Harrison with hair as long as “Cousin It” (see the Adams Family reruns) surrounded by gnomes. Out of all the solo albums released by the former members of the Beatles “All Things Must Pass” ranks as one of, if not, the greatest.

After Lennon’s death he released a tribute song to Lennon in 1981 entitled “All Those Years Ago”. In 87-88 Harrison then teamed up with Jeff Lynne (of ELO) who helped Harrison produce and record the extraordinary album “Cloud Nine”. This was to be Harrison’s finest release since “All Things Must Pass” and produced the hit single “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You”. Around the same time he teamed up with Tom Petty, Bob Dylan,Roy Oribson, and Jeff Lynne and recorded an album under the name of “The Traveling Wilburys”.The single “Handle With Care” released from the album made the top ten.George was on the charts and M-TV and pretty much back at the top of his game at this point.

He underwent extensive treatment but to no avail. He died on November 29th, 2001 at the age of 58, leaving Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as the last remaining Beatles. It is rumored that George Harrison recorded a secret album before his death.