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Biography by Bruce Elder
As lead guitarist for the Beatles, George Harrison
provided the band with a lyrical style of playing in which
every note mattered. Harrison was one of millions of young
Britons inspired to take up the guitar by British skiffle
king Lonnie Donegan's recording of "Rock Island Line." But
he had more dedication than most, and with the
encouragement of a slightly older school friend —
Paul McCartney — he advanced quickly in his
technique and command of the instrument. Harrison
developed his style and technique slowly and painstakingly
over the several years, learning everything he could from
the records of Carl Perkins, Duane Eddy, Chet Atkins,
Buddy Holly, and Eddie Cochran. By age 15, he was allowed
to sit in with the Quarry Men, the Liverpool group founded
by John Lennon, of which McCartney was a member; by 16, he
was a full-fledged member of the group.
The Beatles finally coalesced around Lennon, McCartney,
Harrison, and drummer Ringo Starr in 1962, with Harrison
established on lead guitar. The Beatlemania years, from
1963 through 1966, were a mixed blessing for Harrison. The
Beatles' studio sound was generally characterized by very
prominent rhythm guitar parts, and on many of the Beatles'
early songs, Harrison's lead guitar was buried beneath the
chiming chords of Lennon's instrument. Additionally, he
was thwarted as a songwriter by the presence of Lennon and
McCartney; the quality and proliferation of their output
left very little room on the group's albums for songs by
anyone else. Despite these problems, Harrison grew
markedly as a musician between 1963 and 1966, writing a
handful of good songs and one classic ("If I Needed
Someone"), and also making his first acquaintance of the
sitar, an Indian instrument whose sound fascinated him.
In 1966, Harrison finally seemed to find his voice with
two of his songs on the Revolver album, "Taxman" and "Love
You Too." In the wake of the group's decision to stop
touring, Harrison's playing and songwriting grew
exponentially. The period from 1968 onward was Harrison's
richest with the Beatles. He displayed a smooth, elegant
slide guitar technique that showed up on their last three
albums; and he contributed two classic songs, "While My
Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun," along with
"Something," which became the first Harrison song on the
A-side of a Beatles single.
Although never known as a strong singer, Harrison's vocals
were always distinctive, especially when placed in the
right setting; for his first solo record following the
group's 1970 breakup, All Things Must Pass, Harrison
collaborated with producer Phil Spector, whose so-called
"Wall of Sound" technique adapted well to Harrison's
voice. All Things Must Pass and the accompanying single
"My Sweet Lord" had the distinction of being the first
solo recordings by any of the Beatles to top the charts
following their breakup. Unfortunately, Harrison was later
successfully sued by the publisher of the 1962 Chiffons
hit "He's So Fine," which bore a striking resemblance to
"My Sweet Lord."
Harrison followed All Things Must Pass with rock's first
major charity event, The Concert for Bangladesh, which was
staged as two shows at New York's Madison Square Garden in
1971 to help raise money for aid to that famine-ravaged
nation. The second of the two all-star shows was released
as a movie and a live triple album. Harrison's next studio
album, Living in the Material World, initially sold well,
but its leaner, less opulent production lacked the
majestic force of All Things Must Pass, and it lacked the
earlier album's mass appeal. Subsequent Harrison albums
from the 1970s into the '80s always had an audience, but
— except for Somewhere in England (1981), released
in the wake of the murder of John Lennon with the memorial
song "All Those Years Ago" — none seemed terribly
well-crafted or -executed. During this same period,
Harrison embarked on a successful career as a movie
producer with the founding of Handmade Films.
In 1987, Harrison made a return to the top of the charts
with his album Cloud Nine, which featured his most
inspired work in years, most notably a cover of an old
Rudy Clark gospel number called "Got My Mind Set on You,"
which reached number one on the charts. In 1988, Harrison,
Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison formed
the Traveling Wilburys, who released two very successful
albums. It was also around this time that Harrison
appeared with his former bandmate Ringo Starr, Dave
Edmunds, Rosanne Cash, and the Stray Cats' Lee Rocker(who
was born the year the Beatles made their first recordings)
in a superb live-in-front-of-the-cameras rockabilly
performance accompanying Harrison's one-time idol Carl
Perkins; which was subsequently released on video cassette
and laser disc. All of this success heralded a short-lived
re-emergence for the musician out of private life,
resulting in a 1991 tour of Japan that yielded a live
album (Live in Japan). Harrison had hated concertizing
since the harrowing days of the Beatles' international
career, and had done one poorly received concert tour in
the mid-'70s; he seemed more comfortable in 1991, and the
album performed moderately well, driven by the presence of
his then-recent hits.
He withdrew into private life after that, devoting himself
to his life with his second wife and their son, and only
re-emerged before the public when necessary, such as
defending the Beatles' copyrights in court cases.
In 1999, Harrison was assaulted in his home and seriously
injured by a deranged fan, but he recovered and in 2000 he
began work on remastering and expanding his classic All
Things Must Pass album. The reissue of that album at the
outset of 2001 heralded an unusually public publicity
campaign by Harrison, who accompanied its re-release with
an interview record that anticipated the eventual reissue
of the rest of his catalog. Harrison had been treated for
throat cancer in the late '90s, but in 2001 it was
revealed that he was suffering from an inoperable form of
brain cancer. At the time of his death on November 29,
2001, The Concert for Bangladesh album had been announced
for upgraded reissue in January of 2002, and a DVD of the
film was in release internationally.
Content Provided by All Music Guide, Copyright 2007 All
Media Guide, LLC.
