George Harrison

George Harrison MBE is an English rock musician, singer-songwriter and film producer from Liverpool, United Kingdom. He is best known as the lead guitarist of The Beatles, where he becomes internationally famous, and he also achieves mainstream success as a solo artist. His work in the group includes contributions to the songwriting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, first through added ideas and guitar parts and later through his own distinctive style, shaped by Eastern spirituality.

The Beatles and songwriting

Harrison is a member of The Quarrymen, The Silver Beatles and The Beatles, and his name is strongly associated with the latter. After The Beatles stop touring in 1966, he writes more songs than fit on the albums, building up material that later appears on his debut solo album, All Things Must Pass.

Solo work

All Things Must Pass is released in 1970 and includes the hit “My Sweet Lord”. Harrison continues with a run of solo albums and, in the later 1980s, records with Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty in Traveling Wilburys, a group that releases two albums. His later solo album Brainwashed is released after his death and features the single “Any Road”.

Concerts, collaborations and later Beatles projects

Harrison is credited with helping create major benefit concerts, especially the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh. At Madison Square Garden in New York, he performs with Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr and Leon Russell for an audience of 40,000, and the event raises more than $240,000 for Bangladesh relief through the George Harrison Fund. After John Lennon’s murder in 1980, Harrison works with the two surviving Beatles to make the final Beatles recordings “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”, both using Lennon’s home demos provided by Yoko Ono. The three also co-write The Beatles Anthology, a large autobiography and television special.

Other work and legacy

Harrison also conceives the Cirque du Soleil show Love, which uses remixes of Beatles music overseen by George Martin. A memorial concert for him takes place at the Royal Albert Hall on 29 November 2002 and is later issued as Concert for George. He dies in 2001 after a battle with cancer.

Labels and categories

His work is associated with Oops Publishing Ltd., Dark Horse Records, Ganga Publishing B.V., HandMade Films and Harrisongs Ltd. His listed styles include electronic, experimental, folk, folk pop, pop and pop rock, alongside rock and classic rock.