George Harold Harrison was one of 4 kids and grew up in Liverpool England.  He was born on February 25, 1943 and was the youngest of the band. 

   

   When George was 12 years old, he bought his first guitar with money his mom gave to him.  The guitar was in such bad shape, he had to hid it in the closet because it fell apart.  A year later, his brother fixed it for him.  

   Since George's dad played guitar, he took George to a friend to take lessons.  George was inspired to learn to play the guitar from Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting for a Train."

    When George was introduced to John by Paul in 1958, George hung around John all the time.  George was finally accepted into the group by John when he snuck onto the bus and pulled out his guitar and started playing "Raunchy."

    When The Beatles went to Germany for the second time, George arrived a day late because he had gotten a case of German measles.  It was the first time he had rode in an airplane also.

    "The pop scene then was mixed.  There were the big stars- The Fats Dominos, The Coasters, and Elvis- and the artists that you heard records by, but never really saw much of."  That's what George had to say about his first rock 'n' roll experiences as a teenager.

   George had said they all enjoyed reading the publicity about their selves, but they never realized that it's about them.  "You see your pictures and read articles about George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul and John- but you don't actually think, 'Oh, that's me. There I am in the paper.'  It's funny.  It's just as though it's a different person."

    When The Beatles came to America, they were loved immediately.  Everything was happening so fast and in such a rush that George had said that the only time they had gotten peace was when they would go in their hotel suite, and lock themselves in their bathroom.  

George had been the only one who was in America before.  After a day they had of resting, all the boys, except George,  went on a sightseeing tour of New York and were mobbed by the press no matter where they went.  George wasn't able to go because he had gotten sick with tonsillitis. 

    On March 2, 1964, The Beatles started to work on their new motion picture, A Hard Day's Night.  Ringo had thought of the title for it.  The hairstylists for The Beatles also showed up in the film for a few scenes.  One of them being Patti Boyd; George's future wife.
     Even thought the movie had a script to it, they always fooled around sometimes to make up their own scenes.  John, George and Ringo added in their own dance moves to this choreographed routine.

         On January 21, 1966, George and Patti tied the knot.  They had met on the set of A Hard Day's Night and started dating.  A little while after, they got married.  George and Patti set off to the Bahamas for their honeymoon.

    George had told their photographer that he never expected them to get as big as they did.  He thought they were going to last six maybe seven months at the most.  When Harry Benson told them they were No. 1 in America, the guys went wild and had a huge pillow fight in their hotel room to celebrate.

    George was always the quiet one in the band, but when The Beatles broke up, he came out and started to speak up.  He became a solo artist and had a No. 1 hit, "My Sweet Lord" and "The Concert for Bangladesh."

    Harrison had always been a great guitarist and song writer but had also always been "pushed away" by the amazement of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.  But once the band broke up, George started to share his interest in Indian music, religion and philosophy.  When he started his solo career, he maintained his interest in the Eastern Culture.

    Since barely any of the music he had written went onto The Beatles albums, he had a lot of material to work with going solo.  In 1970, Harrison released his triple-album, All Things Must Pass  that had his No. 1 hit, "My Sweet Lord."

    George still had his compassion for others and in 1971, he had organized benefits to raise money for starving victims in Bangladesh.  All of the concerts being held let to another triple-record release, The Concert for Bangladesh  featuring artists as Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton.  They also made a film with the same title. 

    Through the next few years, George came out with a lot more albums, one being, Living in the Material World  which "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) was featured.  Even though his career was going great, his personal life was really shaky. 

In 1977, George and Patti divorced when she took up an interest in Clapton, who she would later marry.  Because of this, George rebounded and married Olivia Arias and together, they had a baby boy, Dhani in 1978.

    Tragedy struck when John Lennon died on December 8, 1980 and destroyed the chances of ever having a Beatle reunion.  As his own tribute to this happening, Harrison released the touching single, "All Those Years Ago."  He then took a break from recording and worked on being a film producer in the early 80's.  Then, in the late 80's, he came back to music with the album Cloud Nine and the huge hits, "Got My Mind Set on You" and "When We Was Fab," - - a tune recalling Beatlemania. 

    By 1998, his best years were behind him and he, by then, had revealed that he had been treated for throat cancer.  He blamed all of this on all his years of smoking.  In 1999, a crazed intruder broke into Harrison's mansion in London and stabbed him several times in the back, puncturing one of his lungs - almost killing him.  Harrison had survived the attacker but was later confined to a mental hospital from the vicious assult, which made him think of John Lennon's death 20 years before.

    Even though George had stayed strong for all of those years, he wasn't his strongest on November 29, 2001.  That day, George Harrison died of cancer in Los Angeles at only 58 years old.  This was after he had undergone radiation treatment for a brain tumor.

    Just like John Lennon, George Harrison had made his contributions to music like no one else, and they won't be forgotten for a LONG time.  Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame had said, "His spirituality and humanitarianism were central to both his life and his work," and put him in the Hall of Fame as a solo performer.

    Paul McCartney had said after his death, "I am devastated and very, very sad.  He was a lovely guy and a very brave man and had a wonderful sense of humor.  He is really just my baby brother."

 

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