It is time to celebrate what would have George Harrison's - a.k.a. 'the quiet one' - 80th birthday, be delving a little into his life and music.
George Harrison was born in the Wavertree area of Liverpool on 25 February 1943, living at 12 Arnold Grove until the age of four. He was the youngest of four children, to Harold (a bus conductor) and Louise (a shop assistant). Louise was a big music fan and would listen to Radio India when she was pregnant with George - perhaps influencing the later George at such an early stage?
In 1949, the Harrison's were at 25 Upton Green in Speke, where he attended Dovedale Primary School, before moving on to Liverpool Institute High School for Boys between 1954 and 59.
He was developing his own set of influences, initially the likes of Cab Calloway, Django Reinhardt and George Formby, but soon moving on to Carl Perkins and Lonnie Donegan. In 1956 he was given a Dutch Egmont flat-top acoustic guitar and was soon in his own skiffle group, The Rebels, with brother Pete and Arthur Kelly.
The next bit is set into legend. In 1958 he meets the slightly older Paul McCartney on the bus and they bond over music. He gets to join The Quarrymen with Paul and John Lennon, although it seems that Lennon initially thought he was a bit too young to be in. The following year, Harrison left school and started as an apprentice electrician with Blacklers (Department Store) - but in 1960 the band, which has morphed into The Beatles, gets an opportunity to go and play in Hamburg, and off young George goes.
With The Beatles
We can rattle through this section fairly quickly - I think most people know at least the rough chronology and music of the Beatles! One interesting thing to note, apocryphal or otherwise, but it seems he got his 'quiet Beatle' moniker by chance. On tour in the US in early 64, he doesn't participate much in interviews, as he is suffering with strep throat and a fever - but the press think he is just not talkative....
On 1963 album Please Please Me, George sings on Do You Want To Know A Secret, and on With The Beatles, he gets his first solo writing credit for Don't Bother Me. By 1965 and Rubber Soul, he is leading the band towards a more folk-rock sound and also starting to bring in his Indian music influence. The song writing credits start to increase a little over the next few years, although he still finds it hard to make much of an impact on the Lennon - McCartney monopoly. There is Norwegian Wood, then three songs on Revolver - Taxman, Love You To and I Want To Tell You - but only one on Sergeant Pepper (Within You Without You).
The Beatles: Do You Want To Know A Secret - https://youtu.be/uRQ7ecvU56k
The Inner Light, which makes the B-side of Lady Madonna, is his first song on a Beatles single. The White Album includes one of his most famous compositions, While My Guitar Gently Weeps. By Abbey Road in 1969, George is heating up as a songwriter, just as the Beatles are starting to come apart a bit. He pulls out two of his best songs (and arguably two of the best by the Beatles) - Something and Here Comes The Sun. Musicologist Kenneth Womack describes Something as a tune that, "meanders towards the most unforgettable of Harrison's guitar solos... A masterpiece in simplicity, it reaches towards the sublime." Something is also his first A-side, being on a double A with Come Together.
The Beatles: The Inner Light - https://youtu.be/sa3948JzWCc
Going solo
His first two solo albums come out before the Beatles break up. Wonderwall Music is a 1968 soundtrack, the first release on the Apple label and includes contributions from Eric Clapton and Peter Tork (The Monkees). Electronic Sound is a more experimental, and mostly instrumental album.
At this stage, Harrison's life is changing rapidly. The Beatles finally split and he releases his monster triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970, with the help of producer Phil Spector. He has been inspired by Delaney Bramlett (Delaney & Bonnie) to use more slide guitar, with the allure of being able to use it to mimic Indian instruments, such as his solo on Lennon's How Do You Sleep? The album includes My Sweet Lord and What Is Life and musicians on it include Ringo, Clapton, Gary Wright (the one that sang Dreamweaver), Billy Preston (who had played keyboards for the likes of the Stones, Little Richard and Ray Charles) and Klaus Voorman.
George Harrison: What Is Life - https://youtu.be/fiH9edd25Bc
Mikal Gilmore, writing in Rolling Stone, said, "Harrison's openness to new sounds and textures cleared new paths for his rock and roll compositions." The one sour note, was that he was sued by Bright Tunes for copyright infringement, for the similarities between My Sweet Lord and the Chiffons He's So Fine.
Bangladesh
In 1971, Harrison puts on the Concert For Bangladesh, two shows at Madison Square Gardens in NYC, to raise money for refugees suffering after the Bangladeshi Liberation War and the Bhola Cyclone. He got top musicians like Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Leon Russell to play.
1973's Living In The Material World is a number one in both the US and UK. Then in 1974, he establishes his own label, Dark Horse, which also releases work by Shankar and Splinter. 1976's Thirty Three and 1/3 is his first release on Dark Horse.
1978 sees him marry Olivia, his second wife. He had been married to Pattie Boyd from 1966 to 1977 (they separated in 74), but his affair with Ringo's wife Maureen and issues with drugs and alcohol had seen that end. Also in 78, his son Dhani is born.
Films and less music
He established Handmade Films in 1978 with Denis O'Brien, and they went on to make Monty Python's Life Of Brian (Harrison mortgaged his home to help pay for this). The company would also produce Long Good Friday (1980), Time Bandits (1981) and Mona Lisa (1986).
His 1979 album, just called George Harrison, was his last for a while as he started a bit of a retreat from music. This period did see him get more involved with activism though, with the likes of Greenpeace and CND. Lennon's tragic death in December 1980 reignited concerns Harrison had around the issue of stalkers. The song All Those Years Ago, which he had originally written for Ringo, was adapted as a tribute to his old bandmate. The final version included Ringo's drum part with added vocals from Paul and Linda McCartney.
George Harrison: All Those Years Ago - https://youtu.be/eNL40ql4CYk
Hitting cloud nine
There were minor ripples with 1981s Somewhere In England and 1982s Gone Troppo, but it wasn't until 1987s Cloud Nine that Harrison found himself back in the limelight.
Co-produced with Jeff Lynne of ELO, the record was recorded at Harrison's Friar Park estate. Got My Mind Set On You was a cover of a 1962 James Ray song and it hit number one in the US and two in the UK.
George Harrison: When We Was Fab - https://youtu.be/AVu6nPTVbBQ
Then in 1988, came the Travelling Wilburys, which featured George with Dylan, Lynne, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison. Soon after Travelling Wilburys Volume 1 was released, Orbison died (Dec 1988), so their second album, amusingly titled Travelling Wilburys Volume 3, was recorded as a four-piece. They never performed live.
More Beatles
Skip forward to 1994 and the Beatles are back on the agenda. Harrison, McCartney, Starr and Jeff Lynne gather to work on the Beatles Anthology project. There is much excitement as it generates some new (kind of) Beatles tunes - Free As A Bird (December 1995) and Real Love (March 1996) were built around old tapes of some John Lennon tunes he had recorded with piano and vocals.
The Beatles: Free As A Bird - https://youtu.be/ODIvONHPqpk
His participation in Ravi Shankar's Chants Of India VH-1 special in May 1997, marked his last ever tv appearance. He was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent a treatment of radiotherapy. On 30 December 1999, George and Olivia were attacked in their home by paranoid schizophrenic, Michael Abram, who grabbed a kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbed George, leaving him with a punctured lung and head injuries. The attack only ends when Olivia subdues Abram with a fire poker.
Despite thinking he was free of it, the cancer was back by May 2001 and in July he was also diagnosed with a brain tumour, for which he received treatment in Switzerland. He travelled to Beverley Hills for his final days, with his death happening on 29 November 2001. His final words were said to be, "Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another."
His last album, Brainwashed, was released posthumously, with work on it completed by Lynne and Dhani.
Legacy
There probably isn't too much need to eulogise about Harrison. He was a Beatle after all, and that really says all you need to know. But beyond that, he left a legacy of collaboration, activism and philanthropy and some bloody great tumes.
Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone magazine, probably summed it up best when he said of him, "[he was] a guitarist who was never showy but who had an innate, eloquent melodic sense, He played exquisitely in the service of the song."