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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.
This bio courtesy www.allmusic.com
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