George Harrison - On the Boards

Through The Cracks
Clouds | Danny Gatton | Roy Buchanan | TimeBox - Patto | Joe Stanley

George Harrison

George Harrison

Sir George Harrison. February 25, 1943 – November 29, 2001, was the lead guitarist of the Beatles, a singer-songwriter, and a film producer. Listed number 21 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of "The 100 Best Guitarists of All Time" he was often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", and was undoubtedly the most introspective member of the "Fab Four". The majority of the published Beatle songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, with George averaging about one track per album after the onset of fame and fortune. One of the contributing factors to the internal band tension, and eventual breakup of the foursome, was George's inability to get more of his compositions into the recording stage of production. His first solo project "All Things Must Pass" was a three album release of his accumulated work that never reached the production stage in the Beatles' records. After the breakup George went on to film production, and released a fmore albums as a solo act and from 1988 on as a member of The Traveling Willburys, with fellow musicians Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison. His most notable release was the charity concert for Bangla Desh in 1971, which feature many of the prevalent and socially concious musicians of the time.

Harrison's biggest hit "My Sweet Lord" became the subject of minor controversey when "Bright Tunes" claimed that George has plagiarized the Chiffons recording "He's So Fine", which was owned by Bright Tunes. Harrison lost the court case in 1976, the judge stating that Harrison had "subconsciously" borrowed from "He's So Fine". The judge awarded $1.6 million to Bright Tunes for damages incurred, though this was just the beginning, as the case took some interesting turns. Allen Klein, a record label executive, who had worked for the Beatles, both as a band and in later solo efforts, was assissting Harrison during the court case, when he abruptly bought Bright Tunes and continued the lawsuit against George. Because of this impropriety the judge ordered Harrison to buy Bright Tunes from Klein for the exact amount Klein had paid for it, thereby giving George not only ownership of the company but ownership of the song "He's So Fine" that had caused all the fuss in the first place. Klein got pretty much what he deserved out of the fiasco, he was reimbursed for the purchase price of Bright Tunes, netting him nothing when all was said and done.

Harrison, as well as producing original works in the music arena, also founded HandMade Films in 1978, with the main intention of helping British comedy troup "Monty Python" finish "The Life of Brian", after the original investors backed away due to the film's content. Hand Made Films continued on with Harrison producing more than twenty films, most of them being of a satirial or comedic nature, most of them being very successful, and in the style of Alfred Hitchock, most of them containing cameo appearances by George, but after minor disputes with HandMade's co-owner Denis O'Brien, he sold the company in 1994. Harrison was also involved in co-writing, or co- producing with Ringo, Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Billy Preston, Badfinger, The Traveling Willburys, and Cheech & Chong, and his playing can be heard on some of these works, most notably the slide guitar on John Lennon's "Imagine" album, and Badfinger's "Day After Day".

Concert for Bangla Desh George Harrison's interest in Indian Mysticism, and the eventual embracing of Hare Krishna began after David Crosby of The Byrds an later CSN&Y introduce him to the sound of Indian "sitar". George became fascinated with the instrument, becoming an accomplished player, and was instrumental in it's introduction onto the popular music stage. His interest in the music led to interest in the culture and religion of India, and the Hare Krishna movement that he remained associated with until his death in 2001.

Harrison married model Pattie Boyd on January 21, 1966, beginning a union that lasted until their split in 1974, after which Pattie moved in with and eventually married George's best friend Eric Clapton. There was much media speculation concerning the incident, fostering the belief that the split was a result of Pattie's and Eric's feeling for each other and that the Derek & the Dominoes song "Have You Ever loved A Woman" was written about Pattie. regardless of the truth of the matter, it had no effect on the friendship of Clapton and Harrison, who have often referred to each other as "husbands in law". George re-married on September 2, 1978 to Olivia Trinidad, who at the time was the secretary at his "Dark Horse Records" company, and had a son Dhani Harrison.

George had many other interests besides music, he was an accomplished and knowledgeable gardener, had a strong interest in Formula One Racing, the previously mention film production company, his involvement in charity, the most notable being "The Concert for Bangla Desh" , and the penning of the only autobiography by any member of "The Beatles", entitled "I, Me, Mine" published in 1980. The "Quiet Beatle" and likely the most introspective of the four passed away from cancer on November 29, 2001, having his ashes scattered on the Ganges River in India in accordance with Hindu tradition.

Pattie Boyd George & Olivia Harrison Dhani Harrison

Discography
1969 Electronic Sound	1970 All Things Must Pass
1973 Living in the Material World	1974 Dark Horse
1975 Extra Texture (Read All About It)	1976 Thirty Three & 1/3
1979 George Harrison	1981 Somewhere in England
1982 Gone Troppo	1987 Cloud Nine
2002 Brainwashed

Live
1971 The Concert for Bangla Desh	1992 Live in Japan

Soundtrack	1968 Wonderwall Music

With The Travelling Willburys
1988 Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1	1990 Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3