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Subject:  George Harrison has always been an enigma to Beatle fans. Unlike John or Paul, he did not push himself forward into the public spotlight. Instead, he remained in the background, a seemingly shy young man who played a guitar somehow too large for his frail frame. David Levi Celebrity Entertainment NEWS Network |
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] Date Posted: 20:14:33 04/04/06 Tue Author Host/IP: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com/207.200.116.198 George Harrison has always been an enigma to Beatle fans. Unlike John or Paul, he did not push himself forward into the public spotlight. Instead, he remained in the background, a seemingly shy young man who played a guitar somehow too large for his frail frame. His momentary approaches to Paul's microphone to sing harmonies were just that, momentary. And there was little doubt that it was, after all, Paul's microphone and not his. At times he was more like a sessions player than like a full-fledged member of the group. In reality, however, George was the backbone of the group. It was his guitar work that maintained an orderly arrangement to the flighty musical eccentricities of John and Paul. The next few pages are a brief account of this gifted musician's life. George Harrison was born on February 24, 1943 in the Wavertree area of Liverpool. His parents were Louise and Harold Harrison. George had two brothers, Peter and Harry, and a sister, Louise. His mother was a housewife, and his father was a bus driver. He attended Dovedale Primary School two forms behind John Lennon, and then the Liverpool Institute, one form behind Paul McCartney. He was the youngest of The Beatles and the only Beatle whose childhood was not marred by divorce or death. George was keenly interested in music at an early age. His mother bought him his first guitar at the age of 13, and he formed a group of his own called "The Rebels." The life of the band was short lived. He and failed to join "Rory Storm & The Hurricanes," but he was able to find a spot in the "Les Stewart Quartet." He grew up in a public housing project, and was a mediocre student. George's early efforts at guitar playing were somewhat futile--he bought a guitar as a young adolescent, but found he couldn't understand the chording patterns. While he was experimenting with one of the screws, the instrument fell apart. In frustration George hid the guitar in the closet and turned his efforts to the trumpet, where he met with a similar lack of success. Eventually one of his older brothers repaired the guitar, and on his next attempts George managed to learn a few chords. After that he practiced diligently, listening to recordings of famed guitarists Chet Atkins and Duane Eddy in order to perfect his style. George and Paul took the same bus to the Liverpool Institute, and they soon discovered that they had music and guitars in common. At the time, Paul was already a member of John's group, The Quarrymen, and he invited the 14 year old George to see the band. Eventually, with George always "hanging around," John asked George to join the band. In 1960, the Quarrymen had a new name: The Beatles. The group set off for Hamburg in August to work at the Indra Club. When The Beatles worked at a rival club called the Top Ten Club, the owner of the Indra Club became furious and revealed to authorities that George was only 17, too young to have a work permit. George was forced to return to England. George was always an integral part of what was happening to the group. At the time of their appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," polls showed Harrison to be the most popular Beatle with American audiences. Today, he continues to be one of the most popular Beatles among young and old alike. George was often frustrated with the lack of attention that his own songwriting was given in the band. He was definitely relegated to second place behind the duo of Lennon & McCartney. However, he eventually showed what a talented songwriter he was. During the filming of the movie, A Hard Day's Night, George met Pattie Boyd, and the two were married on January 21, 1966. At the same time, he met guitar virtuoso Eric Clapton, and the two became friends, despite Clapton's visible longing for Pattie, a desire that is immortalized in the song "Layla" by Clapton's band Derek and the Dominoes. Pattie and Clapton both gave George something that was lacking in his life. Pattie gave George love and self-confidence; Clapton gave him respect as a guitar player and self-esteem. Two new acquaintances remained to enter and have a profound effect on George's life. The first was Ravi Shankar and the other was the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. From Shankar, George developed a love for Indian music and an affinity for playing the sitar. From the Maharishi, George gained an understanding of Transcendental Meditation. In January of 1968, George travelled to Bombay to record tracks for the album "Wonderwall" with Indian musicians. >From that time forward, George's musical influence on The Beatles was obvious. In the late 1960s, as DeCurtis phrased it, "Harrison led the Beatles to Maharashi Mahesh Yogi and transcendental meditation." And, while they were no match in number to the group's Lennon-McCartney efforts, Harrison's compositions for the Beatles included impressive hits such as "Something," "Taxman," "Here Comes the Sun," "I Need You," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." After The Beatles broke up, George began his solo career. He toured the United States in 1974, but he was severely criticized by the media for being overly experimental in his music and for failing to play Beatle songs at his concerts. The tour drained him physically and emotionally, and he lapsed into a depression. Soon after, his marriage to Pattie also came apart and the two were divorced in 1977. They had no children, and Pattie soon after married Eric Clapton. In 1977, George met Olivia Arrias, a Mexican-Californian who had originally come to work as a secretary in George's Dark Horse record company. They fell in love and lived together. They had a son, Dhani, born on August 1, 1978. George and Olivia married one month later. They now live in Friar Park in an enormous Victorian Gothic mansion. Insistent that he have his privacy, George has a sign outside his house with "Private: Keep Out!" written in ten different languages. There is even an American version that reads: "Get your ass outta here!" I, Me, Mine was published in 1980. In this book, George dedicated the book to "gardeners everywhere" simply because as he states in the book that he now looks at himself as a gardener ------------------------- "I'm really quite simple. I don't want to be in the business full-time, because I'm a gardener. I plant flowers and watch them grow. I don't go out to clubs and partying. I stay at home and watch the river flow." [George Harrison] In the late '80's George made several stage and television appearances and became a part of The Travelling Wilburys, a band consisting of Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne (now recording with Paul), Tom Petty, the late Roy Orbison, and George. Harrison has also become involved in filmmaking. Of course, as a Beatle, he appeared in the motion pictures A Hard Day's Night and Help!, and provided the voice for the cartoon image of himself in the animated film Yellow Submarine, but in the 1980's he has busied himself as the co-owner of the production company Hand Made Films. The company has brought to the screen popular works such as Monty Python's Life of Brian and Time Bandits. Harrison told Dougherty: "We tend to do low-budget movies that nobody else will do." Musically, Harrison was very active in the late 1980s. His 1987 album, Cloud Nine, produced hits with the singles "Got My Mind Set on You," lauded by DeCurtis as a "cocky, early-rock kicker"; "When We Was Fab," a recollection of being a Beatle; and "Devil's Radio," which DeCurtis described as an "assault on gossip journalism." In the late 90's, George was diagnosed with throat cancer. Radiation and chemotherapy seemed to have caught it in time. But the cancer was malignant and eventually spread. In 2001, George finally succumbed to the disease and passed away in Los Angeles on November 29. He was survived by his wife, Olivia and their son Dhani. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |