hypersongs

George Harrison

The Beatles' lead guitarist and songwriter of "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun", whose triple album All Things Must Pass (1970) put a solo number one album and single in the charts together.

Liverpool and the Beatles

George Harrison was born at 12 Arnold Grove, Wavertree, Liverpool, on February 25, 1943, the youngest of four children of Harold Harrison, a bus conductor and former ship's steward, and Louise, nee French. He auditioned for the Quarrymen in March 1958, played in Hamburg with the Beatles in 1960, and was deported from his first residency there for being too young to work in nightclubs. In the Beatles, from 1961 to 1970, he was first the lead guitarist and later played rhythm and bass guitar, organ and non-Western instruments, among them the sitar; his songs include "Taxman", "Something", "Here Comes the Sun" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

His first solo records were Wonderwall Music (1968), the first LP released by Apple, and Electronic Sound (1968 or 1969). In 1969 and 1970 he played with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends as the Beatles broke up. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo performer in 2004, by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.

All Things Must Pass and after

All Things Must Pass came out on November 27, 1970 in the US and November 30 in the UK, a triple album with the Apple Jam disc, produced by Harrison and Phil Spector. On August 1, 1971 he and Ravi Shankar organized The Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, two shows with Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Badfinger and Ali Akbar Khan among the performers; the live album won the Grammy for album of the year. Living in the Material World (1973) and Dark Horse (1974) followed, and he founded Dark Horse Records in 1974, whose first album was Thirty Three and 1/3 (1976). Between November 2 and December 20, 1974 he toured 45 shows in the US and Canada with Shankar, with Billy Preston and Robben Ford in the band.

He co-founded HandMade Films in 1978, initially to produce Life of Brian, made George Harrison (1979), Somewhere in England (1981), Gone Troppo (1982) and Cloud Nine (1987), and in 1988 co-founded the Traveling Wilburys with Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. In December 1991 he toured Japan with Eric Clapton's band, and Live in Japan came out on July 13, 1992. He worked on the Beatles Anthology from 1994 to 1996. He died on November 29, 2001, aged 58, in Los Angeles; Brainwashed was released in 2002 and the Concert for George took place at the Royal Albert Hall on November 29, 2002, with Clapton as musical director. Martin Scorsese's documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011) won two Primetime Emmys, and Rolling Stone ranked him 31st among guitarists in 2023.

Albums

  • All Things Must Pass 1970 · Apple

    His first solo album of songs: a triple album recorded with Spector and a wide circle of friends, number one on both sides of the Atlantic.

Songs

  • Isn't It a Pity All Things Must Pass · 1970

    A song written in 1966 and turned down by the Beatles, recorded in two versions for All Things Must Pass and released as half of a double A-side.

Sources

  1. George Harrison, Wikipedia
  2. All Things Must Pass, Wikipedia
  3. The Concert for Bangladesh, Wikipedia
  4. George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Wikipedia