Born 1943 in Liverpool, England, he went to a "smart school" but was a phenomenally bad student, sitting alone in the corner. He met Paul McCartney in the mid 1950's and played lead guitar in the band, then called the Quarry Men, that eventually became the Beatles. During the height of the Beatles' popularity, he was often characterized as the "quiet Beatle", noted for his introspective manner and his growing interest in Indian mysticism. He acquired interest in playing the sitar?, which influenced the sound of the Beatles music in such songs as Norwegian Wood, Love You To, and Within You Without You. While not the primary composer in the group (Lennon and McCartney wrote most of the Beatles' material), as time went on his songs improved greatly and his material earned respect both from his fellow Beatles and the music-buying public. Notable examples include Taxman, While My Guitar Gently Weeps (which featured a guitar solo by Eric Clapton), Here Comes the Sun, and Something.
After the Beatles split in 1970, Harrison released a number of albums which were critically and commercially successful, both as solo projects and as the member of other groups. After many years of having been limited in his contributions to the Beatles' catalog, he unleashed a torrent of material in first major solo work released after the breakup, the triple album All Things Must Pass. The album included the number one hit single, My Sweet Lord. Harrison was later sued for copyright infringement over similarities between My Sweet Lord and the 1963 Chiffon's single He's So Fine. Harrison denied deliberately stealing the song, but he did lose the case in 1976; in the ruling, the court granted the possibility that Harrison had unconsciously taken the Chiffons song as the basis for his own song.
During the 1980s, he helped form the Travelling Wilburys with [Roy Orbison]?, [Jeff Lynne]?, Bob Dylan, and [Tom Petty]?). He was also involved in film production, by providing financial backing for the Monty Python film [Life Of Brian]? as well as the independent production [Withnail and I]?.
Throughout the 1990's, Harrison, a former smoker, endured an (eventually fatal) battle with cancer. There was also an attempt on his life by a crazed fan in ??.
Harrison had married twice and had one child with his second wife. He passed away at the home of a friend in California on Thursday, November 29, 2001.
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