Born: February 5, 1943
Singer & Guitarist
Age would have been in 2024: 81
Born February 25th, 1943, in Liverpool, England, George Harrison became essentially obsessed with guitars and had his interest piqued by rock and roll in early 1956 after hearing Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel”, which led to his father buying him his first guitar later that year. From there, he became friends with Paul McCartney, who attended the same school, and was later urged by McCartney to audition for his and John Lennon’s band the Quarrymen. After first being turned away for being too young by Lennon, after a second attempt he was welcomed into the band. From there, in 1960 the band became arguably the biggest band in history, The Beatles. With the Beatles, Harrison was responsible for some of the bands biggest late-career hits such as “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Here Comes the Sun”, and “Something”, along with being the lead guitarist of the band and the reason the sitar is used on “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” as well as some of their other songs.
Outside of the Beatles, Harrison released what has been regarded as his best work, the triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970 made up of two discs full of his songs, and a third of him jamming with his many friends in the industry, and included the number-one mega-hit “My Sweet Lorde” and the top-ten single “What Is Life”. In 1971, Harrison organized a charity event known as the Concert for Bangladesh on August 1st, 1971, at Madison Square Garden to raise money to aid the starving refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War. This spawned the live triple album The Concert for Bangladesh that went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
Harrison’s legacy has continued to live on with his music grabbing the attention of new fans through various forms of media, including “My Sweet Lorde” being featured in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
