George Harrison's ALL THINGS MUST PASS
© 2001 Emd/Capitol

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In Memory of George Harrison

Sad news has come of the demise of musician George Harrison, often called the quiet member of The Beatles. It had become well known in the press of late that Harrison was battling cancer, to which he finally, gracefully succumbed on Thursday afternoon at the age of 58.

Harrison started his illustrious music career at the tender age of 15, sitting in for a missing member of a band that would eventually call itself Johnny and the Moondogs. Two other prominent members of this embryonic band were John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

From those humble beginnings, the band evolved into The Silver Beatles, eventually dropping "Silver" to become the single most influential rock band in music history.

Harrison's own compositions within the Beatles library were relatively modest in number, though memorable. Starting with the song "Don't Bother Me" on the A HARD DAY'S NIGHT album, the musician would regular provide his own compositions to each of the Fab 4's records. Other great songs to come included "If I Needed Someone", "Taxman", "Love You To", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and "Here Comes the Sun."

Harrison was also the band member that brought the sounds of the sitar to the group's music, which can be heard first on "Norwegian Wood," but much more prominently on "Within You Without You."

Harrison always seemed to be searching for peace in his life after the frantic pace of The Beatles worldwide fame and travels, which mostly likely served to fuel his interest in Eastern philosophies. It was Harrison who brought the band to meet the Mahareesh Mahesh Yogi.

After The Beatles broke up, Harrison continued as a solo performer on a number of fronts.

Starting with ALL THINGS MUST PASS, Harrison created a series of challenging albums. Among the songs he wrote were "My Sweet Lord," which became a massive hit and subject of a lawsuit, which he lost. His public reaction to that situation was the cynically humorous "This Song."

Years later, the musician joined Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne, in the informal group the Traveling Wilburys. After Orbison's death, the band was put to rest.

Harrison also made use of his ex-Beatle prominence in spearheading a charity concert for the people of Bangladesh, which resulted in a hit album and a film of the concert.

Harrison was also bit by the movie bug. The musician turned producer when he became involved in the movie biz in 1979 with his Homemade Films production shingle. Among the movies produced under the banner were MONTY PYTHON'S THE LIFE OF BRYAN, TIME BANDITS, MONA LISA, THE MISSIONARY, and MONTY PYTHON LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL.

Our condolences go out to his family and friends. He will be missed.