George Harrison

George Harrison is one of the most well-known British musicians. He made his name as The Beatles’ lead guitarist and later succeeded with his solo career, as well as record producer. His former bandmate Paul MacCartney described him as the «man who helped broaden the horizons of music».

Legendary musician was born on 25 February, 1943, in Liverpool. He fell in love with guitar music when he was a child, and bought his first instrument when he was 14 years old. Next year Harrison has made an acquaintance with John Lennon and Paul MacCartney, who were one year older than he. Soon Harrison became the member of The Beatles (although at first Lennon thought that Harrison was too young to play with them). Later George Harrison has written a number of famous songs for The Beatles, such as While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Here Comes the Sun, Something and others. However, the band mostly performed songs by Lennon and MacCartney, so Harrison recorded and released two solo albums: Wonderwall Music (1969) and Electronic Sound (1970). Both of them were mainly instrumental – on the first record Harrison experimented with Indian and Western sounds, on the second one – with synthesizer.

After The Beatles split up in 1970, Harrison released a 3-CD album All Things Must Pass, also based on his music experiments. The album became both critical and commercial success, while tracks My Sweet Lord and What Is Life are regarded as his best solo efforts. Next year George Harrison organized The Concert For Bangladesh – two charity shows in New York to rise money for refugees of Bangladesh Liberation War. Harrison’s performances on these concerts were later released as a live album of the same name.

In 1973 Harrison recorded Living In The Material World, which was deeply influenced by his interest in Hindu culture and also became very successful. However, next record, Dark Horse (1975), which was written after singer’s breakup with his wife, became the complete failure. Harrison was criticized for «dull songs» and «over-indulging his love for Indian music». The same failure was his next record, Extra Texture - Read All About It (1975). However, George Harrison managed to change his music style. Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976) made an emphasis on melody and pop rock style rather than heavy instrumental arrangements and philosophical lyrics of his previous works. As a result, the album became his most successful work since All Things Must Pass. The same style he used on his next albums – Somewhere In England (1981) and Gone Troppo (1982).

George Harrison recorded his next album, titled Cloud Nine, only in 1987. It became highly successful, featuring one of most famous singer’s hits Got My Mind Set On You. After releasing this album Harrison devoted himself to work with other artists, both as a guitarist and as a music producer. Harrison's last album, Brainwashed, was released after his death in 2001. In 2009 EMI released Let It Roll, the first ever compilation which spans Harrison’s entire solo career.