Remembering George Harrison On The 15th Anniversary Of His Untimely Passing
George Harrison might have been “the quiet Beatle,” but over the course of his career with The Fab Four and later on in his solo career, the guitarist wrote a myriad of timeless hits that would boost his status as one of the most prolific rock stars of all time. As a 15-year old, the Liverpool-born Harrison became a member of the Quarrymen (who would later become The Beatles), despite John Lennon thinking that he was too young.
Having to compete with the the power-writing duo that was Lennon and Paul McCartney, Harrison was able to slip a song or two of his own onto almost every Beatles album during the group’s existence; no easy feat, by any stretch of the imagination. Some of those songs included “Taxman,” (1966’s Revolver) “Within You Without You” (1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), “Here Comes The Sun” and “Something” (both from 1969’s Abbey Road) and many more.
Even more impressive may have been his solo work, as the period following The Beatles proved Harrison to be a truly great singer-songwriter in his own right, now being out of the shadow of his former bandmates. 1968 would see him be the first Beatle to release a solo record, with Wonderwall Music, and the following year with Electronic Sounds, in which Harrison made use of experiments with the Moog synthesizer. He would release the triple-album, All Things Must Pass, in 1970 to massive acclaim from both critics and fans alike, with the hits “My Sweet Lord” and “What Is Life.”
Having adopted Hindu mythology and Transcendental Meditation years earlier, and a friendship with Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, Harrison would go on to put together 1971’s Concert for Bangladesh at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, a major benefit concert that raised awareness and funds for the refugee situation of East Pakistan, as a result of the mass genocide committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War. The show would feature a supergroup consisting of Harrison, ex-bandmate Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and many more.
By: Chris Meyer
Source: Live for Live Music
