George Harrison
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter, author and sitarist best known as the lead guitarist for The Beatles. Following the band's breakup, Harrison had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys super group. He was the first Beatle to have a number one album (All Things Must Pass). He was also a film producer, with his production company Handmade Films, involving people as diverse as Madonna and the members of Monty Python. After Harrison embraced Hinduism in the 1960s, his spiritual convictions were often evident in his music and public activities.
Although John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the Beatles' main songwriters, Harrison generally wrote or sang lead on a few songs per album. His later compositions included hits such as "Here Comes the Sun", "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". After the band's breakup, it was Harrison who achieved the first #1 single by any ex-Beatle with his "My Sweet Lord". Besides his talents as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and sitarist, he was also a record producer and music innovator, George possessed, as it seemed obvious to researchers, the innate ability to perhaps even surpass the Lennon-McCartney songwriting cartel, however it was not to happen as part of the Beatles. And as Harrison forged his own identity and drifted away from the Beatles he became a world-class songwriter, musical pioneer, and single-handed catalyst for a generation's interest in Indian culture. In 1969 George commented: "I believe that if I'm going to sing songs on record, they might as well be on my own."
