From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Feb 24, 2003  1:19 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : George Harrison

GEORGE HARRISON (By Colin Kilgour)

Born February 25*, 1943, Liverpool, England
Died 29 November 2001, Los Angeles, CA

Beatle / Solo Artist / Film Producer / Gardener

"All Things Must Pass," George Harrison titled his first solo album after
the break-up of the Beatles in 1970. And so they must. He was a spiritual
explorer who added both rock 'n' roll flash and a touch of the mystic to the
Band's timeless magic.

Alan Williams, the Beatles' first manager, described Harrison as the major
cog in The Beatles. He said "George kept them together, probably because of
the calming effect he had". He was a quiet and unassuming figure beside the
towering egos of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

George was the youngest Beatle, the only one from a large family and whose
family background was normal and undramatic i.e. not marred by divorce or
death. Born into a close-knit working-class family, Harrison took up
guitar as a teenager. He experienced his "rock 'n roll epiphany", he later
recalled, "when I was about 12 or 13 riding my bike and I heard Heartbreak
Hotel coming out of somebody's house." What a way to go.

His father, Harold, a former ship's steward, became a bus conductor soon
after his marriage and his mother Louise was a housewife, who all the kids
in the neighbourhood knew and liked. He had two brothers, Harold Jr. and
Peter, and a sister, Louise so his parents named their first born after
themselves ... neat eh?

George attended Dovedale Primary school, two forms behind John Lennon and
then having passed the 11-plus exam, Liverpool Institute, one of the city's
leading grammar schools, one form below Paul McCartney.

His mother bought him his first guitar at the age of 13, and he formed a
group of his own called "The Rebels." When the skiffle craze hit Liverpool,
George and his brother Peter formed a Skiffle band but because they were so
young, they had to sneak out of the house to play their first engagement.

George and Paul took the same bus to school and soon found they had music
and guitars in common. They spent many hours together at each other's homes
practicing guitar. In 1956, Paul introduced skinny George who was only 14 at
the time, to the Quarrymen. Not old enough to join the group, George hung
around with the boys and came to idolise John, doing everything he could to
emulate him. George stood in the back of the room at all their shows with
his guitar. A few times he filled in for the regular guitarist who didn't
show up and the boys were also welcomed in George's house by his mother to
practice and for an occasional "jam buttie". In time George's patience was
rewarded when aged 16 he became a member of the group.

Harrison's absorption in music took its toll on his school career and he
left the Liverpool Institute in 1959 with only one exam pass, in art. By
the end of that year The Quarrymen were no more. A succession of other
names came and went , most notably Johnny and the Moondogs but come late
1959 they gave the matter serious thought. Being great fans of Buddy Holly
and his Group, The Crickets and wishing they'd thought of that name, other
insects came into the frame. Persuaded they should elongate it a bit, their
eventual choice was The Silver Beatles.

However, the following year 1960, George's musical career began in earnest
when the re-named Beatles were booked to play for four months in a club in
Hamburg's Reeperbahn, although the trip was cut short when the 17-year-old
Harrison was discovered to be under age.

The Silver Beatles auditioned unsuccessfully to become Billy Fury's backing
group.

George provided the band with a lyrical style of playing in which every note
mattered. Harrison was one of millions of young Britons inspired to take up
the guitar by British skiffle king Lonnie Donegan's recording of "Rock
Island Line." But he had more dedication than most and with McCartney's
encouragement, he advanced quickly in his technique and command of the
instrument. Harrison developed his style slowly and painstakingly over the
years, learning everything he could from the records of Carl Perkins, Chuck
Berry, Duane Eddy, Chet Atkins, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran.

It's believed that George was the main mover in the sacking of Pete Best and
the substitution of Ringo as drummer. By 1961, George was firmly
established as lead guitarist for The Beatles and the following year they
signed their recording contract with EMI. When urbane record producer,
George Martin, politely asked them whether there was "anything you're not
happy with?", Harrison quipped: "Well, I don't like your tie for a start."

In the 13 months to February 1962, The Beatles played The Cavern Club about
300 times.

George's vocal on Do You Want To Know A Secret? was a nice foil to the
others on the debut album. His contribution to the Group was considerable.
He designed guitar breaks and riffs to suit the range of song genres used by
Lennon and McCartney, although he had less opportunity than he would have
liked to cut loose in the Rockabilly style of his great hero Carl Perkins.

The first Beatles song written by George was the prophetically titled Don't
Bother Me. He became a serious musician who worked diligently to perfect his
playing. His concentration to his playing was apparent while on stage,
especially compared to the wild antics of John and Paul. The 'Quiet Beatle'
almost missed their biggest appearance in America, the Ed Sullivan Show, on
February 9, 1964 because of a sore throat.

The Beatlemania years, from 1963 through 1966, had their frustrations for
Harrison. The Beatles' studio sound was generally characterised by very
prominent rhythm guitar parts and on many of the Beatles' early songs, his
lead guitar was buried beneath the chiming chords of Lennon's instrument.
Additionally he was thwarted as a songwriter by the sheer output of Lennon
and McCartney.

The quality and proliferation of their material left very little room on the
group's albums for songs by anyone else. Despite these problems, Harrison
grew markedly as a musician between 1963 and 1966, writing a handful of good
songs and also making his first acquaintance of the sitar, an Indian
instrument whose sound fascinated him.
About Indian music and philosophy, George said:
"After 'Norwegian Wood', I met Ravi Shankar at a friend's house in London,
for dinner. He offered to give me instructions in the basics of the sitar,
like how to sit, how to hold it, and the basic exercises. It was the first
time I had ever really learned music with a bit of discipline. Then I
started to listen to Indian music for the next two years, and hardly touched
the guitar, except for recordings. Having all these material things, I
wanted something more. And it happened that at just the time I wanted it, it
came to me in the form of Ravi Shankar, Indian music, and the whole Indian
philosophy."

George spent six weeks in India studying the sitar and Indian mysticism and
helped to popularise Ravi's music in the West. Ravi's daughter is new
charter Nora(h) Jones.

The other Beatles followed GH to India in 1968 where they studied
Transcendental Meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. But whilst it was
a passing fad for the other three, for Harrison, Eastern philosophy and
religion were a lifelong commitment. A strong pull toward the spiritual and
imagery from Hinduism pervade his post-Beatles solo work from his biggest
hit "My Sweet Lord" to "Living in the Material World," "Awaiting on You All"
and "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)".

He did, however, turn down the Maharishi's request that he, Paul and Ringo
stand as candidates in Liverpool in the 1992 general election.

In the earlier years of the Beatles' popularity, George featured more or
less as much as a vocalist as John and Paul. However as the songwriting of
Lennon and McCartney became world-known, George started to concentrate 
more on writing songs as well, although many of his early songs written while
with the Beatles went unrecorded.

He met teenage model Patti Boyd while filming A Hard Day's Night and they
married on January 21, 1966. This was the year Harrison finally seemed to
find his voice with two of his songs on the Revolver album, "Taxman" and
"Love You Too." In the wake of the group's decision to stop touring,
Harrison's playing and songwriting grew rapidly. Probably his most
important influence on the group concerned the new sound textures he
introduced. His jangly 12-string Rickenbacker, featured on "A Hard Day's
Night," was a major influence on the American band the Byrds and is surely
one of George's best moments.

The sitar was first heard on the Lennon song Norwegian Wood in 1965 and soon
Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and a dozen other pop musicians were
featuring the sitar sound instrument on their records.

Harrison contributed some sitar-based songs to the 1968 film soundtrack
Wonderwall Music, the first solo outing by a Beatles member. By this time
The Beatles were on a downward path as John and Paul drifted apart and both
antagonised George. He argued with McCartney on camera during the filming
of "`Let It Be" and walked off the set of the film.

GH by the late 60s was clearly worn out from being a Beatle but conversely,
the period from 1968 onward is regarded by many as his richest with The
Beatles. He displayed a smooth, elegant slide guitar technique that showed
up on their last three albums; and he contributed classic songs .......
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun," joined with
"Something," which became the first Harrison song on the A-side of a Beatles
single. This last title was hailed by Frank Sinatra at the time as "the
greatest love song ever written".

By the time the Beatles recorded The White Album in 1968, Harrison was often
at odds with McCartney and Lennon over whose songs would be developed and
recorded by the band. The guitarist's personal life was also troubled. He
and close friend Eric Clapton both loved the same woman and Patti Boyd spent
much of her time with Clapton. Boyd later switched husbands (Harrison
attended the wedding) and the three remained eerily close.

Following the release of Abbey Road in the fall of 1969, Harrison travelled
to Europe to perform with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, a group which
included his old friend, keyboardist Billy Preston. Within months the
Beatles were no more. The Beatles split in the spring of 1970 with it being
made official on the last day of that year.

Harrison's first post-Beatles album was All Things Must Pass, released in
late 1970. Recorded with Phil Spector and featuring appearances by Clapton
and old friends Klaus Voormann and Ringo Starr, the triple album became a
No. 1 hit, spawning the No. 1 single "My Sweet Lord." Unfortunately for
Harrison, "My Sweet Lord" bore a strong resemblance to the Chiffons 1962 hit
"He's So Fine," and their publishing company filed suit, seeking damages for
the alleged plagiarism.

After protracted negotiations failed, a US court finally heard the case in
1976 and ruled that Harrison had "subconsciously" borrowed from "He's So
Fine" and owed $1.6 million in damages. Another report has GH being ordered
to pay some $600,000 (£421,000) to the song's rights holders Bright Tunes,
for "subconscious plagiarism."
As consolation the single of "My Sweet Lord" had the distinction of being
the first solo recording by any of The Beatles to top the 45 rpm charts
following their break-up.

Although never known as a strong singer, Harrison's vocals were always
distinctive, especially when placed in the right setting. The sheer volume
of material on ATMP confirmed the feelings of Harrison fans that he was
being stifled in the Beatles
Harrison took a break from recording in 1971, producing an album for
Badfinger (the first band signed to Apple Records), contributing to John
Lennon's Imagine and performing at a landmark 1971 benefit The Concert For
Bangladesh (for the famine-ravaged nation of Bangladesh).

This was rock's first major charity event, staged as two shows at New York's
Madison Square Garden , the second of which was released as a movie and a
triple live album.

The Bangladesh concerts were also a cautionary tale about counterculture
bookkeeping. Although millions were raised and the three-record concert
release won a Grammy for album of the year, allegations emerged over
mishandling of funds and the money stayed long in escrow.

Harrison returned to solo work with his 1973 album Living in the Material
World, featuring the No. 1 hit "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)."
This studio album initially sold well, but its leaner, less opulent
production lacked the majestic force of All Things Must Pass, and it lacked
the earlier album's mass appeal.

The hastily recorded 1974 album Dark Horse was followed by Harrison's first
North American solo tour, yet his following was already beginning to
diminish. He was criticised for being overly experimental in his music
(incl. Indian segments) and for failing to play Beatle songs at his
concerts. GH saw it in simple terms ... "I'm not The Beatles".

The tour (his first there since 1966 with the others) drained him physically
and emotionally and he lapsed into a depression. 1974 had been an
exhausting year for George, even without the rigours of a big tour. His
marriage to Patti came apart and the two eventually divorced in 1977. They
had no children, and Patti soon after married Clapton.

1975's Extra Texture was a flop and ended his career with EMI, the Beatles'
old label. Harrison rebounded by forming Dark Horse Records, his own
imprint, which was affiliated with A&M Records. Explaining the choice of
name, "That's the one nobody's bothered to put any money on .... That's me,
I guess. The very last one anybody would have expected to come out a
winner."

He released Thirty-Three & 1/3, his most praised album since All Things Must
Pass. It was intended for release when George was exactly that age but was a
little delayed. Unfortunately this comeback was short-lived: his eponymous
1979 album was another artistic disaster. Harrison's next album, Somewhere
In England, was rejected by Warner Bros. (Dark Horse's new distributor) but
following John Lennon's 1980 assassination, the album was reworked to
capitalise on a resurgence of Beatles nostalgia. The new Somewhere In
England contained the hit song "All Those Years Ago" featuring Paul
McCartney and Ringo Starr and quickly rose in the charts. The song had
originally been intended for Ringo.

In 1977 George met Olivia Arias, a Mexican-Californian who had originally
come to work as a secretary in his Dark Horse record company. They married
in 1978, a month after their son Dhani was born.

The Harrison albums from the 1970s into the '80s always had an audience and
sold acceptably but with the exception of Somewhere In England, none seemed
very well-crafted or executed. By the late 1970s however, his spiritual soft
rock was out of fashion and for much of the next decade Harrison
concentrated on a new career as a film producer through HandMade Films, the
company he formed with Dennis O'Brien towards the end of the seventies.

His album Gone Troppo from 1982 was perhaps predictably however a complete
commercial failure. Harrison wisely decided to take time off from his
musical career to concentrate on producing movies and racing his large
collection of sports cars. Involvement in the Movies effectively gave him a
successful third career as a film producer, following the Beatles and solo
musicianship.

He had become friends with members of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and 
when their movie "Life of Brian" hit a financial crisis, Harrison bailed them
out
to the tune of several millions of pounds and got an executive producer
credit for his trouble.

During the 1980s HandMade was responsible for several critically-acclaimed
movies (out of some 25 in all) like, The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits
(George composed music incl. "Dream Away"), A Private Function, Mona Lisa &
Withnail and I.

The failure of the Madonna-Sean Penn vehicle Shanghai Surprise in 1986
heralded a downturn in the company's fortunes and it was eventually wound up
in acrimony with Harrison winning an $11 million lawsuit against his former
partner. Harrison sold the company in 1994 for $8.5 million. Michael Palin,
former Python told BBC radio "George wasn't head in the clouds all the time.
When it came to business and all that he was feet very much on the ground".

GH had always been very enthusiastic about motor racing, this dating back to
the early fifties when the British Grand Prix was held at Aintree. In 1985
he agreed to the rookie driver's pleas and became a patron of Damon Hill as
he made his start in Formula 3. Without the help of the former Beatle, it
is possible Damon would never followed in his own father's footsteps to the
very summit of Formula 1 in 1996.

Though he contributed a few songs to the 1985 Porky's Revenge soundtrack,
Harrison's serious return to music was 1987's Cloud Nine, the biggest
selling album of his solo career.
Produced by former ELO front man Jeff Lynne this disc gave Harrison his
return to the top of the charts. It featured his most inspired work in
years, notably a cover of an old Rudy Clark gospel number called "Got My
Mind Set on You," (previously recorded by James Ray) which reached number
one and crossed over to also become a No. 1 radio hit. The album was his
most slick, pop-oriented album yet.

The following year (88), along with Lynne, Harrison formed the Traveling
Wilburys with rock star pals Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison. The
supergroup released two platinum-selling albums before going on hiatus.
Harrison had long admired Dylan and rated him a better artist than either
Lennon or McCartney.

Tom Petty said the various Wilburys had a real ball, effectively making the
records for themselves. Any commercial spin-off was incidental. Anyone who
hasn't heard these 2 albums, should go 'acquire', they have some great
moments on them.

One quote has the arrival of The Wilburys 'a breath of fresh air, so
different from the climate of the late 80s. In fact, almost a throwback to
George's skiffle past ... like a Viking ship docking in a hovercraft
terminal'.

The Wilbury's success encouraged Harrison to undertake his first
international tour for 18 years. He appeared with his former bandmate
Ringo Starr, Dave Edmunds, Rosanne Cash and the Stray Cats' Lee Rocker (who
was born the year The Beatles made their first recordings) in a superb
live-in-front-of-the-cameras rockabilly performance accompanying Harrison's
one-time idol Carl Perkins which was subsequently released on video cassette
and laser disc.

All of this success heralded a short-lived re-emergence for the musician out
of private life, resulting in a 1991 solo tour of Japan (solo but
accompanied by Eric Clapton) that yielded a live album. Harrison had hated
concertising since the harrowing days of The Beatles' international career
and had done one poorly received concert tour in the mid '70s. He seemed
more comfortable in 1991 and the album performed moderately well, driven by
the presence of his then recent hits.

Also in 1991 George made a surprise appearance at a George Formby convention
in Blackpool and performed on the ukulele. As with all his enthusiams,
George gave it the full revs. George Formby is the ukulele player alluded
to at the end of the "Free as a Bird" video.

Returning to England, Harrison quickly signed on to a planned BBC Beatles
documentary, which eventually led to two "new" Beatles songs ("Free as a
Bird" and "Real Love") created by matching new backing tracks performed by
Harrison, McCartney and Starr to late '70s Lennon home demos.
He withdrew into private life after that, devoting himself to his life with
his second wife and their son and only re-emerged before the public when
necessary, such as defending The Beatles' copyrights in court cases.
Harrison remained strangely silent following the massive commercial success
of the 1995-6 Beatles Anthology series. He was always more than a little
resentful of the public's intrusion upon his life.

In his later years, Harrison indulged in his non-musical passion of
gardening with Olivia at his Gothic Mansion/Estate, Friar Park near Henley
on Thames, Oxfordshire. George became headline news again in the most
distressing way. His and Olivia's idyllic life was shaken when a
schizophrenic Beatles fan, deranged intruder Michael Abram, broke into their
home in December 1999. Although he badly injured Harrison, he was found not
guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity and was ordered to be
detained indefinitely in a secure psychiatric hospital. He had thought the
Beatles were witches and believed himself on a divine mission to kill
Harrison.

Newsreader Peter Sissons was an old school friend of George's and having
been regaled by G with the full story of the attack, described it as one of
the most horrific tales he had ever heard. The Harrisons were awoken in the
middle of the night and a frantic (literally life or death) 20 minute
struggle ensued. The pair fought for their lives striking out with whatever
came to hand, candlesticks for example.

George, doubtless weakened by illness, was stabbed 9 times and one of the
wounds came within a whisker of a main artery. Police later told him that
the only questions posed by his assailant were "Did I kill him ... I did
kill him didn't I?"

A year before the attack on him, Harrison, previously a heavy smoker, had
revealed he had undergone treatment for throat cancer. Following this
already traumatic treatment, the barbaric act in his own house was a
devastating blow to George's health and potential for recovery.

Sissons feels that for someone as serene and peace-loving as George, it was
a moment not only of huge shock and horror but of total incomprehension that
someone could want to do that to him.

After the break-in, Harrison developed lung cancer and received major
surgery for the disease in America. His death followed last-hope treatment
in Switzerland for radiation therapy for brain cancer/tumour on the brain,
which was eventually diagnosed as inoperable.

In 2000, Harrison having recovered relatively well, began work on a new
album (see below). The same year, Capitol released a 30th anniversary
re-mastered and expanded version of his landmark album All Things Must Pass,
which included a re-recorded version of the hit "My Sweet Lord."
The reissue of that album at the outset of 2001 heralded an unusually visual
publicity campaign by Harrison, who accompanied its re-release with an
interview record that anticipated the eventual reissue of the rest of his
catalogue.

Fame also continued to enrich Harrison. Around the 2000 release of the
compilation of Beatles No. 1 singles, "1," which sold in millions to
re-establish the band's status around the world, GH in an interview with
The Associated Press said "The thing that pleases me the most about it is
that young people like it,". "It's given kids from 6 to 16 an alternate view
of music to what's been available for the past 20 years.

"I think the popular music has gone truly weird," he said. "It's either
cutesy-wutesy or it's hard, nasty stuff. It's good that this has life again
with the youth."

As reports of his failing health proliferated, Harrison co-wrote ''Horse To
The Water'' with his son Dhani and recorded it with ex-Squeeze keyboardist
Jools Holland - and typical of his wry sense of humour credited it to "RIP
Ltd. 2001."

Dhani said of time spent with his Dad "We'd listen to records: Hoagy
Carmichael, Cab Calloway, Nina Simone, Big Bill Broonzy, Bix and Bing. Stuff
you wouldn't ordinarily play to kids. I loved it."

George Harrison died at the age of 58 on Nov. 29, 2001, following a long
battle with his illness. He is survived by his wife and his son Dhani.

His death came shortly after the 40th anniversary of a key date in Beatles
history: Nov. 9, 1961, the night Brian Epstein saw the Beatles play in the
Cavern Club in Liverpool. Epstein is credited with packaging and
popularising the Beatles, the group that changed popular culture forever,
all those years ago.

Although they had their fallings out, McCartney said "I am devastated and
very, very sad". "George was a lovely guy and a very brave man and had a
wonderful sense of humour. He is really just my baby brother.''

Ravi Shankar, one of George's closest friends visited him the day before he
died. To Ravi, George was "all combined in one, a son, a friend, a brother
and I loved him so much and cannot express how I miss him".

Death had no terrors for George at all, he had his spirituality, he was
going on somewhere else.

Other friends also found solace in their memories of George. Palin said how
he had such wide interests - he "always had something to say ... he was full
of energy, jumping up to show things .... even just a few months before he
died, he played me Hoagy Carmichael records .... Visitors had been told not
to overtime him or to stay too long but in the end it was Palin who had to
plead 'George, I'm a bit tired now, I've had a long flight out here' and
George would said 'Oh, just one more .... listen to this ....".

Jeff Lynne told how G loved trees and plants and his garden. Another how
when he would leave Friar Park, late at night, George would be outside in
his archway bidding farewell. There was a switch on the wall that maybe did
once function but no longer did anything. It was just a switch. I'd say
"OK George, Goodnight, see you tomorrow" and as he walked back in, George
would flick that switch and say "Just switching off the moon".

On the album cover of "All Things Must Pass," Harrison sits contemplatively
in a chair in a field, his beard long, his clothes rustic, looking more like
a figure from a Tolstoy novel than a rock star in 1970. It is the perfect
picture by which to remember him.

"I never asked to be famous. I just wanted to be successful." That pretty
much sums up George's outlook on the fame of the Beatles. He always
preferred being a musician to being a star.

Like Lennon, his memories of the Beatles were often tempered by what he felt
was lost in all the madness. "There was never anything, in any of the
Beatle experiences really, that good: even the best thrill soon got tiring,"
Harrison wrote in his book, "I, Me, Mine." "There was never any doubt. The
Beatles were doomed. Your own space, man, it's so important. That's why we
were doomed, because we didn't have any. We were like monkeys in a zoo."
Still, in a 1992 interview with The Daily Telegraph, Harrison confided: "We
had the time of our lives: We laughed for years."

The new album is 'Brainwashed' and it is generally perceived a worthy
posthumous testament to the rich Harrison musical legacy. The idea
came about when George was re-mastering tracks for the re-release
of All Things Must Pass in 2000. He and son Dhani discussed the songs,
played them together and even had a track listing and recording schedule
with November 2002 as a release date. George kept recording up until two
months prior to his death. Afterwards, Dhani decided to stick to the
original plan. He enlisted the help of friend/producer/fellow Traveling
Wilbury Jeff Lynne in finishing the album, a rich musical treasure trove
of sounds to soothe us, words to move us to deeper thought and one final
reminder of how much George and his talent and charm will be missed.

Whilst it's unmistakably Lynne throughout, consider it more of a musical
sequel to 1987's Cloud Nine. The signature slide guitar is back in a big
way, along with plenty of other great George guitar and ukulele sounds. It
is thought by many to fit well with the 2 Wilburys' albums although there
are dissenting voices against Lynne's input. Maybe the final word is that
we should respect George's wishes that he wanted his good friend Jeff to
produce the album.

Liverpool has commemorated all 4 Beatles with street names etc. and there is
a nice statue of George in the Cavern Walks Shopping Mall in Liverpool

Recommended Reading:
George's autobiography, "I Me Mine," published in 1980
The Beatles Anthology
The Beatles - Hunter Davies
Mark Lewisohn - The Complete Beatles Chronicle
Shout! by Philip Norman, The Love You Make by Peter Brown
How They Became the Beatles - Gareth Pawlowski
Great in-depth coverage of the early Beatles days. It covers the time from
the earliest days of the Quarrymen, through the Hamburg years, right up to
1964 just before the Beatles left for America for the first time. Tons of
wonderful pictures of the boys, their friends, and collectibles (highly rec.
by Phil)

Maximum George Harrison - Alan Clayson (£8)
An audio CD book containing a detailed biography of GH with extracts from
authentic interviews with him. Much also about the history of "The Beatles"
in general.

* There is speculation that George's true date of birth was the 24th.
Whereas his birth certificate says 12:10 a.m. on the 25th, George has stated
quite clearly (but without explanation) that his birthday was really the
24th. You will find that several sites proclaim the d.o.b. as the 24th.
(My thanks to our very own Bridge Hupfer for her input on this). Some place
the date of death as 30/11 but I think not

Websites - hundreds .......... but for the new album
http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/h/harrisongeorge-brainwashed.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/classicpop/reviews/georgeharrison_brainwashed.sht
ml

Compiled by Colin Kilgour from various sources + my own input.

=====

From: Colin Kilgour <colin@c...> 
Date: Thu Jan 13, 2005 7:00am
Subject: George Harrison's last days

 
  Further to Geoff's enquiry and Phil's feedback. I've done a little research
on this and would be grateful if anyone can find anything more definitive
than what follows

I propose to add these paragraphs to my write-up on George which I posted
last year

You'll see from my wording that I'm not sure the family ever gave a
definitive report of exactly what took place - and where. Quite
understandably

================

At the Hare Krishna temple, devotees held prayers in honour of Harrison and
chanted before his portrait....... It is reported that he was cremated hours
after his death at Hollywood Forever Memorial Park, according to a cemetery
worker there

He was dressed in traditional Indian robes and two of his closest friends,
both Hare Krishnas, chanted quietly at his side, according to the Press
Trust of India news agency.

Kartu Das at the Hare Krishna temple said "Early morning is a very
auspicious time for Hindus. Harrison was cremated in a cardboard coffin
hours after his death in keeping with his Eastern faith"

It has subsequently been said that George's ashes were scattered into the
River Ganges in India. Orthodox Hindus believe that ashes must be sprinkled
in one of India's holy rivers within 13 days of death.

According to the beliefs of the Hare Krishna movement -- a sect of
Hinduism - the immersion of a person's ashes is symbolic of the soul's
journey towards eternal consciousness.

The precise details are not known and it is fitting that the family should
conserve certain details as strictly private ...... especially apt at the
end of what was a very public life

It was also reported in the Sunday Times newspaper that his family had asked
for a licence to bring his ashes to Lugano, Switzerland, where he had moved
into a new house in the summer.

I'd like to think that George's ashes were placed in several locations which
had meant a lot to him during life

Harrison left the Hare Krishna society out of his will. The former Beatle
did not leave it a penny.

It had been speculated that that he had left $30 million to the Hare Krishna
Trust. But the will showed that he left the entire estate of $150 million
to his wife Olivia and then their son Dhani, 25.

Harrison had previously donated his ranch in Lethmore Heath village just
north of London to the Hare Krishna group. That had led many followers of
the sect to believe, wrongly as it transpired, that there would be a
substantial legacy to the group from his will.

Colin :
 
 
=====

From: Colin Kilgour 
Date: Thu Jan 13, 2005 7:00am
Subject: George Harrison's last days

 
  Further to Geoff's enquiry and Phil's feedback. I've done a little research
on this and would be grateful if anyone can find anything more definitive
than what follows

I propose to add these paragraphs to my write-up on George which I posted
last year

You'll see from my wording that I'm not sure the family ever gave a
definitive report of exactly what took place - and where. Quite
understandably

================

At the Hare Krishna temple, devotees held prayers in honour of Harrison and
chanted before his portrait....... It is reported that he was cremated hours
after his death at Hollywood Forever Memorial Park, according to a cemetery
worker there

He was dressed in traditional Indian robes and two of his closest friends,
both Hare Krishnas, chanted quietly at his side, according to the Press
Trust of India news agency.

Kartu Das at the Hare Krishna temple said "Early morning is a very
auspicious time for Hindus. Harrison was cremated in a cardboard coffin
hours after his death in keeping with his Eastern faith"

It has subsequently been said that George's ashes were scattered into the
River Ganges in India. Orthodox Hindus believe that ashes must be sprinkled
in one of India's holy rivers within 13 days of death.

According to the beliefs of the Hare Krishna movement -- a sect of
Hinduism - the immersion of a person's ashes is symbolic of the soul's
journey towards eternal consciousness.

The precise details are not known and it is fitting that the family should
conserve certain details as strictly private ...... especially apt at the
end of what was a very public life

It was also reported in the Sunday Times newspaper that his family had asked
for a licence to bring his ashes to Lugano, Switzerland, where he had moved
into a new house in the summer.

I'd like to think that George's ashes were placed in several locations which
had meant a lot to him during life

Harrison left the Hare Krishna society out of his will. The former Beatle
did not leave it a penny.

It had been speculated that that he had left $30 million to the Hare Krishna
Trust. But the will showed that he left the entire estate of $150 million
to his wife Olivia and then their son Dhani, 25.

Harrison had previously donated his ranch in Lethmore Heath village just
north of London to the Hare Krishna group. That had led many followers of
the sect to believe, wrongly as it transpired, that there would be a
substantial legacy to the group from his will.

Colin :