Trivia

He played 26 instruments: guitar, sitar, four-string guitar, bass guitar, arp bass, violin, tamboura, dobro, swordmandel, tabla, organ, piano, moog synthesizer, harmonica, autoharp, glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, claves, African drum, conga drum, tympani, ukulele, mandolin, marimba and Jal-Tarang.

When it was his final show at Madison Square Garden in New York, he told 11-year-old Julian Lennon to tell his father, John Lennon, "All is forgiven and I still love you." That was the last time Harrison saw Lennon before his death.

In the early 1970s Eric Clapton fell madly in love with Pattie Boyd (at the time married to Harrison) and wrote "Layla" about her; when she refused to leave George for him, Clapton became so distraught and depressed he turned to heroin and developed a severe addiction. By 1974, feeling abandoned by George's obsession with Indian culture, Pattie left George for Eric and the Harrisons' divorce was finalized in 1977. Two years later, Pattie and Eric were married (they divorced in 1988). Through it all, George, Eric and Pattie remained the best of friends - George attended the Claptons' wedding reception and commented, "I'd rather she was with him than some dope". (Clapton and Harrison called each other "husbands-in-law.").

After his lung cancer was found to have returned in March 2001, Harrison was operated on in June and had half of one lung removed. By November of that year however the cancer had spread to his brain, making recovery impossible.

In 1968 Eric Clapton played guitar on George's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on The Beatles' "White Album". Also, George was at Eric's home in England and wrote "Here Comes the Sun" while skipping a board meeting for the band's company, Apple Corps.

After The Beatles broke up, he was the first of them to have a #1 hit as a solo artist ("My Sweet Lord" December 1970).

The first of The Beatles to wear a mop-top haircut.

When Lorne Michaels offered The Beatles $3000 to appear on Saturday Night Live (1975), Harrison actually took him up on the offer and performed on the show. The joke was that Michaels was offering $750 per Beatle, and Harrison wanted the full $3000. As a tribute, this appearance was re-aired as part of "Weekend Update" the Saturday after Harrison died.

Harrison was cremated within hours of his death, and his ashes were later scattered along the Ganges River in India, in accordance with his last wishes.

He was the youngest of four children (Louise, Harold Jr. and Peter were his older siblings), and came from the most "normal" home of any of The Beatles. Father Harry drove a Liverpool city bus, while mother Louise gave dance lessons at their home. The Harrisons were common-sense people, but allowed their children to pursue their dreams, and encouraged George to take up music. Mrs. Harrison invited The Beatles over to practice early in their career, and sometimes came to see them perform. The family remained close, even after daughter Louise married and moved to America, and George became famous; Louise frequently made herself available for media interviews about her younger brother, and hosted his early American visits. He provided enough money for his parents to retire comfortably, while his home at Friar Park was a family affair indeed, tended by he and his older brothers. His mother died of cancer in 1970, and he wrote "Deep Blue" in reaction to her death. His father died (also of cancer) in 1978, having adopted some of his son's spiritual beliefs; George and wife Olivia later related that they'd awoken that same night, to a strange blue light in the room, and a vision of Harry smiling at them.

Brother-in-law of Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac (Fleetwood was married to Jenny Boyd, Pattie Boyd's sister).

The only one of The Beatles whose childhood was not marred by personal tragedy.

Was a member of The Traveling Wilburys, along with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra.

He gave a slang word to the national vocabulary. In The Beatles' first movie A Hard Day's Night (1964), Harrison used the word "grotty" to describe some items of clothing. "Grotty" (meaning "grotesque") caught on as an actual slang word used frequently in the 1960s. It is still used, albeit sparingly, to this day. According to John Lennon, Harrison "used to cringe every time he had to say it.".

On 30 December 1999, an intruder broke into his Oxfordshire mansion, stabbing him multiple times in the chest. Harrison and his wife fought the intruder and detained him for the police. While recovering in hospital, George received a fax from Tom Petty complimenting his good fortune with his wife, "Aren't you glad you married a Mexican girl?".

Though the guitar chord - 7th + sharpened 9th - became known as "The Hendrix Chord" through its heavy use on "Foxy Lady" and "Purple Haze," the 7#9 was actually used several months earlier by Harrison on "Taxman" from The Beatles' 1966 album "Revolver".

Was a longtime friend of 'Weird Al' Yankovic. Yankovic wrote a parody of "Got My Mind Set on You", called "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long". It was released as a song off his album "Even Worse".

A controversy arose in the days after Harrison's death, when it turned out his death certificate listed a bogus address; it was revealed he had died at Paul McCartney's Los Angeles house, whose address they'd wanted to keep secret. McCartney described the late Harrison as "my baby brother".

The first song he wrote was "Don't Bother Me", while he was sick in hospital. He said later, "It was an exercise, to see if I *could* write a song".

George met Pattie Boyd on the set of A Hard Day's Night (1964). She was engaged at the time, but George kept asking her out until she gave in. They were married in 1966.

Was the second of The Beatles to become a vegetarian, after Ringo Starr but before Paul McCartney. According to his first wife Pattie Boyd, Harrison would allow neither meat nor fish to be brought into his house.

A good deal of confusion as to his real birthday was solved when a family birth record noted him as being born shortly before midnight around 11:50 P.M.) on February 24th, 1943. He had believed his birthday was February 25th for his entire life.

Former schoolmate of Paul McCartney; the two got acquainted riding the same bus every day, carrying their first guitars. After McCartney joined John Lennon's Quarrymen, Harrison began turning up at their shows, and filled in when other members weren't available. Lennon objected to having a "kid" join the band, but McCartney persuaded him.

In 1978, The Rolling Stones album "Some Girls" was withdrawn from stores after several stars whose photos appeared on the original cover (including Lucille Ball, Raquel Welch, Farrah Fawcett, Lee Majors and Red Buttons) threatened to sue. The album was re-released with a "censored" cover; Harrison's photo appears on both versions. He joked publicly that he'd sue the Stones "if they removed his photo."

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Beatles January 20, 1988.

After eight years being idle, he decided to tour in 1974 despite a bad voice due to some throat problems. The tour was a critical and commercial disaster, with unfair severe criticism for the opening act of "Ravi Shankar and Friends", Harrison's voice (which was called "Dark Hoarse") and his preaching. He was so disillusioned and angry with the incident that he never toured in America again, only going to Japan in 1992 for a very large sum and Eric Clapton's back-up band.

A devout Monty Python fan.

Overcame both hepatitis in the mid-1970s (which caused a delay in the release of his album "Thirty-Three and 1/3"), and a cocaine addiction in the early 1980s.

First musician of the pop era to introduce the sitar when he played it on "Norwegian Wood" from the The Beatles' album "Rubber Soul" (1965). This was the first time the Indian instrument had been played on a pop single. Rivals The Rolling Stones soon followed with sitar accompaniment on their hit "Paint It Black" (1966).

At a party in the early 1970s, John Bonham spotted George Harrison and wanted a photo taken with him. George thought Bonham was going to play a prank, so he struck first by taking a cake and splatting it on Bonham's head. First came gasps, and then came laughter as an amused Bonham picked up Harrison and threw him into a swimming pool, much to the hilarity of the guests.

Originally submitted his album "Somwhere In England" in 1980 with a psychedelic cover and four rather downbeat songs. Warner Brothers rejected the album and ordered a new cover and four new, more upbeat songs. It was around this time that John Lennon died, and Harrison decided to re-arrange his song "All Those Years Ago" as a tribute to Lennon and sing it himself (he originally thought it should be a Ringo Starr tune). Starr had recorded percussion, which was used in the final track. At the same time Paul McCartney asked if he could come over to George's house so George could do some guitar work on Paul's song "Wanderlust." It was the first time McCartney and Harrison had been together since the break-up of The Beatles in 1970. Harrison asked Paul, wife Linda McCartney and Denny Laine to record backing vocals for his song, "All Those Years Ago." After recording the song, McCartney decided that Harrison didn't need to record the guitar part and he'd use a horn ensemble instead. After three other songs were recorded, and a new photo shot at an art gallery in London, the album was resubmitted and accepted. Based on the strength of a new Beatles "reunion" (on "All Those Years Ago"), the album was released to critical and commercial excitement. "All Those Years Ago" became Harrison's first top-ten hit in eight years.

Was very good friends with: Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Tom Petty, Phil Collins, Neil Young, Paul Simon, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Billy Preston, Neil Aspinall, Neil Innes, Carl Perkins and Roger McGuinn.

Before the breakup of The Beatles, he purchased and restored the buildings of Friar Park, a 120-room Victorian neo-Gothic mansion in Henley-on-Thames.

In early 1956, he had an epiphany: while riding his bicycle, he heard Elvis Presley's, "Heartbreak Hotel", playing from a nearby house, and the song piqued his interest in rock and roll. He often sat at the back of the class drawing guitars in his schoolbooks, and later commented, "I was totally into guitars.".

During the escalation in Beatlemania from 1964 to 1966, Harrison got through flights by taking uppers and drinking whiskey and coke. Decades later, his memories of this time focused almost entirely on the horrors of airplanes, airports, cars and crowds.

He was voted as a guitarist as the 11th of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, by "Rolling Stone.".

The remaining members of The Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, appeared in the only music video: "All Those Years Ago", about the death of their own singing partner, John Lennon.

Got a job as an apprentice electrician at age 16 but didn't have the interest to continue it. With one son a mechanic and another a groundskeeper, father Harry hoped his sons would go into business together once George finished his apprenticeship. Harry let George quit to become a working musician, though, when The Beatles began to get weekly bookings, figuring he was young and could still "start over" if music didn't work out.

Together with Eric Clapton, he wrote the Cream hit "Badge." He also played the song's lead guitar track up to the bridge.

Son, Dhani Harrison (born 1 August 1978) was a student at Brown University.

Was called "my archangel" by Srila Prabhupada, founder of the Hare Krishna movement.

Treated for throat cancer in 1997, which went into remission the next year.

By late 1986, after a substantial break, Harrison felt the desire to make music again. He asked former Electric Light Orchestra lead vocalist, fellow guitarist and fellow musician, Jeff Lynne to co-produce a new album, "Cloud Nine," with him. The album went platinum, after his 1970 multi-platinum album, "All Things Must Pass," 17 years earlier.

He was the youngest member of The Beatles.

In 1979 he was co-founder, executive producer and principal partner of HandMade Films, a position he held until 1994.

In January of 2002 the re-release of "My Sweet Lord" reached #1 in the UK, replacing Aaliyah's "More Than A Woman". It was the first time there have been two consecutive posthumous #1 hits in the UK.

George's 1968 custom Fender Telecaster "Rosewood" guitar (Serial #235594) (that was used in Let It Be (1970) and for The Beatles' final live roof-top performance) was bought at auction in 2003 by actor Ed Begley Jr..

Although rightly considered the shyest of The Beatles, Harrison loved comedy and often associated with Monty Python through the 1970s.

He and The Beatles were awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Was the first of The Beatles to produce a "solo" album, with his soundtrack album to Joe Massot's film Wonderwall (1968) (Paul McCartney had earlier composed the score for The Family Way (1966), but did not produce or play on the recordings). Songs were recorded both in India (featuring Ashish Khan and guests) and England; the English tracks featured Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Peter Tork (each performing under pseudonyms) and former Beatles rivals The Remo Four, from Liverpool.