George
Harold Harrison was a British rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, author and sitarist,
who is best known as the lead guitarist of The Beatles. Harrison wrote many Beatles
hits, including "Here Comes the Sun," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Something."
After the breakup of The Beatles, George Harrison had a successful solo career.
He was the first ex-Beatle to have a #1 hit ("My Sweet Lord") and he went
on to record 11 albums. George Harrison was known as "The Quiet Beatle"
and his songs and his life reflected the importance and emphasis he placed on
his spiritual life. He helped popularize Eastern philosophy in the Western world.
He is also considered the godfather of World Music because of his use of the sitar
and other Eastern sounds in the Beatles' and his own songs. Harrison believed
that humanitarian work was an important part of spirituality. He established the
Material World Charitable Foundation in 1973 and was the first to organize a large-scale
benefit concert, with the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh, to raise awareness and
funds for starving war refugees.
George
Harrison's life was cut short in 2001, when he died of a brain tumor. A year later,
ex-Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and other musical friends including
Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Ravi Shankar, performed a tribute concert
to honor him and to raise funds for his foundation. In 2004, George Harrison was
posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Through his music and
his life's example, George Harrison continues to inspire others to value the importance
of spirituality and humanitarian causes in their own personal search for meaning.
"George
was a giant, a great great soul with all of the humanity, all of the wit and humor,
all of the wisdom, the spirituality, the common sense of a man and compassion
for people. He inspired love and had the strength of a hundred men. He was like
the sun, the flowers and the moon and we will miss him enormously. The world is
a profoundly emptier place without him."
-- Bob Dylan
