History Music / GeorgeHarrison

Harrison finally got to fully stretch his wings post-breakup with his solo album ''Music/AllThingsMustPass'', the biggest-selling solo album by an ex-Beatle to date.[[note]]Although George got dinged when he was sued for plagiarism for his biggest hit, "My Sweet Lord", for supposedly subconsciously copying the Chiffon's "He's So Fine" and ''lost''.[[/note]] In addition to his artistic rise, he also used music to do direct social good, most famously by creating the first rock benefit concert, ''The Concert for UsefulNotes/{{Bangladesh}}'', in 1971 to help that country--which besides being poverty-stricken was not only still fighting for its independence from UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}} but also had to deal with the effects of a massive cyclone. He also was a member of the late-1980s supergroup Music/TheTravelingWilburys.

->''"I'm a dark horse\\

I'm a dark horse."''
-->-- "'''Dark Horse'''"

* AlternateMusicVideo: "Got My Mind Set on You" has two clips. The first one features a guy deciding to draw a girl's attention by trying to WinHerAPrize. The second is the better known "dancing furniture" clip.

In addition, he became a film producer by founding Creator/HandMadeFilms to produce ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' when it suddenly lost its backer. The company continued on after he left it in the late 1980s.

In 1997, Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer. He publicly blamed years of smoking for the illness. He underwent radiotherapy treatment, which was initially believed to have been successful, but in May 2001 Harrison was operated for lung cancer, and in November of the same year, it was revealed that his cancer had metastasized, as he underwent treatment for a brain tumor as well. On 29 November 2001, Harrison passed away from complications related to his illness, in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, at a property belonging to [=McCartney=], surrounded by friends and family, at the age of 58.

*** The fadeout of "Isn't It a Pity" sounds intentionally very similar to "Hey Jude".

* PaperThinDisguise / GratuitousForeignLanguage: "L'Angelo Misterioso" plays guitar on several albums by George's friends, even writing the last big Music/{{Cream}} hit.

%%* SelfTitledAlbum

** "This Song" was written about the "unconscious plagiarism" George allegedly committed against Bright Music and The Chiffons' "He's So Fine" in writing "My Sweet Lord".

* WorldMusic: Harrison is well known for experimenting with traditional Indian music in his songs. Two of the three Beatles songs with sitar music, "Love You To" (''Music/{{Revolver|BeatlesAlbum}}'') and "Within You Without You" (''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'') were written by him ("Norwegian Wood" (''Music/RubberSoul''), composed by Music/JohnLennon, is the exception). "The Inner Light" (''Music/PastMasters''), another heavily Indian-influenced piece (though it does not contain any sitar), was also composed by Harrison. Music/RaviShankar taught him to play the instrument. Harrison's first solo album ''Music/WonderwallMusic'' is almost entirely full of Indian music.

Still, he finally got to fully stretch his wings post-breakup with his solo album, ''Music/AllThingsMustPass'', the biggest selling ex-Beatle solo album to date[[note]]Although George got dinged when he was sued for plagiarism for his biggest hit, "My Sweet Lord", for supposedly subconsciously copying the Chiffon's "He's So Fine" and ''lost''.[[/note]] . In addition to his artistic rise, he also used music to do direct social good, most famously for creating the first rock benefit concert, ''The Concert for UsefulNotes/{{Bangladesh}}'', in 1971 to help that country--which besides being poverty-stricken was not only still fighting for its independence from UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}} but also had to deal with the effects of a massive cyclone. He also was a member of the late-1980s supergroup Music/TheTravelingWilburys.

In 1997, Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer. He publicly blamed years of smoking for the illness. He underwent radiotherapy treatment, which was initially believed to have been successful, but in May 2001 Harrison was operated for lung cancer, and in November of the same year, it was revealed his cancer had metastasized, as he underwent treatment for a brain tumor too. On 29 November 2001, Harrison passed away from complications related to his illness, in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, at a property belonging to [=McCartney=], surrounded by friends and family, at the age of 58.

He ended at #62 in ''Series/OneHundredGreatestBritons'', and Magazine/RollingStone recognizes him as the eleventh greatest guitarist of all time on their list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

!!Studio and Live Discography:

* 1968 - ''Music/WonderwallMusic''
* 1969 - ''Electronic Sound''
* 1970 - ''Music/AllThingsMustPass''
* 1971 - ''Music/TheConcertForBangladesh''
* 1973 - ''Living in the Material World''
* 1974 - ''Dark Horse''
* 1975 - ''Extra Texture (Read All About It)''
* 1976 - ''Thirty Three & 1/ॐ''
* 1979 - ''George Harrison''
* 1981 - ''Somewhere in England''
* 1982 - ''Gone Troppo''
* 1987 - ''Cloud Nine''
* 1992 - ''Live in Japan''
* 2002 - ''Brainwashed''

* SelfTitledAlbum

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/George_Harrison_8819.jpg]]

George Harrison [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever MBE]] (25 February 1943 - 29 November 2001) was the lead guitarist for Music/TheBeatles, and a musical legend in his own right.

** A non-Beatles example: The Creator/EricIdle-directed promo film for "Crackerbox Palace" has a brief cameo by the Pantomime Princess Margaret from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.

* GodIsLoveSongs: Several. "Long, Long, Long" from ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum'' is the most well-known example.

For instance, not only was Harrison great with the guitar, but he also introduced the band to new instruments like the sitar that gave the band whole new sounds to use. He endeavoured to write his own songs, but he found that his efforts weren't being taken seriously by Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney, or their producer George Martin either, and he was usually relegated to one or two tracks on each album (although he got three on ''Music/{{Revolver|Beatles Album}}'', including the opening track, and four on ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum''). However, he persisted and by the time of the band's final produced album, ''Music/AbbeyRoad'', he firmly proved that he was their equal with the classic songs, "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun."

Still, he finally got to fully stretch his wings post-breakup with his solo album, ''Music/AllThingsMustPass'', the biggest selling ex-Beatle solo album to date[[note]]Although George got dinged when he was sued for plagiarism for his biggest hit, "My Sweet Lord," for supposedly subconsciously copying the Chiffon's "He's So Fine" and ''lost''.[[/note]] . In addition to his artistic rise, he also used music to do direct social good, most famously for creating the first rock benefit concert, ''The Concert for UsefulNotes/{{Bangladesh}}'', in 1971 to help that country--which besides being poverty-stricken was not only still fighting for its independence from UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}} but also had to deal with the effects of a massive cyclone. He also was a member of the late-1980s supergroup Music/TheTravelingWilburys.

* 1973 - ''Living In The Material World''

* 1981 - ''Somewhere In England''

* 1992 - ''Live In Japan''

* AlternateMusicVideo: "Got My Mind Set on You" has two clips. The first one features a guy deciding to draw a girl's attention by trying to WinHerAPrize. The second is the better known "Dancing furniture" clip.

** "This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying)" and "Here Comes The Moon" were obviously tips-of-the-hat to a couple beloved songs he did with The Beatles.
*** The fade out of "Isn't It A Pity" sounds intentionally very similar to "Hey Jude".
** A non-Beatles example: The Creator/EricIdle-directed promo film for "Crackerbox Palace" has a brief cameo by the Pantomime Princess Margaret from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus.''

* DoubleMeaningTitle: The title of ''Thirty Three & 1/ॐ'' refers to both George's age at the time of recording and the playing speed of a vinyl record.
* TheEeyore: While he had a droll personality himself, a fair number of his songs feature a pessimistic lyrical tone, all the way back to "Don't Bother Me". "Within You, Without You", "Circles" and "Isn't it a Pity" are also good examples.
* ForeignCultureFetish: His interest in UsefulNotes/{{India}}, although it was a good deal deeper than the usual level of this; he studied the sitar (a ferociously difficult instrument to play well), he managed to incorporate Indian classical music into his own song writing without making it sound like exotic local colour, and he organised the Concert for Bangladesh, which helped raise consciousness in the West of the refugee crisis caused by the Bangladesh Liberation War.

* GodIsLoveSongs: Several. "Long, Long, Long" from ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum'' is the most well known example.

* InterfaithSmoothie: The backing vocals of "My Sweet Lord" transition effortlessly from chanting "Hallelujah" to chanting "Hare Krishna," and eventually become a Vedic prayer to Vishnu.

* LuckyCharmsTitle: ''Thirty Three & 1/ॐ'', read as "thirty three and a third," uses a Devanagari Om symbol (ॐ) in place of a three.

* ProtestSong: "Bangladesh." It may not sound like one today, but at the time, merely ''calling'' the country Bangladesh (instead of "East Pakistan") was a political statement that directly went against U.S. policy.

** That of course doesn't include his work, as a composer, actor and film producer.

** More importantly, this led to the start of Harrison's film production "Handmade Films".
* UnpluggedVersion: Harrison recorded a well-known acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." It finally got released with ''Music/TheBeatlesAnthology''.

* WorldMusic: Harrison is well known for experimenting with traditional Indian music in his songs. Two of the three Beatles songs with sitar music, "Love You To" (''Music/{{Revolver|Beatles Album}}'') and "Within You Without You" (''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'') were written by him ("Norwegian Wood" (''Music/RubberSoul''), composed by Music/JohnLennon, is the exception). "The Inner Light" (''Music/PastMasters''), another heavily Indian-influenced piece (though it does not contain any sitar), was also composed by Harrison. Music/RaviShankar taught him to play the instrument. Harrison's first solo album ''Music/WonderwallMusic'' is almost entirely full of Indian music.

* RaisedCatholic: His later embrace of Hinduism was the result of his retaining an interest in spirituality but rejecting what he saw as the dogmatism of the religion of his youth. "Awaiting on You All" delivers a couple [[TakeThat Take Thats]] to the Church.
-->''The Pope owns 51% of General Motors''
-->''And the stock exchange is the only thing he's qualified to quote us''

* BadassPacifist: How many other vegetarian hippie musicians are memorialised in a ''Liberation War Museum'', as Harrison is in Bangladesh?
* BerserkButton: He really, really, really, ''really'' seemed to hate [[Music/AbbeyRoad "Maxwell's Silver Hammer,"]] but wasn't the only one. John and Ringo hated it too, especially since Paul forced them to do so many takes.
* BigOlEyebrows: His most distinguishing feature from the other Beatles during the moptop era.
* {{Bishonen}}/TallDarkAndHandsome: He was ''somewhat'' above the average height ([[https://www.celebheights.com/s/George-Harrison-1708.html 5'10"]], had dark hair with a mysterious look, was ridiculously attractive, and like the other Beatles, had a pretty delicate appearance (although he became manlier looking later on).

* ChickMagnet: [[WaxingLyrical Everybody was trying to be his baby]].
** In the words of ex-wife Pattie Boyd: "He was famous, good-looking, had tonnes of money and flash cars – what a combo. Girls were offering themselves everywhere and he loved it. To come home to old wifey must have been a bit dull."
%%DeadArtistsAreBetter is for in-universe examples; examples about Harrison himself are listed on the YMMV page under PosthumousPopularityPotential.
* DeadpanSnarker: Granted, this was more or less a requirement to be a Beatle. George was perhaps the most deadpan of them, however. As [[GallowsHumor detailed below]], even nearly being murdered didn't stop him from making witty remarks:
** During their one of The Beatles first meetings with producer George Martin, Martin sat them down and came with a long list of constructive criticisms he had for the band. This, understandably made the atmosphere at the meeting very tense, so Martin eventually noted "I've laid into you for quite a long time. You haven't responded. Is there anything you don't like?" Harrison replied with a dry "Well, for a start, I don't like your tie." Martin found the comment to be ActuallyPrettyFunny, and the meeting became notably more relaxed afterwards.
** He once said that being a Beatle had "certainly been no hindrance on [his] career".

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Harrison was a vegetarian as well as being a well-known hippie.
* GallowsHumor: Harrison was making [[DeadpanSnarker snarky statements]] about his near-fatal stabbing about 24 hours after it happened. And according to his friend Creator/EricIdle, as the bloodied Harrison was being taken away by [=EMTs=] in the immediate aftermath of the attack, he happened to catch sight of a groundskeeper he had hired only a week earlier. Reportedly George deadpanned, "So, how do you like the job so far?" There was also the introduction of the first public statement he released regarding his assailant:
-->"He wasn't a burglar, and he certainly wasn't auditioning for Music/TheTravelingWilburys."

* GenerationXerox[=/=]IdenticalSon: His son Dhani is an eerily dead ringer.
** So much so that at the "Concert for George," Harrison's wife Olivia quipped to Music/PaulMcCartney that with Dhani up onstage alongside Paul, Ringo, Music/EricClapton, Music/TomPetty, and George's other friends, "it looks like George stayed young and everyone else got old."

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Let's be honest, George Harrison and Music/EricClapton's relationship had to have been ''extremely'' close for it to survive Clapton stealing George's wife away.
** Heck, after they patched things up they would refer to each other as husbands-in-law.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: At least publicly, he took this attitude toward Patti Boyd and Eric Clapton's marriage (and even attended their wedding, giving the bride away and calling himself "the husband in law").

* LoveTriangle: Himself, his wife Pattie Boyd, and Music/EricClapton. Eric won.

* ProperlyParanoid: After bandmate Music/JohnLennon's murder, George retreated to his home and installed a seemingly crazy number of security features. Reportedly his staff was known for hiding or throwing away hate mail/death threats because they knew how much it would freak him out. Unfortunately, in 1999, a crazed attacker did successfully break into his home and stabbed Harrison several times. If not for his wife beating his assailant until she knocked him out, he would have died.
** Also claimed in 'Music/TheBeatlesAnthology' that when going on an American tour, he refused to ride in a TickerTapeParade, citing the proximity of the tour to the assassination of President Kennedy.

* TheQuietOne: Perhaps the Trope Codifier. George is the least well known Beatle among the general public due to him being very quiet and soft spoken during interviews, preferring to stay behind and occasionally make a funny wisecrack. That especially applied when Beatles arrived in America for ''Series/TheEdSullivanShow'': George had come down with strep throat and was medically advised to minimize talking until he performed with the band on the show. The press noticed George was not talking much and labelled him the "Quiet Beatle" as a result, which amused him for the rest of his life.

*** He also took up car racing and gardening.
* SelfDeprecation: Like all Music/TheBeatles, he was a master of it. He famously described himself and Music/RingoStarr as "economy-class Beatles", and in the 1980s referred to himself easily as "a middle-aged ex-pop star." He also achieved a FunnyAneurysmMoment when asked about Music/JohnLennon's murder, by half-joking that he wasn't important enough to try to kill.
** Regarding the love triangle, he once said in a press conference, "I'd rather she was with him than some dope."

* ShrinkingViolet: He was described as the shy one of the Beatles.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: He came to regret announcing that he liked Jelly Babies after [[YourFavorite fangirls throwing them at him and the other Beatles]] became a regular feature of life on the road. It was even worse in America, where the fans couldn't find the soft Jelly Babies and instead purchased jelly ''beans'': "Imagine waves of rock-hard little bullets raining down on you from the sky." It got to the point where he feared that one might [[EyeScream hit him in the eye and blind him]].
* UncannyFamilyResemblance: His son Dhani really is the [[http://iv1.lisimg.com/image/1734024/401full-dhani-harrison.jpg spitting image]] of him. It's like seeing a ghost.

* [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend Violently Protective Wife]]: The knife-wielding maniac who nearly killed George in 1999 was subdued when Olivia Harrison smashed a lamp over his head. Soon after the incident, George got a message from his good pal Music/TomPetty saying "Aren't you glad you married a [[SpicyLatina Mexican girl]]?"
* WeUsedToBeFriends: George Harrison and Paul [=McCartney=] were the first Beatles to meet each other and went on to become boyhood friends, with [=McCartney=] even lobbying to John Lennon in order to recruit Harrison as guitarist. But both men wound up probably being the most estranged pair of Beatles after the band's breakup. They did reconcile when George was terminally ill with cancer. George ended up dying while staying in a house in Coldwater Canyon that Paul owned.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Harrison's estate at some point after his death, mentioned the existence of enough of his unreleased recordings to fill entire albums, but to date none have surfaced, at least not commercially.

* DeadpanSnarker: Granted, this was more or less a requirement to be a Beatle. George was perhaps the most deadpan of them, however.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: George Harrison and Paul [=McCartney=] were the first Beatles to meet each other and went on to become boyhood friends, with [=McCartney=] even lobbying to John Lennon in order to recruit Harrison as guitarist. But both men wound up probably being the most estranged pair of Beatles after the band's breakup. They did reconcile when George was terminally ill with cancer.

* BadassBeard: A short one around the time of ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand''; another between 1969-72.
* BadassMoustache

* AscendedFanboy: In his diaries, Creator/MichaelPalin explicitly refers to Harrison (at the time of the making of ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'') as "the Seventh [[Creator/MontyPython Python]]". Palin notes this is a view shared by Creator/JohnCleese.

He ended at #62 in ''Series/OneHundredGreatestBritons'', and Magazine/RollingStone recognizes him as the eleventh greatest guitarist of all time on their list of [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone100GreatestGuitaristsOfAllTime 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time]].

** "Blood from a Clone" is a jab at Creator/WarnerBrosRecords, who distributed the album the song is from (''Somewhere in England'') and rejected multiple songs because they were "too laid-back". The song itself references the company's apparent dislike of laid-back music, and says that they'd rather have music made by beating one's head on a brick wall, while George says he's beating his own head on a brick wall out of frustration.