A Beatle and more: George Harrison

After gaining world fame with the Beatles, George Harrison went on to enjoy success as a solo artist, as well as chart a personal spiritual path. Harrison takes 11th place on the list of the "100 best guitarists of all time" by the music magazine "Rolling Stone." Throughout his life, he was on a spiritual quest — one which decisively influenced his music.

George Harrison was born on February 25, 1943, in Wavertree, a suburb of the northern English port city of Liverpool. He went to the same primary school as the three-year-old John Lennon and later met Paul McCartney on the school bus — an encounter that would change his life and the world.

A friend of his father taught George the basics of playing guitar. He got his own first instrument at 13; today, it hangs as a memento behind glass. Coming of age in the heyday of rock 'n' roll, George, like many boys, dreamed of a career as a rock musician. In 1958, his friend Paul McCartney brought him into the band The Quarrymen, which had been founded by John Lennon two years earlier.

In 1960, The Quarrymen became The Beatles, though with a slightly different cast. That was the start of an incredible world career. George Harrison (center top) played lead guitar. The fact that John Lennon and Paul McCartney called the shots always rankled him. Harrison conceded that the two were a great duo — but they had egos to match, and there simply was no room for anyone else.

No matter where they showed up, the Fab Four from Liverpool unleashed a frenzy. Young girls fainted left and right, for instance during a 1966 Germany tour organized by the German teen magazine "Bravo." It was the only time the Beatles ever toured Germany.

While in The Beatles, George Harrison wrote quite a few songs, but for the most part, he couldn't get his material past Lennon and McCartney. Classic Beatles songs including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" ("White Album," 1968), "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun" ("Abbey Road," 1969) were the exception.

For the first time in 1965, while shooting the movie "Help," Harrison held an instrument in his hands that was widely unknown in Europe: a sitar. Fascinated, he took lessons with Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar (above right). He played the instrument in the song "Norwegian Wood" (1965), starting a trend. In "Paint It Black" (1966), The Rolling Stones also played a sitar.

Harrison increasingly showed an interest in Indian culture. In 1966 The Beatles traveled to India to study meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. While the other members of the band quickly lost interest, Harrison took it a step further and converted to Hinduism, subsequently joining the Hare Krishna movement. He also traveled on various occasions back to India, such as in 1996 (above).

On January 21, 1966, Harrison married Pattie Boyd, a photo model he met while shooting "Yeah Yeah Yeah." The above photo shows the young couple in Barbados. Back then, no one would have guessed that only six years later, Pattie would run away with George's best friend, Eric Clapton.

Unhappy with his role in the band, Harrison recorded a solo album in 1968, "Wonderwall Music." The Beatles split up two years later, and Harrison released "All Things Must Pass," a song that rose to the top of the charts in England and the US. He must have had 80 songs tucked away in a drawer that he never got to record with the Beatles, record producer Phil Spector said.

Many of Harrison's songs are about spirituality and the transience of life. In 1971, he organized a concert for Bangladesh to raise money for the victims of a devastating flood. It was a groundbreaking charity concert, featuring the likes of Bob Dylan (above right), Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar and Eric Clapton.

Friar Park, a mansion in Oxfordshire, was home for George Harrison, his second wife, Olivia, and their son, Dhani. In December 1999, a demented man entered the premises and attacked the musician with a knife. Harrison survived, severely injured.

Harrison had a few hits in the 80s and 90s, but then his life took a different turn. Records, films, TV performances — he lost interest and decided to let it all go, he said, adding these things are only meaningful to people who don't know where they are headed. Pictured above are letters and tapes of an unreleased song written for a friend that were auctioned in 2017.

George Harrison died of lung cancer on November 29, 2001. He was 58 years old. Eight years after his death, Hollywood gave him a star on the Walk of Fame. His former Beatles band colleague, Paul McCartney, his wife Olivia and their son, Dhani, turned out for the ceremony.