195-475: George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles . Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian culture and helped broaden the scope of popular music through his incorporation of Indian instrumentation and Hindu -aligned spirituality in the Beatles' work. Although most of
390-475: A country music feel to many of the Beatles' recordings. He identified Chuck Berry as another early influence. In 1961, the Beatles recorded " Cry for a Shadow ", a blues-inspired instrumental co-written by Lennon and Harrison, who is credited with composing the song's lead guitar part, building on unusual chord voicings and imitating the style of other English groups such as the Shadows . Harrison's liberal use of
585-461: A kalasha (or 2 replacing lotus) and lotus, while other 2 hands in varada and abhaya mudra . Another depiction popular especially in Bengal shows her holding shankha , chakra ( discus ), lotus and abhaya mudra, with the kalasha releasing her holy water. In Brahma Vaivarta Purana , Ganga is often depicted with her divine mount, the makara – an animal with the head of a crocodile and tail of
780-527: A Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, playing alongside Dylan, Clapton, McGuinn, Petty and Neil Young . In 1994, Harrison began a collaboration with McCartney, Starr and producer Jeff Lynne for the Beatles Anthology project. This included the recording of two new Beatles songs built around solo vocal and piano tapes recorded by Lennon as well as lengthy interviews about
975-555: A Cloud ", which Leng describes as "a uniquely candid reaction to illness and mortality", achieved number 27 on Billboard ' s Adult Contemporary chart. The single " Any Road ", released in May 2003, peaked at number 37 on the UK Singles Chart . " Marwa Blues " went on to receive the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance , while "Any Road" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance . Harrison's guitar work with
1170-569: A December 2005 auction. In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar , who agreed to train him on the instrument. During a tour of the Philippines the month after the Yesterday and Today furore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos , who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace . When presented with
1365-405: A backing band and electric instrumentation , and "dressed in the height of Mod fashion". As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts "nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture. During the 1964 US tour , the group were confronted with racial segregation in
1560-563: A bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name to Beatals , as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets . They used this name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles , before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle . By early July, they had refashioned themselves as
1755-469: A brief tour of Europe with the American group Delaney & Bonnie and Friends . During the tour, which included Clapton, Bobby Whitlock , drummer Jim Gordon and band leaders Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett , Harrison began to play slide guitar, and also began to write " My Sweet Lord ", which became his first single as a solo artist. For many years, Harrison was restricted in his songwriting contributions to
1950-624: A bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies." That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker , a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record. Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. In August and September, they returned to
2145-562: A bus conductor who had worked as a ship's steward on the White Star Line , and Louise was a shop assistant of Irish Catholic descent. He had one sister, Louise (16 August 1931 – 29 January 2023), and two brothers, Harold (20 July 1934 - ?) and Peter (20 July 1940 – 1 June 2007). According to Boyd, Harrison's mother was particularly supportive: "All she wanted for her children is that they should be happy, and she recognised that nothing made George quite as happy as making music." Louise
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#17328584876382340-461: A collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own." Released in December, Rubber Soul was hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music. Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executive Peter Brown attributed to
2535-600: A condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them. Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr , who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles. During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances. In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in
2730-505: A controversy with Christians in America's conservative Bible Belt region. The Vatican issued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's national broadcasting service . Epstein accused Datebook of having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it." He claimed that he
2925-536: A copy of the British single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air. Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks. Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold
3120-554: A dolphin. Varying myths of Ganga's birth is found in Hindu scriptures. According to the Bhagavata Purana , Vishnu , in his incarnation as Vamana , extended his left foot to the end of the universe, and pierced a hole in its covering with the nail of his big toe. Through the hole, the pure water of the causal ocean entered this universe as the Ganges river. Having washed the lotus feet of
3315-415: A faster tempo, a studio session in late November yielded that recording, of which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No. 1". In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency. By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in
3510-568: A flute in her left. When shown with four hands she carries a water-pot, a lily, and a rosary, and has one hand in a protective mode. The Rigveda mentions Ganga but more of her is said in the Puranas . Ganga is depicted four-armed and mounted on a crocodile or enthroned surrounded by crocodiles. In one of the iconography in Maha Virat-rupa, she holds a jar of amrita , rosary, lotus and varada mudra. She may be depicted in other ways holding only
3705-497: A furious tirade against Ganga, accusing her of stealing Vishnu's love away from her. When Ganga appealed to her husband to help her, he chose to remain neutral, not wishing to participate in a quarrel between his three wives, whom he loved equally. When Lakshmi attempted to soothe Saraswati's anger by reasoning with her, the jealous goddess grew angry with her as well, accusing her of disloyalty towards her. She cursed Lakshmi to be born as
3900-434: A further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning. While some of Rubber Soul ' s songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting, the album also included distinct compositions from each, though they continued to share official credit. " In My Life ", of which each later claimed lead authorship,
4095-489: A guitarist, writing parts that featured the use of nonresolving tones, as with the ending chord arpeggios on " A Hard Day's Night ". On this and other songs from the period, he used a Rickenbacker 360/12 – an electric guitar with twelve strings, the low eight of which are tuned in pairs, one octave apart, with the higher four being pairs tuned in unison. His use of the Rickenbacker on A Hard Day's Night helped to popularise
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#17328584876384290-504: A local department store. During the group's first tour of Scotland, in 1960, Harrison used the pseudonym "Carl Harrison", in reference to Carl Perkins. In 1960, promoter Allan Williams arranged for the band, now calling themselves the Beatles, to play at the Indra and Kaiserkeller clubs in Hamburg , both owned by Bruno Koschmider . Their first residency in Hamburg ended prematurely when Harrison
4485-413: A lung and causing head injuries before he was incapacitated by Harrison's wife, who struck him repeatedly with a fireplace poker and a lamp. Harrison later commented, "I felt exhausted and could feel the strength draining from me. I vividly remember a deliberate thrust to my chest. I could hear my lung exhaling and had blood in my mouth. I believed I had been fatally stabbed." Following the attack, Harrison
4680-448: A member of the Beatles in 1988, and posthumously for his solo career in 2004. Harrison's first marriage to model Pattie Boyd in 1966 ended in divorce in 1977. In the following year he married Olivia Arias , with whom he had a son, Dhani . A lifelong cigarette smoker, Harrison died of numerous cancers in 2001 at the age of 58, two years after surviving a knife attack by an intruder at his home, Friar Park . His remains were cremated, and
4875-449: A million copies in under four weeks. It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978. The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest. The band toured the UK three times in
5070-684: A million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January. In its wake Vee-Jay released Introducing... The Beatles along with Capitol's debut album, Meet the Beatles! , while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You". On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off. Upon landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport , an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them. They gave their first live US television performance two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show , watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households, or 34 per cent of
5265-465: A music and film producer, Harrison produced acts signed to the Beatles' Apple record label before founding Dark Horse Records in 1974. He co-founded HandMade Films in 1978, initially to produce the Monty Python troupe's comedy film The Life of Brian (1979). Harrison released several best-selling singles and albums as a solo performer. In 1988, he co-founded the platinum-selling supergroup
5460-433: 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." Harrison cited Slim Whitman as another early influence: "The first person I ever saw playing a guitar was Slim Whitman, either a photo of him in a magazine or live on television. Guitars were definitely coming in." When George Harrison
5655-577: A noble failure, there were a number of fans who were tuned-in to what was being attempted. They went away ecstatic, conscious that they had just witnessed something so uplifting that it could never be repeated." Simon Leng called the tour "groundbreaking" and "revolutionary in its presentation of Indian Music". On 16 November 1974, Harrison and several others involved in the tour visited the White House. They were invited by President Gerald Ford's son, Jack. In December, Harrison released Dark Horse , which
5850-589: A private ceremony in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers near Varanasi , India. He left almost £100 million in his will. Harrison's final studio album, Brainwashed (2002), was released posthumously after it was completed by his son Dhani and Jeff Lynne. A quotation from the Bhagavad Gita is included in the album's liner notes: "There never was a time when you or I did not exist. Nor will there be any future when we shall cease to be." A media-only single, " Stuck Inside
6045-482: A problem". As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly added LSD to their coffee. Lennon described
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6240-460: A psychiatric institution in 2002, Abram said: "If I could turn back the clock, I would give anything not to have done what I did in attacking George Harrison, but looking back on it now, I have come to understand that I was at the time not in control of my actions. I can only hope the Harrison family might somehow find it in their hearts to accept my apologies." The injuries inflicted on Harrison during
6435-422: A ritual known as ashvamedha , where a horse was left to wander for one year. However, Indra stole the horse to prevent the ritual from being successful. Learning that the horse had disappeared, King Sagara sent his sixty thousand sons to look for it. They eventually found the horse at the ashrama of Sage Kapila , in the netherworld. Thinking that Sage Kapila had stolen the horse, the sons interrupted him while he
6630-407: A series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability. With the Beatles became the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958 South Pacific soundtrack . When writing the sleeve notes for the album, the band's press officer, Tony Barrow , used the superlative the "fabulous foursome", which
6825-516: A show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of a foldback system of on-stage monitor speakers. Towards the end of the tour, they met with Elvis Presley , a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills . Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse. September 1965 saw
7020-450: A song for a Harrison European single release. Harrison's record company decided the track, " Handle with Care ", was too good for its original purpose as a B-side and asked for a full album. The LP, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 , was released in October 1988 and recorded under pseudonyms as half-brothers, supposed sons of Charles Truscott Wilbury Sr. It reached number 16 in the UK and number 3 in
7215-437: A succession of drummers, including Pete Best , before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed with EMI Records and achieved their first hit, " Love Me Do ", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed " Beatlemania ",
7410-593: A surprise appearance during the finale of the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert , an event organised to raise money for the Birmingham Children's Hospital . The following year, he appeared at The Prince's Trust concert at London's Wembley Arena , performing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun". In February 1987 he joined Dylan, John Fogerty and Jesse Ed Davis on stage for
7605-555: A three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US. Directed by Richard Lester , A Hard Day's Night involved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy. The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with
7800-488: A two-hour performance with the blues musician Taj Mahal . Harrison recalled: "Bob rang me up and asked if I wanted to come out for the evening and see Taj Mahal ... So we went there and had a few of these Mexican beers – and had a few more ... Bob says, 'Hey, why don't we all get up and play, and you can sing?' But every time I got near the microphone, Dylan comes up and just starts singing this rubbish in my ear, trying to throw me." In November 1987, Harrison released
7995-491: Is also known as Tripathaga because she flows in the three worlds, heaven, earth, and the netherworld. Another epithet that Ganga is known by is Jahnavi, because she flooded the ashram of Sage Jahnu while being led by Bhagiratha. Her waters extinguished the ritual fire there, which angered the sage Jahnu, so he drank up all of Ganga's waters. Sage Jahnu later released the water out of his left ear after Bhagiratha explained his mission for Ganga's descent. Due to this incident, Ganga
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8190-499: Is an experimental album that prominently features a Moog synthesizer . Released in November 1968, Wonderwall Music was the first solo album by a Beatle and the first LP released by Apple Records . Indian musicians Aashish Khan and Shivkumar Sharma performed on the album, which contains the experimental sound collage " Dream Scene ", recorded several months before Lennon's " Revolution 9 ". In December 1969, Harrison participated in
8385-428: Is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue. Harrison called Rubber Soul his "favourite album", and Starr referred to it as "the departure record". McCartney has said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand." However, recording engineer Norman Smith later stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – "the clash between John and Paul
8580-666: Is considered by the Mauritian Hindus equivalent to Ganga. In 1972, the then Prime Minister of Mauritius , Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam brought Holy water from the Ganga's source – Gomukh in India and mixed it with the water of the Grand Bassin and renamed it as Ganga Talao. Ganga is invoked with Hindu deities Shiva, Bhumi , Surya and Chandra in Thailand 's royal Triyampawai ceremony . She
8775-564: Is known as Jahnavi, which means daughter of Sage Jahnu. In the Mahabharata , Ganga is the wife of Shantanu as well as the mother of the eight Vasus , including Bhishma . Ganga and Shantanu were cursed by Brahma to be born on earth. Shantanu met Ganga on the banks of the Ganges and asked her to marry him. She accepted the proposal on the condition that Shantanu would not question any of her actions. Shantanu agreed and they married. They lived together peacefully and had eight sons who were
8970-499: Is mentioned in the Rigveda , the earliest and theoretically the holiest of the Hindu scriptures. Ganga is mentioned in the Nadistuti (Rigveda 10.75), which lists the rivers from east to west. In RV 6.45.31, the word Ganga is also mentioned, but it is not clear if the reference is to the river. RVRV 3.58.6 says that "your ancient home, your auspicious friendship, O Heroes, your wealth is on
9165-483: Is ten years old. The Ganga is also called the Ganga Mata (Mother), and is revered in Hindu worship and culture, venerated for her forgiveness of sins and capacity to cleanse mankind. Unlike various other goddesses, she has no destructive or fearsome aspect, destructive though she might be as a river in nature. She is also a mother to other gods. On this day, Ganga is regarded to have been reborn. According to legend,
9360-652: Is worshipped together with goddess Phra Mae Thorani within Thai Bushhism and goddess Phosop in Tai folk religion . The four sacred pools of Suphan Buri Province have waters from the Ganga and the Yamuna rivers and are used for rituals. Ganga has been revered in Cambodia since the Khmer empire . In Shiva's iconographical form Uma-Gangapatisvarar ( Khmer : ព្រះឧមាគង្គាបតិស្វរ ), Shiva
9555-618: The Bhagavad Gita . His final message to the world, as relayed in a statement by Olivia and Dhani, was: "Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another." He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery , and his funeral was held at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades, California . His close family scattered his ashes according to Hindu tradition in
9750-546: The Lethal Weapon 2 film soundtrack. Following Orbison's death in December 1988, the Wilburys recorded as a four-piece. Their second album, issued in October 1990, was mischievously titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 . According to Lynne, "That was George's idea. He said, 'Let's confuse the buggers. ' " It peaked at number 14 in the UK and number 11 in the US, where it was certified platinum. The Wilburys never performed live, and
9945-530: The BBC , also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events. The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks. In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth. On 4 November, they played in front of The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret during
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#173285848763810140-760: The Bagmati Province . In Sri Lanka , Ganga with other Hindu deities assumes a Buddhist persona. Her sculpture is seen in Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara . In Balinese Hinduism , she is worshipped together with the goddess Danu . Her waters are considered holy in Bali . Her maternal association with Bhishma is known in Bali. Religious sites associated with her in Bali are Tirta Gangga , Pura Taman Mumbul Sangeh , and Kongco Pura Taman Gandasari . Ganga Talao in Mauritius
10335-667: The Billboard top 20. The album marked the beginning of Harrison's gradual retreat from the music business, with several of the songs having been written in the tranquil setting of Maui in the Hawaiian archipelago . Leng described George Harrison as "melodic and lush ... peaceful ... the work of a man who had lived the rock and roll dream twice over and was now embracing domestic as well as spiritual bliss". The murder of John Lennon on 8 December 1980 disturbed Harrison and reinforced his decades-long concern about stalkers . The tragedy
10530-556: The Hare Krishna movement . After the Beatles disbanded , Harrison released the triple album All Things Must Pass , a critically acclaimed work that produced his most successful hit single, " My Sweet Lord ", and introduced his signature sound as a solo artist, the slide guitar . He also organised the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh with Indian musician Ravi Shankar , a precursor to later benefit concerts such as Live Aid . In his role as
10725-575: The Kaiserkeller in October. When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice, and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age. The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November. One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to
10920-571: The Marx Brothers . United Artists released a full soundtrack album for the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP, A Hard Day's Night , contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two. According to Erlewine, the album saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into
11115-595: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped Rolling Stone ' s lists of the greatest artists in history . Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people . In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool . They were called
11310-660: The Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre . Please Please Me maintained the top position on the Record Retailer chart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up, With the Beatles , which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week. Recorded between July and October, With the Beatles made better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor. It held
11505-567: The Tidewater area of Virginia from Gene Loving of radio station WGH and was featured on the "Rate-a-Record" segment of American Bandstand , but it failed to catch on nationally. Epstein brought a demo copy of " I Want to Hold Your Hand " to Capitol's Brown Meggs , who signed the band and arranged for a $ 40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio station WWDC , in Washington, DC, obtained
11700-472: The Traveling Wilburys . A prolific recording artist, he was featured as a guest guitarist on tracks by Badfinger , Ronnie Wood , and Billy Preston , and collaborated on songs and music with Dylan, Eric Clapton , Ringo Starr , and Tom Petty . Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 31 in their 2023 list of greatest guitarists of all time. He is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – as
11895-544: The Tulasi plant upon the earth. Ganga, now enraged that Lakshmi had been cursed because she had defended her, cursed Saraswati that she would be incarnated as a river on earth. Saraswati issued the same curse against Ganga, informing her that sinful men would cleanse themselves of their sins with her water. To prevent further conflict among the goddesses, Vishnu declares Lakshmi as his only wife and sends Saraswati to Brahma and Ganga to Shiva. The Mahabharata narrates that there
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#173285848763812090-403: The album era , as albums became the dominant form of record use over singles . These records also increased public interest in psychedelic drugs and Eastern spirituality, and furthered advancements in electronic music , album art , and music videos . In 1968, they founded Apple Corps , a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After
12285-465: The diatonic scale in his guitar playing reveals the influence of Buddy Holly , and his interest in Berry inspired him to compose songs based on the blues scale while incorporating a rockabilly feel in the style of Perkins. Another of Harrison's musical techniques was the use of guitar lines written in octaves , as on " I'll Be on My Way ". By 1964, he had begun to develop a distinctive personal style as
12480-641: The makara . Some of the earliest mentions of Ganga are found in the Rigveda , where she is mentioned as the holiest of the rivers. Her stories mainly appear in post-Vedic texts such as the Ramayana , Mahabharata , and the Puranas . The Ramayana describes her to be the firstborn of Himavat , the personification of the Himalayas , and the sister of the mother goddess Parvati . However, other texts mention her origin from
12675-452: The " exi " (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles. Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass. Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan 's backing band on a series of recordings for Polydor Records . As part of
12870-432: The 1970s Frank Sinatra recorded "Something" twice (1970 and 1979) and later dubbed it "the greatest love song of the past fifty years". Lennon considered it the best song on Abbey Road , and it became the Beatles' second most covered song after " Yesterday ". In May 1970, Harrison's song " For You Blue " was coupled on a US single with McCartney's " The Long and Winding Road " and became Harrison's second chart-topper when
13065-565: The American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to the Nielsen rating service, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program ". The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US, but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at the Washington Coliseum . Back in New York
13260-406: The Animals , Petula Clark , the Kinks , and the Rolling Stones to achieve success in America. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five. Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records , encouraged its film division to offer the Beatles
13455-594: The Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the Ku Klux Klan ) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave . "Christianity will go", Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ... Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine Datebook printed them five months later, it sparked
13650-468: The Beatles into folk rock through his interest in Bob Dylan and the Byrds , and towards Indian classical music through his use of Indian instruments, such as the sitar , which he had become acquainted with on the set of the film Help! He played sitar on numerous Beatles songs, starting with " Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) ". Having initiated the band's embrace of Transcendental Meditation in 1967, he subsequently developed an association with
13845-428: The Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP, Please Please Me . It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a "live" album with minimal production in "a single marathon session at Abbey Road". After
14040-475: The Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr , who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them. A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of " Love Me Do " featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummer Andy White for the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", " Please Please Me ", and " P.S. I Love You ". Martin initially selected
14235-621: The Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney , the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen , and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg , Germany, over three years from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass . The core trio of Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, together since 1958, went through
14430-480: The Beatles was on 4 January 1970, when he, McCartney and Starr recorded overdubs to the song " Let It Be " for the soundtrack album of the same name . Before the Beatles' break-up, Harrison had already recorded and released two solo albums: Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound , both of which contain mainly instrumental compositions. Wonderwall Music , a soundtrack to the 1968 film Wonderwall , blends Indian and Western instrumentation, while Electronic Sound
14625-473: The Beatles was varied and flexible. Although not fast or flashy, his lead guitar playing was solid and typified the more subdued lead guitar style of the early 1960s. His rhythm guitar playing was innovative, for example when he used a capo to shorten the strings on an acoustic guitar, as on the Rubber Soul (1965) album and " Here Comes the Sun ", to create a bright, sweet sound. Eric Clapton felt that Harrison
14820-514: The Beatles' albums, but he released All Things Must Pass , a triple album with two discs of his songs and the third of recordings of Harrison jamming with friends. The album was regarded by many as his best work, and it topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The number-one hit single "My Sweet Lord" and the top-ten single " What Is Life " were taken from the album, which was co-produced by Phil Spector using his " Wall of Sound " approach;
15015-442: The Beatles' career. Released in December 1995, " Free as a Bird " was the first new Beatles single since 1970. In March 1996, they released a second single, " Real Love ". They also attempted to finish a third single, " Now and Then ", but did not finish it because the audio quality of the cassette was, according to Harrison, "fucking rubbish." The song was later finished by McCartney and Starr and released in 2023. He later commented on
15210-444: The Beatles. Tensions among the group surfaced again in January 1969, at Twickenham Studios , during the filmed rehearsals that became the 1970 documentary Let It Be . Frustrated by the cold and sterile film studio, by Lennon's creative disengagement from the Beatles, and by what he perceived as a domineering attitude from McCartney, Harrison quit the group on 10 January. He returned 12 days later, after his bandmates had agreed to move
15405-484: The Beatles. While on a visit to Woodstock in late 1968, he established a friendship with Dylan and found himself drawn to the Band's sense of communal music-making and to the creative equality among the band members, which contrasted with Lennon and McCartney's domination of the Beatles' songwriting and creative direction. This coincided with a prolific period in his songwriting and a growing desire to assert his independence from
15600-549: The Concert for Bangladesh, which took place on 1 August 1971. The event drew over 40,000 people to two shows in New York's Madison Square Garden . The goal of the event was to raise money to aid starving refugees during the Bangladesh Liberation War . Shankar opened the show, which featured popular musicians such as Dylan, Clapton, Leon Russell , Badfinger, Preston and Starr. A triple album, The Concert for Bangladesh ,
15795-504: The Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They also performed as the Rainbows . Paul McCartney later told New Musical Express that they called themselves that "because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!". Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe , who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase
15990-404: The Quarrymen , a reference to their school song "Quarry men old before our birth". Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison , then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison
16185-560: The Silver Beatles , and by the middle of August simply the Beatles . Allan Williams , the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg . They auditioned and hired drummer Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 -month residency. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August,
16380-500: The Sky with Diamonds " mirrors Lennon's vocal line in much the same way that a sarangi player accompanies a khyal singer in a Hindu devotional song . The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison , and Ringo Starr . They are widely regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to
16575-583: The Starr version of "Love Me Do" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine. Released in early October, "Love Me Do" peaked at number seventeen on the Record Retailer chart. Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places . After Martin suggested rerecording "Please Please Me" at
16770-506: The UK. The music critic Mikal Gilmore described Dark Horse as "one of Harrison's most fascinating works – a record about change and loss". Harrison's final studio album for EMI and Apple Records, the soul music -inspired Extra Texture (Read All About It) (1975), peaked at number 8 on the Billboard chart and number 16 in the UK. Harrison considered it the least satisfactory of the three albums he had recorded since All Things Must Pass . Leng identified "bitterness and dismay" in many of
16965-459: The US charts. The single was included on the album Somewhere in England in 1981. Harrison did not release any new albums for five years after 1982's Gone Troppo received little notice from critics or the public. During this period he made several guest appearances, including a 1985 performance at a tribute to Carl Perkins titled Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session . In March 1986 he made
17160-426: The US since All Things Must Pass . The album peaked just outside the top ten there, but outsold his previous two LPs. As part of his promotion for the release, Harrison performed on Saturday Night Live with Paul Simon . In 1979, Harrison released George Harrison , which followed his second marriage and the birth of his son Dhani . Co-produced by Russ Titelman , the album and the single " Blow Away " both made
17355-491: The US, where it was certified triple platinum . Harrison's pseudonym on the album was "Nelson Wilbury"; he used the name "Spike Wilbury" for their second album. In 1989, Harrison and Starr appeared in the music video for Petty's song " I Won't Back Down ". In October that year, Harrison assembled and released Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 , a compilation of his later solo work. The album included three new songs, including " Cheer Down ", which Harrison had recently contributed to
17550-411: The US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities. Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 people to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York. In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the Beatles to meet Bob Dylan . Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis . Gould points out
17745-426: The US. A similar situation arose during their May–June tour with Roy Orbison . In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962. On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport . Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from
17940-606: The US. In the UK, the LP peaked at number two and the single reached number 8. The album was lavishly produced and packaged, and its dominant message was Harrison's Hindu beliefs. In Greene's opinion it "contained many of the strongest compositions of his career". Stephen Holden , writing in Rolling Stone , felt the album was "vastly appealing" and "profoundly seductive", and that it stood "alone as an article of faith, miraculous in its radiance". Other reviewers were less enthusiastic, describing
18135-569: The United Kingdom to reach number one. The band's third single, " From Me to You ", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years. Issued in August, their fourth single, " She Loves You ", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of
18330-415: The airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from a brain haemorrhage . Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan. After a New Year's Day audition, Decca Records rejected the band , saying, "Guitar groups are on
18525-461: The album Introducing... The Beatles , comprising most of the songs of Parlophone's Please Please Me , but a management shake-up led to the album not being released. After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided. A new licence was granted to the Swan label for the single "She Loves You". The record received some airplay in
18720-494: The album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins." Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were "just writing songs à la Everly Brothers , à la Buddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant." Released in March 1963, Please Please Me was the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in
18915-679: The album was the Indian-inspired " Within You Without You ", to which no other Beatle contributed. He played sitar and tambura on the track, backed by musicians from the London Asian Music Circle on dilruba , swarmandal and tabla. He later commented on the Sgt. Pepper album: "It was a millstone and a milestone in the music industry ... There's about half the songs I like and the other half I can't stand." In January 1968, he recorded
19110-574: The album's recording, Harrison asserted more creative control than before, rejecting suggestions for changes to his music, particularly from McCartney. "Something" became his first A-side when issued on a double A-side single with " Come Together "; the song was number one in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and West Germany, and the combined sides topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. In
19305-400: The album, recorded between August and October 1964, to continue the format established by A Hard Day's Night which, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs. They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of
19500-630: The album, which included several of his long-time musical collaborators, including Clapton, Jim Keltner and Jim Horn . Cloud Nine reached number eight and number ten on the US and UK charts respectively, and several tracks from the album achieved placement on Billboard ' s Mainstream Rock chart – " Devil's Radio ", " This Is Love " and " Cloud 9 ". In 1988, Harrison formed the Traveling Wilburys with Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison , Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. The band had gathered in Dylan's garage to record
19695-450: The ashes were scattered according to Hindu tradition in a private ceremony in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in India. He left an estate of almost £100 million. Harrison was born at 12 Arnold Grove in Wavertree , Liverpool, on 25 February 1943. He was the youngest of four children of Harold Hargreaves (or Hargrove) Harrison (1909–1978) and Louise (née French; 1911–1970). Harold was
19890-464: The baby in the womb." Harrison lived at 12 Arnold Grove until 1 January 1950. A terraced house on a cul-de-sac , it had an outdoor toilet, and its only heat came from a single coal fire. In the autumn of 1949, the family was offered a council house and moved to 25 Upton Green, Speke . In 1948, Harrison enrolled at Dovedale Primary School . He passed the eleven-plus exam and attended Liverpool Institute High School for Boys from 1954 to 1959. Though
20085-711: The band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a " fifth Beatle ". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in the British Invasion of the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964). A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with
20280-469: The band at the Star-Club in Hamburg. The following year, he was the most active of the former Beatles in promoting the reissue of their 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine . On 30 December 1999, Harrison and his wife Olivia were attacked at their home, Friar Park . The perpetrator was 34-year-old paranoid schizophrenic man Michael Abram, who broke in and attacked Harrison with a kitchen knife, puncturing
20475-447: The band members' "now habitual use of marijuana". Lennon referred to Rubber Soul as "the pot album" and Starr said: "Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently." After Help! ' s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of a sitar on " Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) " marked
20670-409: The band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962. Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg. On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at
20865-460: The band's ongoing exploration of non-Western instruments, while the sitar- and tabla -based "Love You To" represented the Beatles' first genuine foray into Indian music. According to the ethnomusicologist David Reck, the latter song set a precedent in popular music as an example of Asian culture being represented by Westerners respectfully and without parody. Author Nicholas Schaffner wrote in 1978 that following Harrison's increased association with
21060-492: The band's songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney , most Beatles albums from 1965 onwards contained at least two Harrison compositions. His songs for the group include " Taxman ", " Within You Without You ", " While My Guitar Gently Weeps ", " Here Comes the Sun " and " Something ". Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby and Django Reinhardt ; subsequent influences were Carl Perkins , Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry . By 1965, he had begun to lead
21255-420: The band, Harrison was known as "the quiet Beatle". That moniker arose when the Beatles arrived in the United States in early 1964, and Harrison was ill with a case of Strep throat and a fever and was medically advised to limit speaking as much as possible until he performed on The Ed Sullivan Show as scheduled. As such, the press noticed Harrison's apparent laconic nature in public appearances on that tour and
21450-469: The banks of the Jahanvi". This verse could refer to the Ganga. In RV 1.116.18–19, the Jahanvi and the Ganges river dolphin occur in two adjacent verses. Ganga is described as the melodious, the fortunate, the cow that gives much milk, the eternally pure, the delightful, the body that is full of fish, affords delight to the eye and leaps over mountains in sport, the bedding that bestows water and happiness, and
21645-622: The basic track for his song " The Inner Light " at EMI's studio in Bombay , using a group of local musicians playing traditional Indian instruments. Released as the B-side to McCartney's " Lady Madonna ", it was the first Harrison composition to appear on a Beatles single. Derived from a quotation from the Tao Te Ching , the song's lyric reflected Harrison's deepening interest in Hinduism and meditation . During
21840-461: The burgeoning youth culture. The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion . The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of British beat groups and pop acts such as the Dave Clark Five ,
22035-533: The bus to school, Harrison met Paul McCartney , who also attended the Liverpool Institute, and the pair bonded over their shared love of music. McCartney and his friend John Lennon were in a skiffle group called the Quarrymen . In March 1958, at McCartney's urging, Harrison auditioned for the Quarrymen at Rory Storm 's Morgue Skiffle Club, playing Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith 's " Guitar Boogie Shuffle ", but Lennon felt that Harrison, having just turned 15,
22230-502: The challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, including Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). They enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). The success of these records heralded
22425-452: The commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in the folk music scene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists." Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with
22620-587: The country at the time. When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida , was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated. Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money." City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show. The group also cancelled their reservations at
22815-405: The customary group photograph, its Aubrey Beardsley -inspired cover – designed by Klaus Voormann , a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group. The album was preceded by the single " Paperback Writer ", backed by " Rain ". Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among
23010-525: The daughter of Meru . Her younger sister is Parvati , who latter marries Shiva. When Ganga attained youth, the devas took her to Svarga , where she took a form of a river and flowed. A legend in the Devi Bhagavata Purana describes Ganga as originally being one of the three wives of Vishnu, together with Lakshmi and Saraswati . In the midst of a conversation, Saraswati observed Ganga playfully glancing at Vishnu. Frustrated, Saraswati launched
23205-427: The development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle , beat , and 1950s rock 'n' roll , their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock . As pioneers in recording , songwriting, and artistic presentation,
23400-413: The experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two." He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use of psychedelic drugs encouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: "For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid , it just opened up something in my head that
23595-415: The favour of Brahma and Shiva. Brahma allowed Ganga to descend on earth, while Shiva broke Ganga's fall in the coils of his hair, so that her force would not shatter the earth. When Ganga descended, Bhagiratha led her to the sea. From there, the river reached the netherworld , and liberated the sixty thousand sons of King Sagara. Because of Bhagiratha's efforts, the river is also known as Bhagirathi . She
23790-468: The film project to their own Apple Studio and to abandon McCartney's plan for making a return to public performance. Relations among the Beatles were more cordial, though still strained, when the band recorded their 1969 album Abbey Road . The LP included what Lavezzoli describes as "two classic contributions" from Harrison – " Here Comes the Sun " and " Something " – that saw him "finally achieve equal songwriting status" with Lennon and McCartney. During
23985-506: The first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that "it opened my eyes" and "made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society". Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award. In protest – the honour
24180-551: The first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June. As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred on Sunday Night at the London Palladium , the UK's top variety show. Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in
24375-471: The first true music videos", they aired on The Ed Sullivan Show and Top of the Pops in June. Ganga (goddess) Ganga ( Sanskrit : गङ्गा , IAST : Gaṅgā ) is the personification of the river Ganges , who is worshipped by Hindus as the goddess of purification and forgiveness. Known by many names, Ganga is often depicted as a fair, beautiful woman, riding a divine crocodile-like creature called
24570-402: The following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall . The band flew to Florida, where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show a second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February. The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
24765-412: The following days coined the term " Beatlemania " to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck. Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American acts Tommy Roe and Chris Montez during the February engagements and assumed top billing "by audience demand", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from
24960-754: The forms of Adishakti during the duration of the festivities. Thais use the Krathong to thank the Goddess of Water, the Hindu goddess Ganga, Phra Mae Khongkha ( Thai : พระแม่คงคา ). Ganga is respected in Nepal as a guardian water goddess, worshipped together with another river goddess Yamuna . Her sculptures are found in Patan Durbar Square and Gokarneshwar Mahadev temple is a municipality in Kathmandu District in
25155-466: The friend or benefactor of all that lives. Since the Vedic period, the Ganges river has been considered the holiest of all rivers by Hindus . Ganga is also personified as a goddess and worshipped as Goddess Ganga. She holds an important place in the Hindu pantheon . Ganga is represented as a fair-complexioned woman, wearing a white crown and sitting on a crocodile. She holds a water lily in her right hand and
25350-435: The goddess is regarded to have accidentally destroyed the hut of Sage Jahnu during her descent upon the earth. In retort, the sage drank the entirety of the river's water. At the request of Bhagiratha and Ganga herself, he released the river from his ear, and she earned the epithet Jahnavi. Ganga Jayanti falls on the seventh day of the month of Vaishakha 's first fortnight . Ganga is worshipped during Navaratri as all
25545-429: The grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer Bill Harry , it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums. Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched $ 10,500 at
25740-536: The group did not record together again following the release of their second album. In December 1991, Harrison joined Clapton for a tour of Japan. It was Harrison's first since 1974 and no others followed. On 6 April 1992, Harrison held a benefit concert for the Natural Law Party at the Royal Albert Hall , his first London performance since the Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert . In October 1992, he performed at
25935-404: The group's break-up in 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and some partial reunions occurred. Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time , with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They are the most successful act in
26130-524: The group. Lennon and McCartney had established a songwriting partnership , and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as a lead vocalist . Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing. Lennon recalled him saying, "Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ...". On 11 February 1963,
26325-657: The history of the US Billboard charts , holding the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15), most number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band received many accolades , including seven Grammy Awards , four Brit Awards , an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be ), and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards . They were inducted into
26520-465: The hit singles " This Song " and " Crackerbox Palace ", both of which reached the top 25 in the US. The surreal humour of "Crackerbox Palace" reflected Harrison's association with Monty Python 's Eric Idle , who directed a comical music video for the song. With an emphasis on melody and musicianship, and a more subtle subject matter than the pious message of his earlier works, Thirty Three & 1/3 earned Harrison his most favourable critical notices in
26715-415: The home invasion were downplayed by his family in their comments to the press. Having seen Harrison looking so healthy beforehand, those in his social circle believed that the attack brought about a change in him and was the cause for his cancer's return. In May 2001, it was revealed that Harrison had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs, and in July, it was reported that he
26910-400: The incarnation of the eight Vasus. They too had been cursed and had asked Ganga to end their life when they were born to her on earth. Due to their request, Ganga began drowning each son upon birth while Shantanu watched without questioning. However, when she was about to drown their eighth son, Bhishma, Shantanu stopped her. Ganga later leaves with Bhishma but gives him back to Shantanu when he
27105-490: The institute did offer a music course, Harrison was disappointed with the absence of guitars, and felt that the school "moulded [students] into being frightened". Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby , Cab Calloway , Django Reinhardt and Hoagy Carmichael ; by the 1950s, Carl Perkins and Lonnie Donegan were significant influences. In early 1956, he had an epiphany: while riding his bicycle, he heard Elvis Presley 's " Heartbreak Hotel " playing from
27300-610: The invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations. They soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty. Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. – John Lennon, 1966 Almost as soon as they returned home,
27495-401: The last covers the band would include on an album until Let It Be 's brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song " Maggie Mae ". The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs on Help! and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad " Yesterday ". Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on
27690-519: The launch of an American Saturday-morning cartoon series, The Beatles , that echoed A Hard Day's Night 's slapstick antics over its two-year original run. The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people. In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments. Until this time, according to George Martin, "we had been making albums rather like
27885-531: The lord, which are covered with reddish saffron, the water of the Ganga acquired a very beautiful pink colour. Because the Ganges directly touches the lotus feet of Vishnu ( Narayana ) before descending within this universe, it is known as Bhagavat-Padi or Vishnupadi, which means e manating from the feet of Bhagavan (God) . It finally settles in Brahmaloka or Brahmapura , the abode of the Brahma, before descending to
28080-481: The lyrics of the album's title track "a recognition of the impermanence of human existence ... a simple and poignant conclusion" to Harrison's former band. In 1971, Bright Tunes sued Harrison for copyright infringement over "My Sweet Lord", owing to its similarity to the 1963 Chiffons hit " He's So Fine ". When the case was heard in the United States district court in 1976, he denied deliberately plagiarising
28275-408: The media widely adopted as "the Fab Four". EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records , hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US label Vee-Jay led to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963. Vee-Jay finished preparation for
28470-440: The model, and the jangly sound became so prominent that Melody Maker termed it the Beatles' "secret weapon". In 1965, Harrison used an expression pedal to control his guitar's volume on " I Need You ", creating a syncopated flautando effect with the melody resolving its dissonance through tonal displacements. He used the same volume-swell technique on " Yes It Is ", applying what Everett described as "ghostly articulation" to
28665-409: The moderate success of "Love Me Do", the single "Please Please Me" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart except Record Retailer , where it peaked at number two. Recalling how the Beatles "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day", AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Decades after its release,
28860-490: The monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night. In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances at the Cavern Club , they encountered Brian Epstein , a local record-store owner and music columnist. He later recalled: "I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... [a] star quality." Epstein courted
29055-445: The musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fanbases were "perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds": Dylan's audience of "college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildly bohemian style " contrasted with their fans, "veritable ' teenyboppers ' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in
29250-502: The musicians included Starr, Clapton, Gary Wright , Billy Preston , Klaus Voormann , the whole of Delaney and Bonnie's Friends band, and the Apple group Badfinger . On its release, All Things Must Pass was received with critical acclaim; Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone described it as being "of classic Spectorian proportions, Wagnerian , Brucknerian , the music of mountain tops and vast horizons". Author and musicologist Ian Inglis considers
29445-487: The news was made public, Harrison, who would die within the month, bemoaned his physician's breach of privacy, and his estate later claimed damages. On 29 November 2001, Harrison died at a property belonging to McCartney, on Heather Road in Beverly Hills, California . He was 58 years old. He died in the company of Olivia, Dhani, Shankar and the latter's wife Sukanya and daughter Anoushka , and Hare Krishna devotees Shyamasundar Das and Mukunda Goswami , who chanted verses from
29640-539: The other Beatles into folk rock through his interest in the Byrds and Bob Dylan , and towards Indian classical music through his use of the sitar on " Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) ". He later called Rubber Soul his "favourite [Beatles] album". Revolver (1966) included three of his compositions: " Taxman ", selected as the album's opening track, " Love You To " and " I Want to Tell You ". His drone-like tambura part on Lennon's " Tomorrow Never Knows " exemplified
29835-409: The planet earth at the request of Bhagiratha , and held safely by Shiva on his head, to prevent the destruction of Bhumi Devi (the earth goddess). Then, Ganga was released from Shiva's hair to meet the needs of the country. The Ramayana narrates a different version of the myth. Ganga is described as the eldest child of Himavat , son of Brahma and the king of the Himalayas , and his Menavati,
30030-591: The platinum album Cloud Nine . Co-produced with Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), the album included Harrison's rendition of James Ray's " Got My Mind Set on You ", which went to number one in the US and number two in the UK. The accompanying music video received substantial airplay, and another single, " When We Was Fab ", a retrospective of the Beatles' career, earned two MTV Music Video Awards nominations in 1988. Recorded at his estate in Friar Park, Harrison's slide guitar playing featured prominently on
30225-466: The preserver deity, Vishnu . Legends focus on her descent to earth, which occurred because of a royal-sage Bhagiratha , aided by the god Shiva . In the epic Mahabharata , Ganga is the mother of the warrior Bhishma in a union with the Kuru king Shantanu . In Hinduism, Ganga is seen as a mother to humanity. Pilgrims immerse the ashes of their kin in the river Ganga, which is considered by them to bring
30420-418: The previous November. Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade. Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults, became an emblem of rebellion to
30615-468: The project: "I hope somebody does this to all my crap demos when I'm dead, make them into hit songs." After the Anthology project, Harrison collaborated with Ravi Shankar on the latter's Chants of India . Harrison's final television appearance was a VH-1 special to promote the album, taped in May 1997. Soon afterwards, Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer ; he was treated with radiotherapy , which
30810-604: The recording – "Yesterday" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written. With Help! , the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year . The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August – "perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts", in Lewisohn's description. A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At
31005-412: The recording of The Beatles that same year, tensions within the group ran high, and drummer Ringo Starr quit briefly. Harrison's four songwriting contributions to the double album included " While My Guitar Gently Weeps ", which featured Eric Clapton on lead guitar, and the horn -driven " Savoy Truffle ". Dylan and the Band were a major musical influence on Harrison at the end of his career with
31200-422: The release as awkward, sanctimonious and overly sentimental. In November 1974, Harrison became the first ex-Beatle to tour North America when he began his 45-date Dark Horse Tour . The shows included guest spots by his band members Billy Preston and Tom Scott , and traditional and contemporary Indian music performed by "Ravi Shankar, Family and Friends". Despite numerous positive reviews, the consensus reaction to
31395-542: The sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year. Credited to "Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers", the single " My Bonnie ", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart. After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were growing tired of
31590-475: The sides were listed together at number one on the Hot 100. His increased productivity meant that by the time of their break-up he had amassed a stockpile of unreleased compositions. While Harrison grew as a songwriter, his compositional presence on Beatles albums remained limited to two or three songs, increasing his frustration, and significantly contributing to the band's break-up. Harrison's last recording session with
31785-469: The sitar after "Norwegian Wood", he became known as "the maharaja of raga-rock ". Harrison continued to develop his interest in non-Western instrumentation, playing swarmandal on " Strawberry Fields Forever ". By late 1966, Harrison's interests had moved away from the Beatles. This was reflected in his choice of Eastern gurus and religious leaders for inclusion on the album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. His sole composition on
31980-486: The song's natural harmonics . In 1966, Harrison contributed innovative musical ideas to Revolver . He played backwards guitar on Lennon's composition " I'm Only Sleeping " and a guitar counter-melody on " And Your Bird Can Sing " that moved in parallel octaves above McCartney's bass downbeats. His guitar playing on " I Want to Tell You " exemplified the pairing of altered chordal colours with descending chromatic lines and his guitar part for Sgt Pepper ' s " Lucy in
32175-419: The song, but lost the case, as the judge ruled that he had done so subconsciously. In 2000, Apple Records released a thirtieth-anniversary edition of the album, and Harrison actively participated in its promotion. In an interview, he reflected on the work: "It's just something that was like my continuation from the Beatles, really. It was me sort of getting out of the Beatles and just going my own way ... it
32370-540: The souls (purified spirits) closer to moksha , the liberation from the cycle of life and death. Festivals like Ganga Dussehra and Ganga Jayanti are celebrated in her honour at several sacred places, which lie along the banks of the Ganges, including Gangotri , Haridwar , Prayagraj , Varanasi and Kali Ghat in Kolkata . Alongside Gautama Buddha , Ganga is worshipped during the Loy Krathong festival in Thailand . Ganga
32565-481: The subsequent nickname stuck, much to Harrison's amusement. He had two lead vocal credits on the LP, including the Lennon–McCartney song " Do You Want to Know a Secret? ", and three on their second album, With the Beatles (1963). The latter included " Don't Bother Me ", Harrison's first solo writing credit. Harrison served as the Beatles' scout for new American releases, being especially knowledgeable about soul music . By 1965's Rubber Soul , he had begun to lead
32760-478: The time when the red-light area comes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities." Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at the Indra Club . After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to
32955-529: The top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks. Erlewine described the LP as "a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original". In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single " I Want to Hold Your Hand ", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales. The album caught the attention of music critic William Mann of The Times , who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963". The newspaper published
33150-465: The tour was negative. Some fans found Shankar's significant presence to be a bizarre disappointment, and many were affronted by what Inglis described as Harrison's "sermonizing". Further, he reworked the lyrics to several Beatles songs, and his laryngitis -affected vocals led to some critics calling the tour "dark hoarse". The author Robert Rodriguez commented: "While the Dark Horse tour might be considered
33345-580: The tracks; his long-time friend Klaus Voormann commented: "He wasn't up for it ... It was a terrible time because I think there was a lot of cocaine going around, and that's when I got out of the picture ... I didn't like his frame of mind". He released two singles from the LP: " You ", which reached the Billboard top 20, and " This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying) ", Apple's final original single release. Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976), Harrison's first album release on his own Dark Horse Records label, produced
33540-508: The water. However, the sage was unable to release the water, despite trying several times. This caused drought conditions upon the earth, but Vishnu assured that the ocean would be filled by the flow of Ganga on the planet. The story about Ganga's descent on earth through the efforts of Bhagiratha , a descendant of King Sagara , is narrated in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and various Puranas. Wanting to show his sovereignty, King Sagara performed
33735-433: The way out, Mr. Epstein". However, three months later, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI 's Parlophone label. Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI Recording Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962. He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his place. Already contemplating Best's dismissal,
33930-454: The whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville. For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated. According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP, Beatles for Sale , evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions. They had intended
34125-408: Was "clearly an innovator" as he was "taking certain elements of R&B and rock and rockabilly and creating something unique". Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner described Harrison as "a guitarist who was never showy but who had an innate, eloquent melodic sense. He played exquisitely in the service of the song". The guitar picking style of Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins influenced Harrison, giving
34320-414: Was a very happy occasion." He commented on the production: "Well, in those days it was like the reverb was kind of used a bit more than what I would do now. In fact, I don't use reverb at all. I can't stand it ... You know, it's hard to go back to anything thirty years later and expect it to be how you would want it now." Harrison responded to a request from Ravi Shankar by organising a charity event,
34515-451: Was about 14, a friend of Harrison, Raymond Hughes, offered to sell a guitar. Harrison's mother then paid for the guitar, which cost £3.10s.– (equivalent to £110 in 2024). One of his father's friends taught Harrison how to play " Whispering ", " Sweet Sue " and " Dinah ". Inspired by Donegan's music, Harrison formed a skiffle group, the Rebels, with his brother Peter and a friend, Arthur Kelly. On
34710-539: Was also a deep personal loss, although Harrison and Lennon had little contact in the years before Lennon was killed. Following the murder, Harrison commented: "After all we went through together I had and still have great love and respect for John Lennon. I am shocked and stunned." Harrison modified the lyrics of a song he had written for Starr to make the song a tribute to Lennon. " All Those Years Ago ", which included vocal contributions from Paul and Linda McCartney, as well as Starr's original drum part, peaked at number two in
34905-460: Was an album that earned him the least favourable reviews of his career. Rolling Stone called it "the chronicle of a performer out of his element, working to a deadline, enfeebling his overtaxed talents by a rush to deliver a new 'LP product', rehearse a band, and assemble a cross-country tour, all within three weeks". The album reached number 4 on the Billboard chart and the single " Dark Horse " reached number 15, but they failed to make an impact in
35100-486: Was an enthusiastic music fan, and she was known among friends for her loud singing voice, which at times startled visitors by rattling the Harrisons' windows. When Louise was pregnant with George, she often listened to the weekly broadcast Radio India . Harrison's biographer Joshua Greene wrote, "Every Sunday she tuned in to mystical sounds evoked by sitars and tablas , hoping that the exotic music would bring peace and calm to
35295-439: Was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia. In July, the Beatles' second film, Help! , was released, again directed by Lester. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond ", it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: " Help! was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It
35490-505: Was becoming obvious", he wrote, and "as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right". Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format, compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles. In June 1966, the Capitol LP Yesterday and Today caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed
35685-509: Was being treated for a brain tumour at a clinic in Switzerland. While in Switzerland, Starr visited him but had to cut short his stay to travel to Boston, where his daughter was undergoing emergency brain surgery. Harrison, who was very weak, quipped: "Do you want me to come with you?" In November 2001, he began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for non–small cell lung cancer that had spread to his brain. When
35880-452: Was deported for being too young to work in nightclubs. When Brian Epstein became their manager in December 1961, he polished up their image and later secured them a recording contract with EMI . The group's first single, " Love Me Do ", peaked at number 17 on the Record Retailer chart, and by the time their debut album, Please Please Me , was released in early 1963, Beatlemania had arrived. Often serious and focused while on stage with
36075-512: Was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong." The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: " Help! " and " Ticket to Ride ". The Help! album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirrored A Hard Day's Night by featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two. The LP contained all original material save for two covers, " Act Naturally " and " Dizzy Miss Lizzy "; they were
36270-431: Was hospitalised with more than 40 stab wounds, and part of his punctured lung was removed. He released a statement soon afterwards regarding his assailant: "He wasn't a burglar, and he certainly wasn't auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys. Adi Shankara , an Indian historical, spiritual and groovy-type person, once said, 'Life is fragile like a raindrop on a lotus leaf.' And you'd better believe it." Upon being released from
36465-431: Was in a deep meditation. This infuriated Kapila, and with his ascetic's gaze, he burned all the sixty thousand sons to ashes. King Sagara sent his grandson, Amshuman , to ask the sage Kapila what could be done to bring deliverance to their souls. Sage Kapila advised that only the water of the Ganges, which flowed from Svarga, could liberate them. Bhagiratha, Amshuman's grandson, undertook severe ascetic practices, and won
36660-452: Was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi 's music." McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966. He became
36855-400: Was once a war between the devas and the asuras . The leader of the asuras, Vritra , was killed by Indra , and so his followers hid in the sea, causing the devas to be unable to find them. The devas requested Sage Agastya to help. He used his divine powers and swallowed the ocean to reveal where the asuras were hiding. The devas defeated the remaining asuras, and asked Sage Agastya to restore
37050-526: Was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry." Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour, Revolver marked another artistic step forward for the group. The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelia . Abandoning
37245-484: Was released by Apple in December, followed by a concert film in 1972. Credited to "George Harrison and Friends", the album topped the UK chart and peaked at number 2 in the US, and went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year . Tax troubles and questionable expenses later tied up many of the proceeds, but Harrison commented: "Mainly the concert was to attract attention to the situation ... The money we raised
37440-485: Was secondary, and although we had some money problems ... they still got plenty ... even though it was a drop in the ocean. The main thing was, we spread the word and helped get the war ended." Harrison's 1973 album Living in the Material World held the number one spot on the Billboard albums chart for five weeks, and the album's single, " Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) ", also reached number one in
37635-458: Was thought at the time to be successful. He publicly blamed years of smoking for the illness. In January 1998, Harrison attended Carl Perkins ' funeral in Jackson, Tennessee , where he performed a brief rendition of Perkins' song " Your True Love ". In May, he represented the Beatles at London's High Court in their successful bid to gain control of unauthorised recordings made of a 1962 performance by
37830-481: Was too young to join the band. McCartney arranged a second meeting, on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, during which Harrison impressed Lennon by performing the lead guitar part for the instrumental " Raunchy ". He began socialising with the group, filling in on guitar as needed, and then became accepted as a member. Although his father wanted him to continue his education, Harrison left school at 16 and worked for several months as an apprentice electrician at Blacklers ,
38025-496: Was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song " Raunchy " on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, and they enlisted him as lead guitarist . By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art . The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and
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