From 1960 to 1970, George Harrison was a member of The Beatles. Out of all four Beatles, Harrison was known as The Quiet One. He had a successful solo career with best-selling albums, like "All Things Must Pass," "Cloud Nine," and "Brainwashed." In the late 1980s, Harrison became a member of the Traveling Wilburys, the only band he was ever in besides the Beatles. He died on November 29, 2001, from lung cancer.

George Harrison was born February 24, 1943, (He spent much of his adult life thinking he was born on February 25George Harrison Bio: Harrison Bio) in Liverpool, England.Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: George Harrison He attended Dovedale Road Primary School and later the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys. When he was fifteen, he took a job as an apprentice electrician, but he wasn't very interested in it; he preferred playing his guitar. By 1956, George Harrison had met Paul McCartney because they rode the same bus. In 1957, Paul McCartney met John LennonRock and Roll Hall of Fame: John Lennnon and Lennon had invited McCartney to join his band, The Quarrymen. McCartney told Lennon that he knew of an excellent guitarist - George Harrison. Lennon was skeptical about Harrison at first, but he was impressed by Harrison's ability to perfectly play "Twenty Flight Rock" by Eddie Cochran. By the time Harrison joined the group, they had dropped all of their members, save for Lennon and McCartney, and had changed their name to the Beat-als.

In 1960 the Beat-als, who had of course changed their name to The Beatles, went to Hamburg, Germany, to play various clubs. (At that time Pete Best was the drummer, not Ringo Starr.) After several weeks, the group was set to go back to Liverpool, but Harrison was sent back early when it was discovered that he was under eighteen years of age and therefore not allowed into German clubs.George Harrison Biography: Biography When the rest of the group returned to England, Harrison assumed that they had broken up and he continued with his job as an electrician apprentice; but the group was far from over. Shortly after returning from Hamburg, the Beatles started performing regularly at the Cavern Club. It wasn't long before they caught the eye of local-furniture-salesman-turned-band-manager, Brian Epstein. Epstein worked tirelessly to get the Beatles a record deal, and in 1962 he succeeded.
For the Beatles first album, Please Please Me, Harrison sang two songs: "Chains," a cover song, and "Do You Want to Know a Secret," which John Lennon wrote for Harrison to sing, saying that the song only used "three notes" and Harrison "wasn't the best singer in the world then."Do You Want to Know a Secret: SongFacts
Harrison's first songwriting credit came on their second album, With the Beatles. The song, "Don't Bother Me," was written while Harrison was sick in bed.Don't Bother Me: The Beatles Bible Harrison wrote four other songs between 1963 and 1965: "I Need You," "You Like Me Too Much," "Think for Yourself," and "If I Needed Someone." He sang lead vocals on several songs including "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby."

In 1965, during the filming of the Beatles's second film Help!, George Harrison first saw a sitar.George Harrison Biography: Bio He took sitar lessons from world-famous sitarist, Ravi Shankar. The sitar would help to define Harrison's work between 1965 and 1968, and later on into his solo career. The first song to feature Harrison's sitar was Rubber Soul's "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," a John Lennon composition.
The first Beatles song directly influenced by Indian music, and the first song Harrison wrote specifically for the sitar was "Love You To."Love You To: SongFacts Harrison's sitar is featured on four other Beatles song: "Tomorrow Never Knows," "Within You Without You," "The Inner Light," and "Across the Universe." Harrison would continue to occasionally use sitar music in his solo career and with the Traveling Wilburys.
Harrison's sitar playing influenced other popular musicians including The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, and Strawberry Alarm Clock.

By 1967 George Harrison was writing more and more songs, but he was still only allowed one or two songs per album. In 1968, the public (and the other Beatles) took notice of George Harrison's songwriting ability when The White Album featured four of Harrison's compositions, most notable of which was "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" which featured Eric Clapton on lead guitar. 1968 also saw the first single release by the Beatles to feature a Harrison composition, albeit on the b-side, when "Lady Madonna" was backed by "The Inner Light."
In 1969, "Something" became the first George Harrison song to be a single a-side (backed by "Come Together"). Frank Sinatra called "Something" the greatest love song of all time; the song has become the second most covered Beatles song (after "Yesterday").Beatle-Fans: Harrison's 10 Best Beatles Songs Other George Harrison songs that were met with great critical acclaim include "I Me Mine," "For You Blue," and "Here Comes the Sun."
By the time the Beatles broke up in 1970, Harrison had written enough songs to necessitate a triple album, All Things Must Pass.

Harrison was only 26 years old when The Beatles broke-up. In 1969 he toured alongside his long-time friend Eric Clapton in the traveling band Delaney, Bonnie and Friends. In 1970, he released All Things Must Pass, the first triple album ever released by a solo artist. The album spawned two #1 hit singles, "My Sweet Lord" and "Isn't It a Pity." Harrison was the first Beatle to have a solo #1. All Things Must Pass is also the best selling album by a solo Beatle. Harrison would go on to have a successful solo career releasing albums sporadically until his death. Harrison was a member of the Traveling Wilburys between 1988 and 1990.

The Concert for Bangladesh was organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar to help starving war refugees. Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and members of Badfinger performed. The concert raised $243,418.50. Concert album sales were also donated to UNICEF.

On November 29, 2001, George Harrison passed away after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 58 years old.