George Harrison

Best known as lead guitarist of the The Beatles, George Harrison also achieved mainstream success as a solo artist. Smothered by the overwhelming songwriting egos of his Beatles band mates, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Harrison never felt he was able to fully express himself as a member of the band. This along with his distinctive more eastern oriented style of music made sure that most of his vast backlog of songs was never released while he was with the Beatles. As tensions within the Beatles flared towards the end of the sixties, Harrison took the time to compile his solo material, from which he released his first album All Things Must Pass in 1970. The album contains the two-time, number one hit, My Sweet Lord, and to this day remains the most commercially successful solo album by a Beatle. Harrison can also be credited for creating the musical benefit, notably for his work on the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh. Harrison played beside Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, and Leon Russell to a crowd of 40,000 in Madison Square Garden, New York, in an effort which raised over $240,000 benefiting the George Harrison Fund for Bangladesh relief. Harrison went on to release several successful solo albums, and in the late eighties collaborated with Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty, in a group called Traveling Wilburys. The group released two albums. Harrison died on November 29, 2001 after a battle with cancer. His last album, Brainwashed, was released posthumously and featured the single Any Road. A benefit concert was staged on November 29, 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall on the first anniversary of Harrison's death. The star-studded event (featuring former band mate Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Monty Python) was released on the DVD double-album, The Concert For George.