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George Harrison
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George Harrison
was born February 25, 1943, making him the youngest beatle. The
only Beatle who's childhood was not marred by divorce or death, he had
two brothers, Harold Jr. and Peter, and a sister, Louise.
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His father,
Harold, was a bus driver, and his mother a housewife,
who all the kids in the neighborhood knew and liked.
He attended Dovedale Primary
school, two forms behind John Lennon, and then Liverpool
Institute, one form below Paul McCartney.
George and Paul took the same
bus to school, and soon found they had music and guitars
in common.
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George and
his brother Peter had formed a Skiffle and, because they
were so young, they had to sneak out of the house to play their
first engagement.
Paul introduced the skinny and pimple-faced George to the
Quarrymen, who was only 14 at the
time. Not old enough to join the group,
George hung around with the boys, and came to idolize John,
doing everything he
could to emulate him. George stood in the back of the
room at all their shows with his guitar. A few times
he filled in for the regular
guitarist who didn't show up, and the boys were also
welcomed in George's
house by his mother to practice and for an occasional
"jam buttie",
encouragement which infuriated John's Aunt Mimi.
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Gradually,
George became a member of the group, which by then had come
to be called Johnny
and the Moondogs.
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At their
first session, when the beatles were
asked by George Martin if there wasn't anything they didn't like,
George replied:
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"Well, I
don't like your tie for a start."
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About Indian
music and philosophy, George said:
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"After 'Norwegian
Wood', I met Ravi Shankar at a friend's house in London, for
dinner. He offered to give me instructions in the basics of the sitar,
like how to sit, how to hold it, and the basic exercises.
It was the first time I had ever really learned music
with a bit of discipline. Then I started to listen to Indian
music for the next two years, and hardly touched the
guitar, except for
recordings. Having all these material things, I wanted
something more. And
it happened that at just the time I wanted it, it came
to me in the form of Ravi
Shankar, Indian music, and the whole Indian philosophy."
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Biographical
info from the book Shout! by Philip Norman, and The Love You
Make, by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines.
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