Until recently, it was certain that George was born 12:10 a.m. on February 25, 1943. However, in a 1992 Billboard interview, George said that recently he had learned that he was born 11:42 p.m. on February 24, 1943. According to George's birth certificate, his sister and his mother, who used to call George at that exact time each year, George was born on February 25, 1943 at 12:10 a.m.

No, he doesn't. His full legal name is George Harrison.

George has been married twice. On January 21, 1966, George married Patricia Ann Boyd, a model whom he had met on March 2, 1964 on the set of "A Hard Day's Night." Patti played one of the schoolgirls on the train and had one line: "Prisoners?!" Patti was born March 17, 1944. Eric Clapton, who remains one of George's dearest friends, fell madly in love with Patti. Among other songs, he wrote "Layla" for her. Eventually, Patti returned his affection. George and Patti's divorce was finalized on June 9, 1977. Patti and Eric married two years later. George (and Paul and Ringo) performed at their wedding celebration.

George met Olivia Trinidad Arias around 1974 when she worked in Los Angeles as an assistant in the merchandising department for A&M Records, American distributors for George's Dark Horse Records label. Olivia was born in 1948 in Mexico. They were married on September 2, 1978.

George and Olivia have a son, Dhani (pronounced "Donny"), who was born August 1, 1978. Dhani plays the guitar, but has no plans for a musical career. Since September 1997, Dhani has been a student at Brown University, an Ivy League college in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States.

George seems to consider himself to be a gardener, first and foremost, and has been known to be knee-deep in fertilizer tending to the gardens of his mansion, Friar Park, in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. His autobiography, "I Me Mine," was dedicated "to gardeners everywhere."

George is a great fan of Formula One motor racing, and travels all over the world to follow the races.

George and playwright John Mortimer own Brakspear Henley Ale, a brewery in Henley-on-Thames. Brakspear Henley Ale has a long history dating back to 1779. Its ale is sold worldwide.

George collects the handmade pottery of Robert Compton. He once bought 3 stunning aquariums created by Compton.

You bet! By my count, George plays 26 instruments:

guitar
sitar
4-string guitar
bass guitar
arp bass
violin ("All You Need Is Love" re Lewisohn; the tape was never used)
tamboura
dobro
swordmandel ("Strawberry Fields Forever" re Lewisohn)
tabla
organ
piano
moog synthesizer
harmonica
autoharp
glockenspiel
vibraphone
xylophone
claves
African drum
conga drum
tympani
ukulele
mandolin
marimba
Jal-Tarang

No, it was not. In an interview available here, George states that "everybody presumed that I wrote it about Patti, but actually, when I wrote it, I was thinking of Ray Charles." In his autobiography "I Me Mine," George wrote, "When I wrote ["Something"], in my mind I heard Ray Charles singing it...."

Ravi Shankar told George about the hardships suffered by the refugees of Bangla Desh, a country near India. This is expressed in the song "Bangla Desh." Ravi himself wanted to have a concert to raise money. But George was so moved by the starvation and poverty caused by the war between Bangla Desh and Pakistan, he offered to have a concert, knowing he could raise more money than Ravi could on his own. Two shows were held on August 1, 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Performers included Ravi Shankar, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston and Leon Russell. A 3-record set and a video were made of the concert. Though the concert raised $15 million, the money was held in escrow. Much to George's disgust, to this day, it's not clear how much made its way to the refugees of Bangla Desh.

In June 1966, George and Ravi met for the first time at the home of Peter Sellers. George and Patti went to India from September 14 through October 22, 1966 so that George could begin serious study of the sitar. While Ravi oversaw George's progress, George's daily instruction was tended to by Ravi's protégé, Shambu Das. George and Ravi's personal and professional relationship continues to this day. George has produced some of Ravi's records, including his latest as of this writing, "Chants of India."

Infringement of copyright. Bright Tunes Music Corp., which at the time owned the rights to 1963's "He's So Fine" by Ronald Mack, claimed that George plagiarized the song. George said that he "wasn't consciously aware of the similarity between" the two songs, but admitted he had heard "He's So Fine" (which will be called HSF from now on). In 1976, District Judge Owen ruled that George did not intentionally lift the song. Nonetheless, George was found guilty of "subconscious plagiarism."

With that part of the case done, damages had to be assessed. How much would George have to pay? For two years, while George was negotiating a settlement with Bright Tunes, ex-Beatles manager Allen Klein was trying to buy the copyright to HSF from Bright Tunes. In essence, Klein was trying to buy a lawsuit in which a millionaire Beatle would be forced to pay damages! Meanwhile, the earnings of "My Sweet Lord" attributable to HSF was concluded to be $1,599,987. In spring of 1978, with dollar signs in his eyes, Allen Klein (on behalf of ABKCO) succeeded in purchasing the copyright of HSF from Bright Tunes for $587,000. Klein then asked that the full amount of damages, $1,599,987, be paid to him. Though there were other considerations, Judge Owen determined that Klein's attempt to buy the copyright of HSF from Bright Tunes destroyed George's ability to negotiate a fair settlement. Judge Owen concluded that ABKCO was not entitled to profit from its purchase of the rights to HSF. Klein was awarded $587,000 -- the exact amount he paid for the rights to HSF -- and this was paid to ABCKO by George. So Allen Klein got nothing -- zip, zero -- for his trouble. Heh heh.

Dark Horse is the name of a song, an album and George's record label.

George has said that a dark horse is "the one who suddenly pulls out from behind the rest and barrels ahead to actually win the race. The one that nobody's bothered to put any money on. That's me, I guess. The very last one anyone would have ever expected to come out a winner." And that George did! Throughout the existence of the Beatles, he was overshadowed by the immense talents of John and Paul. After the Beatles broke up, George's "All Things Must Pass" astounded everyone as an artistic and commercial success. Arguably, it is the best solo album by any of the Beatles.

Another explanation is given by George in his autobiography "I Me Mine." During the 1974 American tour, his voice was almost gone, and so he was noticeably "hoarse" when it came time to record the song "Dark Horse."

In the US only, according to the RIAA:

ALL THINGS MUST PASS multi-platinum
CLOUD NINE platinum
DARK HORSE gold
EXTRA TEXTURE gold
GEORGE HARRISON gold
LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD gold
THE BEST OF GEORGE HARRISON gold
THIRTY-THREE & 1/3 gold
THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH gold


TRAVELING WILBURYS multi-platinum
TRAVELING WILBURYS, Vol. 3 platinum

An all-star, no-ego rock group. The Traveling Wilburys was George's baby. Warner Brothers asked George to do a new song to back "This is Love," a bonus single to help promote "Cloud Nine." He got together with Jeff Lynne and the late great Roy Orbison. Bob Dylan and Tom Petty soon joined. The five rock superstars recorded "Handle With Care," and were so pleased with their efforts, they decided to do an entire album together. Hence, the Traveling Wilburys was born!

In 1972, "The Concert for Bangla Desh" won a Grammy for Album of the Year. In 1989, "The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1" won a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal, Duo or Group with Vocal.

George was also nominated for Grammy awards for "All Things Must Pass," "My Sweet Lord," the video for "When We Was Fab," and "The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1."

In 1992, George received the first annual Billboard Magazine Century Award.

According to Guitar World's March 1997 issue, George said that the following are his favorite and/or most influential songs. Artists' names indicate performers, not necessarily composers:

If You're Going To Make A Fool Of Somebody James Ray
Blue Suede Shoes Carl Perkins
Roll Over Beethoven Chuck Berry
The Bells Of Rhymney The Byrds
Call Of The Valley Brij Bhushan Kabra
Badge Cream
Back On The Chain Gang The Pretenders
Brothers In Arms Dire Straits
Cold Day In Hell Gary Moore
Remedy The Black Crowes

"All Things Must Pass" is considered by most to be George's best album. "The Best of Dark Horse" and "The Best of George Harrison" will give you an overall view of George's music. The latter consists half of George's songs that were recorded by the Beatles, and half of solo works. "Cloud Nine" and "Thirty-Three & 1/3" are also favorites.

The bad news is that when George left Warner Brothers, Dark Horse Records lost its distributor.

The good news is that the rights to George's solo catalogue and the Traveling Wilburys' albums have reverted back to him, and he's considering recirculating them. Until then, all of George's solo albums are available as imports (if you're in the US).

In the Playboy interviews conducted during September 1980, John expressed anger that George had neglected him in "I Me Mine," George's autobiography. What John didn't seem to notice was that George enjoys discussing spiritual matters, gardening and motor racing rather than people. As far as we know, John and George never made up before John was murdered. It should be borne in mind that, as only close friends can, John and George fought often. But they always made up, usually within a few days. Surely that would have been the case in this matter as well.

When the Monty Python film, "The Life of Brian," ran into financial difficulties, George, a huge Monty Python fan, and Denis O'Brien, his former business manager and partner, raised the money to produce it. George was credited as Executive Producer. This led to the formation of HandMade Films. Sources vary as to when it was founded: Some say 1978, others say August 1, 1980. HandMade Films produced 25 movies, a few of which feature George in a cameo role. Pending a series of lawsuits and box office disasters, in 1994 HandMade Films was sold to Paragon Entertainment Corp. for $8.5 million. George sued Denis O'Brien and, on January 10, 1996, was awarded $11.6 million, which he has yet to collect.

As a teenager, George was an apprentice electrician in Liverpool's department store, Blackler's. He also worked Saturdays as a butcher's assistant.

For about six months in late 1963 and early 1964, George wrote a column for the Daily Express. The weekly series was called, appropriately enough, George's Column, and was written with a great deal of help from Derek Taylor. (There was a career journalist also named George Harrison, but George's Column was written by Beatle George Harrison.)

Technically, none.

For over 30 years, George has followed the beliefs and practices of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), though he is not a member of ISKCON. While there are similarities, ISKCON is not a branch of Hinduism.

George's mother, Louise, was Roman Catholic and George was baptized Catholic. However, George states, "[Though] I almost became a Catholic when I was 11 or 12, I couldn't relate to Christ being the only Son of God."

Patti sparked George's interest in Eastern philosophy and "all things Indian." She became a member of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Spiritual Regeneration Movement in February 1967. George and Patti started reading about meditation. Then Patti found out that the Maharishi would be giving a lecture on Transcendental Meditation in London on August 24, 1967. She talked George into going, who in turn got John, Paul and Ringo interested. On August 26, 1967, in Bangor, Wales, the Beatles were initiated into the Maharishi's International Meditation Society. (This visit was cut short by the death of Brian Epstein on August 27, 1967.) On February 16, 1968, George, Patti, John and Cynthia, followed three days later by Paul, Jane, Ringo and Maureen, went to Rishikesh, India to begin the Maharishi's teacher's training course in Transcendental Meditation. This too was cut short when John and George got wind of a rumor that the Maharishi was having a very unspiritual relationship with one of his followers.

In the late 60s, George became a devotee, but not a member, of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), to which he donated large amounts of time and money. ISKCON was founded by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Just before his death in November 1977, Srila Prabhupada gave instructions for his gold ring to be given to George -- a ring which George still treasures.

Other spiritual influences have been Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) whose Self-Realization Fellowship flourishes worldwide. Paramahansa Yogananda can be seen on the album cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

George and Olivia are listed in the back of Deepak Chopra's most recent books as devotees.

There are two biographies available as of this writing: "Dark Horse: The Life and Art of George Harrison" by Geoffrey Giuliano, and "The Quiet One: A Life of George Harrison" by Alan Clayson. Readers should be aware that "Dark Horse" makes considerable use of artistic license.

In 1979, George wrote an autobiography, "I Me Mine." Though it's largely uninformative with regard to events and people in George's life, his commentaries on every song he wrote up to 1978 make it worth the price of admission. George's conversational style makes it a delightful read.