Happy 71st Birthday George Harrison!

February 25, 1943, No. 12 Arnold Grove, Liverpool, England: George was born into the Harrison family to Harold and Louise. Peter, Harry, and Louise had a new baby brother. The baby was born at home, in a little "up and down" home in the outskirts of Liverpool, a city recently ravaged by German bombs. The smallest Harrison had big ears and resembled his older brothers and father. He was like any other boy. But what no one could know, nor expect, was that his small boy in a family of six in one of the poorer parts of a dirty port city, would become the legendary George Harrison, lead guitarist of The Beatles and a musician in his own right.

Though one of the more impoverished of the four, George was fortunate enough to know a wholesome family experience, his mother and father remaining married and in support of him throughout The Beatles' career and a couple of years after that (Louise passed away of cancer in 1970, followed by Harold in 1978). Louise played an important role in the development of George's fascination with music. George recounted in 1994 in The Beatles Anthology that Louise bought him his first guitar and would stay up late at night with him while he struggled with barre chords and bloody fingertips. Luckily for him, his skill on the guitar is what brought him into contact with another young boy around a year older named Paul McCartney and later John Lennon.

Paul and George were schoolmates at the Liverpool Institute for Boys, where they would frequently ride the bus into every morning. Together, they played guitar (Paul struggled a bit before he realized he was left-handed), listened to the music that was powering across the Atlantic from the United States, and traveled around to learn new chords from other boys similarly affected by the American rock scene. Paul and George's friendship is officially the beginning of The Beatles. In 1957, Paul introduced George to 17-year-old John Lennon, who was forming a band called The Quarrymen at the time. Paul was unable to play lead guitar and so he brought in his "little friend," the best guitarist he knew. The rest is history. George played "Raunchy" and three quarters of The Beatles were together.

The history of The Beatles is one that has been spelled out thousands upon thousands of times, on this blog, and elsewhere. I know it so well, I could tell it to you in my sleep. The impact of The Beatles cannot be understated, but it is so very important to remember that George was an individual in his own right, a musician of several different instruments, a deeply spiritual man dedicated to his family and his search for God, and a person in the pursuit for meaning in this life. George was a Beatle, but he was so much more than that, a fact that never lost significance for George himself. His musical and spiritual impact echoes across the globe and remains extraordinary for individuals, like me. Happy birthday, George.

          February 25, 1943-November 29, 2001