| Former Beatle George Harrison Dead At 58 |
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The world loses one of its musical legends...
Well, this is not directly related to Bon Jovi, but since The Beatles had such a profound influence on rock music....
FROM SONICNET.COM:
George Harrison, lead guitarist for the band that changed the face of rock forever, lost his battle with cancer Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 58. The Associated Press reports that Harrison passed away at 4:30 p.m. ET at a friend's home. His wife, Olivia Harrison, and 23-year-old son Dhani were with him.
The Beatles, unlike most bands of the early '60s, both wrote and performed their songs, and led the way for generations of bands and singer/songwriters to come in this regard. Even today, few superstar acts can take credit for penning all their hits, but from writing the lyrics and music to recording in three-part harmony, the Beatles did it all.
As the lead guitarist in a group for which the guitar solos weren't the most striking aspect, it's no wonder Harrison was known as "the quiet Beatle." But along with well-constructed, rockabilly-rooted solos, he also contributed the occasional lead vocal on early Beatles recordings such as "Roll Over Beethoven" and "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You." And while not as prolific as the legendary songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Harrison wrote, and sang, such Beatles classics as "Taxman," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something."
Throughout their seven-year recording career (1963-1970), the Fab Four changed with the turbulent times, beginning as clean-cut mop-tops and moving into far-out psychedelic harbingers and laid-back bohemians. Their music adapted, too, eliciting screams from fans of early pop hits such as "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me" before confounding deep-thinkers with the mysterious "I Am the Walrus" and blowing the minds of future metalheads with "Helter Skelter."
Harrison first sat in with Lennon and McCartney's high school band the Quarrymen, when he was just 15. A year later he became a full-fledged member, and the group, which also featured Stuart Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums, changed their name to the Silver Beatles. By 1960, the moniker was cropped simply to the Beatles.
Sutcliffe left the band in 1961, forfeiting bass duties unto McCartney, and Ringo Starr later replaced Best on drums in 1962. The following year, the Beatles as we know them released their first single, "Love Me Do" b/w "P.S. I Love You."
Beatlemania held the world rapt from 1963 to 1966, a period that found the band issuing nearly two dozen releases, including singles, imports, compilations and the classic LPs Please Please Me (1963), With the Beatles (1963), A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help! (1965), Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966).
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Related URL: http://www.sonicnet.com/news/archive/story.jhtml?id=1451250
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