The Last Known Photo of George Harrison in 2001

Here’s the last known photo of George Harrison, just a few days before he passed away. George died on November 29, 2001, surrounded by the people he loved. His last words were “Love one another.”

George Harrison just a few days before passing away at Paul’s LA home, 2001.

George Harrison was born in the British city of Liverpool on February 25th, 1943. Having an interest in music from an early age with influences like Carl Perkins, George Fromby, and Cab Callaway, George was already playing guitar by the time he was in high school. It is here at the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys where he would meet Paul McCartney and bond over their shared love of music, which later got George a position as a guitarist in John Lennon’s band The Quarrymen, later known as The Beatles.

While a part of The Beatles, George was responsible for many iconic songs including Here Comes The Sun, Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and many more. During his tenure with The Beatles George began immersing himself in Indian culture and philosophy penning songs like The Inner Light and Within You Without You to reflect this. Though George was often frustrated with how he was always seen as “lesser” than John and Paul, with him consistently being given less songs put on any given album even after his song Something becoming a massive hit.

After The Beatles broke up in 1970, George would go on to have a successful solo career with songs like My Sweet Lord, What is Life, and Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth). He even penned some songs for Ringo Starr, namely It Don’t Come Easy and Photograph. In 1971 he organized the Concert for Bangladesh to raise money for refugees affected by the Bangladesh Liberation War, this ended up popularizing the idea of using concerts to raise money for a cause.

In the 1980’s and early ‘90’s George joined a band called The Travelling Wilburys along with Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison. Though they would disband not long after Orbison’s death and releasing their second album. George would then reunite with Paul and Ringo for the Beatles Anthology project, doing guitar work for two “new” Beatles songs made from unfinished John Lennon demos called Free as a Bird and Real Love.

Unfortunately, in 1997 George would be diagnosed with throat cancer, most likely caused by decades of tobacco use. Radiotherapy was attempted, but was unsuccessful. Around the same time he would make his last television appearances to promote the Chants of India album by Ravi Shankar, a close friend of his. In 1999, he and his wife Olivia had their house broken into and was nearly killed by the assailant who managed to puncture one of his lungs. Thankfully, George survived the ordeal but by the 2000’s the cancer had spread to his lungs and brain. At one point Ringo visited him in the hospital, and when Ringo said he had to go to Boston to be there for his daughter who was having surgery, George said “do you want me to go with you?” This would be the last interaction George would have with Ringo.

George would pass away on November 29th, 2001 at a house owned by Paul McCartney in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. He was surrounded by his wife Olivia, his son Dhani, Ravi Shankar and his family, and Hindu priests who recited verses from the Bhagavad Gita. George’s last words were to his wife and son, saying: “Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another."

After his death, George’s final album Brainwashed would be completed by Dhani and Jeff Lynne. And a year later, a memorial concert, Concert for George would be organized featuring many of his friends and collaborators like Eric Clapton and the two remaining Beatles and all the money from this concert would go to his charity organization, the Material World Charitable Foundation. George would also be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame posthumously in 2004.

“All things must pass. None of life’s strings can last. So I must be on my way… to face another day.”