George Harrison was "the quiet Beatle". But it was Harrison who first made his mark after the Beatles disbanded by scoring a No. 1 hit single with "My Sweet Lord," in 1970 (the success of the single was somewhat marred by a 1976 court ruling that found Harrison guilty of "subconscious plagiarism" of The Chiffons' charming ditty "He's So Fine"). Even if his self-deprecating and retiring personality made it hard for him to be heard above his charismatic bandmates, few will deny that Harrison - as a guitarist and as a songwriter - was an important voice for the Beatles.

Harrison was the one Beatle whose upbringing was cushioned by a traditional nuclear family - while his bandmates suffered broken homes and deaths in the family (both John Lennon and Paul McCartney lost their mums early on), Harrison was raised by a large, close-knit clan of modest means in the Wavertree section of Liverpool, not far from John and Paul's homes. Childhood conferred upon George a sweet-natured disposition that only partially gave way to ire and indifference in his preteen years. Harrison first expressed his hostility to his "chundering" schoolmasters by dressing in outlandish outfits and sleeping in class, but by the age of thirteen, he had discovered a far better way to channel his anger: playing guitar. George took a liking to skiffle music (a genre of folk-derived music played on acoustic guitars, string basses, and washboards), an appreciation he shared with a cherub-faced chum from the Liverpool Institute named Paul McCartney. The two also found they shared an interest in American rock-and-roll music. Paul McCartney had the good fortune to join up with a local band named the Quarrymen that included another schoolmate, John Lennon, and Harrison joined the group under McCartney's auspices the following year, in 1958. George was sufficiently inspired by the group's success to drop out of the Liverpool Institute to pursue his rock-and-roll dream more earnestly, working as an electrician's apprentice to pay his living expenses (he soon quit because he kept blowing things up). Considerably younger than the rest of the boys, George nevertheless overcame his insecurity and proved himself to be an adept and inventive guitarist. He continued to polish and inform his playing by listening to Duane Eddy, Chet Atkins, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, and eventually classical guitarist AndrTs Segovia, and in 1962, when the Quarrymen were re-baptized the Beatles, Harrison was mature enough in his style to act as lead guitarist.

On the set of the Beatles' 1965 movie, Help!, Harrison picked up a peculiar-looking stringed instrument called the sitar for the first time - an "instrumental" introduction that heralded his eventual immersion in and conversion to Hindu philosophy and religion. Both his musical and metaphysical interest sufficiently piqued, Harrison accepted instruction on the sitar from famed Indian musician Ravi Shankar, and subsequently travelled to India to steep himself in Eastern philosophy. The trip and his association with Shankar and religious leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ignited a spiritual awakening in Harrison, and his ideas about life and his sense of his own humility would change forever. This period of enlightenment was also marked by the Beatles' first experiments with acid; L.S.D. became yet another inspirational tool in their collective exploration of mysticism that erupted in their culturally catalytic album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

By the time Paul McCartney announced that he was leaving the band, in 1970, Harrison had been pursuing other adulterous artistic relationships for nigh on two years, the most notable achievement being his composition and arrangement of the Indian instrumentals for the unreleased film Wonderwall (the resulting soundtrack, Wonderwall Music, provided inspiration for the British band Oasis's hit, "Wonderwall"). George had always been frustrated in the songwriting department by the prolific Lennon and McCartney (though Harrison did contribute such hits as "Something," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Here Comes the Sun," among others), and the end of the Beatles sparked in him something of a musical rebirth. He moved into record production (he formed Dark Horse Records in 1974) and collaborated with other artists (notably Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton). Harrison teamed with Phil Spector to produce his first post-Beatles solo effort, the appropriately titled All Things Must Pass (1970). The album confirmed Harrison's vast and theretofore unrealized talents as a lyricist, musician, composer, and producer.

Harrison's subsequent solo albums, though popularly successful by virtue of his millions of fans, were not always as well-received critically. Undaunted by critical doubt, Harrison dabbled boldly in other projects, both behind the scenes and on center stage: he formed a film production company, HandMade Films, in 1978, producing such memorable films as Monty Python's Life of Brian and Time Bandits; he appeared in a number of films, most notably in a cameo in Monty Python's witty ribbing of Beatles mythology, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978); he produced and guest-starred as a guitarist on a slew of other artists' albums; he penned his autobiography, I Me Mine; he teamed with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and the late Roy Orbison to create the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. For all his hard work, Harrison was honored as the first recipient of Billboard's Century Award, in 1992, the publication's highest distinction for extraordinary creative achievement (he also boasts a total of six Grammy awards and an Oscar that he shares with the other Beatles). In 1996, Harrison collaborated with McCartney and Starr to create the sweeping retrospective (in the forms of a television documentary and three volumes of previously unavailable recordings), The Beatles Anthology.