With the announcement of four interconnected Beatles biopics coming in 2027, one for each member, the lives of the men behind history’s biggest-ever band have come into new focus. Nicknamed “the quiet Beatle”, George Harrison‘s contribution to global music and spirituality – thanks to his famous conversion to Hinduism in the 1960s – proves that Harrison’s tranquillity and peace-promoting attitude were mighty in their own way, and should not be understated.
In his final years, Harrison’s religious beliefs as a source of strength and inspiration in the face of a highly-publicized health battle have helped shape his permanent legacy. In many ways, Harrison died as he had lived – encouraging others to keep their hearts and minds open to the beauty of the spiritual world. While his bandmate John Lennon’s death is the more known of the two, due to his 1980 assassination at the hands of a fan and his widow Yoko Ono’s ongoing campaign against gun violence, George Harrison’s death is a reminder that a life’s ending can still be beautiful and meaningful.
George Harrison’s final years and death
In 1997, George Harrison was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his neck. “The lump was basically a disruption to a cell,” said Harrison. “I got it purely from smoking. I gave up cigarettes many years ago but had started again for a while and then stopped [after diagnosis],” George said at the time.
Harrison was given the all-clear after a successful surgery and a course of radiation therapy, but the musician faced another health battle in 1999, when an intruder broke into his home and stabbed him over 40 times, before his wife, Olivia Harrison, successfully fended him off. While George fully recovered from surgery to save his punctured lung, the incident is said to have marked a permanent decline in the singer’s overall health.
In 2001, Harrison was reportedly treated for multiple cancers, including lung cancer and a brain tumor. Later, Harrison and his family filed lawsuits against a doctor who allegedly leaked news of his health struggles to the press, as he intended to keep his cancer battle private. Ultimately, Harrison died on November 29th, 2001, at the age of 58.
“He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, and at peace, surrounded by family and friends,” Harrison’s family stated in the announcement of his death. Also included in the statement were Harrison’s final words to his friends and fans, as he left what he often referred to as “the material world.”
“Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another.”
According to Harrison’s widow, even the musical icon’s final moments were in good keeping with his Hindu faith and spiritual outlook. After Harrison was pronounced dead, Olivia recalls a glow from Harrison lighting up the room, as his soul left his body.
According to his Traveling Wilburys bandmate Tom Petty, Harrison may have hinted this would happen before his death. “He would say, ‘Look, we’re not these bodies, let’s not get hung up on that,’” Petty told Rolling Stone in 2011. “George would say, ‘I just want to prepare myself so I go the right way, and go to the right place.’ I’m sure he’s got that worked out.”
