As a young man, George Harrison made his name with a little group called The Beatles—you may have heard of them. He was generally quieter and less flamboyant than his fellow band mates but still a talented musician and songwriter. He became best known for mixing rock ‘n roll with Eastern music and instruments, specifically the sitar, and for his strong spiritual beliefs and charity work.

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, Harrison was free to play and produce his music, which didn’t always find a welcome reception in his former band. Over the years, he had amassed a plethora of songs that he released as a triple album—the first solo artist to ever do so—titled All Things Must Pass.  Two of the discs contained his own compositions and the third disc was mostly jam sessions of Harrison and other musician friends, including ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton. This first solo release was well received and included “My Sweet Lord,” a #1 hit based on Hare Krishna chants and the more lively “What Is Life,” which reached the Top 10.  This wasn’t the first time Harrison had experimented with Hindu chants: in 1968 he had produced “Hare Krishna Mantra” for the Radha Krishna Temple religious group, having embraced Hinduism as his personal philosophy.

In 1971, Harrison organized a large benefit concert to raise money for war refugees in Bangladesh. He performed his own works as well as Beatles songs and recruited many famous musicians for the event, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan among them. He also recorded “Bangladesh,” a single released to raise awareness of the event that became a major hit; the concert itself was released as a live album and topped the charts both in the U.S. and the UK. Harrison’s next album was Living in the Material World in 1973, containing the #1 hit “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).” After forming his own record label, Harrison released Dark Horse—also the name of the company—which produced a couple of Top 40 hits.

Continuing his prolific career, the former Beatle released two more albums in the next two years, Extra Texture and Thirty Three & 1/3, which included the hit songs “You,” “This Song” and “Crackerbox Palace.” He also appeared as a guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed “Here Comes the Sun” with Paul Simon, a song he had written for the Beatles. Harrison also branched into film producing and formed the film company Handmade Films, which released the cult classics Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Withnail and I and Time Bandits.  Showing what a good sport he was, Harrison also appeared in The Rutles, a movie lampooning Beatlemania and all its attendant craziness. In 1979 he returned to the music realm with George Harrison, which included the Top 20 hit “Blow Away.” A chart topper song, “All Those Years Ago,” came in 1981 and paid tribute to the recently deceased John Lennon; the song reached the #2 spot in the U.S. charts.

During the 80s, Harrison concentrated on his movie production company but continued working with other musicians and also contributed to many charity events. In 1987, the album Cloud Nine brought Harrison back into the music scene and contained the #1 hit “Got My Mind Set On You,” an upbeat pop tune accompanied by a very popular music video. The next year found Harrison part of The Traveling Wilburys—a sort of superband formed with other venerable music icons Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne. The band released many successful albums, including The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and Vol. 3. Don’t bother looking for Vol. 2; the venerable music icons do have a sense of humor.

Harrison continued to work throughout the 90s, participating in various projects with the other two surviving Beatles, the Traveling Wilburys, rockabilly legend Carl Perkins and Ravi Shankar. After being injured by a homicidal intruder who had broken into his home in 1999, Harrison drastically scaled back his public appearances. In 2001, he succumbed to cancer, leaving behind an enormous legacy of musical innovation and charitable good works.